{"id":9131,"date":"2023-03-14T09:31:28","date_gmt":"2023-03-14T08:31:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/update.phoenixcontact.com\/news\/the-first-customer\/"},"modified":"2023-03-21T11:38:07","modified_gmt":"2023-03-21T10:38:07","slug":"the-first-customer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.phoenixcontact.com\/en\/the-first-customer\/","title":{"rendered":"1920s – The first customer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In 1923, a small startup in Essen officially began operations. The business revolved around products designed to ensure the electromobility of workers. After visiting the number one customer …<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

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A visit to the M\u00fclheim streetcar depot. Lutz Odewald in conversation with Andreas Knebel and Martin Ruhnau (from left).<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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Martin Ruhnau flips the heavy brass drive switch. Slowly, \u201cThe Green Vestische\u201d tram starts moving. Railcar 144, now lovingly restored, was used from 1921 to 1940 on community line 19 of Essen’s transportation company Vestische Kleinbahnen. As such, it most certainly came into contact with products from Ph\u00f6nix Elektro- und Industrie-Bedarfsgesellschaft during the company’s founding years. A true witness of the time, even if only humming quietly.<\/p>\n

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Hugo Kn\u00fcmann started by trading products that made electromobility suitable for the masses. Contact wire clamps are the elements from which the current-carrying overhead lines are suspended, supplying the electric power that the streetcars need to run. On the one hand, they provide the necessary support for the live wire, while on the other hand, they also ensure insulation so that the 750 volts can be handled safely. In our case, they drive the two 37 kW BBC engines on the “Green Vestische”.<\/p>\n\n

Driving while standing<\/h4>\n
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Anyone who wants to put Railcar 144 into operation will immediately understand how the term \u201ccontrol stand\u201d came about. The driver had to remain standing in this oldtimer. Not only is Martin Ruhnau the deputy chairperson of the Verkehrshistorischen Arbeitsgemeinschaft EVAG\u00a0e.V.<\/a> club and therefore on a first-name basis with the historic treasures here in the M\u00fclheim streetcar depot. The 51-year-old electrical engineer is also responsible for the technical information systems and communications technology in the streetcars. On the side, he is also a trained streetcar driver who gladly helps out on weekends if a driver is missing in regular service. Today, Andreas Knebel is by his side as his assistant. The graduate engineer is the official representative of Ruhrbahn AG in the Verkehrshistorischen Arbeitsgemeinschaft. So today, he is the official envoy of the first customer, so to speak. <\/p>\n

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Streetcar as mass transport<\/h4>\n\n

Andreas Knebel describes how transportation developed in the booming Ruhr area: \u201cBy 1847, Essen was already connected to the railway network. The main focus was on freight transport, because long-distance passenger transport was still uncommon at the time. Horse-drawn buses still dominated the streets in Essen to transport people. However, the Ruhr area was becoming increasingly industrialized. That meant a mass influx of workers with their families. They had to get to the respective mines and factories, which in Essen was mainly Krupp. In August 1893, the Essen streetcar line started running from today’s central station to Altenessen and via Altendorf to Borbeck.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Andreas Knebel<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n

Martin Ruhnau adds: \u201cThe electrification of the streetcars was introduced almost simultaneously in many cities across the Ruhr area. This means that in 2023, we are celebrating the 130th anniversary of these first streetcar lines.\u201d As the 14-ton railcar slowly rolls through the imposing historic hall of the M\u00fclheim streetcar depot, Andreas Knebel explains: \u201cWe may not have been the first to start passenger service here with electric streetcars. Berlin started earlier. But we did implement cross-town traffic here right from the start.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

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Essen main station1905<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The rail transport company S\u00fcddeutsche Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft AG (SEG) was founded in 1895. In the early 1930s, the network of streetcars covered well over 1,000 kilometers from the Ruhr area to the Bergisches Land region. \u201cPassenger transport by car was initially very slow to catch on, unlike in America, for example,\u201d Martin Ruhnau explains the importance of streetcars. \u201cAt that time, there was for the most part no other means of transportation. There were hardly any trucks either. The streetcar was the main load-bearing vehicle of the times.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Peak and decline<\/h4>\n\n

After World War II, when a good 90 percent of vehicles and overhead lines had been fully destroyed, the streetcar quickly experienced a new peak. By the mid-1950s, the majority of the lines were back in service. In 1956, the Essen streetcars transported a total of 155 million passengers. However, as Ursula Lampmann’s historical cash log reveals, sales of contact wire fittings no longer played a role for Ph\u00f6nix in the 1950s. The patented RWE terminal block had long since outranked the electromobility line component.<\/p>\n

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At the same time, the streetcar itself also came under pressure. The bus gave the rail vehicle a run for its money. Especially in the 1970s and 80s, cities were being transformed to \u201ccar-friendly cities.\u201d It was considered state-of-the-art to abolish the railway lines or shift them to tunnel traffic, making room for \u201cGermany’s favorite child.\u201d A vast number of secondary lines were discontinued, while the network of electrified transportation was drastically cut back. \u201cBecause of damage caused by mining, however, tunnel construction for underground subways here in the Ruhr area was only possible to a limited extent, so a residual above-ground network remained,\u201d says Martin Ruhnau, describing the view of the \u201cstreetcar obstacle\u201d at the time.<\/p>\n\n

New awareness<\/h4>\n\n

At VHAG-EVAG, though, this period still enjoys the highest standing, because in addition to the \u201cGreen Vestische,\u201d several other streetcars from past decades are still waiting for one or the other exit. Since then, the streetcar has become a symbol of identity in the streetscape once again, something that many cities envy about the people of Essen. Together with the repair shops of Ruhrbahn GmbH, the historic fleet of cars is lovingly preserved and kept in running order in the fitting ambience of the Alte Dreherei in M\u00fclheim.<\/p>\n\n

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After a round in the vintage streetcar, its biggest fans Ruhnau and Knebel make sure to take a quick look at the yellow NF2. The state-of-the-art low-floor streetcar is not only controlled by the driver in a comfortable back-supporting seat but also offers the latest communication and safety technology. After all, streetcars are far from being considered obsolete in the transportation transition. They are enjoying a whole new appreciation as an electromobile, environmentally friendly, and comfortable option for the advanced local passenger transportation of the future.<\/p>\n\n

“And that is precisely why, i.e. from the present day, we know Phoenix Contact, of course,” our experts smile about the antique<\/em> contact wire fitting they brought along from their own history collection. “However, as a high-tech company. The fact that you started with such a low-tech product, which is still attached to every street corner here, also surprised us. But at least you’re already electromobile!”<\/p>\n\n

Die Ruhrbahn<\/a>\u2003Verkehrshistorische Arbeitsgemeinschaft EVAG<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In demand<\/h2>\n\n

Stephan Volgmann is General Manager of Phoenix Contact Deutschland GmbH. He is therefore responsible for the domestic market of the international industrial group. So, for \u201chis\u201d very first customer as well.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Stephan Volgmann, General Manager Phoenix Contact Deutschland GmbH<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n

UPDATE:\u2002Mr. Volgmann, what kind of volume are we talking about when it comes to contact wire fittings, such as those sold by Ph\u00f6nix in 1923?<\/em>We can calculate that one contact wire clamp is needed about every 20 meters to suspend and insulate the live wires. This equates to around 50 clamps per kilometer. With around 1,500 kilometers, which made up the line network of the streetcars in the Ruhr area at that time, we get a good 75,000 fittings. So it was an item in high demand and a good foundation to start a business and capture market share.<\/p>\n\n

UPDATE:\u2002What made the Ruhr area so exciting for founders like Hugo Kn\u00fcmann in 1923?<\/em>The Ruhr area was the \u201cplace to be\u201d back then. Coal and steel were the pillars of industrialization, featuring an enormous influx of labor, including from abroad. The start was certainly not easy, though, because the Ruhr area was occupied by the French in 1923, which at first stifled almost any commercial activity. After its end and the first currency reform, though, the economy really took off. It was a gold-rush atmosphere, perhaps similar in comparison today with the situation after the fall of the Iron Curtain in the early 1990s. <\/p>\n\n

UPDATE:\u2002From today’s perspective, what is the significance of the first customer?<\/em>The beginnings of Essen’s streetcar operations are very closely linked to the power stations and their technology. The Rheinisch-Westf\u00e4lische Elektrizit\u00e4tswerk RWE, founded in 1898, with the power station in Essen as its nucleus, had the newly built streetcars as its first major customers. Since their founding in 1893, they have required a great deal of energy, especially to transport mining and steel construction workers from their homes to their workplaces. \nYou could say that our first customer also gave us the technological genes of power supply, power station technology, electrification, and electromobility right along the way. We have remained true to them for the past hundred years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1923, a small startup in Essen officially began operations. The business revolved around products designed to ensure the electromobility of workers. After visiting the number one customer … A visit to the M\u00fclheim streetcar depot. Lutz Odewald in conversation with Andreas Knebel and Martin Ruhnau (from left). Martin Ruhnau flips the heavy brass drive …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9103,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[1466,330],"tags":[1489,1469,1470,1487,1467,1468,1488,1471],"class_list":["post-9131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-railway","tag-100-years","tag-electrification","tag-essen-en","tag-first-customer","tag-history","tag-history-en","tag-stephan-volgmann-en","tag-streetcar"],"yoast_head":"\n1920s - The first customer - UPDATE<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In 1923, a small startup in Essen began its official operations. 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