How express mail coaches revolutionized travel

The epoch of speed in Germany began in the 19th century with the express mail coach. In 1821, a diligence, as the fast vehicles are called after their French model, was first used in Prussia, other countries followed. Finally, on July 1, 1841, Hamburg and Lübeck.

Marvels of technology

The new "Speed ​​Mail Coaches" are true marvels of engineering, manufactured by specialists in modern factories. The carriage sits on several steel compression springs that absorb the hard impacts. The compartments are elegantly and comfortably furnished. Contemporaries report that travelers "float gently" on newly created artificial roads, as cobbled country roads were called at the time.

A true revolution:an open car with packages and travelers was already running between the Hanseatic cities three days a week. But the tour in the simple, unsprung carriage was extremely uncomfortable. She made slow progress on the unpaved roads. When it rained, the horses would sink into the mud and the wagon would get stuck in potholes. The journey took at least twelve hours, and there was no reliable time of arrival. With the new express mail coach it's only six hours and 45 minutes.

Cross-border joint venture

Lübeck-Hamburg Diligence is an international joint venture in which the city post offices of the Free and Hanseatic Cities of Hamburg and Lübeck and the Royal Danish Post Office are involved. Because the carriage also stops at stations in Danish-ruled Holstein and transports passengers and mail that travel to Copenhagen via Lübeck.

Departure is in Hamburg from the Royal Danish Post Office in the Grosse Bleichen at seven in the morning. The postillon blows the bugle signal to the minute. The route initially leads via Kayhude and Bargfeld-Stegen with intermediate stops in Ochsenzoll and Oldesloe, after completion of the new road via Wandsbek and Ahrensburg, like today's federal highway 75.

Tight organization leads to success

Adherence to the timetable is now the top priority. Therefore, travelers must buy their ticket at the post office the day before at the latest and be ready fifteen minutes before departure. A maximum of 100 kilograms of luggage is permitted per person. It drives ahead in a second carriage, the so-called Beichaise. This makes the diligence much easier and faster than the old mobile mail.

The passengers themselves are only allowed to take a small amount of hand luggage with them, such as a book or travel stationery. Utensils that were so necessary at the time, such as swords, footmuffs or parasols, may only be taken with you if they do not bother other passengers. Dogs are forbidden.

Four powerful horses pull the diligence. It offers a carriage compartment with six seats, a front and a rear coupé with three seats each and three outside seats. It speeds down the highway at ten kilometers an hour, twice as fast as the old mail van. It only stops briefly at the Ochsenzoll and Oldesloe stations. The horses must be changed within five minutes. A special horn signal announces the number of horses required even before arrival.

Punctuality dominates everything

Around the middle of the 19th century diligences were going all over Germany. In Bavaria alone, they transport 200,000 people every year. As a result, a hitherto unknown level of punctuality has arrived. Larger post offices are now getting chiming clocks. The postillons are equipped with a course watch. And from now on, the post office will no longer measure the penalties for delays in hours, but in minutes.

The Diligence arrives in Lübeck at 1.45 p.m., covers the 60 kilometers to the horse market on the Trave in six hours and 45 minutes, twice as fast as the old mail car. The next morning she drives back to Hamburg at six o'clock.

Germany in a rush of speed

The speed of the express mail wagons is unheard of. "You almost fly forward," wrote the "Journal for Travel and Travelers" at the time. As between Hamburg and Lübeck, they reduce the travel time considerably everywhere. News, newspapers, letters are now spreading faster and people are moving closer together. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe even sees the conditions for a united Germany in the express mail coach and the road.

Progress also has critics

But progress also brings critics onto the scene. The formerly so comfortable ride in the mail car is invoked, the tyrannical punctuality of modern timetables is lamented, which even prescribe the number and length of meals for longer distances. And accidents happen all the time. In 1863 a worker dies in Hamburg, who is run over by a frenzied diligence near the stock exchange just as he is about to pull a handcart across the street. In addition, the operation remains unprofitable. The Hanseatic cities have to pay an annual subsidy for operating costs, Hamburg alone more than 1,000 marks.

The train is even faster

In the last third of the century, the railway then replaced the express mail coaches between the metropolises. The diligence to Lübeck starts in Hamburg on July 31, 1865 for the last time. Because the steam locomotive now only needs an hour and a half from the Alster to the Trave. Speed ​​is quadrupling, and with it the mobility of people, messages and goods. Mail coaches occasionally drove from village to village until the 1930s. But the further acceleration of life can no longer be stopped.