Wiehltalbahn

Osberghausen – Waldbröl

2680

240b, 240c, 240f,
240h, 240m, 240n,
240e (in 1965) ,
12436 (in museum traffic in 1993) currently no course book route

Route length:

23.6 km

Gauge :

1435 mm ( standard gauge )

Route class :

D4

Top speed:

50 km / h

State (D):

North Rhine-Westphalia

Legend

	from Gummersbach-Dieringhausen (Aggertalbahn)
	to Overath / Cologne (Aggertalbahn)
0.0	Owner limit, DB Netz - RSE

0.1	Osberghausen (previously with Aggertalbahn)	150 m

0.2	B 55
0.8	Osberghausen Kohlmeyer ( Anst )
	A 4 Wiehltalbrücke
2.1	Weiershagen	156 m
2.5	Osberghausen Kind & Co (Anst)
	Wiehl
3.9	Bielstein (Rhineland) (previously Bf)	172 m
4.0	L 95

	former route to Bielstein Kleinbahnhof

4.4	Jahnstrasse
	Wiehl
6.3	Alperbrück	180 m
6.5	Wiehl RWE (preliminary, still available)
	Wiehl
	L 336
8.5	Wiehl	191 m
8.5	Bahnhofstrasse

9.4	Wiehl Kotz & Söhne (Anst) Bergische Patentachsfabrik Wiehl (BPW)

10.4	Ohlerhammer
10.9	Oberwiehl	199 m
11.1	L 133
	Wiehl
12.7	Remperg -Mühlenau (previously Remperg)	215 m
	Wiehl
	B 256
14.7	Koelner Strasse
15.9	Brüchermühle (previously Bf, reactivation planned)
16.1	L 95
	former route to Wildbergerhütte
18.0	Denklingen (Rhineland) (previously Bf)	272 m
	Denklingen Bridge
	Wissertalbahn from Morsbach
20.8	Hermesdorf	314 m
	Escher way
22.7	Projahn (Anst)
	Boxberg Tunnel B 256 (60 m)
23.6	Waldbröl (Rhineland)	294 m
	former route to Bielstein Kleinbahnhof

The Wiehltalbahn is a 23.6 kilometer long, single-track , non-electrified branch line in North Rhine-Westphalia . It bears the route number 2680 and runs along the Wiehl from Osberghausen (on the Siegburg – Olpe railway ) to Waldbröl in the Oberbergisches Kreis . Tourist passenger traffic has been taking place on the route since 1999, and freight traffic again from 2007 to 2010. This is currently dormant due to a lack of customers.

The Wiehltalbahn is a listed building because of its importance in the history of the railway. In addition to the economic importance for the quarries in the Wiehltal, this is particularly evident in the fact that, in addition to the Wissertalbahn branching off in Hermesdorf to Morsbach , three further routes branched off or were accessible from the Wiehltalbahn.

For many years - especially 2006–2010 - there were disputes between the municipalities along the route and the support group for the rescue of the Wiehl Valley Railway over its existence and the railway operation, also often in court. This led to nationwide attention.

history

Story to shutdown

Reception building of Wiehl train station

After the Oberbergische Kreis was opened up by the Aggertalbahn , there was an economic boom in the region. The Wiehl valley also benefited from this, which led to the founding of several quarries. These also called for a rail link in order to be able to shorten the long transport routes to existing rail routes. The line was therefore built primarily for the transport of greywacke . This is evidenced by the route, which even before the cessation of passenger traffic, sometimes passed the town centers, which was unfavorable for them.

The Wiehltalbahn was opened on April 21, 1897 to Wiehl and on December 15, 1906 to Waldbröl. In 1908 the section of the Wissertalbahn to Morsbach followed, which was already connected to the city of Wissen. The three other routes mentioned at the beginning were the

Railway line Brüchermühle – Wildbergerhütte (opened in 1910), which branched off in Brüchermühle until the 1960s,
Kleinstein – Waldbröl railway (1915), which connected the Bielstein and Waldbröl stations on its own separate route until 1957 (passenger traffic) and 1966 (residual goods traffic),
narrow-gauge Bröltalbahn (1870) from Waldbröl to Hennef (Sieg) .

As a result of the business operations, there was a high volume of commuters on the routes. After the Second World War there was a decline in the quarrying industry. In addition, the individualization of passenger traffic by cars has reduced passenger traffic on the Oberbergische routes. In 1953 the Bröltalbahn was shut down, in 1960 the branch line to Wildbergerhütte and passenger traffic to Morsbach. Passenger traffic on the Wiehl Valley Railway ended in 1965.

At the end of the 1960s, steam locomotives ceased to operate on the Wiehl Valley Railway, and now only diesel locomotives were used.

For more than 70 years there was a scheduled connection from Wuppertal via the Wuppertal Railway , the Volmetal Railway and the Aggertal Railway to the Wiehl Valley Railway to Waldbröl. For a long time, this service was provided by a Prussian class P 8 locomotive, which is quite typical on regional routes . After the closure of the Wiehl Valley Railway for passenger traffic, these trains continued to run to Dieringhausen until the end of the 1970s.

The freight was held still until its setting on 5 October 1994th The line was officially closed on December 24, 1997.

The Waldbröl steam locomotive in the Dieringhausen Railway Museum

The Bergische Löwe with the Waldbröl steam locomotive at the Weiershagen stop

Entrance building of the Oberwiehl train station (2004)

New station signs for the Wiehltalbahn, put up at all stations

Former RWE junction, seen from the bridge at Alperbrück stop

Reopened in 1998

Since November 16, 1998, the support group for the rescue of the Wiehltalbahn e. V. the track leased and operates in cooperation with the WB Wiehltalbahn GmbH.

Wiehltalbahn under the Wiehltalbrücke

Actions against the railway

At the inauguration of a roundabout in Wiehl in September 2006, the then State Transport Minister Oliver Wittke declared : “The continued maintenance of the museum railway is an obstacle to further development in the city of Wiehl.” The then Ministry of Building and Transport of North Rhine-Westphalia aimed at this starting to shut down the entire route and have it disassembled. This should enable planned road construction projects to be implemented after the railway systems in Waldbröl and Wiehl have been dismantled. This view was contradicted by the support group for the rescue of the Wiehl Valley Railway, especially with regard to tourist purposes and the incoming goods traffic. While Transport Minister Wittke publicly referred to the Wiehltalbahn several times as a "stair joke", the Junge Union Wiehl even called for a boycott of the railway line.

Several industrial companies forced the line to be closed in order to be able to use the area of the railway line to expand their premises. One of them, supported by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry , was BPW Bergische Axes Kommanditgesellschaft in Wiehl, which was itself the most important customer of the route from the mid-1930s until the cessation of freight traffic in 1994. The company owner acted as a strong critic of the reactivation.

Sale of the route to the municipalities

On December 15, 2006, the Wiehl Valley Railway, together with the remaining section of the Wissertal Railway, was officially sold by Deutsche Bahn to the cities of Waldbröl and Wiehl and to the communities of Morsbach and Reichshof . The municipalities were supported in this by the Landesbetrieb Straßenbau NRW , which granted interest-free loans. On the same day, the buyers announced their intention to finally shut down and dismantle the line. Despite being overindebted, the municipality of Waldbröl took out a loan of 430,000 euros that was not approved by the municipal supervisory authority.

Litigation

On January 26, 2007, the Cologne Administrative Court ruled in favor of RSE Rhein-Sieg-Eisenbahn GmbH . The state of North Rhine-Westphalia was sentenced to grant a longer-term operating license, regardless of the existence of a lease agreement. So far, the operating license has only been extended by one month at a time. In its reasoning for the judgment, the court emphasized that public law (here: granting of the operating license) should be viewed as higher than civil law (here: expired lease). This gave rise to the paradoxical situation that operation on the route had to be allowed despite the lack of a lease.

In January 2007, hurricane Kyrill caused great damage and damage in Europe. a. in woods. For a few months, large quantities of broken wood were transported by freight train three times a week. In February 2007 the dispute over the closure of the Wiehl and Wissertalbahn escalated. In the press it was reported that the mayor of Wiehl, Werner Becker-Blonigen, as well as the first alderman of the city had received anonymous threatening phone calls. The support group for the rescue of the Wiehl Valley Railway immediately distanced itself from this. Although the Ministry of Transport had been sentenced to issue an operating license in the above-mentioned judgment, it initially refused to actually issue it. The plaintiff (RSE Rhein-Sieg-Eisenbahn GmbH) therefore had to go to court again and sue for the operating license, which was issued on February 28, 2007 by the Cologne Administrative Court through an interim order. On July 7, 2008, the Higher Administrative Court for the State of North Rhine-Westphalia in Münster rejected the application by the State of North Rhine-Westphalia to allow the appeal against the judgment of the Administrative Court of Cologne. The judgment of January 26, 2007 thus became final.

After the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of Transport had already issued an operating license for the next 50 years for the Osberghausen – Waldbröl section two weeks earlier, the operating license for the Hermesdorf – Morsbach section of the Wissertal Railway followed on September 2, 2008 . Here the dispute continued with the erection of a buffer stop that did not comply with the railway building and operating regulations by the building yard of the municipality of Morsbach. When the operating license was available, the Reichshof community closed a railway bridge near Denklingen for safety reasons. The reason given by the municipality was that an expert report by the State Office for Road Construction classified a wooden bridge maintenance path at the edge of the steel bridge as dilapidated. Pedestrians who illegally use the bridge could be harmed. The Förderkreis has announced that it will override this blocking if necessary, as the municipality had no right to block it, as this is only the responsibility of RSE as the operator. There was initially no need for this, as the route section had not yet been used again at that time. The report of an independent expert, which was prepared on behalf of WiehltalBahn GmbH as part of the usual regular structural inspection, confirmed that the bridge was deficient, but not dilapidated.

The municipality of Waldbröl has combined the originally planned road roundabout, which was to be built on the filled railway line, with a tunnel solution due to the court rulings mentioned above. This "Boxbergkreisel" was officially opened on September 8, 2017.

However, the community of Wiehl continued to insist on the demolition of the railway line and at the beginning of May 2007 submitted an application for exemption from railway operations in accordance with Section 23 AEG at the Cologne district government. On November 14, 2008, the Cologne Administrative Court ruled that the deed was not legal due to the existing operation. In addition, the court recommended that the plaintiff municipalities reconsider bringing further lawsuits, as the unambiguous legal situation means that no other outcome is to be expected and these lawsuits are paid for with taxpayers' money. In the opinion of the Wiehltalbahner, there was legal security that had long been hoped for, especially by freight transport customers, which enabled investments and long-term planning. It was also important to the railway that these proceedings could be expected with this outcome right from the start, as a legal opinion was submitted by the municipalities before the route was purchased, which predicted this outcome.

At the beginning of 2009 it became known that the district government of Cologne and the municipalities would not appeal after the judgment against the deedication . The legal dispute was thus ended and the line has an operating license until 2056. Thus, the entire existence of the line is secured.

After the litigation

Since the end of the legal dispute, the municipalities have stopped their fight against the Wiehl Valley Railway. At the request of the SPD and the Greens , the city of Waldbröl decided not to block the Wiehl Valley Railway in the future. On the other hand, they want to get involved in promoting the railway from now on.

The Remperg-Mühlenau stop was put into operation on February 23, 2009 . This is regularly approached by the museum trains from Easter Sunday.

In the spring of 2009, the Wiehl Valley Railway and RSE renovated the level crossing in Osberghausen, as the constant traffic on the L 136 is particularly heavy on the tracks here.

In November 2010, the repair of the Denklingen Viaduct began, the largest construction project to date on the route, financed by donations and subsidies. The steel part of the viaduct, which had replaced the second stone arch since the end of the Second World War , was removed and renewed by a specialist company and the stone arch of the bridge was resealed. With the exception of minor remaining work, the construction project was completed by the end of 2013.

For the first time since the reactivation of the Wiehl Valley Railway, public funds were poured in 2010 for a pedestrian crossing at the Bielstein stop and the extension of the platform there. This cost 150,000 euros, financed from the economic stimulus package II .

After extensive construction work, the entire route to Waldbröl was reactivated in tourist traffic on April 18, 2010. It was the first time in 52 years that a steam locomotive reached Waldbröl station, and it was also the first journey by the Waldbröl steam locomotive to the city that gave it its name since its decommissioning. The opening was celebrated with a ceremony and attended by hundreds of spectators.

The Wiehl Valley Railway's passenger trains have been called the Bergischer Löwe since April 1, 2010 , after the heraldic animal of the former Duchy of Berg . The stopover in Denklingen has only been operated again since May 22, 2010. The trains still do not stop in Brüchermühle , this stop is to be put back into operation after discussions with the current owners of the station area.

The town council of Waldbröl decided on February 15, 2012 to propose the reactivation of the Wiehltalbahn to upgrade it to the new local transport plan of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is currently classified in the “possible later need”, which does not allow implementation before 2020. For this purpose, a working group is to be established together with the neighboring municipalities and the operating company .

The long controversial construction of the new level crossing in the Wiehl station area took place in 2012/2013 as part of a redesign of the station area and the track systems. Two new outer platforms were built on the two main tracks, with the one on track 1 directly adjacent to the new bus station . During this period, the Bielstein stop was provided with a new platform of the same length. This is directly adjacent to the local bus station.

At the beginning of 2016, an expert opinion on the reintroduction of regular local rail transport was published. From the total of five variants, a shuttle service between Waldbröl and Gummersbach was given preference, as this involves the lowest investment and operating costs. With a cost-benefit factor of 0.3, the required minimum value of 1.0 is not achieved, so that the measure does not make economic sense. A potential of 3,800 passengers per day was predicted, of which 1,500 are new public transport customers. This is offset by the high forecast investment costs of EUR 47.6 million. In a calculation with updated procedural instructions, which provides for the attribution of costs for level crossings to the individual building contractors according to the level crossing law, the cost-benefit factor could be increased to 0.49. An hourly service between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. was adopted as the operating concept on weekdays; this would therefore be very limited. A total travel time of 40 minutes with ten stops was planned. The two vehicle circuits should cross in Wiehl .

Nevertheless, the city of Wiehl is currently advocating more intensive use of the route. In March 2018, members of Bündnis90 / Die Grünen in the Reichshof community organized an information evening on how to continue using the route. Guest speakers were representatives of the Schönbuchbahn , a railway line that has been reactivated since 1996 and is a success for the entire region. The support group for the rescue of the Wiehltalbahn e. V. wants to create a round table based on the model of the Schönbuchbahn, which wants to include all parties involved.

In July 2020, the Association of German Transport Companies listed the Wiehl Valley Railway in a list of 238 railway lines nationwide to be reactivated. This should have a particularly positive effect on the development of the medium- sized center Waldbröl, but also stimulate local tourism.

Important operating points

Osberghausen train station (NE)

This station was opened in 1887 and was called Wiehlbrück until 1897. After a major expansion with significantly more tracks, the station was renamed when the Wiehl Valley Railway opened. At times there was an apprentice workshop of the Dieringhausen depot. In March 1945 the station was badly damaged in a bomb attack.

After the closure of passenger traffic on the Wiehl Valley Railway, the station lost its previous importance as a transfer station. The dispatcher interlocking was demolished in 1985, at the same time the station was unoccupied. The smaller signal box is still standing and privately owned. No passenger train stopped here since May 23, 1982, until the Wiehl Valley Railway in 1997 built a new platform that it only used, about 200 meters further in the direction of Gummersbach, in the single-track area. Today the station consists only of the two tracks of the Wiehl Valley Railway and its platform. The other tracks have been partially removed, and containers from a company located here are on another . The engine shed from the old workshop is still there and is owned by this company.

Weiershagen with the Kind company, the railway behind it

Bielstein stop (Rhineland)

There used to be a larger train station here, where the connection point to the Bielstein – Waldbröl small railway , which was closed in 1966, was located. The station building was demolished and stored in 1978 due to the construction of the bypass road. According to various books, it should be set up in the Lindlar open-air museum , which has not yet been implemented. When asked by the museum, it was explained that such plans never existed, and that the museum only came into being well after 1978. The whereabouts of the reception building remains unclear. For several years now only the through track has been left.

Wiehl station

Not all tracks exist here anymore, but the station is still suitable for shunting. The terrace of the station restaurant is located on the old house platform. A roundabout was built at the location of the goods shed, which was demolished after the turn of the millennium. Directly at this roundabout there is now a level crossing that was not originally intended to be a level crossing when politicians were planning to remove the railway line. The entire station area is now in a well-tended condition. The groundbreaking ceremony for the renovation took place on April 8, 2013. During the renovation, two new platforms were built, replacing the old house platform and the narrow, temporary platform of the Wiehl Valley Railway. On September 23, 2013, the new platforms as well as the new bus station and the level crossing were completed. The old level crossing on Homburger Straße was converted into a pedestrian crossing. This renovation will pave the way for public transport on the Wiehl Valley Railway. At the end of 2017, the level crossing on Bahnhofstrasse was equipped with modern safety technology with traffic lights , in accordance with the guidelines of German railway law. The pedestrian crossing on Homburger Strasse was given a barrier with a traffic light.

Wiehl Kotz & Sons

In the mid-1930s, a private siding to the Wiehltalbahn was created at the Harschlenke quarry opposite. Actually, both companies had applied for their own connection, the Reichsbahndirektion Elberfeld only wanted to approve a connection and only did so on the condition that the other company should also use the connection. The connection to the quarry was finally approved, but only remained in operation for ten years and was then used by the axle factory until its own connection was completed in 1949.

In 1994 the private siding on the Wiehl Valley Railway was shut down, and the transport was then completely relocated to the road. However, it was not BPW who terminated the connection, but Deutsche Bahn AG in order to initiate the shutdown. Before that, BPW was the Wiehl Valley Railway's most important and most profitable customer. The siding was then dismantled. The former factory locomotive Deutz B-dm 55179 from 1952 has been in the Rheinisches Industriebahn-Museum in Cologne-Nippes since 1994 .

Breaking point at Brüchermühle

There used to be a train station here with at least five tracks, at times with a locomotive shed . At the end of 1944 there were low-flying attacks by the Allies on the Wiehl Valley Railway and the railway branching off in Brüchermühle to Wildbergerhütte. In contrast to many other stations, the station was only lightly hit. Today the reception building has been restored, the house is still there. The engine shed, water tower and other operating facilities have long been removed.

At the moment, despite the reactivation after Waldbröl in April 2010, the stop is not yet operated again, it should be back in operation in some time.

Projahn siding

The Projahn works were at times the largest industrial employer in Waldbröl with 800 employees in 1965. The founder, Curt Projahn, had been manufacturing heating radiators since the 1940s. After the company was taken over by Ideal Standard GmbH from Bonn, the location was closed in the 1970s. This ended the operation of the company's own siding.

Waldbröl station

Waldbröl station is the largest station along the Wiehltalbahn, with a reception building, goods shed and, at times, a locomotive shed. Since the shutdown of the Bielstein – Waldbröl small railway , it has only been a terminal station ; in the past, the tracks continued westwards to Bielstein Kleinbahnhof. In 1936 a signal box was added to the station building, so that there were two signal boxes at the eastern entrance to the station during the Second World War until the signal box was destroyed. After the eastern signal box was destroyed, the eastern head of the station was switched to manual operation. After the suspension of passenger traffic in 1965, the interlocking technology in the dispatcher interlocking was expanded and the entire station was converted to manual operation. In the 1990s, the rooms in the reception building were converted into apartments. Today the station building is used again for offices by the Wiehl Valley Railway, and the train conductor for the Wiehl Valley Railway sits in the signal box annex on travel days. The Wiehltalbahn work vehicles (including a Skl ) are parked in the station area. In addition to two platform tracks, there are various sidings and some loading tracks, some lead to the loading ramp, previously used by the livestock inspection system. Since December 2011, the station has had an entry signal again, but only for decoration and not for driving. There were never exit signals in Waldbröl.

Service offer

passenger traffic

Class 622 railcars at Wiehl station, December 2014

Tourist passenger traffic has been taking place on the route again since 1999. Initially, only a MAN rail bus (VT 1) from the Wiehl Valley Railway was used, but since 2004 steam trains have also been used in cooperation with the Dieringhausen Railway Museum . Since April 18, 2010, the restored Waldbröl locomotive has been in use, which in its historic service time ran the Bielstein – Waldbröl small railway . At the same time, tourist traffic was expanded to include the entire route to Waldbröl.

In the summer season, the trips take place on up to two Sundays a month and on special occasions. In 2008 the Train of Remembrance traveled the Wiehl Valley Railway and made a stop in Wiehl from March 7th to 8th.

The aim of the association is a complete reactivation and integration into the Oberbergische public transport network. According to the chairman of the Wiehltalbahner, Gerhard Mansel, the Wiehltalbahn plans to set up new stops between Waldbröl and Hermesdorf, near Denklingen and between Osberghausen and Dieringhausen in the future with a view to a possible reactivation of regular passenger traffic. The train station in Alperbrück should be moved closer to the new residential area. The main purpose of this is to make a change to the RB 25 in Dieringhausen more attractive in the future. So far, these projects have not been implemented.

Due to road construction work in Waldbröl, all rail traffic in Hermesdorf will also end by spring 2017.

644 054 with 644 007 on February 25, 2015 with the special school train from Gummersbach in Wiehl station

On December 6th and 7th, 2014, a multiple unit of the DB Regio NRW operated as a shuttle train between the Christmas markets in Wiehl and Gummersbach on the Wiehl Valley Railway. This was the first traffic with DB vehicles since the end of freight traffic in 1994.

On February 25, 2015, a multiple unit of the DB Regio NRW traveled on the Wiehl Valley Railway. In cooperation with the Lindengymnasium in Gummersbach, a special school train with a double unit VT644 drove from Gummersbach to Wiehl to the ice rink there.

On December 10, 2017, another DB Regio multiple unit ran on the Wiehl Valley Railway. As part of the project train trainees against hatred and violence, 620 043 commuted twice between Wiehl and Gummersbach. This trip took place for the Helen-Keller-Schule and the LVR-Hugo-Kükelhaus-Schule (both from Oberbantenberg near Bielstein). On December 8, 2018, 620 040 of the DB Regio ran on the Wiehl Valley Railway. As in the previous year, this trip took place as part of the project rail trainees against hatred and violence . On December 8, 2019, the trainee special trip took place again, this time with 620 008.

Freight transport

The Wiehltalbahn is integrated into the Ecco-Cargo network of several private railways, which encompasses Germany and Austria . From March 2007 to 2010, after Hurricane Kyrill , wood was loaded in Oberwiehl every working day, which was transported three times a week to Austria. Another goods loading point is located in Wiehl (goods ramp). After the renovation of the Denklinger Bridge has been completed, the goods loading point in Waldbröl is to be re-integrated. There are currently no goods customers; an attempt is being made to win back previous freight customers along the route.

literature

Sascha Koch, Horst Kowalski u. a .: Railways in Oberberg and the history of the Dieringhausen depot. Martina-Galunder-Verlag, Nümbrecht 2005, ISBN 3-89909-050-0 .
Gries, Rainer & Nicke, Herbert: The Wiehltalbahn and its importance as a monument to the regional economy, Martina-Galunder-Verlag, Nümbrecht 2002, ISBN 3-931251-99-3 .
Axel Johanßen: From the embankment to the parking lot - train impressions yesterday and today from the Rhineland. Galunder Verlag, Nümbrecht 2007, ISBN 978-3-89909-080-2 .
Richard Holz, Jan Asshauer: Museum railway to Waldbröl opened . In: railway magazine . No. 6/2010 . Alba publication, June 2010, ISSN 0342-1902 , p. 31 .
Horst Kowalski, Klaus Strack: The Wiehl Valley Railway - A foray in color from the seventies to today. Galunder Verlag, Nümbrecht 2011, ISBN 978-3-89909-095-6 .
Bernd Franco Hoffmann: Disused railway lines in the Bergisches Land. Sutton-Verlag, Erfurt April 2013, ISBN 978-3-95400-147-7 .

Web links

Commons : Wiehltalbahn - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Official website of the association for the rescue of the Wiehl Valley Railway
History of the Wiehl Valley Railway
Description of route 2680 in the NRWbahnArchiv by André Joost

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c Eva-Maria Thoms: Posse on the siding. - Nothing is too expensive for five municipalities in NORTH RHINE-WESTPHALIA to shut down a small railway line. In: The time . December 19, 2007.

^ Comment of the railway association and press article

↑ Toy trains belong in the basement - not in the Wiehl valley ( memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Article on the website of the Junge Union Wiehl @1@ 2

↑ Fight against the Wiehltalbahn

^ Die Zeit , online edition 9/2006

^ Reporting at Oberberg Aktuell from February 15, 2007 ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )

^ Statement of the support group for the rescue of the Wiehl valley railway to the threatening calls

↑ Decision of the Higher Administrative Court for the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (PDF; 515 kB) of July 7, 2008

↑ https://www.rheinische-angeboteblaetter.de/mein-blatt/lokal-anzeiger/waldbroel/es-kreiselt-wieder-boxberg-kreisel-eingeweiht-28413054

↑ Federal Gazette

^ VG Cologne, judgment of November 14, 2008 - 18 K 1780/08. November 14, 2008, accessed June 30, 2019 .

↑ Points are set again ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger from January 7, 2009@1@ 2

↑ Litigation settled - Finally free travel for Wiehltalbahn , Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger from 19./20. January 2009

↑ New sponsor for the Wiehltalbahn , Kölnische Rundschau of February 13, 2009, accessed on April 25, 2017

↑ oberberg-nachrichten.de

↑ Björn Loos for Oberberg-aktuell: Railway crossing for pedestrians , message from March 14, 2010 , accessed on March 23, 2010

↑ 2,600 hours of gravel, tamping, cutting , Oberberg-Aktuell from February 1, 2010

↑ Heike Hüschemenger: The “Bergische Löwe” is awakening ( page can no longer be accessed , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Article at Rundschau Online, accessed on April 18, 2010@1@ 2

↑ Kölnische Rundschau “Milestone” of the Wiehl Valley Railway February 29, 2012

↑ Oberbergische Volkszeitung "City Council Waldbröl: Wiehltalbahn in the local transport plan" February 29, 2012

↑ turntable-online.de

↑ Anke Berndgen, Kathrin Küppers, Frank Ortlieb et al .: Feasibility study for reactivating the Wiehl Valley Railway. (PDF; 14.3 MB) Results report. Spiekermann Consulting Engineers, July 15, 2016, accessed on June 6, 2020 .

↑ On the agenda: reactivation of railway lines. (PDF) Association of German Transport Companies V., July 9, 2020, p. 28 , accessed on July 9, 2020 .

↑ SporenplanOnline: Osberghausen track plan ; Retrieved March 14, 2010

↑ From the embankment to the parking lot - Railway impressions yesterday and today from the Rhineland , page 15.

↑ Facebook page of the LVR Museum

↑ From the embankment to the parking lot - train impressions yesterday and today from the Rhineland , page 26.

↑ Deutz 55179. Retrieved January 30, 2013 .

↑ waldbroel.de

^ Train of Remembrance in Wiehl, March 2008

↑ denklingerbruecke.de

^ Wiehltalbahn - Boxberg roundabout in Waldbröl partially finished

↑ With the Wiehl Valley Railway to the Christmas markets in the region ( Memento of the original from December 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2
↑ With vareo to the Christmas markets of the region - special traffic between Wiehl and Gummersbach ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2
↑ A. Johanssen at Wiehltalbahn.de: shunting with a wooden train , accessed 16 March 2010

50.94689 7.54811Coordinates: 50 ° 56 ′ 48.8 ″ N , 7 ° 32 ′ 53.2 ″ E

[posse-1] Eva-Maria Thoms: Posse on the siding. - Nothing is too expensive for five municipalities in NORTH RHINE-WESTPHALIA to shut down a small railway line. In: The time . December 19, 2007.

[2] Comment of the railway association and press article