Transport in the valley of the Nister (Nistertal)
| Transport in the valley of the Nister (Nistertal) | |
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| GeoStation at the GeoRoute Tertiär - Industrie - Erlebnis Stöffel-Route | |
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| directer QR-Code: | www.qltr.de/qrka0189 |
When the Railway came
Since the 19th century, the significant raw material occurrences of the Westerwald region had come into focus. The invention of the railway made it possible to transport large quantities of goods. The construction of the railway line from Deutz via Betzdorf to Gießen in 1861 brought the first boost to the region.
After a long planning phase, in 1883 a railway line was also realized from Au an der Sieg, through Altenkirchen, to Limburg. Here, near Büdingen, a bridge had to be built over the Nister River. The stones for this were transported by horse-drawn carts from the surrounding quarries. The sand for the mortar came from the Selters area. Earth masses from the cuttings were brought by narrow-gauge railway and piled up to form an embankment for the railway. On July 25, 1885, the completion of the Nister Bridge was celebrated with a large festival.
At that time, basalt was being mined from the Stöffel Mountain by several companies. Therefore, a total of three loading facilities were built at the new standard gauge railway. The basalt from the quarries was transported here by narrow-gauge railways and unloaded.
In 1911, a branch line was established over Erbach to the then district town of Bad Marienberg, where basalt was also mined. As a result, the Erbach train station became an important freight transfer point. Here, sometimes more than 160,000 tons per year were transported, mostly basalt gravel. This branch line remained in operation until 1971.
Today, one can still recognize the effort that went into the construction of the railway. The narrow valleys and the climbs to the heights required technical feats. Here, in the deep cut, was once the connection to Bad Marienberg. Above, the railway still runs through the Nister Valley.