Across the Rhine’s currents, a ghost of transport lingers. The ehem. Eisenbahnfähre Bonn-Oberkassel whispers tales of a time when trains sailed. This train ferry, a marvel of the Rhenish Railway Company, bridged the gap between Bonn and Oberkassel from 1870 to 1919. It was the last of six train ferries on the Rhine, a final gasp of an era before bridges dominated.
The ehem. Eisenbahnfähre Bonn-Oberkassel was more than just a ferry; it was a floating railway. Three massive pontoons, each 70 meters long and 9.5 meters wide, carried the weight of progress. Up to ten freight wagons, seven passenger carriages, or a single locomotive could traverse the Rhine on these steel behemoths. Imagine the spectacle: a train gliding onto the pontoon, the gears disengaging, and the whole assembly propelled across the river by its own steam engines, guided by submerged cables. The crossing itself took a mere 20 minutes, but the loading, unloading, and coupling added another half hour. This intricate dance of machinery occurred against the river’s current, a 45-degree angle maintained towards Oberkassel.
The ferry terminals themselves were engineering feats. The ramps leading to the water inclined at a precise 1:38 gradient. On the Bonn side, the train ferry station served not just passengers, but also the burgeoning industries along the riverbank. A dedicated track snaked its way to Bonn Hauptbahnhof, a remnant of which can still be found near Strassburger Weg and Kaiserstrasse. In Oberkassel, the ferry line veered left after the station, leading to the riverbank where the pontoons awaited.
The ehem. Eisenbahnfähre Bonn-Oberkassel played a vital role in connecting the right and left Rhine railways. In its inaugural year, six daily passenger trains journeyed from Niederlahnstein to Bonn, alongside countless freight trains. By 1873, the ferry transported a staggering 93,107 wagons and 274 locomotives. It was a symbol of connectivity, a testament to human ingenuity in overcoming natural obstacles.
The story of the ehem. Eisenbahnfähre Bonn-Oberkassel is not just a story of transport, but a story of transition. Its demise, brought about by the First World War, marked the end of an era. The ferry wharves were dismantled in 1919, the tracks lifted, and the land repurposed. A shipyard rose on the Oberkassel bank, utilizing the former ferry track as its connection to the mainline. Where trains once sailed, ships now docked. The echoes of steam engines and clanging wagons faded, replaced by the hum of industry. Yet, the memory of the train ferry persists, a reminder of a time when the Rhine was crossed not by bridges of steel, but by railways afloat.