Strassenbahn Mainz (1)

 

fbb's brain hurts! 

It's complicated!

There is an English Wikipedia page helpfully entitled Trams in Mainz, but it shows only the present situation and even that is in summary form. Also available is a Wikipedia entry in German called Strassenbahn (literally "street way" with "rail" implied) Mainz.

It is a bit beyond a simple one-day blog and considerably beyond fbb's "O" level German, passed 66 years ago! To add to the blogger's woes the button that allows Google to present the German site in English appears and disappears at some kind of electronic whim!

But the Mainz tram network begins with privately operated horse trams, running between 1883 and 1904. The horse tram below is standing in Leichhof ...

... a little square in the town centre. "hof" literally means "yard" as in back yard.

The "hof" is now part of a wide-ranging pedestrian area, BUT buses enter and stop nearby.

Leichhof is the "pin" bottom right. And here is a 57 doing it!

Most of the buildings are original so below we see the horse tram stop as it appears today.

Note the roundel above and to the right of the present door.

The well embellished hut is now a tree plus bench!

Next historical comes the Steam Tram running from 1891 to 1923.

German Wikipedia provides us with just one picture.

The above view can be roughy reproduced today ...

... with current trams 50 and 51 following part of the steam tram route. Yes, it is he same church!

There were two steam tram routes going their separate ways after the "Central Station" (now Hauptbahnhof) as per this map.

These steamy routes were eventually handed over to one of the suburban railway companies and they passed them on to the municipal tram company. Here is a Wikipedia extract about these services.

Back to the horse trams; and one nugget of particular interest. One route crossed the Rheinbrucke ...

... the main link to the rest of the sprawling urban area.

It terminated just "on the other side" at Mainz Kastel railway station. Mainz Kastel is, as it's name suggests, in Wiesbaden!

It's complicated!

Here is a horse tram at Mainz Kastel station.

Back then, the Rheinbrucke was a toll bridge and a toll was added to every tram fare.

Later electric trams made the same crossing but toll-less..

It became a complex junction on the Mainz riverbank with a spectacular viewing and sheltering edifice.

Trams last ran across the Rheinbrucke in 1957. Below is a night view of the bridge today with gardens replacing the shelter above.

In case you are a bit confused, the old maps extracted above do not face north!  Here is the bridge today from Google Earth, correctly orientated on a broad bend of the river.

And here is where the two steam tram routes diverged east of the main railway station.

Back then, this was open country and the right hand fork set off across fields, eschewing the road, where the shiny new buildings are on the right.

A good point at which to pause.

Today's tramway system will be examined in  Friday's  blog.

Tomorrow's blog will consider how not to present a timetable and where not to build a bus station.

 Next Anglo-German blog : Thurs 12 June