Austrian Railway Group

Lendencanaltramway
& Museum

The Lendencanaltramway was opened in 1976 using horse motive power to pull rebuilt tramcars along a 1 km long metre-gauge tramway to the nature reserve on the side of the Wörthsee, “Im Moos”.

The non-electrified route was originally part of what was to become a “Eurotram” museum is one of only two in Europe – both in Austria (the other being the museum on the former Linz – Budweis line). Proving unduly ambitious, the museum at one end of the line today contains examples of trams, trolleybuses and buses from all over Austria.

The museum uses former steam tram trailer vehicles - from the Innsbruck – Hall in Tyrol (route 4 of the IVB, and now closed) as the vehicles on its’ route. These eight trailers, (116,117,119,121,123,129,135 and 139) were all built between 1891 and 1900 by Grazer Waggenfabrik, and are used along with Klagenfurt crossbench cars 101, 109, 111 and 112, also built by Grazer Waggenfabrik in 1897.

The museum and line are open on Saturday evenings, and on Sundays during the Summer school holidays. Horses operate the route on alternate Sundays, whilst at other times the tramway is operated by former St.Pölten 25, a former standard-gauge diesel shunter, converted by the museum to operate using electric traction using accumulators.

During 2004, the city council voted through the building of a new auditorium, the “Kongress Haus” at the Audlandchaft, on the side of the Wörthsee, about halfway down the route of the tramway. The Kongress Haus is to be built right across the line of route and will project over the lake. The tramway will be closed by the severence of the tramway, and have indicated that the museum (which depends on income from the tramway) will also close as a result, unless an alternative line can be laid in the opposite direction, towards the Minimundus Model Village.