At Easter, the steam train of the "Bergischer Löwe" finally is to steam over the Wiehl Valley Railway between Engelskirchen-Osberghausen and Wiehl again after the corona pandemic and the Bielstein bridge closure. For some time now, the active members of the Förderkreis zur Rettung der Wiehltalbahn e.V. have therefore been working on the line. Now, there was the unusual use of a two-way suction vehicle on the Wiehltalbahn. This is a kind of giant vacuum cleaner that can be used on rail and road.

Two-way vacuum truck of the company Hering Railroad Construction from Siegerland

The vehicle of the company Hering Bahnbau from the Siegerland is normally used at night in Belgium. For testing and adjustment purposes, the company had been looking for a railroad line on which the vehicle could run during daylight hours. This was possible on the Wiehltalbahn and so quite a few leaves and other light debris were removed from the track between Osberghausen and Bielstein.

The two-way vacuum truck at work at the Kohlmeier stone crusher

Further work on the Wiehl Valley rail line

Last weekend, the long-planned ballast work was on the agenda. Fabian, Patrick, Derrik and Benjamin brought two loaded ballast trucks from the Ruhr area (Gelsenkirchen) in a "cloak-and-dagger operation" on Friday.

The ballast train branches off onto the Wiehl Valley line at Osberghausen

Saturday the ballast was dumped on the track and Sunday the empty train went back to the starting point. That was a great achievement!

The ballast train near Bielstein

Many thanks to all involved!

The ballast train at Wiehl