At the end of the 19th century, the growing transport needs of the already heavily industrialised Upper Silesia region* (surrounding Katowice; nowadays southern Poland, but a German (Prussian) province until World War I) necessitated developing a new passenger transport system. There already existed a widely developed narrow gauge railway system (GKW or Upper Silesian Narrow Gauge Railways - with unique 785 mm gauge); however its main aim was goods transport, therefore its tracks seldom reached town centres or other populated areas. *) Find out more about Upper Silesia and related topics on Wikipedia    On January 23rd 1891 a German corporation called Kramer&Co. from Berlin sent a note to the mayor of Bytom (at that time the capital town of the region), proposing a steam tramway system in Upper Silesia. Correspondence between Kramer&Co. and the town authorities lasted more than a year. On April 24th 1892 a contract was signed stating that the first tramway line was to be built from Gliwice through Zabrze, Chebzie, Chorzow, Bytom to Piekary Slaskie. Similar contracts were signed by the authorities of Gliwice and Zabrze. According to the contracts the gauge of this interurban railway was to be 1000 mm (metric). The line was supposed to be single-track with passing loops. Steam locomotives (produced by Rowan company, max speed ca. 20 kmph) were planned for hauling the carriages. On June 3rd 1893 the contract was changed according to Prussian Law on Local Railways of July 23rd 1892. One of the most important changes was the projected track gauge - 785 mm (30 Prussian inches).    In the meantime, organisational preparations for exploitation were taking place. On February 24th 1894 Allgemeine Deutsche Kleinbahn AG (General German Local Railways) formed a new company - Oberschlesische Dampfstrassenbahn GmbH (ODS, Upper Silesian Steam Tramways) the purpose of which was to operate the forthcoming trams.	Two faces of today's Silesian Interurbans - modern low-floor 116Nd car in the centre of Bytom (top) and a rural line (Route 25) near Grodziec (bottom).
On May 27th 1894 the first part of the contracted line was opened - from Piekary Slaskie through Szarlej and Rozbark to Bytom. The next part - from Gliwice to Zabrze - started operation on August 26th 1894. On December 30th 1894 both parts were connected through Chebzie and Chorzow. The frequency of service was two trains per hour. Total length of the line was 34.5 km. The first depot and workshop was founded in Rozbark (today's Witczaka Street), another in Gliwice near the park (Chorzowska Street). Up to the end of the first year of operation the company carried more than 850000 passengers. The carriages were hauled by two-axle steam locomotives produced by Hohenzollern AG from Duesseldorf. They were used instead the projected Rowan steamers because of the gauge change, and because they were more suitable for running through the town streets.    Soon after the opening, citizens began to protest against the steam locomotives on the streets - they were said to be extremely noisy. In response from spring 1895 the ODS decided to replace the steamers in the centres of Bytom and Gliwice by horse-drawn trams. The steamers were still running outside the town centres but passengers who wanted to travel between Pogoda and the railway station in Bytom or between the railway station and Market Square (Rynek) in Gliwice had to change to the horse-tram. When the first line was built in Katowice (1896), the very end of it - between Huta Marta (nowadays Rondo) and Market Square (Rynek) - was operated by horse-tram from the opening.    In 1894 and 1895 the following lines were planned: Gliwice - Rudy - Raciborz  Bytom - Szombierki - Biskupice - Zabrze Szombierki - Chebzie - Wirek Katowice - Zawodzie - Szopienice Chorzow - Swietochlowice Chorzow - Dab - Katowice  Katowice - Siemianowice Slaskie Siemianowice Slaskie - Chorzow Stary - Chorzow Chorzow - Chorzow Batory - Zaleze - Katowice	Hohenzollern steam tram locomotive. Steam tramway in the centre of Zabrze. One of very few pictures of horse-drawn tram in Upper Silesia.
ODS was given a licence to build those lines. Two of them (Katowice - Alfred - Siemianowice and Chorzow - Dab - Katowice) were opened on December 30th 1896 (with a small depot in Siemianowice which has never been electrified). Most probably in 1897 the line from Alfred (Siemianowice) through Chorzow Stary to Chorzow was finished. Another line, from Bytom to Zabrze through Biskupice, was opened on September 29th 1898. At that moment (after only four years since the first tram ran in Bytom) the total length of the network reached 75 km.     On October 15th 1897 Kramer&Co. was given a licence to build and exploit a suburban narrow gauge (785 mm) steam line from Gliwice through picturesque rural areas to a small town called Rudy (about 15 km south-west from Gliwice). The line was built in less than one and a half years - on March 25th 1899 operation started between Gliwice Trynek and Rudy (which became two main stations on the line) and between the station in Trynek and the centre of Gliwice (through the present-day Pszczynska and Dworcowa Streets to the main railway station). Between 1901 and 1903 the line was extended to Raciborz. Total length of the line was 50 km. The history of this line is extremely interesting and differs very much from the rest of the tramway lines. Although the line was owned and operated by a tramway company (Oberschlesische Dampfstrassenbahn GmbH) it was a typical local railway running through rural areas. The licence allowed it to transport not only passengers, but also cargo. Until the end of operation (1993) it was not electrified nor re-gauged like the rest of the tramway system. Because of its 'railway-like' character, in 1945, it was excluded from the tramway company and became a part of Upper Silesian Narrow Gauge Railways (GKW) belonging to Polish National Railways (PKP). Some curiosities of the described line: According to some sources the line was built in 1887 as a horse-railway. The same source claims that, at that time, there already existed a horse-drawn tram system in Gliwice. After the electrification of the tramway system (begun in 1898) electric trams were operating between the centre of Gliwice and the station in Trynek, and passengers were getting off the tram straight onto the platform. On the other hand there were diesel-powered motorcars running all the way from Raciborz to Trynek and through the town streets to the centre of Gliwice. This 'railway-like' service on the streets of Gliwice operated until World War II. Of course, steam locomotives were in operation as well - traditional ones and Hohenzollern 'tram-locomotives' after their exploitation on tramway lines finished (Hohenzollern steam locomotives served the line Trynek - Rudy - Raciborz between 1901 and 1911).  Since 1905 the line had been connected to the Upper Silesian Narrow Gauge Railways system (nearest station - Gliwice Waskotorowe), but until 1947 the connection was not straight - the goods trains had to go on tramway tracks on today's Pszczynska Str. and then backwards to the Trynek station.  The overhead wires on the station Trynek served not only the trams. The electric traction was used on 'Gliwice' coal mine's siding (which was connected to the line Trynek - Rudy near station Trynek) and on the sections 'Gliwice' coal mine - Trynek and Trynek - Gliwice Waskotorowe. VBO (ODS's successor) owned one electric locomotive in working order, produced by AEG in 1926. The electric traction was dismantled before 1945 and never used again. Until 1999 the line (suspended in 1993 and soon abandoned) was the only one in the history of Upper Silesian Narrow Gauge Railway (GKW) with a regular passenger service.	Type Txb2 steam locomotives before Rudy loco-shed. Diesel car type T2/Mxz. AEG electric locomotive with a freight train. Romanian Lxd2 diesel locomotive with a passenger service Gliwice - Rudy just before the suspension.

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