The Limmattal tramway (german: Limmattal-Strassenbahn, LSB) was a metre gauge electric

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

way that operated in the

Limmat Valley The Limmat Valley (German: ''Limmattal'') is a river valley and a region in the cantons of Zürich and Aargau in Switzerland. Geography The Limmat () is a long river located in the cantons of Zürich (ZH) and Aargau (AG). It is the co ...

, situated in the Swiss canton of Zürich to the west of the

city of Zürich A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

. Because of the prominent display of the initials ''LSB'' on the line's distinctive yellow trams, the line was popularly known as the ''Lisebethli''. The line opened in 1900 as an long interurban line from the former Zürich city boundary at Letzigraben, via

Altstetten Altstetten may refer to: * Altstetten, Erdweg, Bavaria, Germany * Altstetten, Rennertshofen, Bavaria, Germany *Altstetten (Zürich) Altstetten is a quarter in district 9 of the city of Zürich in Switzerland. It was formerly a municipality in it ...

(Farbhof) and

Schlieren Schlieren ( ; , ) are optical inhomogeneities in transparent media that are not necessarily visible to the human eye. Schlieren physics developed out of the need to produce high-quality lenses devoid of such inhomogeneities. These inhomogeneiti ...

Dietikon Dietikon is the fifth biggest city of the canton of Zürich in Switzerland, after Zürich, Winterthur, Uster and Dübendorf. It is the capital of the same-named district of Dietikon and part of the Zürich metropolitan area. Geography The i ...

. A long branch from Schlieren to

Weiningen Weiningen is a municipality in the district of Dietikon in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. It is located in the Limmat Valley (German: ''Limmattal''). The municipality was first mentioned in 870 as ''Winingon''. Geography Weiningen has ...

followed in 1901. A connection with Zürich's city trams, then operated by the Städtische Strassenbahn Zürich or StStZ, was made at Letzigraben. In its early life the line was beset by problems with its

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The term a ...

s over the

Swiss Northeastern Railway The Swiss Northeastern Railway (''Schweizerische Nordostbahn''; NOB) was an early railway company in Switzerland. It also operated shipping on Lake Constance (''Bodensee'') and Lake Zürich. Until the merger of the Western Swiss Railways into the ...

at Farbhof and Schlieren, which the trams were only permitted to cross empty, leaving their passengers to walk. By the late 1920s the track was in poor condition, although by then the level crossings had been replaced by bridges. The line between Schlieren and Dietikon closed in 1928, whilst that between Schlieren and Weiningen closed in 1931, at the same time as the rest of the line from Letzigraben to Schlieren were acquired by the StStZ. In 1950, the StStZ was renamed the

Verkehrsbetriebe Zürich Verkehrsbetriebe Zürich (VBZ) is a public transport operator in the Swiss city of Zürich, and is wholly owned by the city. Previously known as the Städtische Strassenbahn Zürich (StStZ), the organisation was founded in 1896 and adopted its cu ...

or VBZ. The section of route between Farbhof and Schlieren was closed in 1955, being replaced by a westward extension of

Zürich trolleybus route 31 Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

. The remaining section, between Letzigraben and Farbhof, is still in use, having been integrated into the Zürich city tram network as part of

Zürich tram route 2 , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

One of the line's trams, numbered Ce 2/2 2 and dating from 1900, is preserved at the

Zürich tram museum The Zürich Tram Museum (German: ''Tram-Museum Zürich''; ''TMZ'') is a transport museum in the Switzerland, Swiss city of Zürich, specialising in the history of the Zürich tram system. The main museum site is located at the former tram depot, ...

. It sees occasional operation and is painted in the line's yellow livery. It is often seen with a small postal trailer that was used to carry mail on the line. The

Limmattal light rail line The Limmattal light rail line (german: Limmattalbahn) is a metre gauge light rail line with an alignment running through the Limmat Valley, in the Swiss cantons of Aargau and Zürich to the west of the city of Zürich. The line is long, serve ...

was opened in December 2022, linking

Zürich Altstetten railway station Zürich Altstetten railway station (german: Bahnhof Zürich Altstetten) is a railway station in the Altstetten quarter of the Swiss city of Zürich. The station is located on the Zürich to Olten main line and is the junction for the Zürich ...

Killwangen Killwangen is a municipality in the district of Baden in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. History The town was first known as ''Chullewangen'' as early as 1227. The name is alemannish in origin. For nearly 600 years, Killwangen was depende ...

and using a roughly similar alignment to the Limmattal tramway's former route between Farbhof and Dietikon. As part of this development, Zürich tram route 2 was re-extended over the new line between Farbhof and Schlieren, replacing the trolleybus route.

References

External links

* Closed railway lines in Switzerland Metre gauge railways in Switzerland Tram transport in Switzerland Transport in the canton of Zürich {{Switzerland-transport-stub