Stolberg – Walheim railway line

		Line from Cologne
	0.0	Stolberg (Rheinl) Gbf
		Route to Aachen
	0.2	Stolberg (Rheinl) Hbf Track 27 ( Keilbahnhof )
		In the
	0.9	Stolberg (Rheinl) Ss
		former route to Münsterbusch
	0.9	Stolberg (Rheinl) Vegla ( Anst )
	1.1	Stolberg Atsch
	1.2	Stolberg granulator
	2.5	Stolberg Mühlener Bahnhof (formerly Stolberg Mühle)
	3.1	Stolberg Kortumstrasse
	3.2	Stolberg Town Hall
	3.7	Stolberg old town (formerly Stolberg Hammer)
		Riistbach Viaduct
	5.7	Stolberg (Rheinl) Zur Mühlen ( Awanst )
	5.9	Stolberg (Rheinl) Kalkwerke ( Anst )
	8.9	Breinig season stop (south end of PV )
		Falkenbach Viaduct
	11.2 11.4	Kilometer jump
		Course parallel to the Vennbahn from 1895
		former Vennbahn of Aachen
	11.7	Rooster

	13.2	Walheim (near Aachen)
		Vennbahn to Raeren

Swell:

The Stolberg – Walheim railway line , also known as the Stolberger Talbahn in the Stolberg area due to its location to the Vichtbach , connects the city of Stolberg (Rhineland) in the Aachen urban region with today's Aachen district of Walheim . The railway line has been owned by the EVS Euregio Verkehrsschienennetz since 2000 . On this route, the DB Regio runs a scheduled passenger service with the Euregiobahn on the Stolberg (Rheinl) Hbf - Stolberg-Altstadt section. Freight traffic takes place on the route between the Rust industrial park and Stolberg Hbf.

history

Rheinischer Bahnhof Velau with connection to the mirror manufacturer Stolberg

Stolberg mirror manufacture from 1863

Dispatcher interlocking Saf of the Stolberg Altstadt station

Train ride in 1998 on the Stolberg – Walheim section and part of the Vennbahn

Opening and expansion (1867–1914)

For the construction of the Stolberg - Stolberg Spiegelmanufaktur railway line, the Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft cooperated due to financial risks with the Stolberg establishment of the Spiegel Manufactures of Saint-Gobain , Chauny and Cirey . In 1863, the company bought the Spiegelmanufaktur Stolberg and began building a new factory at the current location in Schnorrenfeld at the confluence of the Vichtbach and the Inde. Germany's first cast glass hall was built here in 1866. On December 11, 1867, the Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft opened the Stolberg – Stolberg-Spiegelmanufaktur railway line with a length of 1.4 kilometers for goods traffic only, parallel to Eschweilerstrasse via Velau station.

The further expansion was implemented after initially preferring a route to the right of the Vichtbach in 1877 to the left of the creek. The resulting factory railway connection to the Spiegelmanufaktur on Eisenbahnstrasse no longer exists and is now on Münsterbachstrasse. Until the 1990s, the company was operated with its own locomotives, since then the older two-way Unimog from a subcontractor has been in use. A glass train with a diesel locomotive ( Deutz 46385, built in 1947) is a monument at the Museum Zinkhütter Hof . A steam locomotive ( Hanomag 6825, built in 1913) still stands on the factory premises as a rolling memorial .

In 1880, the valley railway line was continued over the Schleicher property after further land issues had been resolved with the company. In 1880 the line Stolberg - Stolberg Spiegelmanufaktur was nationalized and in 1881 the continuation of the railway line to the intended end at Binsfeldhammer was completed.

On September 15, 1881, the Prussian State Railway was expanded to double track to Stolberg-Hammer and on December 21, 1889, the single track was extended to the Hahn junction (11 kilometers), where it joined the Aachen-Rothe Erde Vennbahn , which was set up on July 1, 1885 - Walheim - Raeren - Monschau met. In 1887, the Stolberg – Münsterbusch railway branching off at the level of the Spiegelmanufaktur in the direction of Münsterbusch was built. In the 1980s, this route was dismantled and partially converted into a hiking trail.

On November 4, 1889, the Prussian State Railways took over the route as well as the Vennbahn connected to it at the Hahn branch . The routes were primarily used to transport coal from the west of the German Empire towards Luxembourg and iron ore in the opposite direction, as well as lime from the Walheim / Kornelimünster lime kiln plants . Furthermore, the routes opened up the structurally weak economic areas of the West Eifel and the Hohem Venn by offering the people living there an opportunity to travel to the workplaces in the Aachen area .

The connected town of Breinig received a station building, and other businesses along the route were connected with their own sidings. A ministerial decree of May 12, 1894 approved the extension of the line from Hahn to Walheim station, which was opened on July 6, 1895. The Hahn junction was dismantled in the course of this extension, from the previous junction the line now ran on a single track, parallel and operationally independent of the Vennbahn to Walheim, which was also single-track in this area. This measure has improved the safety and performance of both routes. Between 1907 and 1909, the line was expanded to two tracks, with a second identical construction being added in addition to the Riad and Schlausermühle viaducts . The double-track line between Hahn and Walheim continued to run on a common route, but was operationally independent, parallel to the single-track Vennbahn. On October 1, 1909, the second track was finally put into operation and the line upgraded to the main line.

Military importance (1914-1945)

During the First World War , the route was used for numerous military transports to France. During the mobilization, the civil traffic was temporarily completely stopped, in the further course of the war severely restricted in favor of military transports. After the end of the war, the route was also used for the repatriation of troops and the repatriation of prisoners of war.

In the 1920s, the route was used intensively for coke and ore transports, which went to the victorious powers as reparations. The reparations payments were supposed to cover as large a part of the route as possible on the victorious powers' own routes and were therefore largely routed via Stolberg and the Vennbahn, which after Walheim was now fully Belgian owned, instead of taking topographically more favorable routes. In order to weaken the German ability to attack by reducing the efficiency of strategically important railway lines, the second track between Stolberg-Hammer and Walheim had to be dismantled again in 1924 at the request of the victorious powers.

After the Nazis came to power, the route was often used by those persecuted by the regime to get near the German-Belgian border and to flee Germany. From 1938 to 1939 the west wall was built , for which large quantities of building materials were transported from Stolberg over this route to the destination stations on the Vennbahn.

During World War II , the route played only a minor role in mobilization. In September 1939, the entire equipment of the 225th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht was unloaded at Breinig station. The division stayed in Breinig until the attack on Belgium and France in April and May 1940. Since the Belgian troops had blown up the Göhl valley viaduct on the Montzen route and the Hammerbrücke near Hergenrath on the Liège – Aachen railway line , transports to supply troops were carried out until the bridges were restored. a. Headed over the Stolberg – Walheim route. The line also served as an alternative route after heavy air raids on Aachen, in which the railway infrastructure was damaged. While the line was largely spared in the first years of the war, the retreating German troops blew up the Schlausermühle and Rüst viaducts on September 11, 1944 in order to slow the advance of the Allies.

The US armed forces occupied the route between September 12 and 22, 1944, with only Stolberg Central Station remaining in German hands until the end of October. Although the Americans planned early on to reopen the route to supply their troops, the project was initially delayed by the Germans' Ardennes offensive . In January 1945 the blasted viaducts were rehabilitated with temporary constructions made of iron girders and wooden pillars, and on February 8, the US Transportation Corps of the US Army put the route between Walheim and Stolberg into operation. In the summer of 1945, civilian passenger traffic on the route was finally resumed under German management.

Post-war period and use by NATO (1945–1991)

After the end of the war, there was initially passenger traffic between Stolberg and Schmithof, but there was no offer across the border to Belgium or beyond to the Belgian Vennbahn stations further south in the German towns. The passengers to Schmithof often used the connection to smuggle coffee until the coffee tax was lowered in the summer of 1953. The trains often consisted of class 74 locomotives and three to four two-axle wagons that were pushed by the locomotive from Walheim to Schmithof due to the lack of bypass options at the Schmithof stop. From the mid-1950s, Uerdinger rail buses of the VT 95 series from the Stolberg depot were used. The trains they formed drove partly from Aachen to Stolberg and on to Walheim or from Walheim via Stolberg to Jülich, but there were also occasional journeys only between Walheim and Breinig.

The expansion of the road network and the increasing attractiveness of the bus connections as well as the increasing motorization of the population led in the 1950s to a declining demand for rail transport via the Vennbahn. With the establishment of the border between Germany and Belgium in 1956, the governments agreed that there would no longer be any scheduled passenger traffic between the countries on the Vennbahn. As a result, the line from Stolberg to Walheim finally became an unprofitable branch line for passenger traffic. With the closure of the lime works in Walheim in 1959, the volume of goods also fell sharply. The Schlausermühle viaduct was renovated in the same year, but for cost reasons it was decided to upgrade the makeshift construction instead of restoring the masonry arches. On May 29, 1960, passenger traffic to Schmithof was discontinued and in the 1960 summer timetable there was only one working pair of trains between Stolberg and Walheim. In the same year, the track of the Vennbahn (to Aachen) between Walheim and Hahn was dismantled so that the little remaining traffic to Hahn, where it was possible to switch to the Vennbahn again via a switch, rolled over the Stolberg – Walheim line. At the turn of the year 1961/62, the remaining pair of trains between Stolberg and Walheim finally stopped. Passenger train traffic was subsequently limited to occasional special trains that traveled this route to and from the Vennbahn. An exception was the diversion traffic in the course of the electrification of the main Cologne – Aachen line . For this, the Nirmer tunnel on the main line had to be slit open, which is why only single-track traffic was possible there. After landslides at the construction site, the main line was even completely closed for two weeks in the summer of 1965 and the Stolberg – Walheim line was the only way to divert trains from Cologne to Belgium without long detours, although the stop in the city of Aachen had to be omitted.

In the post-war period, freight traffic between Germany and Belgium was mainly handled via the Montzen route and the Weser valley route. Since tunnels had to be driven through on both routes, the Stolberg – Walheim route continued to play a role in freight traffic , especially for shipments that exceeded the loading gauge (Lü consignments). These were routed to Welkenraedt via Stolberg, Walheim, Raeren and Eupen, which meant that the Buschtunnel on the Weser Valley route , which was unsuitable for Lü consignments, and the Nirmer Tunnel on the Cologne – Aachen route could be bypassed. Since these shipments also included tank transports by NATO , the route remained strategically important and its maintenance was even co-financed by NATO.

After the Raeren - Sourbrodt section of the Vennbahn was transferred to the Council of the German-speaking Community of Belgium (DG) in 1990 , the Vennbahn was increasingly used for tourist traffic. The Stolberg – Walheim line as the last possible means of access to the Vennbahn from Germany thus gained a little more importance in passenger train traffic. On June 2, 1990, the opening trip to commence tourist traffic from Eupen via Raeren and Weywertz to Büllingen took place. For the festivities, a train from the 218 148 and Rheingold wagons ran from Cologne via Stolberg and Walheim to Kalterherberg on the Vennbahn.

Even after the end of the Cold War , the line remained strategically relevant to NATO, which is why the Federal Minister of Transport ordered the German Federal Railroad on April 12, 1991 to keep the line operational. NATO contributed to the cost. The last major military use of the route took place in January and February 1991 when the United States Army was transported from its German locations to the Belgian ports for further shipment in the course of the Second Gulf War . However, the renovation of the Gemmenich tunnel on the Montzen route was also completed in 1991 , which was upgraded for journeys that exceeded the loading gauge by installing a third track in the middle of the tunnel profile, so that the route was no longer used for Lü consignments. The scheduled freight train traffic on the Stolberg-Hammer - Walheim section was therefore discontinued on May 31, 1991 due to insufficient utilization and high maintenance costs for the two viaducts. There was still regular freight traffic between Stolberg-Hammer and the connection to Zur Mühlen for a railway ballast recycling company that has been located on the former site of the Westdeutsche Kalkwerke since 1979. Nevertheless, the line was kept operational for strategic military reasons.

Tourist use (1993-2004)

On the German side, too, a Vennbahn association was founded in Stolberg in the early 1990s, which wanted to use the route from Stolberg to Walheim and on to Belgium for tourist purposes. The Vennbahn e. V. concluded a leasing contract with the Deutsche Bundesbahn in October 1993 for the route from Stolberg via Walheim to the German-Belgian border. During the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the connection from Cologne via Aachen to Belgium on October 16 and 17, 1993, steam and diesel locomotives were also used by the Belgian Vennbahnverein's special train journeys on the Stolberg – Walheim line. Since April 30, 1994 tourist trips of the German Vennbahn e. V. takes place on this route and on the subsequent Vennbahn from Stolberg via Walheim and Raeren to Monschau . For this purpose, the association procured a twin-engine Uerdinger rail bus from the Austrian Federal Railways, as well as a matching trailer and control car, which were painted blue and white. On the opening day, however, due to delays, vehicles from the Düren district railway had to be used. A new platform was built in Breinig for tourist traffic and the existing platform in Walheim was renovated. Other special trips were carried out, for example, with the V 200.0 series , a TEE multiple unit from the VT 11.5 series and a class 52 steam locomotive .

In the mid-1990s, NATO lost its strategic interest in the route and stopped participating in the financing of the route maintenance, which led to a deterioration in the condition, so that longer sections could not be driven faster than 10 km / h. Due to the longer travel times to Monschau, the tourist connection of the Vennbahn e. V. became less attractive and from 1998 onwards it was limited to individual holidays instead of weekly traffic. October 25, 1998 marks the end of the association's scheduled tourist traffic.

Reactivation of passenger traffic and further development (from 1996)

As early as October 1996, a Talent multiple unit from the Aachen wagon factory Talbot drove for advertising purposes from Stolberg Hauptbahnhof to Stolberg-Hammer and back, but at that time there were no plans for regular public transport on the route. On September 1, 1999, Deutsche Bahn and EVS agreed to take over the route and the Walheim-Grenz section of the Vennbahn. On November 1, 2000, the line was handed over to EVS, which developed the concept for the Euregiobahn together with Deutsche Bahn and Aachener Verkehrsverbund . As a result, the new stops Stolberg Schneidmühle, Stolberg Mühlener Bahnhof (in the area of the former Stolberg (Rheinl) Mühle station), Stolberg Town Hall and Stolberg Altstadt (in the Stolberg-Hammer station) were created. On June 10, 2001, the Euregiobahn began scheduled traffic in the first stage of expansion with Talent railcars from Heerlen station in the Netherlands via Aachen main station and Stolberg main station to Stolberg old town. EVS even considered introducing regular passenger transport to Eupen, for which a special trip with 644 027 and invited guests from Stolberg's old town via Walheim to Eupen and back was carried out on September 16, 2001 for advertising purposes, after a test drive two days earlier took place. However, cuts in federal and state funds for local public transport as well as the high costs of the necessary renovation of the Riad and Schlausermühle viaducts (the latter was closed to train traffic shortly after the special trip) prevented the plans from being implemented. However, since 2001, Breinig train station has been served at least once a year by Euregiobahn railcars.

In freight traffic, copper plates have been transported since January 2000 for the Schwermetall Halbzeugwerk company to the connection to Zur Mühlen, which is now within the boundaries of the Stolberg Altstadt station. The weekday gravel trains to the connection to Zur Mühlen ran until mid-2005 when the recycling company moved to the Stolberg main station.

The line between Breinig and Walheim continued to grow in the 2000s, until the members of the association Eisenbahnfreunde Grenzland cut the Walheim station in 2008 and the line from Walheim to Breinig in 2010. Between November 2010 and February 2011 one of the pillars of the Riad Viaduct was also surrounded by concrete. On May 4, 2011, on behalf of EVS, a road-rail Unimog drove on the route from Walheim to the Schlausermühle viaduct and sprayed a weed control agent so that the route was initially secured against renewed growth.

Todays use

Railways in the German-Belgian border region today

In passenger transport, the Euregiobahn runs on the small section between Stolberg Hauptbahnhof and Stolberg Altstadt , which is operated by DB Regio with Talent railcars and on behalf of the Aachen Transport Association. The line connects Stolberg with Aachen, Herzogenrath and Alsdorf without changing trains. The trains coming from Aachen are winged in Stolberg's main train station and some of them travel over the Eschweiler valley railway to Eschweiler and on to Langerwehe and Düren, while the other goes to Stolberg's old town.

In addition, freight trains continue to run regularly between Stolberg (Rheinl) Gbf and the connection to the Binsfeldhammer lead smelter in the Stolberg Altstadt station as well as transports for the Schwermetall Halbzeugwerk company , which travel via the Zur Mühlen siding to the site of the former lime works there. There the copper slabs for Schwermetall Halbzeugwerk are loaded onto trucks and then transported to Breinigerberg via Vicht-Dreieck. The route between Breinig and Walheim (border) is currently closed for business, but is still passable. The EVS and the AVV plan to reactivate the route to Walheim (border) and use it for passenger traffic. The work required for this is planned by EVS by December 2022 Template: future / in 2 years. The connection from Breinig to the Euregiobahn in regular operation should initially take place in December 2019, but was postponed to July 2021 in the same year. The Belgian railways are considering using this route for freight traffic to Cologne to bypass the Aachen junction.

Route description

Stolberg (Rheinl) central station

Stolberg (Rheinl) central station 2014

The Stolberg main station is on the Aachen-Cologne line . The city has been connected to Aachen , Eschweiler , Herzogenrath , Merkstein , Alsdorf and Heerlen since June 10, 2001 by the regional train line RB 20, the so-called Euregiobahn . In addition to Stolberg (Rheinl) Hbf, the stops are also Stolberg-Schneidmühle, Stolberg - Mühlener Bahnhof, Stolberg-Rathaus and Stolberg-Altstadt. The route starts at what was then Stolberg (Rh.) Station, today Stolberg (Rheinl.) Hbf, which, like the Stolberg-Atsch station, was not incorporated into the city of Stolberg until 1935, but has always been named Stolberg like the latter.

Stolberg has been a railway junction in the region and especially in the Aachen district since the 19th century . Here met and meet several routes: next to the railway line Aachen-Cologne nor the railway Stolberg-Alsdorf Herzogenrath , the railway Stolberg-Würselen-Kohlscheid , the railway Stolberg-Münsterbusch that Eschweiler Valley Railway , which Stolberg Valley Railway and the Vennbahn. In 2009, a new platform was built for trains to and from Stolberg Altstadt on track 27 south of the reception building at 0.2 km. At route kilometer 0.9 there is a siding to the St. Gobain company (Vegla) and the now distant route to Münsterbusch used to branch off there.

Stolberg-Atsch stop

The Atsch stop was at kilometer 1.1 in the immediate vicinity of a road bridge over the Inde and should not be confused with Atsch train station on the Stolberg – Kohlscheid line , but in the same district of Atsch . The stop existed from 1954 until passenger traffic on the line was discontinued at the end of December 1961. The ASEAG tram line 8 ran there until October 5, 1959 .

Stolberg granulator stop

The Stolberg-Schneidmühle stop was rebuilt and put into operation in 2001 for the opening of the Euregiobahn at kilometer 1.2 (100 meters south of the old Atsch stop). It is a modern stop, equipped with storage facilities and a ticket machine.

Stolberg (Rheinl) Mühle station / Stolberg Mühlen station stop

Stolberg Mühlen train station stop

The Stolberg Mühle station was at kilometer point 2.5. The station building including the goods shed was completed in May 1882. In the 1910s it received the two signal boxes Mnt and Mst. Although initially only intended for passenger traffic, the station was later also used for cargo handling. On March 14, 1961, the section Stolberg (Rheinl) Hbf - Stolberg-Hammer was converted to single-track operation and on December 31, 1961, passenger traffic on the Stolberg (Rheinl) Hbf - Walheim line was finally stopped. After commercial use by a glazier, the station building was demolished in 1974, all track systems were dismantled except for the main line and a car park was built on the area of the station building.

The Mühlen Bahnhof stop is a modern stop with a large platform roof and a ticket machine. The breakpoint was created in 2001 with the introduction of the Euregiobahn. In this context, a bus station and the Stolberg Mühlener Bahnhof stop were opened to the public in 2001.

Stolberg Rathaus stop

Stolberg Rathaus stop (with Kortumstraße on the left in the picture)

About 100 meters south of the former Stolberg Kortumstraße stop (km 3.1) is the Stolberg Rathaus stop (km 3.2), which has existed since the Euregiobahn began operating on June 10, 2001, between Europastraße and An der Krone, at the confluence of Kortumstraße . The stop on Kortumstraße in Oberstolberg existed from 1954 until the cessation of passenger traffic on December 31, 1961. Like the previous stops, this is equipped with a large platform roof and ticket machine.

The Saf signal box of the Stolberg-Altstadt station is still located at a level crossing at kilometer 3.6. The dispatcher interlocking, which previously belonged to Stolberg Hammer station, used to be called Shf. With the opening of the Euregiobahn in 2001, the signal box was renamed Saf. The interlocking was used by EVS until the introduction of the ESTW .

Stolberg-Altstadt station

This station was originally built as Stolberg (Rheinl) Hammer station in 1881 on the Stolberger Talbahn near the Ketschenburg brewery at km 3.7. In addition to a station building , this station received several passenger and goods handling tracks as well as a goods shed. The double-track expansion took place between 1907 and 1909. In 1973 goods handling was abandoned, in 1974 passenger traffic was abandoned and in 1979 the station building with attached goods shed was torn down and a parking lot was built there.

The main importance of the station used to be in freight traffic. The industrial plants of the south of Stolberg were connected to the line via the station. The railway station tracks were correspondingly generous. Companies such as Prym Werke , Dalli , Westdeutsche Kalkwerke, Vereinigte Blei- und Zinnwerke (formerly Berzelius GmbH), Mäurer & Wirtz and the Ketschenburg brewery were connected via their own sidings with a distance of 5.7 and 5.9 kilometers. There is currently no goods handling for William Prym Werke and Mäurer & Wirtz. Mäurer & Wirtz discontinued rail freight transport in 1999. The Berzelius Stolberg lead smelter , however, is still active and is still regularly used for goods transport today. The service trips to the lead smelter are carried out by RTB Cargo , which has been running these transports since 2003. The Stolberg-Altstadt station is still served by freight trains several times a day.

In the course of reactivation for regular local rail passenger transport by the Euregiobahn, the station was renamed Stolberg-Altstadt in 2001. It is located in the immediate vicinity of the Burg-Center Stolberg shopping center, which opened in August 2009 . The Stolberg-Altstadt station is the current end point of the line in passenger traffic. As with the other stops, there is also a covered platform and a ticket machine. A large park-and-ride car park has been set up for commuters.

Riistbach Viaduct

Old Rüstbach Viaduct (2013)

Renewed Rüstbach Viaduct (2019)

The Rüstbach Viaduct ( 50 ° 44 ′ 28.5 ″ N , 6 ° 14 ′ 3 ″ E ) was initially built as a single track in 1881. It was not until the two-track expansion of the line in 1914–1918 that a second viaduct was added to the viaduct. On September 12, 1944, both were blown up by the German Wehrmacht to make them impassable for the approaching Allied troops. American troops repaired the viaduct with a temporary emergency bridge immediately after it was captured, so that from February 2, 1945, it was once again open to traffic. From November 2010, the owner EVS Euregio Verkehrsschienennetz carried out a necessary renovation of the central pillar in order to be able to maintain continued operation. The viaduct was allowed to travel at 10 km / h until March 2019 and a. used by freight trains for Schwermetall Halbzeugwerk and the Vereinigte Schotterwerke am Breiniger Berg. On March 27, 2019, the viaduct was blown up and new construction began. The new building was completed at the beginning of November 2019 and on November 11, 2019, a freight train drove over the new Rüstbach Viaduct for the first time. 50.74125 6.2341666666667

Breinig train station

Breinig stop

When the line from Stolberg Hammer via Breinig to Walheim was opened to traffic on December 21, 1889, the town of Breinig had a train station at kilometer point 8.9. Around 1900 it was given a signal box and in 1906 an extension to the station building with a waiting hall about 60 square meters open to the track side . On March 28, 1913, the station on the 3.1 kilometer long tram line from Kornelimünster to Breinig received an additional transport connection.

Until 1922, the ore mine Cornelia Erz was transported by light rail to the Breinig station, where it was loaded into standard-gauge wagons and taken to the Aachen-Rothe Erde station for the ironworks there.

Passenger traffic was carried out between Stolberg and Schmithof until December 31, 1961. Freight traffic between Stolberg-Mühle and Walheim-Schmithof ended on June 1, 1991. The capacity utilization sank steadily, so that the line was finally shut down completely by 1989 and the line from Aachen Rothe-Erde to Abzw. Hahn was dismantled. In the station itself, all tracks were removed with the exception of the main track in the direction of Walheim and Stolberg. The former reception building of Breinig was not demolished, but renovated and is now used as a residential and commercial building. A shoe repair shop is located in the building and a lottery acceptance point with an attached post office is located in the attached goods shed.

In 2018, on November 24th and 25th, as well as on the Advent weekends, the Euregiobahn was again operated between Stolberg Hbf and Breinig.

Falkenbach Viaduct

Behind Breinig is the eight-arched Falkenbach viaduct over the river Inde at the Schlausermühle. This viaduct is about 145 meters long and 23 meters high at the highest point. During the Second World War, the two arches that span Venwegener Strasse were blown up by retreating German troops. Advancing American troops built a makeshift bridge instead of the blasted arches, which still exists today.

Stop cock

Until 1895 there was a junction at km 11.2 - about half a kilometer behind the Falkenbach Viaduct - where the line from Stolberg joined the Aachen-Rothe Erde - Walheim line (Aachen branch of the Vennbahn). From there the traffic was led on a track to the Walheim train station. In 1895, due to the high volume of traffic, a separate track was laid for the line from Stolberg parallel to the track from Aachen to Walheim station, which thus became the new end point of the line. In 1951 the new Hahn stop was set up on the line from Aachen. It was not until 1955 that the stop at kilometer 11.7 was also served by trains to and from Stolberg and was given up again in 1961. At the Hahn junction there used to be a signal box, which has now been demolished just like the breakpoint.

Walheim train station (b Aachen)

Walheim train station

With the opening of the route from Stolberg Hammer via Breinig to Walheim for public transport on December 21, 1889, Walheim (then district of Aachen , since 1972 city of Aachen ) received a train station. Between 1907 and 1909 the two-track expansion between Walheim and Stolberg took place. Up until after the Second World War, there was a connection for the Walheim lime works at Walheim station. For a year and a half (between May 29, 1960 and December 31, 1961) Walheim station was the terminus for passenger traffic. Between the Second World War and 1960, the trains continuing to Schmithof were pushed from Walheim, as there was no transfer option in Schmithof.

On May 12, 1894, the Prussian State Railways received a ministerial decree to allow the Stolberg - Breinig - Walheim line to be independently threaded into the Walheim station and to expand it. For this purpose, a 1.97-kilometer-long track was put into operation on July 6, 1895, whereby the Walheim - Stolberg and Walheim - Rothe Erde lines ran parallel and independently of each other into the Walheim station and the Hahn junction could be closed. Walheim station was kept in operation until the early 1990s, also for military reasons, in order to guide trains that exceeded the loading gauge. Only after the reconstruction of the Gemmenich tunnel was it no longer necessary to keep the route via Walheim ready.

Since 2007 the Verein Eisenbahnfreunde Grenzland eV (EFG) has been trying to maintain the Stolberg - Raeren (- Eupen) line and would like to restore and maintain the Walheim station as the so-called Walheim museum station .

The former reception building of the Walheim train station is still preserved today, even if an extension has already been torn down. The building with the remaining goods annex is used privately. Of the tracks, only the Stolberg - Raeren track and a bypass track have been preserved. Parts of the station area are now built over. The barrier post on Schleidener Strasse and the Walheim signal box, as well as a number of wing signals, are still in place. The Walheim dispatcher interlocking Wf is a mechanical interlocking.

literature

Heinrich Arenz: Coal from the north, ore from the south. Memories of the Vennbahn . In: Eisenbahngeschichte No. 24 (October / November 2007), pp. 42–47.

Hans Schweers, Henning Wall: Railways around Aachen: 150 years of the international route Cologne - Aachen - Antwerp . Verlag Schweers + Wall, Aachen 1993, ISBN 3-921679-91-5

Vennbahn: Then and now / Hier et aujourd'hui / Vroeger en nu , publisher: Tourist Office of the Belgian Eastern Cantons 1991

Web links

Commons : Stolberg-Walheim railway line - collection of images, videos and audio files

André Joost: Description of the route 2572 Stolberg - Walheim (border). In: NRWbahnarchiv. Retrieved December 9, 2014 .
Roland Keller: Stolberg - Walheim / Part 1 Stolberg Hbf - Stolberg-Hammer. In: Railway in Stolberg. Retrieved December 9, 2014 .
Roland Keller: Stolberg - Walheim / Part 2 Stolberg-Hammer - Walheim (- Raeren). In: Railway in Stolberg. Retrieved December 9, 2014 .
History and route description of the Vennbahn. In: Op ijzeren due. Retrieved December 9, 2014 .
The Stolberg-Raeren route. Eisenbahnfreunde Grenzland eV, accessed on December 9, 2014 .
Official website of the former tourist museum railway in the High Fens. Vennbahn VoE, accessed on December 9, 2014 .

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Description of the existing infrastructure systems of EVS EUREGIO Verkehrsschienennetz GmbH for the 2018 timetable year (PDF; 862 KB) EVS Euregio Verkehrsschienennetz , December 6, 2016, accessed on September 1, 2018 .
↑ ^a ^b ^c Roland Keller: 1889 to 1920: The railway operations of the KPEV (Länderbahnzeit). In: Railway in Stolberg. Retrieved January 21, 2016 .
↑ DB Netze - Infrastructure Register
↑ Railway Atlas Germany . 9th edition. Schweers + Wall, Aachen 2014, ISBN 978-3-89494-145-1 .
^ André Joost: Description of the route 2572 (Stolberg - Walheim (border)). In: NRWbahnarchiv route archive. Retrieved January 22, 2016 .
↑ Guido Radermacher: Werkbahnen in the Aachen area - 52224 Stolberg: Berzelius Stolberg GmbH Binsfeldhammer 14. In: Railway in the Aachen area. Retrieved November 22, 2012 .
↑ ^a ^b Jürgen Lange: Copper Express is rolling back into gear. In: Aachener Zeitung . November 11, 2019, accessed November 13, 2019 .
↑ Jürgen Lange: Euregiobahn: train should go to Belgium. In: Aachener Nachrichten . May 14, 2014, accessed January 22, 2016 .
↑ Planned maintenance and construction measures by EVS GmbH with effects on rail capacity. (PDF; 123.7 KB) In: evs-online.com. EVS Euregio Verkehrsschienennetz, June 12, 2018, accessed on August 8, 2018 .
↑ Platform must be exempted from nature conservation requirements. In: Aachener Zeitung. January 29, 2019, accessed March 7, 2019 .
↑ Toni Dörflinger: From mid-2021 you will be taking the train to Breinig. In: Aachener Zeitung . September 29, 2019, accessed November 17, 2019 .
↑ Jürgen Lange: Breinig station remains on the wish list. In: Aachener Nachrichten . May 20, 2008, accessed January 21, 2016 .
^ Roland Keller: Stolberg-Atsch train station (AI). In: Railway in Stolberg. Retrieved January 22, 2016 .
^ Roland Keller: Stolberg-Atsch stop. In: Railway in Stolberg. Retrieved January 22, 2016 .
^ Roland Keller: Stolberg stop - granulator. In: Railway in Stolberg. Retrieved January 22, 2016 .
^ Roland Keller: Stolberg-Mühle station. In: Railway in Stolberg. Retrieved January 22, 2016 .
^ Roland Keller: Stolberg-Kortumstraße stop. In: Railway in Stolberg. Retrieved January 22, 2016 .
^ Roland Keller: Stolberg-Hammer station. In: Railway in Stolberg. Retrieved January 22, 2016 .
↑ Reinhard Gessen: Routes: Stolberg - Walheim - Raeren. In: Mining and railways in the Aachen-Düren-Heinsberg region. Retrieved January 22, 2016 .
↑ Burg-Center: Rush before the opening. In: Aachener Nachrichten . August 27, 2009, accessed January 22, 2016 .
↑ Jürgen Lange: EVS is renovating the Rüstbach Viaduct. In: Aachener Nachrichten . November 18, 2010, accessed January 21, 2016 .
↑ Jürgen Lange: A demolition that is the starting shot. In: Aachener Nachrichten . March 27, 2019, accessed November 5, 2019 .
↑ Roland Keller: Photo diary 11/2019. In: Railway in Stolberg. Retrieved November 5, 2019 .
↑ ^a ^b Helmut Roel: The Vennbahn - Stolberg / Rhld Hbf to Walheim. In: Railway relics. Helmut Roel, accessed on January 21, 2016 .
^ Reinhard Gessen: Sidings and industrial railways in the district and city of Aachen - Stolberg: ore mine Cornelia. In: Mining and railways in the Aachen-Düren-Heinsberg region. Retrieved January 22, 2016 .
^ Die Eisenbahnfreunde Grenzland eV (EFG)

[EVS_IS-1] Description of the existing infrastructure systems of EVS EUREGIO Verkehrsschienennetz GmbH for the 2018 timetable year (PDF; 862 KB) EVS Euregio Verkehrsschienennetz , December 6, 2016, accessed on September 1, 2018 .

[KPEV-2] Roland Keller: 1889 to 1920: The railway operations of the KPEV (Länderbahnzeit). In: Railway in Stolberg. Retrieved January 21, 2016 .

[3] DB Netze - Infrastructure Register

[4] Railway Atlas Germany . 9th edition. Schweers + Wall, Aachen 2014, ISBN 978-3-89494-145-1 .

[NRW2572-5] André Joost: Description of the route 2572 (Stolberg - Walheim (border)). In: NRWbahnarchiv route archive. Retrieved January 22, 2016 .

[Berzelius-6] Guido Radermacher: Werkbahnen in the Aachen area - 52224 Stolberg: Berzelius Stolberg GmbH Binsfeldhammer 14. In: Railway in the Aachen area. Retrieved November 22, 2012 .

[az-2019-11-11-7] Jürgen Lange: Copper Express is rolling back into gear. In: Aachener Zeitung . November 11, 2019, accessed November 13, 2019 .

[AN2014-05-14-8] Jürgen Lange: Euregiobahn: train should go to Belgium. In: Aachener Nachrichten . May 14, 2014, accessed January 22, 2016 .

[9] Planned maintenance and construction measures by EVS GmbH with effects on rail capacity. (PDF; 123.7 KB) In: evs-online.com. EVS Euregio Verkehrsschienennetz, June 12, 2018, accessed on August 8, 2018 .

[10] Platform must be exempted from nature conservation requirements. In: Aachener Zeitung. January 29, 2019, accessed March 7, 2019 .

[11] Toni Dörflinger: From mid-2021 you will be taking the train to Breinig. In: Aachener Zeitung . September 29, 2019, accessed November 17, 2019 .

[AN2008-05-20-12] Jürgen Lange: Breinig station remains on the wish list. In: Aachener Nachrichten . May 20, 2008, accessed January 21, 2016 .

[BfAtsch-13] Roland Keller: Stolberg-Atsch train station (AI). In: Railway in Stolberg. Retrieved January 22, 2016 .

[HpAtsch-14] Roland Keller: Stolberg-Atsch stop. In: Railway in Stolberg. Retrieved January 22, 2016 .

[HpSchneidmühle-15] Roland Keller: Stolberg stop - granulator. In: Railway in Stolberg. Retrieved January 22, 2016 .

[BfMühle-16] Roland Keller: Stolberg-Mühle station. In: Railway in Stolberg. Retrieved January 22, 2016 .

[HpKortum-17] Roland Keller: Stolberg-Kortumstraße stop. In: Railway in Stolberg. Retrieved January 22, 2016 .

[BfHammer-18] Roland Keller: Stolberg-Hammer station. In: Railway in Stolberg. Retrieved January 22, 2016 .

[StbgRaeren-19] Reinhard Gessen: Routes: Stolberg - Walheim - Raeren. In: Mining and railways in the Aachen-Düren-Heinsberg region. Retrieved January 22, 2016 .

[AN2009-08-27-20] Burg-Center: Rush before the opening. In: Aachener Nachrichten . August 27, 2009, accessed January 22, 2016 .

[AN2010-11-18-21] Jürgen Lange: EVS is renovating the Rüstbach Viaduct. In: Aachener Nachrichten . November 18, 2010, accessed January 21, 2016 .

[22] Jürgen Lange: A demolition that is the starting shot. In: Aachener Nachrichten . March 27, 2019, accessed November 5, 2019 .

[23] Roland Keller: Photo diary 11/2019. In: Railway in Stolberg. Retrieved November 5, 2019 .

[StgbWalh-24] Helmut Roel: The Vennbahn - Stolberg / Rhld Hbf to Walheim. In: Railway relics. Helmut Roel, accessed on January 21, 2016 .

[AGlAC-25] Reinhard Gessen: Sidings and industrial railways in the district and city of Aachen - Stolberg: ore mine Cornelia. In: Mining and railways in the Aachen-Düren-Heinsberg region. Retrieved January 22, 2016 .

[26] Die Eisenbahnfreunde Grenzland eV (EFG)