Hesper Valley Railway

The Hesper Valley Railway (German: Hespertalbahn) is a German heritage line running steam locomotive services between Kupferdreh Old Station and Haus Scheppen on the Baldeneysee lake in Essen.

Steam locomotive on the Hespertalbahn

Hespertalbahn
Legend
Prince William Railway from Essen-Steele Prince William Railway to Wuppertal-Vohwinkel DB–Hesper Valley Railway junction 0.0 Essen-Kupferdreh Hesper Valley Rly (ex. Essen-Kuperdreh) Ruhr Valley Railway to Essen-Werden former DB–Hespertalbahn junction to Prinz Friedrich mine Cement works (former transfer station) Kupferdreh Hesper Valley Railway siding 3.5 Haus Scheppen Margrefstraße Pörtingsiepen mine Hesperbrück

As a narrow gauge wagonway it linked opened up Erzgruben in 1867, and the Pörtingsiepen mine in 1877. The upgrading of part of the line to standard gauge followed in 1918. In 1973 the line was closed. In June 1975 the Hesper Valley Railway Preservation Society (Verein zur Erhaltung der Hespertalbahn) saved the route and has since operated it as a heritage railway. The top speed on the line is 15 km/h.

The Hesper Valley Railway is part of the Route der Industriekultur, route 12 (The Ruhr — past and present) and route 15 (Railways in the area).

Photographs

• 
  Hespertalbahn with diesel loco, 2006
• 
  Haus Scheppen terminus, 2007

Location

• Prinz-Friedrich-Straße 1, 45257 Essen-Kupferdeh

External links

• Hesper Valley Railway (German)
• Hesper Valley Railway on Baldeneysee

51°22′42″N 7°2′18″E

Sources

• Leitsch, Joachim: Die Hespertalbahn. Eine Zechenbahn im Wandel der Zeiten. In: Der Anschnitt 1–2 (1995), S. 44–54
• Leitsch, Joachim: Kohle, Kalk und Erze. Die Geschichte der Hespertalbahn. Hrg.: Verein zur Erhaltung der Hespertalbahn e.V. Essen 1993.
• Leitsch, Joachim / Dirk, Hagedorn: Kohle, Kalk und Erze. Die Geschichte der Hespertalbahn. Hrg.: Hespertalbahn e.V. Essen 2008 (erweiterte Auflage)