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56-780: Viernheim lies in the Rhine rift , and although it also lies in Hesse, it is bounded on the west, south and east by Baden-Württemberg. North of the Viernheim woods, in Lampertheim, begins the Hessisches Ried . East of Viernheim lies the town of Weinheim, which is where the district’s namesake Bergstraße begins, and which also marks the beginning of the Odenwald . The town lies roughly 10 kilometres (6 miles) northeast of Mannheim , 10 km (6 mi) east of

112-672: A 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) gauge, whereas Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand have metre-gauge railways . Narrow-gauge trams, particularly metre-gauge, are common in Europe. Non-industrial, narrow-gauge mountain railways are (or were) common in the Rocky Mountains of the United States and the Pacific Cordillera of Canada, Mexico, Switzerland, Bulgaria, the former Yugoslavia , Greece, and Costa Rica. A narrow-gauge railway

168-425: A curve with standard-gauge rail ( 1435 mm ) can allow speed up to 145 km/h (90 mph), the same curve with narrow-gauge rail ( 1067mm ) can only allow speed up to 130 km/h (81 mph). In Japan and Queensland, recent permanent-way improvements have allowed trains on 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) gauge tracks to exceed 160 km/h (99 mph). Queensland Rail 's Electric Tilt Train ,

224-455: A design speed of 137 km/h (85 mph). Curve radius is also important for high speeds: narrow-gauge railways allow sharper curves, but these limit a vehicle's safe speed. Many narrow gauges, from 15 in ( 381 mm ) gauge to 4 ft 8 in ( 1,422 mm ) gauge, are in present or former use. They fall into several broad categories: 4 ft 6 in ( 1,372 mm ) track gauge (also known as Scotch gauge)

280-474: A heavy-duty narrow-gauge line is Brazil's EFVM . 1,000 mm ( 3 ft  3 + 3 ⁄ 8  in ) gauge, it has over-100-pound rail (100 lb/yd or 49.6 kg/m) and a loading gauge almost as large as US non-excess-height lines. The line has a number of 4,000-horsepower (3,000 kW) locomotives and 200-plus-car trains. Narrow gauge's reduced stability means that its trains cannot run at speeds as high as on broader gauges. For example, if

336-560: A link with the Weschnitztalbahn there. Owing to low demand, however, passenger service was discontinued in 1960 on the whole line and replaced with a bus service, while the tracks between Viernheim and Lampertheim were torn up (the right-of-way can still be discerned in the woods today as a broad lane). Only goods service was continued between Weinheim and Viernheim by Deutsche Bahn , until it, too, ceased. It was, however, revived in July 2004 by

392-498: A mine in Bohemia with a railway of about 2 ft ( 610 mm ) gauge. During the 16th century, railways were primarily restricted to hand-pushed, narrow-gauge lines in mines throughout Europe. In the 17th century, mine railways were extended to provide transportation above ground. These lines were industrial , connecting mines with nearby transportation points (usually canals or other waterways). These railways were usually built to

448-785: A number of large 3 ft ( 914 mm ) railroad systems in North America; notable examples include the Denver & Rio Grande and Rio Grande Southern in Colorado; the Texas and St. Louis Railway in Texas, Arkansas and Missouri; and, the South Pacific Coast , White Pass and Yukon Route and West Side Lumber Co of California. 3 ft was also a common track gauge in South America, Ireland and on

504-724: A parish, as do the Evangeliumschristen-Baptisten ("Gospel Christian Baptists"), the New Apostolic Church and the Jehovah's Witnesses . There has been no Jewish community in town since National Socialist times. The synagogue on Hügelstraße, consecrated on 31 August 1827, was destroyed by the SA along with some locals on 10 November 1938 during the Kristallnacht pogrom . The municipal election held on 27 March 2011 yielded

560-717: A response to the evolution of the Alps to the south. It remains active to the present day. Today, the Rhine Rift Valley forms a downfaulted trough through which the river Rhine flows. The Upper Rhine Plain was formed during the Early Cenozoic era, during the Late Eocene epoch. At this time, the Alpine Orogeny , the major mountain building event that was to produce the Alps , was in its early stages. The Alps were formed because

616-577: Is a major rift , about 350-kilometre-long (220 mi) and on average 50-kilometre-wide (31 mi), between Basel in the south and the cities of Frankfurt / Wiesbaden in the north. Its southern section straddles the France–Germany border . It forms part of the European Cenozoic Rift System , which extends across Central Europe . The Upper Rhine Graben formed during the Oligocene , as

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672-487: Is a track gauge of 1,000 mm ( 3 ft  3 + 3 ⁄ 8  in ). It has about 95,000 km (59,000 mi) of track. According to Italian law, track gauges in Italy were defined from the centre of each rail rather than the inside edges of the rails. This gauge, measured 950 mm ( 3 ft  1 + 3 ⁄ 8  in ) between the edges of the rails, is known as Italian metre gauge . There were

728-767: Is estimated to be ~2. To both the east and west of the Rhine Plain, two major hill ranges have formed that run the length of the basin. To the west, in France, these hills are known as the Vosges mountain range and in the east, in Germany, the hills comprise the Black Forest . These ranges exhume the same types of rocks in their cores, including deep crustal gneiss . Both ranges correspond to uplifts of more than 2,500 metres, much of which has since been eroded. This uplift has occurred because of

784-480: Is one where the distance between the inside edges of the rails is less than 1,435 mm ( 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ). Historically, the term was sometimes used to refer to what are now standard-gauge railways , to distinguish them from broad-gauge railways , but this use no longer applies. The earliest recorded railway appears in Georgius Agricola 's 1556 De re metallica , which shows

840-698: Is run by the Rhein-Neckar-Verkehr GmbH (RNV). A regional busline of Busverkehr Rhein-Neckar runs to Weinheim as well as Lampertheim and Worms . There are also two town buslines run by the RNV daughter company V-Bus. All public transport is integrated into the Rhine-Neckar Transport Association. Viernheim is the endpoint of the Weinheim–Viernheim railway line built in 1905, which originally ran on by way of Lampertheim to Worms to afford

896-613: The A ;6 ), the two outlying centres which are each made up of only one road, Neuzenlache and Ziegelhütte (south of the A 659 and the outlying farms northeast of town. Viernheim grew out of a Carolingian king's court. Viernheim had its first documentary mention in 777 in the Lorsch codex , the Lorsch Abbey 's book of documents. Through donations, it ended up in the Abbey’s ownership. In 1232,

952-773: The Archbishopric of Mainz . Owing to changing lords in the 15th and 16th centuries, the townsfolk had to convert seven times because of the Peace of Augsburg . When the town passed back to the Electorate of Mainz , however, Roman Catholicism kept its place as the local denomination. In the early 20th century, the Lutheran townsfolk who had by now been drawn to the town got their own church in Viernheim. Today in Viernheim, there are three Catholic parishes, St. Michael , St. Hildegard merged in 2015, St. Marien and St. Aposteln , which belong to

1008-1013: The Isle of Man . 900 mm was a common gauge in Europe. Swedish three-foot-gauge railways ( 891 mm or 2 ft  11 + 3 ⁄ 32  in ) are unique to that country and were once common all over the country. Today the only 891 mm line that remains apart from heritage railways is Roslagsbanan , a commuter line that connects Stockholm to its northeastern suburbs. A few railways and tramways were built to 2 ft 9 in ( 838 mm ) gauge, including Nankai Main Line (later converted to 3 ft 6 in or 1,067 mm ), Ocean Pier Railway at Atlantic City , Seaton Tramway ( converted from 2 ft ) and Waiorongomai Tramway . 800 mm ( 2 ft  7 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ) gauge railways are commonly used for rack railways . Imperial 2 ft 6 in ( 762 mm ) gauge railways were generally constructed in

1064-514: The Old High German firni (“old”, “from long ago”) or the Celtic vernos (“ alder ”). The Viernheim town flag is blue-white-red. Viernheim is twinned with: Viernheim lies on the A 659 , which leads directly to Mannheim and Weinheim , and also affords a direct link to three further Autobahnen , the A 5 , the A 6 and the A 67 . Because of the two Autobahn junctions,

1120-518: The Palatinate Forest on the western and the Odenwald on the eastern side. The extension induced by the formation of the Alps was sufficient to thin the crust and provide suitable dilational conduits for magmatic and volcanic activity to occur. This resulted in the emplacement of mafic dykes , which follow the general structural trend of the extensional faults. In addition, isolated volcanoes such as

1176-652: The Rhine and 10 km (6 mi) west of the Bergstrasse. Viernheim borders in the north on the town of Lampertheim (in Hessen ), in the northeast on the towns of Hemsbach and Weinheim , in the south on the community of Heddesheim (all three in the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis ), and in the west on the district-free city of Mannheim (all in Baden-Württemberg ). Viernheim is divided into several sections. It has been

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1232-712: The Tivoli (in the south at the Rhein-Neckar-Zentrum ), Hinter den Zäunen (“Behind the Fences”, south of the OEG tracks), Gewerbegebiet Eins ("Commercial Area One", in the northeast, north of Friedrich-Ebert-Straße and east of Lorscher Straße) and the new development that has sprung up over the last few years, Bannholzgraben, east of Janusz-Korczak-Allee (L 3111). Moreover, there are also the Sportgebiet West (“Sport Area West”, west of

1288-523: The Viernheimer Kreuz and the Viernheimer Dreieck , Viernheim is also well known to many drivers. Viernheim is linked to the surrounding cities by a narrow-gauge railway and a busline. The electric narrow-gauge railway ( Oberrheinische Eisenbahn , OEG), nowadays designated line 5R, is usually regarded as an interurban . Since 1887 it has run to Mannheim , Weinheim and Heidelberg , and

1344-565: The 500mm gauge tracks of their mine railway ; these locomotives were made by the Deutz Gas Engine Company ( Gasmotorenfabrik Deutz ), now Deutz AG . Another early use of internal combustion was to power a narrow-gauge locomotive was in 1902. F. C. Blake built a 7 hp petrol locomotive for the Richmond Main Sewerage Board sewage plant at Mortlake . This 2 ft 9 in ( 838 mm ) gauge locomotive

1400-830: The Abbey’s holdings were given to the Archbishops of Mainz , but only in 1308 did Viernheim pass to Mainz. In 1439, however, the town was pledged to the Schönau Abbey, who in turn sold it to the Electorate of the Palatinate . After the Thirty Years' War , it passed back to Mainz, and thence under the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss in 1803 to the Grand Duchy of Hesse , out of which came the People's State of Hesse in 1918. Once in

1456-689: The Kaiserstuhl were formed. The Kaiserstuhl (literally "Emperor's Chair") is a cluster of volcanic hills to the northwest of Freiburg, within the Rhine Graben. The highest point of this small, isolated volcanic centre is the Totenkopf (557 metres). Volcanic activity was most prevalent in the Miocene epoch, some 15 million years ago. Today, the Kaiserstuhl volcano is extinct. In 1356, the Basel earthquake occurred in

1512-523: The Lion of Hesse armed and crowned Or and langued gules, below party per pale gules a six-spoked wheel argent and Or a Gothic four sable. The arms were introduced in 1926. The charge in the upper part of the escutcheon is the Lion of Hesse, which expresses the town's longstanding status as part of Hesse. Below the fess line on the dexter (armsbearer's right, viewer's left) side is the Wheel of Mainz , which stands for

1568-578: The MVV GmbH daughter company ConTrain. The old railway station today houses a municipal leisure and meeting place bearing the name Treff im Bahnhof (“Meeting in the Railway Station”). Viernheim has four industrial area with many middle-class businesses. Many well known firms, such as Pfenning Logistics, have their warehouses in Viernheim and Buderus has its distribution centre there. Plisch GmbH and Hommel Hercules Werkzeuge also have their head offices in

1624-538: The People's State, the town was assigned first to the Amtsvogtei of Lorsch . When Landratsbezirke – another kind of administrative division – were created in 1821, Viernheim was assigned to Heppenheim . From 1832 to 1839 came a spell under Bensheim 's jurisdiction. From 1848, the town then belonged to Heppenheim district, which in 1938 was merged with Bensheim district to form today’s Bergstraße district . In 1948, Viernheim

1680-928: The Philippines demonstrate that if track is built to a heavy-duty standard, performance almost as good as a standard-gauge line is possible. Two-hundred-car trains operate on the Sishen–Saldanha railway line in South Africa, and high-speed Tilt Trains run in Queensland. In South Africa and New Zealand, the loading gauge is similar to the restricted British loading gauge; in New Zealand, some British Rail Mark 2 carriages have been rebuilt with new bogies for use by Tranz Scenic (Wellington-Palmerston North service), Tranz Metro (Wellington-Masterton service), and Auckland One Rail (Auckland suburban services). Another example of

1736-562: The Rhine Plain. It was perhaps the most destructive earthquake ever in northwest Europe , destroying the city of Basel and flattening buildings as far as 200 km away. It was the most significant historic seismological event to have occurred in Central Europe. Its epicenter was between Waldkirch and St. Peter in Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald . However, it remains disputed whether the fault that ruptured to cause this earthquake

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1792-844: The US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than 1,435 mm ( 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ) standard gauge . Most narrow-gauge railways are between 600 mm ( 1 ft  11 + 5 ⁄ 8  in ) and 1,067 mm ( 3 ft 6 in ). Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves , smaller structure gauges , and lighter rails ; they can be less costly to build, equip, and operate than standard- or broad-gauge railways (particularly in mountainous or difficult terrain). Lower-cost narrow-gauge railways are often used in mountainous terrain, where engineering savings can be substantial. Lower-cost narrow-gauge railways are often built to serve industries as well as sparsely populated communities where

1848-961: The coal industry. Some sugar cane lines in Cuba were 2 ft  3 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ( 699 mm ). 2 ft ( 610 mm ) gauge railways were generally constructed in the former British colonies. The U.S. had a number of railways of that gauge , including several in the state of Maine such as the Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway . 1 ft  11 + 3 ⁄ 4  in ( 603 mm ), 600 mm ( 1 ft  11 + 5 ⁄ 8  in ) and 1 ft  11 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ( 597 mm ) were used in Europe. Gauges below 1 ft  11 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ( 597 mm ) were rare. Arthur Percival Heywood developed 15 in ( 381 mm ) gauge estate railways in Britain and Decauville produced

1904-410: The continents of Europe and Africa collided. It is thought that because the collision was irregular , the initial contact between the two continents resulted in the formation of dilational (extensional) structures in the foreland basin to the north of the Alps. The result was substantial crustal thinning, forming a major extensional graben and causing isolated volcanic activity. The stretch factor

1960-404: The deanery of Bergstraße-West of the Bishopric of Mainz, and two Lutheran parishes, Auferstehungskirche ("Church of the Resurrection") and Christuskirche , which both belong to the deanery of Bergstraße-Süd of the Lutheran Church in Hesse and Nassau . Besides the two big churches, the Bund Freier evangelischer Gemeinden in Deutschland ("League of Free Evangelical Parishes in Germany") has

2016-427: The fastest train in Australia and the fastest 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) gauge train in the world, set a record of 210 km/h (130 mph). The speed record for 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) narrow-gauge rail is 245 km/h (152 mph), set in South Africa in 1978. A special 2 ft ( 610 mm ) gauge railcar was built for the Otavi Mining and Railway Company with

2072-438: The following results: Heading the town is the Mayor ( Bürgermeister ) who is directly elected by the people for a term of six years. Mayor Matthias Baaß (SPD) has been in office since 1997 and was re-elected on 7 June 2009 to his third term with 72.1% of the vote. The next mayoral election is planned for 2015. At his side is the First Town Councillor ( Erster Stadtrat ), along with 11 part-time councillors. They are all chosen by

2128-422: The former British colonies . 760 mm Bosnian gauge and 750 mm railways are predominantly found in Russia and Eastern Europe. Gauges such as 2 ft 3 in ( 686 mm ), 2 ft 4 in ( 711 mm ) and 2 ft  4 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ( 724 mm ) were used in parts of the UK, particularly for railways in Wales and the borders, with some industrial use in

2184-409: The isostatic response associated with the formation of an extensional basin. As a consequence, the highest mountains exist immediately adjacent to the margin of the basin, and become increasingly low outwards. The boundaries between the hill ranges and the Rhine Graben are defined by major, normal fault zones. The northern section of the Rhine Plain is equally framed by somewhat lower mountain ranges,

2240-464: The local, everyday speech and town expansions, though, that have yielded most of the divisions. They therefore have no precisely defined bounds. The Stadtkern , or town core, is made up of the Innenstadt ("Inner Town") and the Altstadt ("Old Town") lying around it. Among the other neighbourhoods are the Nordstadt ("North Town", north of Nibelungenstraße and Wormser Straße), the Nordweststadt ("Northwest Town", west of Kreuzstraße and Am Königsacker),

2296-435: The opening of the Oberrheinische Eisenbahn (a regional narrow-gauge railway still serving a roughly triangular route among Weinheim , Mannheim and Heidelberg ) in 1887, the town began to become more of a workers’ residential community as many inhabitants found work in the factories in nearby Mannheim and Weinheim. Many workers, however, kept farming as a sideline. The location of industry in Viernheim itself began with

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2352-479: The opening of the Weinheim-Worms railway (now mostly derelict) in 1905, and further strengthened after the Second World War , bringing along with it a sharp rise in population. Given the town's favourable road links to three Autobahnen , it grew into a midsize industrial town. In 1994 came its designation as a “Brundtland Town”, and its attendant participation in an energy conservation pilot project. During World War II , Viernheim did not suffer severe damage, since

2408-426: The same narrow gauge as the mine railways from which they developed. The world's first steam locomotive , built in 1802 by Richard Trevithick for the Coalbrookdale Company, ran on a 3 ft ( 914 mm ) plateway . The first commercially successful steam locomotive was Matthew Murray 's Salamanca built in 1812 for the 4 ft 1 in ( 1,245 mm ) Middleton Railway in Leeds . Salamanca

2464-509: The town assembly ( Stadtverordnetenversammlung ) for terms of six and five years respectively and reflect the assembly's political makeup at the time of their appointments. The Mayor, the First Town Councillor and the 11 part-time councillors together form the town's executive ( Magistrat ). Following is a list of the town's mayors since 1822 (from 1649 to 1822, eight Schultheißen – roughly "sheriffs" – are known to history): The town's arms might be described thus: Party per fess, above azure

2520-409: The town had no strategic or industrial importance. So the Viernheim railway station served for a while as Mannheim station, after the Mannheim Central Station was destroyed in an air-raid in 1942. On 23 June 2016, a hostage incident occurred within a cinema in the town. No hostages were injured and the gunman was shot and killed by the Spezialeinsatzkommando . For a long time, Viernheim belonged to

2576-405: The town's former allegiance to the Electorate of Mainz . On the sinister (armsbearer's left, viewer's right) side is a Gothic figure of four, which used to be the local logo, making the arms canting , that is to say, suggestive of the town's name, since the German word for “four” is vier . Although it sounds rather like the first syllable in the town's name, it seems likelier that this comes from

2632-721: The town. The Rhein-Neckar-Zentrum shopping centre, opened in 1972, is nationally famous and probably the most well known. In Viernheim there are two regional daily newspapers : The following free advertising fliers are distributed weekly: The following regional media see Viernheim as part of their feeder and distribution area: Further schools with specific profiles are to be found in the neighbouring cities. The nearest colleges and universities are found in nearby Mannheim and Heidelberg . Rhine rift The Upper Rhine Plain , Rhine Rift Valley or Upper Rhine Graben ( German : Oberrheinische Tiefebene , Oberrheinisches Tiefland or Oberrheingraben , French : Vallée du Rhin )

2688-416: The traffic potential would not justify the cost of a standard- or broad-gauge line. Narrow-gauge railways have specialised use in mines and other environments where a small structure gauge necessitates a small loading gauge . In some countries, narrow gauge is the standard: Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, New Zealand, South Africa, and the Australian states of Queensland , Western Australia and Tasmania have

2744-541: The water used by industry. Since the 1970s it has suffered increasingly serious pollution from nitrates , pesticides , chloride and VOCs . A collaboration of 25 universities and government agencies have been researching seismic hazards, neotectonics, and water management of the Quaternary Graben fill. The research focuses on four themes: 48°57′54″N 8°14′02″E  /  48.9650°N 8.2340°E  / 48.9650; 8.2340 Narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway ( narrow-gauge railroad in

2800-460: The world; 19th-century mountain logging operations often used narrow-gauge railways to transport logs from mill to market. Significant sugarcane railways still operate in Cuba, Fiji, Java, the Philippines, and Queensland, and narrow-gauge railway equipment remains in common use for building tunnels. In 1897, a manganese mine in the Lahn valley in Germany was using two benzine -fueled locomotives with single cylinder internal combustion engines on

2856-466: Was adopted by early 19th-century railways, primarily in the Lanarkshire area of Scotland. 4 ft  6 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ( 1,384 mm ) lines were also constructed, and both were eventually converted to standard gauge. 1,067 mm ( 3 ft 6 in ) between the inside of the rail heads, its name and classification vary worldwide and it has about 112,000 kilometres (70,000 mi) of track. As its name implies, metre gauge

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2912-444: Was also the first rack-and-pinion locomotive. During the 1820s and 1830s, a number of industrial narrow-gauge railways in the United Kingdom used steam locomotives. In 1842, the first narrow-gauge steam locomotive outside the UK was built for the 1,100 mm ( 3 ft  7 + 5 ⁄ 16  in )-gauge Antwerp-Ghent Railway in Belgium. The first use of steam locomotives on a public, passenger-carrying narrow-gauge railway

2968-513: Was granted town rights by the newly founded Land of Hesse. During the 19th century the tobacco industry gained some importance, since several small tobacco manufacturers were founded. Rolling cigars provided additional income for farmers or peasants and their families during the winter. Until the end of the 19th century, Viernheim was a farming village. Bad harvests and widespread hunger in 1852 led to 458 inhabitants emigrating in this year to North America . With industrialization and

3024-492: Was in 1865, when the Ffestiniog Railway introduced passenger service after receiving its first locomotives two years earlier. Many narrow-gauge railways were part of industrial enterprises and served primarily as industrial railways , rather than general carriers. Common uses for these industrial narrow-gauge railways included mining, logging, construction, tunnelling, quarrying, and conveying agricultural products. Extensive narrow-gauge networks were constructed in many parts of

3080-563: Was part of the Rhine Valley extensional system, or simply one of the many thrust faults that make up the Alps to the south. Doubts have been raised over the adequacy of the seismic evaluation and design of the Fessenheim Nuclear Power Plant , built in the Rhine Plain close to the faults. Located below the plain, the Upper Rhine aquifer – one of the largest in Europe – holds an estimated 45,000 km (11,000 cu mi) of fresh water and supplies some 3 million people in France and Germany, supplying 75% of their drinking water and 50% of

3136-480: Was probably the third petrol-engined locomotive built. Extensive narrow-gauge rail systems served the front-line trenches of both sides in World War I . They were a short-lived military application, and after the war the surplus equipment created a small boom in European narrow-gauge railway building. The heavy-duty 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) narrow-gauge railways in Australia (Queensland), New Zealand, South Africa, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia and

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