Experience Railway History
Traveling Along Old Railroad Tracks
Information on the construction of the railroad through the Fretter, Wenne, and Upper Lenne valleys and its subsequent conversion into bike paths
Plans for a railroad through the Fretter and Wenne valleys date back to the 1860s, but construction did not begin until 1907. Construction work—including the two tunnels near Finnentrop and Kückelheim and several deep cuts through the terrain—proved more difficult than expected, delaying the line’s opening by nearly a year. The Finnentrop–Wennemen line was inaugurated on January 14, 1911, and service began on January 16. Older railway lines already existed from Lennestadt-Altenhundem to Schmallenberg through the upper Lenne Valley (inaugurated in 1887) and onward to Bad Fredeburg (inaugurated in 1889). On September 30, 1911, the opening of the Bad Fredeburg–Wenholthausen line was celebrated, marking the final link in the network. All of these lines contributed significantly to the economic development of the Sauerland region at the time, which in turn led to a considerable improvement in people’s living conditions. Trains of supraregional importance operated here only from 1963 to 1965 via an express train service between Cologne and Paderborn, popularly known as the “Kardinals-Express.” However, as part of a general modernization effort, the rail lines became uneconomical in the second half of the 20th century. Passenger service was discontinued on all these lines in 1966. Freight train service continued on some sections until around the turn of the century.
In 1995, the municipality of Finnentrop became the first local government to revive the old railroad right-of-way and began converting the section from Lenhausen to Fehrenbracht into a bike path. In 2004, the city of Schmallenberg and the municipality of Eslohe began converting the railroad right-of-way from Schmallenberg to Bremke into a bike path; the route was officially opened on August 11, 2006. Between 2005 and 2007, the final section from Eslohe to Fehrenbracht—passing through the so-called “Bat Tunnel”—was converted into a bike path. With its inauguration on May 26, 2007, the “SauerlandRadring”—a family-friendly 84-km loop through the four municipalities of Finnentrop, Eslohe, Schmallenberg, and Lennestadt—was completed.
In the spring of 2009, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia began converting another old railroad right-of-way into a bike path. From Eslohe-Sallinghausen to Wennemen, the bike path along the Wenne River created a connection between the SauerlandRadring and the Ruhr Valley Bike Path. In the 2012 season, the established SauerlandRadring gained another segment with the 40-km-long “HenneseeSchleife,” significantly improving the high-quality network of bike paths in the Sauerland. Since then, the Hennesee Loop has run through the Wennetal valley and, from Wennemen, along the Ruhr Valley Cycle Route to the county seat of Meschede. In downtown Meschede, the cycle route turns south and runs along the Henne River to the eastern shore of Lake Hennesee. The route then follows existing bike paths through Eslohe and Reiste to Bremke, where it joins the existing SauerlandRadring.
Since 2012, the HenneseeSchleife section of the SauerlandRadring has provided a connection between the “SauerlandRadring” and the “Ruhr Valley Bike Path”.
As part of the “Bergische Panoramaradwege” network, the “Ruhr-Sieg Cycle Route” was opened on June 25, 2014. This long-distance bike path stretches over 115 km, primarily along old railroad rights-of-way of the former Timetable Route 239e from Meschede via Eslohe, Finnentrop, Olpe,
Freudenberg to Kirchen/Betzdorf. From Meschede to Finnentrop, the bike path follows the SauerlandRadring.
