Prince William Railway Company
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The Prince William Railway Company (
On 20 September 1831 the railway was opened by
Background
Friedrich Harkort had an early interest in improving the transportation of coal from the Ruhr in the Bergisches Land to Wuppertal. He therefore visited England to study the first railway projects and wrote in 1825 in the journal Hermann an article on "Railways". He sought the interest of donors to realise such a project. He finally found interest mainly in the mining trades in the Ruhr. In 1826 he had built a small test track, as a monorail following a design of the Englishman Henry Robinson Palmer. This was a precursor to the Wuppertal Schwebebahn finally built 74 years later. On 9 September 1826 he advised the Elberfeld Council two routes for the construction of such a railway from Elberfeld via Uellendahl, Horath and Herzkamp to Hinsbeck or from Elberfeld via Horath to Langenberg. In 1826 and 1827 surveying were carried out in these districts.
Another railway pioneer, school teacher Peter Nikolaus Caspar Egen, however, favoured the construction of a normal rail railway. While Egen and Harkort fought out their differences, and even before an application for a concession was made, opposition began to surface from carters and horse drivers engaged in coal transportation. Meanwhile, the neighboring city of Barmen was also active with its own plans, as it felt disadvantaged by Elberfeld’s plans.
The time was not ripe for such a project using completely new technology. People were reluctant to invest their money in it. Even the king of Prussia who ultimately had to approve any plans, did not understand the proposals.
Deil Valley Railway Company
But in order just to make a start, Harkort then proposed a "stripped down" version. He founded the Deil Valley Railway Company, the first German railway
The railway was built to be operated by relay. The route was divided into three 700 Prussian
Prince William Railway
On 20 September 1831 Prince William of Prussia, the youngest brother of King Frederick William III, officially opened the railway. On this day the prince and his family travelled on coal wagons lined with carpets. The railway was allowed to call itself the Prince William Railway afterwards.
Until 1844, the Prince William railway was operated by horse-drawn wagons to transport coal. After one year of operation passengers were also transported, in particular on the return journey from Nierenhof to Hinsbeck, for which no cargo was available. By 1833 there were some coaches available for “pleasure”.
Steele-Vohwinkel Railway
As the operation of the railway satisfied its shareholders, it was decided to extend it in 1840. On 23 August the company wrote to the district administration to request a concession for the extension. On 29 June 1844 the Treasury gave permission for the company to build an extension in the north to Steele and in the south to Vohwinkel.
To get the necessary funds, it needed to issue new shares. It offered purchasers of shares the guarantee of favourable freight rates, but the mining companies rejected this. Eventually it procured sufficient capital and on 29 July 1844 construction started. The line was
Between Neviges and Vohwinkel the trains had to climb a slope, which at this time could only be climbed with the aid of a zig zag. At the terminal station (German: Kopfstation, literally head station) built in 1847 in the Siebeneick Valley trains had run into the station before reversing on to the other line out of the station. This arrangement was eliminated in 1862 when a new alignment was built, but the whole area still bears the name Kopfstation.
Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company's acquisition of the company
On 13 March 1854 the
References
- Busch, J. Rainer; Deilmann, H.G. (1992). Prinz-Wilhelm-Eisenbahn—Die erste Eisenbahn-Aktiengesellschaft auf deutschem Boden (Prince William Railway Company—The first railway corporation on German soil) (in German). Essen.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - "Der Prinz-Wilhelm-Eisenbahn" (in German). Pro Niederbergbahn e.V. Archived from the original on 1 August 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2010.