Brügge–Lüdenscheid railway
| Brügge (Westf)–Lüdenscheid | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Overview | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Locale | North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Line number | 2813 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Technical | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Line length | 7 km (4.3 mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Maximum incline | 2.78% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route number | 434, 240e (1944) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Brügge–Lüdenscheid railway is a single-track, non-electrified branch line in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The 7 km-long line climbs from Brügge (Westfalen) station on the Hagen–Dieringhausen railway to Lüdenscheid station.
Brügge gained a rail connection in 1874 with the opening of the Dahl–Brügge section of the Hagen–Dieringhausen railway (also called the Volmetalbahn: "Volme Valley Railway"). Lüdenscheid sought a connection to this line, but the design of a line to serve it was far from easy because of the difficult topography. Despite a maximum grade of 1:36, a 412 m long tunnel had to be built near Lüdenscheid.
The 6.5 km long line was opened on 15 July 1880 by the Prussian state railways. From 1904, there was a transfer point at Wehberg station to the Altena District Railway (Kreis Altenaer Eisenbahn, KAE), which operated until 1967. However, it was used only for freight. For passenger transport, there was a stairway between the District Railway station and the state railway station, which was 18 metres higher.
At the beginning of the 20th century there were plans to connect the Hagen–Dieringhausen railway with the Plettenberg–Herscheid railway, thus creating a connection between the Volme and Lenne valleys. However, during the First World War work was abandoned due to the high construction costs, although the earthworks had already been built through Herscheid. In the 1920s, the municipality of Herscheid tried to revive this project, but it was abandoned with the onset of hyperinflation. Later, road transport became dominant in Germany. The section would have been about 33.9 km long. The mountainous topography in Sauerland meant that the plans included large tunnels, bridges and underpasses, such as on the ridge between the Verse and the Ahe valleys, where a 650 metre long-tunnel was planned. Another 300 metre-long tunnel would have run in Herscheid from Helle to below the shooting range. A total of four tunnels were planned with a total length of 2,175 metres. The estimated cost for the tunnels amounted to 1.84 million marks. The total cost of the railway line was estimated by the Prussian state railways to be 9.8 million marks or 289,100 marks per kilometre of line.
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Wikipedia