The Düsseldorf-Elberfeld Railway Company (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

: ''Düsseldorf-Elberfelder Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'', DEE) was founded in October 1835 and officially recognised by a

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n government statute on 23 September 1837. This gave the company a concession for the construction and operation of the 26 kilometre long Düsseldorf–Elberfeld line via

Erkrath Erkrath () is a town in the Mettmann (district), district of Mettmann, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Erkrath is situated on the river Düssel, directly east of Düsseldorf and west of Wuppertal, close to the famous Neandertal. It ...

, Hochdahl and Vohwinkel. One of the founders was the

Elberfeld Elberfeld is a municipal subdivision of the Germany, German city of Wuppertal; it was an independent town until 1929. History The first official mentioning of the geographic area on the banks of today's Wupper River as "''elverfelde''" was ...

banker and later Prussian Minister of Commerce and Industry,

August von der Heydt August von der Heydt (15 February 1801 – 13 June 1874) was an influential German economist. Early life Von der Heydt was born in Elberfeld in the Duchy of Berg. Career During the Revolution of 1848 he was appointed as Minister to the ne ...

(1801–1874).

Construction

The construction of the first section from

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

to Erkrath (8.12 km) began on 9 April 1838 and it was opened for freight traffic on 20 December 1838. It was the first steam railway in western Germany (except for the short and sometimes horse-hauled

Bavarian Ludwig Railway The Bavarian Ludwig Railway (''Bayerische Ludwigseisenbahn'' or ''Ludwigsbahn'') was the first steam-hauled railway opened in Germany. The ''Königlich privilegierte Ludwigs-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'' ("Royal Privileged Ludwig Railway Company ...

), the first in Prussia and the fifth in Germany. The Düsseldorf station was originally located at the south end of Königsallee rather than at the current

Central Station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

. The next section of the line from Erkrath to (Wuppertal) Vohwinkel (12.61 km) was put into operation for freight on 10 April 1841. The opening of the remaining 5.45 km to Steinbeck station in Elberfeld (now part of

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, with a population of 355,000. Wuppertal is the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and List of cities in Germany by population, 17th-largest in Germany. It ...

) followed on 3 September 1841, also only for freight. Passenger operations on the line started on 1 December 1841.

Erkrath–Hochdahl incline

The biggest challenge in the construction of the line was dealing with the climb between Erkrath and Hochdahl. Because of the steep slope (1 in 30 (3.3%)) in this section for a long time trains had to be hauled by cable, originally driven by a stationary steam engine. A few months later haulage by cable attached to a stationary steam engine was changed to haulage by cable attached via pulleys to a locomotive running downhill on an additional track. In 1926, cable haulage on the incline was replaced by

bank engine A bank engine (United Kingdom/Australia) (colloquially a banker), banking engine, helper engine or pusher engine (North America) is a railway locomotive that temporarily assists a train that requires additional power or traction to climb a grad ...

Takeover

During its existence the DEE only operated its original line. After the

Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company The Bergisch-Markisch Railway Company (, BME), also referred to as the Berg-Mark Railway Company or, more rarely, as the Bergisch-Markische Railway Company, was a German railway company that together with the Cologne-Minden Railway (''Cöln-Min ...

(BME) was established on 18 October 1843 and which was also based in Elberfeld, the two companies worked closely together. The BME acquired the property of the DEE and its operating rights on 22 September 1856.

External links

Company memorandum
("Denkschrift über die Anlage einer Eisenbahn zwischen Düsseldorf und Elberfeld : mit Beifügung des veränderten Entwurfs des Status und anderer Actenstücke, so wie des Gutachtens des Civil-Ingenieuers Rob. Stephenson in London und mit einer Situations-Karte"), including engineering advice of

Robert Stephenson Robert Stephenson , (honoris causa, Hon. causa) (16 October 1803 – 12 October 1859) was an English civil engineer and designer of locomotives. The only son of George Stephenson, the "Father of Railways", he built on the achievements of hi ...

. Published: Düsseldorf, 1837. Digital copy (PDF) in library of Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dusseldorf-Elberfeld Railway Company Defunct railway companies of Germany