Former hard coal colliery in Bochum-Hamme, closed in 1964, with the 1912 Strebengerüst der Bauart Zschetzsche over Schacht 3 — one of only two surviving examples of this headframe type in the Ruhrgebiet — still active as a mine-water pumping station and v
The Zeche Carolinenglück (named Glückauf until 1870) was a hard coal mine in the Bochumer Stadtteil Hamme, close to the present-day A 40 motorway. Coal was first found by exploratory drilling in 1844; shaft-sinking began in 1847 and first coal was raised in 1850. The mine was among the earliest in the Ruhrgebiet to break through the hard Mergelgestein to reach coal at greater depth.
Over its operational life it extracted Fettkohle, Esskohle, and Magerkohle. A firedamp and coal-dust explosion on 17 February 1898 killed 116 miners, the worst pit disaster in the Ruhrgebiet at that time. In 1900 the Bochumer Verein purchased the mine; in 1928 it passed to the Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks-AG (later GBAG).
Peak annual output of 807,500 tonnes was achieved in 1929 with 2,863 workers. Schacht 1 entered service in 1850, Schacht 2 in 1891, and Schacht 3 in 1912. The Strebengerüst der Bauart Zschetzsche over Schacht 3, erected in 1912, is one of only two surviving examples of this headframe type in the Ruhrgebiet.
The mine was closed on 31 May 1964. Schacht 2 and Schacht 3 remained open for the Zentrale Wasserhaltung of the RAG; Schacht 3, at 1,076 metres one of the deepest in Bochum, pumps approximately 7.5 cubic metres of mine water per second. The Malakow-Turm over Schacht 2 (1856, modified) and the Strebengerüst over Schacht 3 survive within the Gewerbegebiet Carolinenglück and are accessible from the Erzbahn cycle path.
Exploratory drilling in 1844 struck coal at depths of 41 and 52 metres in what is now Bochum-Hamme. A Mutung was filed and shaft-sinking began in 1847. The mine was one of the first in the Ruhrgebiet to penetrate the hard Mergelgestein horizon, reaching the Carboniferous at 42 metres in 1848. The first and second Sohlen were established at 100 and 127 metres respectively, and the first coal was raised in 1850. Output reached 31,657 tonnes with 340 employees in 1855. The mine was known as Zeche Glückauf from its foundation until 1870, when the name Carolinenglück — after the Carolinenglück field — was adopted.
In 1862 the fourth Sohle was established at 250 metres and personnel transport (Seilfahrt) was authorised. In 1869 a water inrush (Mergelwasser) flooded the mine to the second Sohle; production was halted and the enterprise went into bankruptcy. Pumping was completed by 1870 and a new owner took over; production resumed with 315 miners raising 30,664 tonnes. In 1881 a new Kokerei was placed in service on the Carolinenglück site. On 17 February 1898 a Schlagwetterexplosion killed 116 miners, making it the worst mining accident in the Ruhrgebiet to that date. The miners were interred in the Friedhof Hamme. A memorial stone erected to replace a demolition-era predecessor was set up in 1987.
Schacht 2, sunk from 1856 and equipped with a Malakow-Turm in 1856 (with subsequent modifications), entered service in 1891. Schacht 3 was sunk from 1910 as Schacht 3 of the Zeche Vereinigte Carolinenglück; the Teufbeginn is recorded as 1910, with Förderbeginn in 1912. Above Schacht 3, a Strebengerüst of the Bauart Zschetzsche was erected in 1912 — a distinctive German construction type in which the headframe legs are splayed outward — making it one of only two surviving examples in the Ruhrgebiet alongside the headframe at Sterkrade. The shaft ultimately reached 1,076 metres, one of the deepest in Bochum.
In 1900 the Bochumer Verein purchased the mine. In 1912 a Koksseilbahn (coke aerial ropeway) was constructed over the present-day A 40 motorway to supply the Bochumer Verein's blast furnaces. In 1928 the Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks-AG (GBAG, later the Bergwerksgesellschaft Hibernia) took over. Peak output of 807,500 tonnes was achieved in 1929 with 2,863 workers. The Kokerei was expanded and at its height operated a large number of ovens; from the early 1950s it supplied coke to the Bochumer Verein until the blast furnaces were shut in 1968, after which the Kokerei was closed and demolished in 1968.
During the Second World War Schacht 3 (which by 1945 had been partly renamed as part of the Vereinigte Präsident through the lease of the Präsident Westfeld in 1945–1950) sustained damage. Schacht 1 was backfilled in 1946. In 1945 a portion of the neighbouring Zeche Vereinigte Präsident's Grubenfeld was acquired; in 1950 the Westfeld with Schacht 3 was leased; the Berechtsame grew by approximately 50 per cent. In 1955 output stood at 408,000 tonnes with 2,566 workers; in 1963 488,240 tonnes were raised by only 1,497 workers, reflecting the beginning of rationalisation. The mine was closed on 31 May 1964.
Following closure, Schacht 2 and Schacht 3 were retained open for mine-water management as part of the Zentrale Wasserhaltung. The submersible pump installed in the combined shaft system was for many years the most powerful in the world, raising 7.5 cubic metres per second initially from 998 metres depth (later reduced to approximately 780 metres as the water table rose). The installation pumps water from the fields of several former neighbouring mines. The RAG-Stiftung, founded in 2007, continues to operate the water management as part of its Ewigkeitskosten (perpetual costs) programme; however the system is under review and Carolinenglück faces downgrading to a less intensive pumping role. The Kokereibrücke (the last relic of the Koksseilbahn) was demolished on 16 October 2010. The converted Erzbahn route passes directly beside the surviving headframe. The Malakow-Turm over Schacht 2 and the Strebengerüst Bauart Zschetzsche over Schacht 3 both survive on the Gewerbegebiet Carolinenglück site; the site is not publicly accessible but is well visible from the adjacent cycle route.