24th - 26th February 2005

Along Different Lines
Privatbahnen Deutschland

Route:
DPE83680 Köln Hbf - Troisdorf
DPE83630 Troisdorf - Neuwied
DPE85500 Neuwied - Koblenz-Lützel
DPE85501 Koblenz-Lützel - Andernach
DPE83631 Andernach - Wuppertal Hbf
DPE83683 Wuppertal Hbf - Hagen-Kabel
DPE83684 Hagen-Kabel - Unna Industriepark
DPE83685 Unna Industriepark - Unna
DPE83686 Unna - Unna-Königsborn
DPE83687 Unna-Königsborn - Bockum-Hövel
DPE83688 Bockum-Hövel - Hamm Rbf
DPE83689 Hamm Rbf - Lünen Süd
DPE83690 Lünen Süd - Wuppertal Hbf
DPE83683 Wuppertal Hbf - Sudmühle
DPE83685 Sudmühle - Münster Hbf
DPE83686 Lippstadt - Geseke
DPE83786 Geseke - Geseke-Dykerhoff
DPE83787 Geseke-Dykerhoff - Geseke
DPE83687 Geseke - Wuppertal Hbf

Notes :
(1) tour originally booked to cover the Monopol branch but this was advised as being closed a short time before the tour ran.

Source : Janet Cottrell

Tour Review
(by Janet Cottrell, including photos)

We are both rather keen on Germany, but have found in the past that any interesting railtours have not been convenient for our holidays or rest days. So when ADL announced a three day branch line tour covering lots of freight only track which fell during our annual leave, the booking form was sent in without delay. The "motive power" would be two sets of "schienenbus" railcars, ideal for a tour of this nature with it's many reversals and with the added bonus of a driver's eye view as they are "open plan" units with no separate cab area. There was an option to travel as a group to Köln using Eurostar and Thalys, but we opted to make our own way there leaving earlier and using an ICE service from Brussels (nicer trains than the Thalys!)

Thursday 24th February 2005
This day of the tour started at Köln Hbf, so we had to take all our luggage with us as the next two days were based in Wuppertal. Fortunately, this fact had been catered for by the trailer car having a luggage van with ample room for all the cases and bags. Once the bags were safely stowed away and the scramble for seats had subsided, we set off a few minutes late, heading towards the right, or East bank of the River Rhine and our first reversal at Troisdorf. From here we were to have a run on the RSVG line and a depot visit. The line was a typical light railway, running alongside the road. We stopped for a photograph at a particularly interesting junction where the railway went across the road, straight through the middle of a roundabout before squeezing down the centre of the road through a small gap in the buildings either side. A short distance from here we stopped and were advised that we could go no further due to the local trip occupying a section in advance. The excellent Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland showed the line as being some 14km long, we had covered less than 2km. To be fair, the timings never showed us as going all the way to Lülsdorf and coverage of many of the branches were subject to us not conflicting with the day to day traffic, but it was a little disappointing all the same.

One thing that was not obvious was the location of the depot. After retracing our steps to DB metals, we were rather surprised when the driver changed ends and we set off back towards Lülsdorf. It turned out that the "shed" was part of the bus depot (it was noted that RSVG also operated the local busses) and they needed us to move out of the way so they could bring the contents of the railway shed out for us to view. This amounted to one shunter and a diminutive inspection trolley no bigger than a small car. Both were carefully positioned for us to photograph although the adjacent road provided a few problems, especially the bus stop directly opposite.

Thanking the staff for bringing the stock out for us to view, we then returned to the main line and a quick thrash (well 60mph) alongside the river Rhein to our next port of call at Neuwied. This provoked some reminiscences of BR Cravens units, albeit with far less shaking and rattles.

Following a reversal at Neuwied we proceeded a short distance to Rasselstein and the depot there before carrying on a short distance to a tinplate works, which was as far as we could go.

798 629 & 996 683 at Rasselstein works, Neuwied

Another reversal saw us visiting a line, which was not in the Eisenbahnatlas, which our German tour co-leader informed us, was Neuwied Harbour. Yet again we did not go right into the terminal, but as there was an overhead crane moving steel coils around, it was just as well that we stopped at the gates.

Back to Neuwied, then it was down the other branch from here to Dykerhoff, before returning to the main line for another "high speed" spin to Koblenz where we were to visit the museum at Koblenz-Lützel. Just for the novelty value, we did manage to pass through Koblenz Hbf without stopping.

Part of the museum's stock can be seen from the main line, John and I have been past countless times but have never been inside, so this visit was most welcome. Getting into the museum compound was a complicated affair, which involved much shunting up and down to get onto the access line, but we eventually made it. The collection was fairly small but interesting, some of the items were housed in a two-road shed but many had to be left outside which although good for photography cannot do the locos much good in the long run.

Upon leaving the museum, we had to endure the same zigzag moves to get us into position to access the main line to continue our journey north to Andernach.

798 629 & 996 683 at Rasselstein, Andernach

From here we were to have a journey on the Andernach Hafenbahn and a visit to another site of the Rasselstein Company. This line was shown on the Eisenbahnatlas but was more complex than the single branch shown. It was similar to Neuwied in that there was some sidings serving a harbour with an overhead crane to transfer steel coils from the boats to rail wagons for transfer to the nearby rolling mill. We visited both these locations, but only reached the "end of the line" on the headshunt connecting the two.

On our way back to Andernach, we had a further diversion down a branch to an older part of the port, managing to halt the one activity taking place in the process. This involved rather large dumper trucks crossing the track to load lorries up with sand and gravel - and we had stopped right on the level crossing that they were using. An attempt to run up to the buffer stops out of their way was vetoed by the traincrew as they were concerned about the state of the track, so we retraced our steps to Andernach and the main line.

By now we were rather late and still had to get to Wuppertal via a rather indirect route using mostly freight lines, therefore it was rather surprising when we stopped at Remagen and were told to leave the train - the railcar needed to go for fuel. The fuel point here is some way down the sidings, so we estimated that it would take at least 20 minutes, plenty of time for a cup of tea in the shop opposite the station. We eventually left an hour and a half late, meaning that we would be covering the interesting route via the freight yards in the dark. The spotters did manage to get some numbers as we passed the various yards, but most of the journey took place in darkness - an unavoidable problem at this time of the year.

Friday 25th February 2005
Today the railcars were provided by a different group, in fact there were two power cars sandwiching a trailer so there was more room but most people still went for the power cars and their excellent view from the end windows. Externally the units looked the same as the ones yesterday, painted in the old DB maroon livery, but as soon as we set off it was apparent that the power car we were travelling in was much "tighter" than yesterdays with nowhere near as much vibration.

The first of many reversals was at the closed station of Hagen-Kabel, which was followed by a gentle perambulation round the freight lines to Schwerte, then a relatively quick dash to Unna where we had half an hour's break in the little used platform 20.

Our first "branch line" was Unna-Industriepark which was shown merely as a location in the atlas.

796 690 etc. at Unna-Industriepark Sidings

It was rather more substantial than that, consisting of a short branch, which led to some sidings from which a line curved round to what appeared to be a Volkswagen depot dealing with car parts. It can't have been very big, as there was just one wagon in residence, although there might have been more facilities and wagons hidden behind the closed door at the rear of the unloading area. The driver must have been used to line bashers as he pulled right up to the end of the unused car loading ramp earning a round of applause when he gently kissed the buffer stops. On our return to the sidings we went right up to the end of the headshunt there before retracing our steps to Unna where we had to perform a shunting move in order to get to the other side of the station.

Next on the agenda was Unna-Königsborn, another grey area on the atlas - literally in this case as the only lines in evidence were in grey type indicating closed lines. There turned out to be two lines here, one to a distribution depot for a firm called Karstadt and the other a little used connection to a German Army base. The latter provided one of the highlights of the three days. Bearing in mind this branch only sees very occasional use, the locals had got used to treating it as a footpath. As we approached a level crossing, a person turned left off the pavement and, without a single glance or care in the world started walking down the middle of the track with his back to us. Over the crossing we went, closer and closer to the oblivious "normal", our driver deliberately allowing the train to roll without applying power. We actually got very close indeed before the driver gave a short sharp toot on the horn. The reaction was priceless, a vertical leap worthy of a champion high jumper coupled with a look of utter disbelief that a train should dare venture down this backwater and disturb his daily routine. The whole coach roared with laughter at his discomfiture – who says that Germans don’t have a sense of humour?

Entertainment over, we had to do some more complicated shuffling about to extract ourselves from the sidings and head for our next branch line via more freight lines round the large yards at Hamm.

Before we trundled down the branch to Stockum, there was lots of form filling going on, which I presumed was the normal “method of working” for this line. The branch led to a power station, opposite which the old station building had been carefully restored by a group of enthusiasts. They had very kindly turned out to open it for our inspection and insisted that we all pose for a seminar phot on the remains of the platform. On the way back to Bockum-Hövel we had a brief pause on a level crossing to pick up the crew member who was manning the buffet. He had run out of rolls and had spied a bakery in a row of shops, so was dropped off to do some shopping whilst we visited the end of the line. Judging by the number of bags he brought back and the cheers that greeted his return, there must have been some hungry people on board.

Up to now we were some 25 minutes late, mainly due to not being allowed enough time to do the two branches at Unna-Königsborn but things really started to go to pot back at Hamm. Firstly we were kept waiting for some reason when we reversed in the yard area, then we had a rather prolonged visit to the RLG which included a visit to an interesting depot full of various preserved bits and pieces at Hamm Süd. The RLG line actually continued east for some way from here, but there was insufficient time to cover it, not that I think we were booked to in any case. The preservation group do run trains down there on a few occasions during the year so it is not “rare” track, the only problem is trying to get there on a date when they do run.

When we returned to our reversing point in the main freight yard again, it was obvious that the time allowed for our visit to the various delights in Hamm was woefully inadequate. It was now gone four o’clock - we should have left over half an hour ago, and there was still the Hafenbahn to cover. A further problem was that we would have to double back north to the docks area, it would have made more sense to have done this first but, presumably, there was a train down there which prevented us from covering this line first. The situation was further compounded when we had to wait for some staff to turn up to let us across a level crossing and accompany us into the docks area. Late running notwithstanding, we still went to the far end of the line to the entrance of some sidings for a firm named Hoesch. Our German hosts said that ours was the first passenger train to cover this line, a rare privilege indeed bearing in mind that the Germans are no slouches themselves when it comes to branch line tours.

By now evening was approaching and we just made our last branch at Lünen Süd Hafen with enough light for some photographs. Our interesting route back to Wuppertal was again undertaken in darkness; which was a great pity as, being a weekday, there was plenty of freight on view. There was one further delay at Düsseldorf-Rath where we held for 20 minutes, allegedly because the “dispatcher was too busy”, but there were also rumours of some sort of incident which might have had a bearing as well.

Saturday 26^th February 2005
Despite last nights late arrival, everybody was on the platform in plenty of time for the last day. At Hagen we took the goods lines again, with a stop opposite the hauptbahnhof to pick up our “buffet man” and his wares (lots more bread rolls). The owners of these railcars had put a lot of thought into their restoration as tables had been installed at many of the seats and a fridge placed at one end which enabled them to serve cold drinks and keep things like ham, cheese and butter cool.

We were meant to continue on the goods lines to Schwerte, but crossed over to the passenger lines for reasons unknown near Westhofen and continued on the main line until shortly before Hamm station, where we dived off onto the goods lines via Hamm Radbod. Regaining the main line, our high speed (60mph) dash took us to Münster where we turned off to cover the freight only avoiding line and it’s connections.

From Münster we were to head south east on the lines of the WLE (Westfälische Landeseisenbahn to be precise), which involved a reversal opposite an old goods shed and a rake of dumped coaches. Whilst festering here, we were entertained by three of the more dubious locals who were slowly making their way down one of the sidings to the goods shed platform. Their reverie was disturbed when they realised that their antics were being observed by a trainload of passengers, which prompted the two lads to start mooning. I think most of the train were hoping that the third person, a girl, would join in but the exhibition was interrupted by the arrival of another dubious person the other side of the high security fence. The three trespassing on the railway then decided to join their mate by climbing over the fence, one of the males managed this with relative ease, but second got halfway up before leaping back to the ground, catching his feet on a gate in the process which swung open! Cue more uproarious laughter from the train. By this time the girl had got to the top of the fence and was making a right meal of climbing over it, bet she wished that they had inspected the gate more closely first.

After this amusing diversion, the formalities for entering the branch were finally completed and we made our carefully to Münster Ost where the contents of the shed were inspected. We then had a very gentle trundle towards Neubeckum, stopping to collect some more hot water from an establishment at Tönnishäuschen, giving us the opportunity for some pics of our train in the snow that was now falling.

This line did not look as if it was used much, in contrast to the line beyond Neubeckum, which served a cement works and was fairly well used. We went beyond the works and into the head shunt, right to the buffer stops where a further photo stop was taken in a snow-covered field.

Up the headshunt (7.1kp) at Zementwerk Annaliese

Heading back in a south easterly direction we passed though Lippstadt and turned south with the weather deteriorating into more snow as we ascended into the hills.

Our reversal at Warstein was in the old station which looked like a terminus. According to the atlas, the line went further south, but it was not readily apparent from where and we did not have time to investigate as, yet again, we were late. To complete the available lines in this neck of the woods we then went to Rüthen, travelling through the station to stop adjacent to some snow-covered mounds next to a road. It had been intended for us to go to the limit of the line at 15.3 km but this was declined due to the state of the track, in fact one of the other participants had a photo of a previous tour he had been on which did make it to the buffer stops.

Returning to Belecke, we picked up our hard working man from the buffet who had been on yet another quest for hot water, the cold weather ensured that tea and coffee were rather more popular than beer.

Back at Lippstadt it was starting to get dark when reversed into the depot, actually stopping on the turntable outside the roundhouse. The shed held some more WLE motive power, but right in the far end road was the splendid sight of V200 033, it maroon livery glinting in the dull light. These conditions did not deter some people from attempting to photograph it.

Our final branch for the day and indeed the tour was to another place named Dykerhoff. It was dark by this time so we could not see much and were still late, so it was a case of change ends and head straight back to Wuppertal and the end of a most interesting three days.

Janet Cottrell

Timings (Booked & Actual)

24/02

25/02

26/02

Back to "The Railtour Files"