The Unterburg trolleybus turntable () is a disused

turntable A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding phys ...

for

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...

es of the Solingen trolleybus system, in the

Solingen Solingen (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, 25 km east of Düsseldorf along the northern edge of the Bergisches Land, south of the Ruhr. After Wuppertal, it is the second-largest city in the Bergisches Land, and a member of ...

district

Burg an der Wupper Burg Castle (), located in Burg an der Wupper (Solingen), is the largest reconstructed castle in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and a popular tourist attraction. Its early history is closely connected to the rise of the Duchy of Berg. Early h ...

, Germany. The facility was regularly used by trolleybus line 683, operated by the Stadtwerke Solingen (SWS), until 15 November 2009, but is preserved in working condition. The turntable is the last of only four turntables of this type in the world. Two more were located in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

: the

Christchurch trolleybus turntable Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

(1936 to 1969) and the Longwood trolleybus turntable at

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

(1939 to 1940). The fourth trolleybus turntable, in

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

, Mexico, was in use from 1982 to 1983 and from 1985 to 1988.

Description

The turning process lasts 45 seconds and is always carried out without passengers on board. The turntable is remotely operated by the driver from an adjoining

control house A head house or headhouse may be an enclosed building attached to an open-sided shed, including the piers extending into a waterway, or the aboveground part of a subway station. Markets In the 18th and early 19th centuries, head houses were oft ...

. The

trolley pole A trolley pole is a tapered cylindrical pole of wood or metal, used to transfer electricity from a "live" (electrified) overhead line, overhead wire to the control and the electric traction motors of a tram or trolley bus. It is a type of current ...

s are lowered manually before starting the rotation and are raised back to the

trolley wires An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, electric multiple units, trolleybuses or trams. The generic term used by the International Union of Railways for the tec ...

afterwards, with the aid of so-called "threading tufts".

History

Until 1959, the independent municipality of Burg an der Wupper was connected to the neighbouring cities of Solingen and

Remscheid Remscheid () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is, after Wuppertal and Solingen, the third-largest municipality in Bergisches Land, being located on the northern edge of the region, on the south side of the Ruhr area. Remscheid ha ...

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

lines 3 and 4. A separate bridge over the

Wupper The Wupper () is a right tributary of the Rhine in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Rising near Marienheide in western Sauerland it runs through the mountainous region of the Bergisches Land in Berg County and enters the Rhine at Le ...

connected the two tram lines. That was destroyed in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and not rebuilt. Instead, a stub-end terminal was placed on the Solingen side. The tram system was shut down in 1959 and replaced by a trolleybus line. The narrow valley of the Wupper did not leave enough space for a

turning loop A balloon loop, turning loop, or reversing loop (Glossary of North American railway terms, North American Terminology) allows a rail vehicle or train to reverse direction without having to Shunting (rail), shunt or stop. Balloon loops can be u ...

on the -long, but only -wide transfer stop on the tramway. The confined area between the river and a steep slope proved particularly problematic. Therefore, as with the two above-mentioned turntables in the UK, a

circular Circular may refer to: * The shape of a circle * ''Circular'' (album), a 2006 album by Spanish singer Vega * Circular letter (disambiguation), a document addressed to many destinations ** Government circular, a written statement of government pol ...

disc-type turntable, with a

diameter In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the centre of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest Chord (geometry), chord of the circle. Both definitions a ...

of , was installed to turn trolleybuses on line 3. That was sufficient for the ÜHIIIs trolley type, which was exclusively used at that time. Originally, the mechanism was manually operated by the driver by means of a

hand crank A crank is an arm attached at a right angle to a rotating shaft by which circular motion is imparted to or received from the shaft. When combined with a connecting rod, it can be used to convert circular motion into reciprocating motion, or vice ...

. Introduced in 1968, the new -long vehicles of the three-axle Trolleybus Solingen (TS) type could not be used on line 3, which was why only the long-outdated ÜHIIIs vehicles were used until 27 December 1974, after which the turntable had an extension attached so it could also be used by the TS models. In 1985, the turntable was completely renewed, being extended to in diameter. Because of the limited size of the Unterburg turntable, line 683 was the only trolley line in the Solingen network on which no

articulated bus An articulated bus, also referred to as a slinky bus, bendy bus, tandem bus, vestibule bus, stretch bus, or an accordion bus, is an articulated vehicle, typically a motor bus or trolleybus, used in public transportation. It is usually a ...

es could be used. Line 683 was therefore the last line on which the

MAN A man is an adult male human. Before adulthood, a male child or adolescent is referred to as a boy. Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the f ...

SL 172 HO

rigid bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used i ...

es were used. Enlargement of the turntable would have presented technical and financial difficulties. In the middle of November 2009, line 683 was completely converted to use modern Swisstrolley articulated vehicles manufactured by

Carrosserie Hess Carrosserie HESS AG is a bus, trolleybus and commercial vehicle manufacturer based in Bellach, Switzerland. Their products can be found operating in several countries, including the United States, Canada and Australia. History The company was fo ...

. They have a diesel-powered auxiliary drive with which they operate to and from the '' Seilbahn Burg''

ropeway Ropeway may refer to: Cable transport * Cableway, or cable transport, a broad class of transport modes that have cables * Aerial lift, a means of cable transport in which cabins, cars, gondolas, or open chairs are hauled above the ground by mea ...

terminal. There, a new

bus station A bus station, bus depot, or bus interchange is a structure where city buses or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. A bus station is larger than a bus stop, which is usually simply a place on the roadside, where buses can st ...

was built for line 683 and other bus lines. The former "Burgbrücke" stop, which was located in the short

cul-de-sac A dead end, also known as a ''cul-de-sac'' (; , ), a no-through road or a no-exit road, is a street with only one combined inlet and outlet. Dead ends are added to roads in urban planning designs to limit traffic in residential areas. Some d ...

between Solingerstraße and the turntable, was moved to the other side of the Wupper river.

Future

The Unterburg turntable, which is no longer needed, is to be permanently preserved for special journeys of the Trolleybus Museum. It also benefits from the fact that it was only renovated in the middle of 2004 and thus has a lifespan of ten to fifteen years. However, according to SWSA, a final decision on the future of the world's only remaining trolleybus turntable has not yet been made.Dipl.-Ing. Jürgen Lehmann - '' New from the trolleybus '', October 2005, issue no. 62

Gallery

Busdrehscheibe01-Schloss Burg-110105 kl.jpg, The trolley poles are taken down once the trolley is on the turntable Busdrehscheibe02-Schloss Burg-110105 kl.jpg, With the driver out of the vehicle, the turning process begins Busdrehscheibe03-Schloss Burg-110105 kl.jpg, The turning continues until the bus faces the opposite direction Busdrehscheibe04-Schloss Burg-110105 kl.jpg, Once the turning is finished, the trolley poles are raised back to the wires

References

External links

Drehscheibe für Obus

Video eines Drehvorgangs auf youtube.com

1980 aufgenommenes Bild mit Verlängerungsaufsatz
{{coord, 51, 8, 14.70012, N, 7, 8, 49.45848, E, region:DE-NW_type:landmark, display=title Trolleybus transport in Germany Solingen