Our Mother in Solingen

[Mother]

About 24 hours ago I arrived in Frankfurt, and today (Friday) I went to Solingen, based on the recommendations of one of Our discussion board members.

Solingen is on the edge of the Ruhr industrial region, but don´t let this put you off, as the Germans have done much over the last 35 years to clean up their cities. Solingen is quite modern, with broad open squares in its city centre, and plenty of greenery in its suburbs.

Local transport includes a large fleet of articulated trolleybuses, one of which I caught from their main station (Solingen Hauptbahnhof) on route 681 to Graf-Wilhelm-Platz, the major bus stop in the CBD.

From there I caught an articulated trolleybus on route 683 to Burg Brücke, which I´d read boasted a turntable for turning the trolleybuses around! This is a most beautiful run on a main road through the eastern suburbs and eventually moving into countryside that reminded Me of the NSW Southern Highlands - bucolic fields with rolling hills, horse pastures and dairy farms. Our road then passed through a large forest, at the end of which We came to the stop Burg Seilbahn. On leaving this stop, I heard what sounded like a diesel engine, and it was not until I alighted at Burg Brücke, the next stop, that I realised these were hybrid buses. The driver switched to diesel power once out from under the wires. A similar system is in operation in Seattle USA.

No regular trolleybuses use the turntable at the Burg Brücke terminus any more, but on Sundays there is a regular timetabled service with a vintage 1958 rigid trolleybus, and enthusiasts and other interested parties are encouraged to take photos. If only I were free to come back to Solingen this Sunday, but unfortunately I am not.

The 683 took Me back through the CBD of Solingen and all the way to Wuppertal Vohwinkel, a terminus of the famous Schwebebahn (or suspended tramway). Hoping for a ride on it, I was disappointed to find the service suspended in more ways than one, as major works necessitated the removal of some of its pylons near a new stadium.

For much of my journey between Frankfurt and Solingen, I was able to use the ICE, Germany´s high-speed train. It´s great to experience trains that actually overtake cars on the adjacent expressways. As many of you would know, they need their own dedicated high-speed tracks for much of the way, plus new bridges, new tunnels and high-speed turnouts, all giving this form of public transport the priority that it deserves.

Of course, none of the above would work in New South Wales.

[<smarTTrams>]

Not really a pretty sight the way the single-rail track straddles the Wupper River, but considering it was opened in 1903, it demonstrates that the Germans don't have the Australian attitude of "Too hard, too hard! Can't do!" Even back then they found a way to have a tram-like public transport service by using the space above the river.

To see what Mother saw and to read about this monorail in Wuppertal, Germany click here!

<smarTTrams>

[boronia]

Gotta love the story about the elephant

[Bedford-29]

And there is a monorail line at Shonan in Japan that is a suspended one like the one at Wuppertal that has been running at Shonan for the last forty years but there are suspended monorails around the world.But there is a couple of these suspended monorails in Japan but the Shonan is the longest one.

[<smarTTrams>]

At least the elephant story seems to be evidence that there is at least one station that is at ground level.

The only stations/stops I saw were above ground and access was by stairs/escalators/lifts. The existence of a station at ground level must have encouraged them in thinking that it would be a "good idea at the time" to take an elephant on board this aerial mode of transport! If they had taken it on board via an escalator or lift the animal would surely have demonstrated its reluctance to partake in such an adventure at that point.

Mother, did you notice any stations/stops at ground level? (They would probably be at or near the end of the line.)

<smarTTrams> ... coming or going ... <smarTTrams>
Greens promise green trams for Perth

[Mother]

No, I don't recall any stops at ground level. I'm sure they came up with some ingenious way of bringing the elephant onto the Schwebebahn, of course unaware of the final outcome.

I'm hoping the system will be up and running upon my next visit, whenever that will be. These days it would probably need to have fully accessible facilities.

[boronia]

From Wikipaedia

"21 July 1950
The Althoff Circus orchestrated a publicity stunt by putting an elephant by the name of Tuffi on the train at the Alter Markt station. Tuffi became upset shortly into the ride, crashed through the left side of the car and fell into the river Wupper below. The elephant, two journalists, and one passenger received minor injuries. Both the operator and the circus director were fined after the incident. To this day, the wall of a building at the location of the event (in-between the stations Alter Markt and Adlerbrücke) shows a painting of a jumping elephant."

It doesn't say how they got it up to the station

[boronia]

And there is a monorail line at Shonan in Japan that is a suspended one like the one at Wuppertal that has been running at Shonan for the last forty years but there are suspended monorails around the world.But there is a couple of these suspended monorails in Japan but the Shonan is the longest one.

Chiba has a network of more modern suspended monorails, probably longer than Shonan, with several routes, esp if the double track is counted

chiba mono 02.jpg

[Bedford-29]

The Trolleybus turntable in Solingen is being dismantled as the MAN tag axle Trolleybuses are being replace as these were the only Trolleybuses in Solingen using it as they have Berkhorf and Graft & Stift articulated trolleybuses in the fleet but the the MAN tag axle trolleys are being replaced with new articulated trolleybuses.Here is a picture of a monorail station in Wuppertal which will give you idea what the stations on the Wuppertal monorail are like.Pictures from Wikimedia/Wikipedia and Urbanrail.net and Trolleymotion website.

[<smarTTrams>]

Watch out for the German movie "The Princess and the Warrior" (German title: Der Krieger und die Kaiserin).

There are some scenes where the Schwebebahn's arched steel supports above an urban street can be seen. Also there are some shots inside one of the monorail's cars.

The movie was on SBS One just a couple of nights ago, so it may be a while before it reappears. It has subtitles so its next screening will most likely be on one of the SBS channels.

<smarTTrams> ... coming or going ... <smarTTrams>
Soon to be withdrawn after 7 years with the ATDB -- Joined: Sat Mar 06, 2004

PS
There was no elephant on board.

[Service NL]

Did you mean this scene in the movie?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUyrVGILqWw

[<smarTTrams>]

Great! Thanks for finding that link.

I was really surprised to see the orange Schwebebahn car in close-up going across the screen just near the start of this clip -- somehow I missed seeing it the other night!

<smarTTrams>

[Bedford-29]

This is Wuppertal suspended monorail this is the oldest suspended monorail in the world when the first run started in 1901 (110 years ago) and carries 25 million passengers a year it has had accidents over those 110 years the pictures shows the more modern stock.Pictures from Wikipedia.

[<smarTTrams>]

Seeing those photos of the Wuppertal Schwebebahn from Wickipedia inspired me to revisit the webpage link that I posted in this thread back on Oct 08, 2010:

http://atlasobscura.com/place/schwebebahn-wuppertal

I was surprised to find that its photo gallery now includes a 3-D photo and several YouTube videos. For those of us unable to travel to Wuppertal in Germany the photos and videos can give a pretty good idea of what it is like to experience this unique transport mode!

<smarTTrams> ... coming or going ... <smarTTrams>