Kirnitzschtal Tramway - History

History

The first plans for the line were introduced in 1893. These were for a tramway from Bad Schandau to Rainwiese (now Mezní Louka in the Czech Republic). The decision on the form of propulsion to use was controversial, with both steam locomotives or electric traction proposed. However steam propulsion proved uneconomic, and electrification was selected. This required the construction of an additional power plant.

The line opened from Bad Schandau as far as the Lichtenhain Waterfall on Saturday, May 28, 1898. The first service was delayed by 45 minutes when the car derailed on its maiden trip. The line was operated a tourist service from the beginning, with service from May to October. In the opening year 80,000 passengers rode the line. The remainder of the line to Rainweise was never built for economic reasons.

The initial vehicle fleet comprised six enclosed motorcars and six trailers, which were built by Busch in Bautzen. During the night of July 26 1927, fire destroyed the depot and the entire fleet. Traffic was restored on August 12 and continued until October 31 using cars borrowed from the Lößnitz Tramway. In 1928, a new fleet of motorcars and trailers built by MAN were put into service and the Lößnitz Tramway cars were returned to Radebeul. However a works car from the Lößnitz Tramway remained on the Kirnitzschtal tramway until 1954, over 20 years after the other borrowed cars had been scrapped. It was transferred to the Lockwitztal Tramway, where it remained in regular transport service until 1968.

During World War II service was suspended, since no spare parts were available.

On June 23, 1969, the line was truncated by approximately 350 metres (1,150 ft) at the Bad Schandau end, because of increasing traffic congestion in the town. The former terminus at the Hotel Lindenhof, and the intermediate stop at Forellenbrücke were abandoned, and replaced by a new terminus at Stadtpark. A month later, on July 21, one of the line's motor cars overturned and all passengers suffered injuries.

The line took over five motorcars from the Lockwitztal Tramway in 1977, after the closure of that line. These vehicles were built between 1938 and 1944 for the tramway of Erfurt, and are thus called Erfurter. The Kirnitzschtal Tramway was reconstructed from 1985 to 1990, and again in 2003 to 2004. The Erfurter were replaced by Gothawagen purchased from Plauen and Zwickau, which were modernized in the 1990s. An additional Gothawagen motorcar was acquired from Jena in 2007.