The Nuttlar–Frankenberg railway is a 62.3 km long line from Nuttlar on the Upper Ruhr Valley Railway in the German state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

via

Winterberg Winterberg (; Westphalian: ''Winnenmerg'') is a town in the Hochsauerland district of North Rhine-Westphalia, central Germany and a major winter sport resort of the Wintersport Arena Sauerland. Geography Winterberg is located in the middle ...

and

Allendorf (Eder) Allendorf (Eder) () is a municipality which situated in the north west of Hesse, Germany. The municipality is within the Waldeck-Frankenberg district in a rural region called the upper Eder (Fulda), Eder Valley. The Burgwald range is located wes ...

Frankenberg (Eder) Frankenberg (Eder) () is a town in Waldeck-Frankenberg district, Hesse, Germany. The mountain at a ford over the Eder north of the Burgwald range was for a long time a fortified place, playing an especially important role under the Franks in the ...

in the state of

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

History

Construction

The construction of the section from Nuttlar to Winterberg was authorised on 20 May 1898 by a law of the

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n parliament. The Nuttlar (Westfalen)–Steinhelle section was opened on 1 May 1902. On the same day the first section of the Steinhelle–Medebach Light Railway () was opened. The continuation of the line from Steinhelle to Winterberg was opened on 1 October 1906. The route to connect with the Hessian rail network was already determined by this time. Numerous engineering structures were required between Winterberg and

Bromskirchen Bromskirchen is a village and a former municipality in Waldeck-Frankenberg in Hesse, Germany. On 1 January 2023, it was merged into the municipality of Allendorf (Eder).Warburg–Sarnau railway The Warburg–Sarnau railway is a 100.9 kilometre-long, single-track, partially disused secondary railway line in North Rhine-Westphalia and North Hesse. The middle section, Korbach–Frankenberg, Hesse, Frankenberg, is called the ''Untere Edertal ...

. From 1910/1911 it was possible to continue the journey over the Upper Eder Valley Railway from Allendorf to

Bad Berleburg Bad Berleburg (, earlier also Berleburg) is a town, in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is one of Germany's largest towns by land area. It is located approximately northeast of Siegen and northwest of ...

Operations

In addition to extensive passenger services, freight traffic was handled on the line. In addition to the stations at the ends of the line there were eleven stations and five halts (''Haltepunkte''). Several pairs of trains ran over the whole line each day. Special trains often ran between the

Ruhr The Ruhr ( ; , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr Area, sometimes Ruhr District, Ruhr Region, or Ruhr Valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 1,160/km2 and a populati ...

area and Winterberg for winter sports traffic. Operations incurred growing deficits in the 1960s, especially on the middle section. Since there was only minimal investment on the line, this eventually led to the closing of passenger services between Winterberg and Allendorf for safety reasons and freight traffic between

Hallenberg Hallenberg () is a town in the Hochsauerland district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Hallenberg is situated approximately 15 km southeast of Winterberg and 35 km north of Marburg (in Hesse). Neighbouring places * Al ...

and Allendorf on 14 November 1966. This section was shut down on 28 May 1967 and subsequently dismantled. The line between Frankenberg and Allendorf was still used until 1981 for services continuing to Bad Berleburg. On 30 May 1992, the transport of freight between Winterberg and Hallenberg was also closed and the section was dismantled, so the operation of winter sports services from Winterberg to Hallenberg was no longer possible. The tracks have been removed on the section between Winterberg and Allendorf. The Winterberg Tunnel 1 has been demolished and the Winterberg Tunnel 2 is closed. A cycle path has run through the Bromskirchen Tunnel since mid-2006.

Rail services

Regional-Express In Germany, Luxembourg and Austria, the Regional-Express (; RE, or in Austria: REX) is a type of regional train. It is similar to a semi-fast train, with a top speed of and an average speed of about as it calls at fewer stations than ''R ...

service RE 57 ( Dortmund-Sauerland-Express) from/to

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

runs between Bestwig and Winterberg every two hours, and hourly on weekends, operated with

Alstom Coradia LINT The Alstom Coradia LINT is an Articulated car, articulated railcar of the Alstom Coradia family manufactured by Alstom since 1999, offered in diesel and hydrogen fuel models. The acronym ''LINT'' is short for the German ''"leichter innovativer Na ...

41 (class 648) diesel rail cars, partly in multiple, often mixed with LINT 27 (class 640) rail cars. It also stops in Siedlinghausen and when required in Silbach and Bigge. There are generally no passenger services on the remaining section from Frankenberg to Allendorf (continuing to

Battenberg (Eder) Battenberg () is a small town in the district of Waldeck-Frankenberg in the state of Hesse, Germany. It is located on the river Eder (Fulda), Eder, a tributary of the Fulda (river), Fulda, which flows into the Weser, and lies at the southeastern e ...

and Auhammer on the Upper Eder Valley Railway) since the services that existed on summer weekends up to 2005 had been abandoned. This service was aimed mainly at cyclists and hikers. Since then, passenger services have been only operated sporadically, mostly at various events such as the Eder-Bike-Tour. Freight traffic continues on the remaining two sections.

References

Footnotes

Sources

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nuttlar-Frankenberg Railway Railway lines in North Rhine-Westphalia Railway lines in Hesse Railway lines opened in 1902 1902 establishments in Germany Buildings and structures in Hochsauerlandkreis Buildings and structures in Waldeck-Frankenberg