More Than Pints - A Look At Mainz

It's Complicated!

Modern Hesse corresponds loosely to the medieval Landgraviate of Hesse. In the 19th century, prior to the unification of Germany, the territory of what is now Hesse comprised the territories of Grand Duchy of Hesse (also known as Hesse-Darmstadt), the Duchy of Nassau, the free city of Frankfurt, the Electorate of Hesse (also known as Hesse-Kassel), the Principality of Waldeck and the Landgraviate of Hesse-Homburg.

So Mainz is in Hesse which was an independent "Grand Duchy" before Germany was Germany.

Administratively Mainz is now capital of The State of Rheinland Palatinate with a population of around 220,000. It is broadly similar in size to Northampton, the town of fbb's birth, childhood and youth. Unlike Northampton, Mainz has trams and a cathedral!

The transport operator (that's complicated as well!) has just ordered 22 shiny new trams which is what prompted fbb to wonder where Mainz was. 

Hmmm...

... that's Hesse and not much help. 

Mainz sits on the River Rhine near its confluence with the River Main (pronounced "mine").

"Greater" Mainz spreads across the river ...

... where, as well as Hochheim am Main (above map, centre right) there are many "am main" towns nearby.

The biggest is Frankfurt am Main, one of the two Frankfurts in Germany. The other is Frankfurt an der Oder.

But, the sainted Wikipedia tells us - so it must be right - that Mainz has nothing whatsoever to do with the River Main. Its Etymology has taken a very different route from the Latin.

It's complicated?

The challenge is, simply, where to start with the town's public transport.

It's complicated!8

Various route maps and diagrams are available a-plenty on the dreaded interwebnet; and below is an extract from one of the best.

It is geographical (so not bafflingly diagrammatic) but fbb has yet to work out how to download it. The above extract, however shows the area round the Hauptbahnhof - the main railway station.

So off went a brave fbb to Google maps aiming to travel from bottom left to said main station.

There he met a bendy bus running along a piece of reserved track passing under a viaduct. Just past the viaduct he met a tram!

And just past the tram was a view across the tracks to the station.

The viaduct carries a road which passes east of the platforms ...

... but access is there none.

The obvious way would be to follow that multicoloured skein of bus routes as it veers left to get tto the main station forecourt; so follow the tram tracks!

Only you can't. Google's Nickendes Auto has not been allowed anywhere near the forecourt!

So we have to piece things together from old pictures, common sense and, doubtless, a little guess work!

The first principal station was, as it turned out ...

... in the wrong place.

So a new set-up was created to the west of the city centre. 

It's complicated!

The work lasted two years from 1884 to 1884, but a grand main building emerged as appropriate for the former Grand Duchy of Hesse. It stood in an extensive station square as seen below.

Horse buses ...

... and horse-drawn trams ...

... gave way to electric trams from 1904.  

The building lost some of its roof architecture but remains recogniseably the same today.

Buses were quite a late arrival but not as late as the 1967 motor below!

The city also tried steam trams, but fbb could find no pictures of such a beast. The example below is from Bern (Switzerland).

But it is to the tram network that fbb will turn for  Wednesday's  blog.

For tomorrow, a bus ride investigation is completed!

 Next 379 blog : Tuesday 10th June