Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
<p></p> <div><span lang="EN-US">A friend of mine visited the DB-Museum in Nuremberg last week. They have a permanent documentary exhibition called “History of Railroad in Germany”. The Museum is owned by Deutsche Bahn (DB).</span></div> <div><span lang="EN-US"></span></div> <div><span lang="EN-US">My friend sent me the exhibition catalog accompanying the exhibition. The volume I’ll cite from is called: &bdquo;Auf getrennten Gleisen , Reichsbahn und Bundesbahn 1945 – 1989“ [On separated tracks, GDR-Railway and German Federal Railway 1945 – 1989], and was published by the DB-Museum as ISBN 3-9807653-3-7.</span></div> <div><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">I hope the translation gives some impressions of the situation after WW2.</span></span></span></div> <div><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Page 11, Collapse and Reconstruction </strong></span></span></span></span></div> <div><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height:115%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height:115%;"><span style="line-height:115%;">The victorious powers, which France later joined, now also ruled the Reichsbahn. Under their supervision, the destroyed railway facilities were quickly repaired with a makeshift repair, so that military transports, coal, and food supplies and millions of travelers could reach their destination</span></span></span></span></span></span></div> <div> </div> <div><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height:115%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height:115%;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height:115%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height:115%;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div> <div><strong>Page 17, Restoration:</strong></div> <div><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height:115%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height:115%;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div> <div><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height:115%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height:115%;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></div> <div>Immediately after the war ended everywhere the repairs of the destroyed railway facilities were started. To secure their own supply routes the victorious powers were interested in rapid reconstruction and pushed the work forward.</div> <div><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height:115%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height:115%;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></div> <div>There was a lack of sufficient tools and building materials such as cement, wood, steel, bricks and glass. In order to access materials, the remnants of the ruins were reused as much as possible. Secondary routes were also dismantled and the track superstructures thus obtained were used for the repair of the main routes.</div> <div><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height:115%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height:115%;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></div> <div>In the face of these obstacles, a lot initially could get fixed provisionally. So initially only one or two station tracks were made passable through the rubble mountains. Many bridges were restored to single track only.</div> <div><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height:115%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height:115%;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></div> <div>The makeshift repairs were sufficient to quickly restart train operations. In the western occupation zones, almost all routes could be used again until the end of 1947. By then, 90 percent of the destroyed and damaged bridges had been finally or provisionally restored. In addition, 75 percent of the destroyed tracks and 72 percent of the switches had been replaced.</div> <div><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height:115%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height:115%;"><span style="line-height:115%;">However, two and a half years after the end of the war, the railway was far away from the speed and comfort of the pre-war trains in both East and West of Germany. It would take many more years to reach the earlier standard of performance</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div> <div><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"> </span></div> <div><strong><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12pt;">Page 77, Rising Speed:</span></strong></div> <div><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"> </span></div> <div><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12pt;">The Second World War had thrown back the German Railway in technical terms several years. This was particularly evident in the development of speed: By 1955, freight and passenger trains were on average slower than twenty years earlier. Thus, the fast railcars reached an average of 85 to 90 km / h in 1951 on the then reestablished long-distance express network, which were 20 to 30 km / h less than in 1939.</span></div> <div><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12pt;">Thus the entire superstructure was extensively renewed since the mid-1950s and designed for higher speeds. The rail joints started to disappeared, and beginning in 1954 endlessly welded rails became the standard track.</span></div> <div><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12pt;">Finally, DB was able to eliminate the numerous low-speed sections. In 1957, the number was over 800.</span></div> <div><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12pt;">Regards, Volker</span></div> <div><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12pt;">P.S.: I apologize in advance if the forum software changes the formatting of the post. It was written in Word. I'm currently not allowed to edit my posts.</span></div> <div> </div> <div><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"> </span></div> <div><span lang="EN-US"> </span></div> <div><span lang="EN-US"><br /> </span></div> <p> </p>
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag