Project Kurpfalz Interbellum
Dear friends, today I’d like to show you the latest development of my project, Kurpfalz Interbellum.
I’ve just finished a small area in the northern part of Mannheim, squeezed between the Neckar River and Friedrichsring. Historically, this was the site of a small railway station belonging to the OEG transport company—an early predecessor of today’s regional S-Bahn network. It served the circular route Weinheim – Mannheim – Heidelberg, which is now operated as RNV tram line 5.
The station building constructed in 1940 has survived to the present day. It now houses a restaurant next to the OEG City Beach, which was established in the 2010s.
Although my goal isn’t to create a perfectly accurate reconstruction, I decided to combine elements of both the past and the present. In these pictures you can see my attempt to recreate the original OEG station as it may have looked before 1940. Unfortunately, I was only able to find a single photograph of the first station building—the second-to-last picture in this post. Alongside it is my own vision of a city beach, which never actually existed here until modern times.
At the same time, my version of Mannheim still features the Kettenbrücke, simply because I love the way it looks (see the last picture). In reality, however, it had already become too narrow for the increasing volume of traffic by the end of the 19th century and was replaced by the Friedrichsbrücke.
The OEG station in my project is actually a combination of two tram stations. The beach includes a person magnet and a pier for passenger boats, and all pedestrian paths are fully functional.
As always, I’d be happy to read your comments and suggestions, especially if you’re from Mannheim or know its history well.