It was not until today, October 14th, 2018, that our 'Opening Run' of this year's season could take place.
 
The reasons for this were construction works of "DB Netz" on the Agger line of RB25 betwen Dieringhausen and Osberghausen, where the Wiehltalbahn line branches. Among other things, the railway bridge in Osberghausen across the Agger brook needed to be replaced.
 
As the construction works called for a closure of the Agger line, the vehicles of the "Bergischer Löwe" could not get to the Wiehltalbahn line from their location at the Dieringhausen Railway Museum.
 
So all scheduled runs before today had to be cancelled, much to our regret. It may be cold comfort, but due to the high risk of forest fires because of this summer’s prolonged drought period most of the steam train runs would have had to be cancelled, anyway.
 



Arrival of the 'bergischer Löwe' at Wiehl

This morning, the 'Opening Run' started at 10:30 on the dot at the Dieringhausen Railway Museum. In bright, late-summer/autumn weather with temperatures around 26°C the train left for the Wiehl valley. It was full up with a tour party and many families with their children and arrived at the station in Wiehl on schedule.

Quite a number of passengers made use of the wait until the return run at 12:24. for a little refreshment at the ice cream parlour nearby.

Steam locomotive 'Waldbröl' is taking fresh waterMeanwhile, others watched the steam locomotive 'Waldbröl' run round the train, taking on  water and being coupled to the other end of the train for the return run.
The first run of the year ended up at the Dieringhausen Railway Museum around 1:30.
 
Apparently there were some problems with the second run at 2:30, as the train  passed the junction for the Wiehltalbahn line and and ended up unscheduled in Engelskirchen on the RB25 DB line. Currently we don't have any details regarding the reason for this.

Update October 15th, 2018:

The reason for the unscheduled course of the second run of the day was a technical failure at the DB signalbox in charge, preventing the operation of the points for turning onto the Wiehltalbahn line. Thus, the steam train had to continue the run down to the next station on the DB Agger line at Engelskirchen-Ründeroth and then had to return to the Dieringhausen Railway Museum.