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The Wuppertal Suspension Railway in Germany, the oldest electric elevated railway with
hanging cars, first opened in 1901, but before it opened the Wuppertal area had looked at
a similar system.
In 1824 British Civil Engineer Henry Robinson Palmer proposed a low single-rail suspension
railway with carriages pulled by horses.
Friedrich Harkort, a local steel mill owner, loved the idea.
A short section was built to demonstrate the idea and he worked to get investment.
Local Government officials met to discuss the use of "Palmer's Railway" for the region,
however, plans for building the system failed because of objections from various parties,
including mill owners who weren’t going to be included.
But the idea didn’t entirely disappear, especially with railway-building fever that
was sweeping the world in the late 19th century.
In 1887 the cities of Elberfeld and Barmen formed a commission for the construction of
an elevated railway.
By 1894 they’d chosen a design by Eugen Langen, who’d originally designed the system
to sell to the city of Berlin, and two years later the system was approved for construction.
The elevated system was chosen because of the unique route that needed to be traversed.
Several section of the route would follow the river, and so having a system that could
go over both roads and river was important.
The projected route would link the towns of Vohwinkel, Elberfeld, and Barmen, with many
stops along the way.
The elevated station construction began first in 1897, followed by construction of the track
the following year.
The cars were suspended from a single rail built underneath a supporting steel frame.
The cars hung on wheels which are driven by multiple electric motors operating at 750
volts DC, fed from a live rail below the running rail.
Like many regular railway systems, they used a system of signals to hold cars or allow
them to progress.
The supporting frame and tracks are made out of 486 pillars and bridgework sections, and
the whole endeavour used almost 20,000 metric tonnes of steel (21,164 tons).
The structural system was so unique at the time it was patented.
At each end of the line a servicing depot, including a loop of track allowed the trains
to be turned around.
By 1900 the construction crew was ready to test a section out.
After ensuring it was safe to run, they held a big event in October where German Emperor
Wilhelm II rode in the specially inaugurated Kaiserwagen.
Although not all the stations would be completed until 1903, enough were built that the railway
could be officially opened in 1901.
All told it had cost 16M marks, about £93M today ($122M USD, €105M, $170M AUD).
It opened in sections: the line from Kluse to Zoo/Stadion opened in March, the line to
the western terminus at Vohwinkel opened in May, while the line to the eastern terminus
at Oberbarmen did not open for another two years.
But with the entire line opened, passengers could travel the 8.3 mile (13.3 km) distance
of the entire track in about 30 minutes.
The railway continued to be used for the rest of the 20th century, except for during the
Second World War when it was heavily damaged.
However, it was reopened just one year after the end of the war in 1946.
With the Althoff circus coming to town in the 1950s, to drum up business one of their
elephants rode the elevated railway.
Although it was coaxed onto the train, once it was underway the elephant got more and
more nervous with the unfamiliar noises and vibrations.
It started thrashing around and eventually broke through a carriage and fell the 9 meters
(30’) into the Wupper river.
Thankfully it sustained only minor injuries and lived for another 39 years.
The circus director and train director were quite rightly fined for thinking up such a stupid idea.
In 1997 work began to modernise the supporting frame.
Many stations were reconstructed and brought up to date.
Kluse station was completely destroyed during the war and was reconstructed at this time.
The work was planned to be completed by 2001; however, a serious accident took place in
1999 which left five people dead and 47 injured.
This, along with delivery problems, delayed completion.
However, despite this modernisation work, the railway suspended operations in 2009 due
to concern over the safety of several of the existing support structures.
After this work was completed, it had to shut again in 2012 to carry out further updates.
The antiquated train fleet was replaced in 2011 with new disabled-access carriages.
Instead of scrapping the historic carriages, they were offered to the public so long as
they remained in the city of Wuppertal.
The Wuppertal Suspension Railway remains popular, carrying approximately 82,000 passengers every
day and it travels up to 37 mph (60 km/h).
Kaiser Wilhelm II’s original car, the Kaiserwagen is still operated on scheduled excursion services,
special occasions and for chartered events.
Many thanks to the people over at neural.love for allowing me to use the amazing footage
that they’ve improved from the original 1902 print.
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