Photo : Norman Lamb No 8 ready to depart Gmunden for the station | Austrian Railway Group |  | ||
Stern & Hafferl Verkehr
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Several minor railway lines in the central area of Austria are owned or operated by a company started in 1883 by engineers Joseph Stern and Franz Hafferl. The firm originally built a power station to supply electricity to the town of Gmünden. They then built an electric tramway linking Gmünden town centre to the new railway line between Stainach-Irdning and Attnang-Puchheim. From 13 August 1894 trams climbed the 1 in 10 hill from beside the Traunsee to Gmünden Bahnhof 2.3 km away. Until 1975 the tramway and it's 4 cars ran to the Franz Josef Platz, but increasing road traffic and congestion forced the line to be truncated at Rathausplatz. |
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In 1989 the issue of re-extending the line was forced on the council by a referendum in which more than 6,000 people in the town voted for the reopening of the line. Work has been promised, and a start made, to not only replace the route into the heart of the town, but to extend it to the shopping centre. There is also the possibility that it will be linked with the Gmünden - Vorchdorf line, also run by Stern und Hafferl. More than 300,000 passengers use the line annually.The line has five staff, who not only drive the trams but maintain them, repair the overhead network. One of the two trams in use daily is S&H number 8, which is the only Austrian-built motor car left in service. Built by Lohner in 1961, the tram is double-ended, but only has doors on one side. Another tram, kept for special occasions is number 100, which is not owned by S&H but by Gmünden Town Council. It is an open-sided "toast rack" vehicle, built by Graz Lokomotive in 1898 for the Pöstlingbergbahn as their number IV. Bought in 1995 by the council to commemorate the line's Centenary, the tram makes appearances on or near public holidays, and during the Christmas season. During July 2003, Siemens Combino tram 107 from Nordhausen in Germany was loaned to Stern und Hafferl, and ran for 10 days on the tramway, with remarkable success. It was also used on the Traunseebahn for one day, and again the low-floor tram proved extremely popular. | ||
For current information,
see S+H's web site.
or the tramway's site
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text by S Ford
updated 13th May 2007
Design and © 2004 RFerguson yewtreefm@aol.com
If tramways are your interest look at the ARG Tramways pages.