Tramscape Tramway
Photographs
Kassel, Germany : 3rd-5th September
2002
Although
now regarded as an extremely progressive tramway, it was not always
so, and in the late 1970s, the city authorities favoured a complete
closure of the system. Only a concerted effort by residents,
especially along the threatened routes in Kirchditmold and
Wolfsanger, led to a change of heart and a remarkable change in
policy.
In the late 19th century Kassel's claim to tramway fame was to be
home to the first urban steam tramway in Germany. Whilst most cities
were turning to horse power for theer new tram systems, steam was
seen as the most appropriate for linking the city with Wilhelmshohe -
an extremely popular destination for excursions. The English-owned
Casseler Tramway Company opened it's line in 1877 and it remained
steam operated, although under different ownership, until 1899. At
this time the whole tramway system was being converted to electric
operation. All other lines had been horse-operated, first opened in
1884 and operated independently of the steam tramway until the two
companies merged in 1897.
A new company was established in 1897 to run a tramway to the
independent community of Wolfsanger and, unusually for the time, it
was opened as a horse tramway. It survived in this form until the end
of 1909, when electic wires had been extended into the Fuldatal,
following incorporation into the "Grosse Cassseler Strassenbahn" ,
the company formed to take over and integrate all the city's lines in
1897.
The establishment of the "Grosse Casseler" heralded rapid
improvements in the tram system. The earlier company had not built
any more routes than those opened in it's early days in 1884, whilst
lines into growing suburbs were badly needed. The horse tram routes
had until 1898 reached only Bettenhausen station, across the Fulda
River, and Wilhelmshoher Allee at Kirchweg, via Lutherplatz, the main
railway station, what is now Friedrich-Ebert-Allee and
Germaniastrasse. Between the middle of 1898 and the end of 1900 an
extensive programme of electrification, track doubling and route
extensions took place. The route length increased to over 22 km
(around two thirds being double track). As well as new links within
the built-up city area, services were extended to Kurhausstrasse
(then called Mulang) from Bahnhof Wilhelmshohe and to Rothenditmold
from Lutherplatz.
A further spate of extensions saw trams reach Hollandische Strasse
(1908), Niederzwehren (1913) and Kirchditmold / Prinzenquelle (1914)
as well as further development of the inner-city network. The First
World War interrupted further growth but in 1920 an extension to
Ochshauser Strasse (now Leipziger Platz) was opened in Bettenhausen.
By 1925 trams were at Druseltal, branching from the Mulang route at
Brabanter Strasse, and by 1927 at Eisenschmiede, reached via the
nearby hospital. In the following year the line to Kirchditmold was
extended from Prinzenquelle to a new loop at Hessenschanze.
Between 1920 and 1931 the postal service ran its own fleet of three
trams over city tracks, linking the railway station, central post
office and a number of outlying post offices. Three short spurs from
regular service tracks were built for exclusive postal use.
In two stages, in 1940 and 1941, the line to Niederzwehren was
extended to Baunatal to serve the Henschel aircraft engine factory,
the site of which is now occupied by the VW motors factory. During
World War II, Kassel suffered heavily from air raids, the attack on
22/10/1943 being particularly severe. The effects of the bombing,
like in many German cities, led to a total closure of services in May
1945 and gradual reopening after the end of the war. In the case of
Kassel, it was not until the 1950s that the city centre network as
seen today was established, with tracks laid along the broad streets
as rebuilt after the war.
The 1950s also saw a concerted effort to upgrade the rest of the
tramway, doubling much of the track which had initially been rebuilt
after war-time damage much as it had been before the war. Further new
extensions were built in Bettenhausen (to Forstfeldstrasse in 1947
and Lindenberg in 1956), and from Eisenschmiede to Koboldstrasse
(1953) and further to Ihringhauser Strasse (1956). In 1960, the
direct route from Weserspitze to Eisenschmiede was built parallel to
the retained alignment via the hospital. New loops were built at the
Aue Stadium and at Mattenberg to accommodate short workings on lines
increasingly served by single-ended trams.
The 1950s also saw the renewal of a significant part of the fleet as
well as new trams to make good wartime losses, although it was
somewhat surprising that no new trams were ordered until 1955. The
tramway company, which became the Kasseler Verkehrs-Gesellschaft AG
in 1939 and came into the ownership of the state of Hessen in 1946,
had traditionally bought its trams from local suppliers. The city was
home to major railway carriage manufacturers Crede, Wegmann and
Henschel and Crede had supplied all Kassel's cars since 1932. A
contract was given to the same company to supply trams and trailers
based on the post-war two-axle "Verbandstyp" design, followed quickly
by an order for similar cars but articulated, with a suspended centre
section. The design was based on improvements on pre-war technology,
and although the articulated cars made good economic sense, the rigid
trucks of each type made for a slow and uncomfortable ride. The Duwag
factory in Dusseldorf was, at this time, pioneering new designs that
were soon to be widely adopted throughout Germany - the
"Grossraumwagen" on two bogies, and the articulated cars on
Jacobs-bogies - and as a result, Kassel's new cars quickly became
outdated. Ten years later, the KVG returned to Crede for single-ended
articulated bogie cars of the Duwag-type, with a further batch
delivered by Wegmann in 1971 following Crede's withdrawal from the
market. Wegmann also supplied a series of double ended cars in
1970.
A short stretch of underground tramway was opened under the square in
front of the main railway station in 1968 and futher improvements to
tram alignments, particularly in association with the widening of the
main arterial roads out of Kassel, were made. The closure of the line
to Rothenditmold in 1971 was on account of the difficulty in
upgrading this alignment to the required standard, and although the
first major route closure, it was not immediately apparent at the
time that the whole system would soon be under threat.
The decision to retain the tramway system was helped by the good
impression made by a Duewag-built Stadtbahn-N tram from Dortmund and
16 sets were purchased for delivery in 1981.Except for two sets of
1966 vintage, the Stadtbahn-N cars are now the oldest in service as
new low-floor trams have been purchased on a regular basis.
Totally new lines have been built (Bhf Wilhelmshohe - Hellebohn -
Niederzwehren), under-used local railway lines have been converted to
tram operation (Mattenberg - Baunatal - Grossenritte and Kaufungen -
Helsa) and Kassel is one of the pioneers of the new "Regio-Tram"
concept, by which trams will share tracks with main-line railways
outside the city
centre.
Herkulesbahn
A metre gauge tramway operated in the Druseltal area between
Kirchweg and Herkules from 1902 to 1966, operated as a
semi-independent subsidiary of the city tramway from
1927
Click
here to see the Kassel Tramway Photograph Catalogue
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