Lendcanaltramway

The Verein Nostalgiebahnen in Kärnten (NBiK) operates the Museumtramway Klagenfurt See (Lendcanaltramway).It was constructed in 1976 at the Europapark in the Lendspitz nature reserve in Klagenfurt am Wörthersee.It is now used as an electric or horse-drawn tramway during the summer months.

The museum’s goal was to build a demonstration route for the tram vehicles that the association had recovered and rebuilt.In 1975, 40 carriages from various European tram companies from various times could be gathered.The 750-meter-long line with four stops and a four-track depot area was completed in the summer of 1976.

Horse-powered operation began on summer weekends in 1977, using the Haflinger “Max” and closed trailers from the defunct Innsbruck tram line 4.A refurbished summer carriage from the former Klagenfurt tramway was also utilized at times.This truck had considerable issues in the narrow “Lendbogen” due to its long wheelbase and was only used intermittently after multiple derailments.

For shunting operations, a re-gauged shunting tractor from the former St. Pölten tram with a VW engine was available.A food truck (“Zur Tramway” in a Stubai Valley Railway sidecar) installed itself at the start of the line on the Lend Canal, and the terminus presented an exhibition about local public transportation (PNV) in Klagenfurt.

Despite the utilization of volunteer personnel, operational successes were limited.On the one hand, this was owing to the isolated position (the Europapark could not be touched, and the Lend Canal constituted a natural barrier for tourists), but on the other, the finish point was “in the middle of nowhere.”Due to exorbitant costs, the horse business was gradually phased out beginning in the late 1980s in favor of an electric accumulator train.In the association’s own workshop, the shunting tractor was modified into an accumulator railcar (No. 25) with seats.This means that the tram may be operated at a lower cost than before.

Tramway operations were taken over by the NBiK organization after it broke from the “Carinthian Museum Railways (KMB)” in 1990.

In 2006, the abandoned ORF – medium wave transmitter “See” situated adjacent to the “Lendcanal” station hosted a huge exhibition titled “Klagenfurt once – A journey through time in pictures” on public transportation in Klagenfurt and Wörthersee shipping.Other proposals include a garden railway and museum development.The Klagenfurt Cinema Museum grew out of a special exhibition called “With the Tramway to the Beginnings of Cinema” in 2007.

In autumn 2008, the first piece of track with historic trams from the founding year 1891 marked the commencement of the “Seetramway” project’s implementation. There have been several proposals to expand the museum trams to the Europapark region.Despite a vote in principle by the Klagenfurt city senate in 2008, these plans were denied for cost grounds again.The NBiK organization resolved in 2018 to enable the Klagenfurt tram(s) set(s) to travel on the route between the Ferlacher Technikmuseum Historama and the Ferlacher Bahnhof.