Wissertalbahn

Hermesdorf knowledge (victory)
Route number (DB) :	2681 (Hermesdorf – Morsbach) 2682 (Wissen – Morsbach)
Course book section (DB) :	240n (1944) , 240f (1964)
Route length:	formerly 18.2 km today: 7.2 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend Wiehltalbahn from Waldbröl 0.0 Hermesdorf 314 m Wiehltalbahn to Osberghausen Kömpeler Tunnel (786 m) 345 m 2.8 Kömpel 307 m 7.1 11.1 Morsbach (Sieg) (today end of the route) 204 m 9.4 Purely 7.8 Volperhausen 6.9 Volperhausen Castle until 1925 6.0 State border NRW / RLP Niederstenhof tunnel (96 m) Knowing Bach 4.3 Wisserhof 3 bridges over the Wisser Bach victory Victory run from Hennef 0.0 Knowledge (victory) 157 m Victory route to Siegen

The Wissertalbahn is now the 7.2 kilometer long, single-track railway line from Hermesdorf (on the Wiehl Valley Railway ) to Morsbach in the Oberbergisches Kreis in North Rhine-Westphalia . In the past (up to the Second World War), an 11-kilometer second route under the same name led from the terminus in Morsbach to Wissen (Sieg) in the Altenkirchen district ( Rhineland-Palatinate ).

A special feature of the Wissertalbahn is the technical effort, pioneering work was done in the field of stamped concrete construction, there are hardly any level crossings , but there are many bridges (one of them with a span of 32.7 meters) and an unusually long tunnel for a branch line in a sparsely populated area of 786 meters (Kömpeler Tunnel). Today, the entire (still existing) route, just like the Wiehl Valley Railway , including tracks, buildings and other railway infrastructure, is under monument protection and was repaired by the support group to save the Wiehl Valley Railway.

history

The Wissertalbahn actually consisted of two railway lines. The first line built led from Morsbach to Wissen (Sieg), the second from Hermesdorf on the Wiehltalbahn to Morsbach. There both lines merged in the terminus. The line from Wissen to Morsbach was opened on October 1, 1890, the Morsbach – Hermesdorf line on October 1, 1908. The latter mainly served to close the gap between the Aggertalbahn and the surrounding railways and the Siegbahn and not to develop new industrial locations like the one Wiehltalbahn.

A special feature of the line was the Morsbach train station until 1960, which at that time was the only real terminus in the region.

The Volperhausen – Wissen section was closed in March 1945 after severe war damage and was not rebuilt. The Morsbach – Volperhausen section lost passenger traffic in 1954. Freight traffic between Volperhausen and Morsbach was discontinued on October 2, 1960. For several years after the Second World War, the reconstruction of the line was called for knowledge, but despite tough negotiations, it was ultimately not realized. Passenger trains ran on the remainder of the Hermesdorf – Morsbach section until October 2, 1960, with only one pair of trains from Waldbröl – Hermesdorf – Morsbach at the end. In the Morsbach – Wissen section, the tracks were removed by 1965. At the beginning of the 2000s, its VzG route number 2682 was newly assigned to the southern part of the Cologne-Mülheim-Lindlar railway line .

In 1982 the community of Morsbach put the station building under monument protection. The Niederstenhofen tunnel between Morsbach and Wissen was demolished in 1989 as part of a road renovation. After the route maintenance was neglected by the Deutsche Bahn for years, a measurement run in 1993 revealed various deficiencies, above all costly renovations to bridges were necessary. Operation was allowed for a short time, but ended completely soon afterwards. The last special passenger train journey to Morsbach took place on May 8, 1993, at the same time as on the Dieringhausen - Olpe section of the Siegburg - Olpe railway line . On October 5, 1994, the last freight train to date ran on the Wissertalbahn; In 1997 the line was closed.

After the line was taken over by RSE , the line became an operating track again (construction track ).

During a canal construction project and an illegal track dismantling campaign in November 2001, some tracks in the Morsbach station area were dismantled, others simply dismantled.

The section was in poor condition until 2009. Since the route mostly leads through forest areas, it was overgrown accordingly. The bridges and the tunnel are apparently still in good technical condition. Since the line is under monument protection and it runs far from settlements or industrial areas, the tracks were not removed after the closure. Only the Morsbach station area should be built over.

Litigation

Wissertalbahn in Morsbach 2008

At the end of June 2007, the neighboring communities submitted an application for de-dedication as a traffic area. The Cologne branch of the Federal Railway Authority then devoloped the Hermesdorf – Morsbach section of the Wissertalbahn. Both the Rhein-Sieg-Eisenbahn GmbH (RSE) and the Asdorftalbahn interest group have appealed against the deedication of the line. On September 2, 2008, the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of Transport issued a 50-year operating license for the Hermesdorf-Morsbach section. The managing director of the Rhein-Sieg-Eisenbahn then stated that he wanted to talk to the municipality of Morsbach about upcoming renovation measures, but the municipality declined the talks. In autumn 2008 the support group for the rescue of the Wiehltalbahn e. V. had already carried out maintenance measures; as of October 17, around three kilometers of the route to the Kömpel stop were open again.

Morsbach Mayor Raimund Reuber (CDU) described the granting of the operating license as "madness". On October 15, 2008, a track construction fleet at the Kömpel stop found a buffer stop that did not comply with the standards, which was installed by the Morsbach municipal building yard and welded to the rails. The mayor of Morsbach confirmed that the construction, consisting of steel girders and bars and provided with two red and white warning signs, was installed by employees of the municipal building yard. He explained that the municipality, as the owner, was responsible for the road safety of the route and that the installation was carried out because a stone from an adjacent viaduct on which the route runs had come loose and damaged a car. The railings of the viaducts are also not safe. There is too great a risk, which is why it was decided to block the route with the help of the steel construction. He also announced further measures that would be taken by the city. The Rhein-Sieg-Eisenbahn, which sees itself in the traffic safety obligation after the issuing of the operating license, has filed a criminal complaint against the municipality because of the construction of the construction, as it recognizes a dangerous interference in the rail traffic. As the operator of the route, she was not informed about the measure and believes that personal injuries were consciously accepted by those responsible.

In November 2008, the Morsbach community's action against the operating license was referred to the regional court in Bonn, where, however, Reichshof and Waldbröl were unsuccessful. In August 2009, a decision was made on the de-dedication in a separate procedure from the Wiehltalbahn, because the Wissertalbahn was still federally owned on June 19, 2006 when the community of Morsbach submitted the application and was not operated by a non- federal railway . Therefore, the Federal Railway Authority should first decide on the objection to the deedication filed by the Rhein-Sieg-Eisenbahn (RSE). When the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of Transport issued the operating permit for the section of the line to the RSE, responsibility for the procedure changed to the state railway supervision , which is carried out by the Cologne district government. The objection to the deed was granted by the district government because there was objectively a need for rail-bound traffic.

reactivation

On October 22nd, 2009, after long cut-outs, a Wiehl Valley Railway company vehicle reached the level crossing at the entrance to Morsbach. The journeys of the company vehicle initially ended directly behind the level crossing at the train station, as there was about a meter of rail missing in the middle of the track due to the illegal track removal in 2001. This track yoke was reinserted on October 2, 2010 by the Wiehl valley railroaders, then the tracks of the station area were cut free.

Parts of this article seem out of date as of 2012 .
Please help to research and insert the missing information .

The entire route to Morsbacher Bahnhof is currently open again, provided that the vegetation that has grown back since the last cut is removed. So far, however, it has only been used by work trains. There are currently no concrete plans for the use of the route, according to statements by the Wiehl valley railway company.

See also

• Railway network in the Oberbergisches Land

literature

• Sascha Koch, Horst Kowalski and others: Railways in Oberberg and the history of the Dieringhausen depot. Galunder Verlag, Nümbrecht 2005, ISBN 3-89909-050-0 .
• Bernd Franco Hoffmann: Disused railway lines in the Bergisches Land. Sutton-Verlag, Erfurt April 2013, ISBN 978-3-95400-147-7 .

Web links

NRWbahnArchive by André Joost:

• Description of route 2681 (Hermesdorf – Morsbach)
• Description of the former route 2682 (Wissen – Morsbach, from the state border of North Rhine-Westphalia)

www.eisenbahntunnel-portal.de:

• Photos of route 2681
• Pictures of the former route 2682

further evidence:

• Documentation of the condition of the Wissertalbahn 2003 with photos
• Website of the support group for the rescue of the Wiehl Valley Railway
• Technical and construction history of the Wissertalbahn and Wiehltalbahn with photos
• Axel Johanßen: The Republic of Morsbach and its railroad at Turntable Online

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Description of today's route 2682 (southern Sülztalbahn) in the NRWbahnArchiv by André Joost
2. ↑ Martin Krauss: Development of the Railway Infrastructure 1997/98, in: Bahn-Report 2/1999, p. 4–7, here: p. 6.
3. ↑ Michael Fiedler-Heinen: Wiehltalbahn should also go to Morsbach. In: Oberbergische Volkszeitung. M. DuMont Schauberg , September 3, 2008, accessed October 9, 2012 . 
4. ↑ Dangerous interference in rail traffic by the community of Morsbach. Illegal buffer stop prevents a construction train from continuing. (No longer available online.) Rhein-Sieg-Eisenbahn , October 17, 2008, archived from the original on April 29, 2016 ; Retrieved October 9, 2012 . 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.  
5. ↑ Björn Loos: Morsbach closes the railway line, railway enthusiasts angry. In: Oberberg Aktuell. Oberberg-Online Informationssysteme, October 17, 2008, accessed on October 9, 2012 . 
6. ↑ There is an objective need for rail-bound transport: Cologne district government accepts the desedication of the Hermesdorf - Morsbach line. Report from September 4, 2009 on Wiehltalbahn.de
7. ↑ 2,600 hours of gravel, tamping, cutting , Oberberg-Aktuell from February 1, 2010
8. ↑ picture of the month. Retrieved January 30, 2013 .