Description Coin
Description Coin
The obverse of the coin, designed by Heinz Hoyer, depicts a railcar departing from the "Hauptbahnhof" station. The station building is arranged parallel to the picture plane, while the departing train - rendered dynamically through the focused use of the colour blue - moves above the heads of the passers-by. The steel framework supports organise the coin’s composition into a stable triangular form. In the lower segment of the coin, separated by the curved bridge arch, a young elephant’s body appears, recalling the dramatic fall of the circus elephant Tuffi.
Backgroundinformation
Backgroundinformation
The Wuppertal Suspension Railway is a public transport system in the city of Wuppertal (North Rhine Westphalia) and is considered the world’s oldest monorail suspension railway in continuous operation. It was inaugurated in 1901 and runs for approximately 13.3 kilometres, predominantly above the River Wupper. The system is based on a steel supporting structure from which the vehicles are suspended from an overhead track and electrically powered. Its primary function is to relieve road traffic in the narrow valley and it forms an integral part of the city’s public transport network. While the suspension railway is continuously modernised, it is subject to strict heritage conservation regulations. It carries several tens of thousands of passengers daily and is regarded as a reliable and technically unique transport system. It also gained notoriety in 1950 due to an incident involving the circus elephant "Tuffi", who jumped from a carriage into the River Wupper during a promotional ride.
