After 3 years (a "felt eternity"), in which no operation was possible on the Wiehl valley railway due to the Corona pandemic and the bridge fire in Bielstein, it was finally time today: The reopening of the line was on the agenda.
To make the date possible, extensive work by our active members and the railway museum in Dieringhausen was necessary. Also special companies were also involved. After weeks of intensive work on the line, the Wiehl Valley Railway Line between Osberghausen and Wiehl was to be reopened for traffic today, Sunday, March 26th, 2023. In the last few weeks, intensive preliminary planning and talks were held with state- and local politicians, and work on the line was pushed ahead in parallel.
After the NRW Minister of the Interior, Ina Scharrenbach, had agreed to take part in an inaugural journey with a symbolic opening ceremony at the renovated Bielstein Bridge (the funding decision for the bridge came from her ministry), the public transport authority Go-Rheinland (formerly Nahverkehr Rheinland NVR) also gave its approval for the journey. In the meantime, the NRW Minister of Transport, Oliver Krischer, had also announced his participation in the ride. In the further course the invitations were sent to politicians, VIP's and donators for the bridge renovation. This was quite manageable for the donors for the Bielstein bridge. However, we also wanted to invite the donors for the Denklingen bridge. The problem here was that this campaign had already taken place more than 10 years ago, and it was therefore not certain whether the donors at that time could still be reached at all.
Special trip in occasion of the reopening of the Bielstein bridge and the lower Wiehl Valley Railway as far as Wiehl
- Written by Detlef Zirpel
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