The –FröLetmathe–Fröndenberg railway is a two-track, partially electrified and partially disused branch line in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. For over 100 years it ran from Letmathe via Iserlohn, Hemer and Menden to Fröndenberg. The section between Hemer and Iserlohn and the branch line from Hemer to Sundwig have been closed and dismantled.
History
The construction of its first inter-regional line by the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company (Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, BME) bypassed various nearby towns such as Iserlohn. In the second half of the 19th Century the BME began to provide connections from its main line, the Elberfeld–Dortmund railway, to isolated places in the western Sauerland.
Iserlohn-Letmathe–Iserlohn
First, the BME opened a branch line to Iserlohn station on 31 March 1864. This is also locally called the Iserlohner Bahn (Iserlohn Railway).
This branch started from Iserlohn-Letmathe station in the Genna district, which five years earlier had been opened by the BME on the Ruhr–Sieg railway from Hagen to Siegen.
The line was upgraded in the following years; during this work Dechen Cave was discovered in 1868. Letmathe-Dechenhöhle station was built close to the show cave.
Fröndenberg–Menden
Eight years later the BME built another branch line, this time starting from Fröndenberg station via its Upper Ruhr Valley Railway to Menden (Sauerland) station. It was completed on 7 August 1872.
This line was extended initially by Rödinghausen by the then königlichen Eisenbahndirection Elberfeld (Royal railway division of Elberfeld) of the Prussian state railways (PSE) in 1878. This later developed into the Hönne Valley Railway to Neuenrade.
Menden–Hemer
Plans for the extension of the line from Menden to Hemer go back to the 1860s.
On 17 April 1873 the BME had signed a contract to build a line and secured funding from the Prussian ministry of trade. In 1881, the BME received a concession to build the line, but it was completed on 1 September 1882 shortly after the takeover of the BME by the PSE.
Hemer–Iserlohn
On 15 June 1885, the last section was completed between Hemer and Iserlohn. Thus, it was possible to run from Letmathe via Iserlohn, Hemer and Menden to Fröndenberg.
A second railway was opened to Iserlohn as the Ardey Railway from Schwerte (Ruhr) 25 years later.
Closures
Hemer–Iserlohn
More than a hundred years after the opening of the line for passengers on the middle section between Iserlohn and Menden, services were closed on the same section on 28 May 1989 and the line between Iserlohn Ost and Hemer was completely shut down and dismantled during the next three years. The reason for the closure was a ramshackle bridge over state road L680, which spanned the line. In the last years before the closure, it had to be given additional support with steel beams. Six years later, the remaining section in the city center of Iserlohn, which was nearly one and a half km-long, was closed on 27 May 1995.
Menden–Hemer
Freight traffic on the Menden–Hemer section was closed up to 31 March 2006 and it was offered publicly for re-use six months later. On 14 April 2007, it was converted into a siding to Menden station. From 11 June 2007 to 31 May 2008, this siding was then rented by the town of Hemer to carry uprooted trees after hurricane Kyrill.
During the early planning for Landesgartenschau Hemer 2010 (State Garden Show Hemer 2010) consideration was given to re-opening the line. In November 2007, the Hemer transport committee decided that it no longer wish to pursue this idea because in the opinion of experts no rail services would result. Instead, it considered converting the line into a cycle path.
But in order to restore the track, the Rhein-Sieg-Eisenbahn GmbH (RSE), based in Bonn, filed a lawsuit in the autumn of 2008 against the Federal Railway Authority (Eisenbahn-Bundesamt) in the Administrative Court in Arnsberg to prevent the imminent dismantling of the tracks and filed an application for the authority to operate the line as a railway infrastructure company. The RSE would withdraw the lawsuit if the town of Hemer negotiated a cooperative agreement for the reactivation and operation of the line.
The town of Hemer finally acquired the track on 23 December 2008 in order to take advantage of railway land to the south of Hemer station that was no longer required so that it could be used for its urban renewal project.
After the operation of the line during the State Garden Show 2010, it was closed again on 1 November 2010 at the request of the RSE.