Bruges (Lüdenscheid)

Bruges City of Lüdenscheid Coordinates: 51 ° 12 ′ 35 ″  N , 7 ° 34 ′ 5 ″  E
Height :	284  (232-354)  m
Area :	6.7 km²
Residents :	4993  (2006)
Population density :	745 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	58515
Area code :	02351
Location of Bruges in Lüdenscheid
View from Knockelsberg

Bruges is the name of a district and belongs to the statistical district 11 (Bruges) of the district town Lüdenscheid in the western Sauerland , North Rhine-Westphalia . The district and the statistical district are located in the Volmetal and in the west of the urban area of ​​Lüdenscheid. The next villages are Schalksmühle , Halver and Oberbrugge .

history

Until 1969, Bruges was a place in the municipality of Lüdenscheid-Land , Amt Lüdenscheid , which was then merged with the city of Lüdenscheid in the course of a municipal reorganization. Originally probably more important than the current town center, Winkhausen , which today belongs to Bruges, was at the exit of the Lösenbach valley. It was one of ten farmers in the parish of Lüdenscheid. They are said to have existed since at least the 13th century. On the other hand, there has always been a transition over the Volme in the direction of Halver in today's center - hence the name Bruges ( Lower German for "bridge"). Bruges gained its importance with the construction of the Volmetalbahn in the 1870s and the opening of the Bruges-Lüdenscheid branch line in 1880. It developed as a railway junction through which a large part of Lüdenscheid's passenger and freight traffic was handled. The construction of the evangelical cruciform church, which characterizes the townscape, in 1899 and the station building - larger than in Lüdenscheid-Stadt - were an expression of this. As a railway junction, Bruges experienced an Allied bombardment during World War II , which also killed some residential buildings.

Infrastructure

Bridge signal box Bruges (Westphalia)

In Bruges there is an open all-day primary school, several kindergartens and the city center for children and young people in Bruges, which offers various activities. There is a Protestant, a Catholic and a New Apostolic Church at places of worship. The Protestant cemetery is north above Volmestrasse in the direction of Lüdenscheid, the Catholic one at the end of the village on Parkstrasse. The town center is a sub-center with options for covering daily needs. The current train stop is on the western edge of the old station area. The Bruges festival and club hall in the center of the village is also worth mentioning.

The center itself consists mostly of apartment buildings with smaller shops on the ground floors. The streets further up on both sides of the Volmetal consist largely of detached single-family houses. Many of the houses have been renovated in recent years. Some smaller and larger businesses are also located in the Bruges district. Due to the nearby train stop, many residents of Bruges commute to work, school or university with the Volmetal train (RB52) to the surrounding cities of Lüdenscheid , Schalksmühle , Hagen and Dortmund , and since December 2017 also to Meinerzhagen, Gummersbach and Cologne.

Attractions

Bruges cruciform church with parish hall

Memorial at Knockesberg

Historic station building Bruges 2008

Bruges is surrounded by spruce and mixed forests, which are ideal for hiking, jogging and strolling. In addition to the Protestant Kreuzkirche and the well-known Bruges railway bridge signal box , the place is characterized by buildings from the turn of the century. Above all on the Volmestrasse running in the valley and the Parkstrasse leading into the city of Lüdenscheid there are still many buildings from the early days of the railway. They have shaped the face of the place for over a hundred years. A formerly important and listed Reidemeisterhaus in Winkhausen was completely disfigured by partial demolition and integration into a new production hall and devalued as a witness of local history. The bridge, which also runs over the Volme in Winkhausen, was financed by the district as part of the route from Cologne via Lüdenscheid to Soest with a sum of 300 thalers and is today probably the oldest surviving bridge in the city. Unfortunately in a more than unfortunate condition. On both sides of the Volme, memorial stones commemorate a meeting in the open court in 1495. Neuenhof Castle, not far in the upper Elspetal , is popular with visitors.

Those interested in technology will be particularly interested in the railway systems and their technology. One of the last operational bridge signal boxes with electro-mechanical Siemens technology is located in Bruges. It was put into operation in 1929 and has served as a dispatcher interlocking for Bruges train station ever since. The importance of the structure is underlined by the fact that it is available as a kit for model railways. Up until August 2009, the last railway signal in Germany, “Stop / continue for returning push- pull locomotives and blocked trips” ( Ts 2 / Ts 3 ) from the steam locomotive era , was in Bruges . The railway facilities used to be supplemented in the western part by an imposing station building and in the eastern part by a depot with a turntable and water tower.

The station building from 1929 was of outstanding local history and housed numerous Deutsche Bundesbahn offices, as well as a station catering, until the station was closed as an independent service in 1990. It has been empty since the city of Lüdenscheid bought it a few years ago, while efforts to maintain or use it have largely ceased. After discovering the inevitable structural damage, the city completed the demolition at the end of March 2009; As the owner, she had previously arranged for the monument protection to be lifted . In contrast to most other federal states, this is legally possible in North Rhine-Westphalia. The former depot was already losing its importance in the early 1950s and was officially dissolved in 1955. The structures then gradually disappeared; of the railway depot, only the former forge can be seen as an annex to the roundhouse.

There is also a large petrol station with a service area on the B54 / 229 in the direction of Oberbrügge and Lüdenscheid. It dates from the 1950s and is reminiscent of the time when national traffic did not yet run on motorways.

Transport links

Volmetalbahn near Bruges (Westf), looking towards Oberbruges

Rail transport

present

The Lüdenscheid-Bruges train station to the south is connected to Schalksmühle , Hagen , Herdecke and Dortmund via the Volmetal Railway (RB52) and, since December 10, 2017, with the RB 25 via Meinerzhagen , Gummersbach to Cologne. It is still in operation for freight traffic as far as Meinerzhagen or Krummenerl. The line to Halver has been closed for several years. For freight traffic, Bruges has a tariff point for wagonload traffic. Bruges in Westphalia belongs together with the city of Lüdenscheid to the Verkehrsgemeinschaft Ruhr-Lippe (VRL) , in which a common tariff applies for trains and buses.

history

There were plans to implement the Volmetalbahn from Dortmund via Hagen to Lüdenscheid as a light rail . The tram should run directly from Dortmund city center via Hagen city center to downtown Lüdenscheid . In 1997, a concept for the Hagen regional light rail system was presented, which was rejected for reasons of cost despite the transport benefits.

At the beginning of the 20th century, there were plans to connect the Volmetalbahn (Hagen – Dieringhausen railway) to the Plettenberg – Herscheid railway over a route in the urban area of Lüdenscheid and Herscheid, thus creating a connection between the Volme and Lennetal. However, this failed due to the high construction costs. The earthworks had already taken place beyond Herscheid. In the course of the First World War , however, the plans were not pursued because the necessary financial resources were lacking. In the 1920s, the Herscheid community tried to revive the construction of the railway. But at the latest with the onset of rapid inflation in the wake of the global economic crisis, the topic of railway construction was over. And later, motor traffic finally prevailed on the roads in Germany. The section would have covered around 33.9 kilometers. Due to the mountainous topography in the Sauerland , the planning envisaged mighty tunnels, bridges or underpasses, such as on the ridge between the Verse and the Ahetal, where a tunnel with a length of 650 meters was planned. Another tunnel would have run in Herscheid from the Helle to below the Schützenhalle, with a length of approx. 300 meters. A total of four tunnels with a total length of 2175 meters were planned. The estimated costs for the tunnels amounted to 1.84 million marks. The Royal Railway Directorate put the total costs for the railway line at 9.8 million marks, which would have been 289,100 marks per rail kilometer.

Bus transport

The further connection of the district to the local public transport takes place via the bus lines 47, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59 and 134 of the Märkische Verkehrsgesellschaft (MVG) and the Busverkehr Ruhr-Sieg (BRS) .

Important bus stops in the district are: "Strücken", "Strücken Wendestelle", "Hammerhaus", "Linneper Mühle", "Nöllenhammer", "Stephansohl", "Grüne", "Grüne Baberg", "Jägerhäuschen", "Crummenerl", " Winkhausen ”,“ Bruges Post ”,“ Bruges Bahnhof ”,“ Schlade ”,“ Eininghausen ”,“ Ahelle ”,“ Aheller Hammer ”,“ Oberbrugge ”,“ Ostendorf School ”,“ Ostendorf ”,“ Abzw. Halverscheid ”,“ Wahrder Weg ”,“ Husmecke ”,“ Bruges Church ”,“ Opderbeckstraße ”,“ Bruges School ”,“ Am Ziegenkopf ”,“ Am Hang ”,“ Bruges Friedhof ”and“ Stüttinghausen ”.

Bruges in Westphalia belongs together with the city of Lüdenscheid to the Verkehrsgemeinschaft Ruhr-Lippe (VRL) , in which a common tariff applies for trains and buses.

Road traffic

The federal highways 54 and 229 cross in the center . The connection to the federal motorway network is via the exit No. 13 Lüdenscheid-Nord of the federal motorway 45 a few kilometers away . The A 45 itself leads north to Hagen and Dortmund and south to Siegen , Wetzlar , Gießen and Frankfurt am Main . Other alternative junctions are exits no. 14 Lüdenscheid and no. 15 Lüdenscheid-Süd of the A 45. Many parking spaces within Bruges ensure that motorists have enough parking space.

Web links

Commons : Bruges  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Bruges website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Chapter 02 Population Statistical Yearbook of the City of Lüdenscheid The information in the infobox relates to statistical district 12 (Bruges)
2. ↑ cf. Wilhelm Sauerländer / Günther Deitenbeck (1989): “History of the city of Lüdenscheid from its beginnings to the year 1813”, p. 9
3. ↑ Information on the Bruges children's and youth club on the website of the city of Lüdenscheid
4. ↑ Public information data on the development plan No. 718 of the city of Lüdenscheid-Winkhausen ( Memento from September 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
5. ↑ Article from the Westfälische Rundschau from January 29, 2013: "Railway - trains should go to Lüdenscheid"