Wesel is a railway station in Wesel, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The station is located on the Arnhem-Oberhausen railway and the Bocholt-Wesel railway. The train services are operated by Deutsche Bahn and Abellio Deutschland.
History As early as 1832, the Dutch Lieutenant Brade proposed the construction of a railway on the west bank of the Rhine from Amsterdam to Cologne. After preparatory work in the Netherlands had been largely completed, Brade began the first surveys in Prussia. He sought support from the Mayor of Wesel, who initially opposed the project. The town was more interested in expanding traffic on the Rhine and the Lippe. The town's view only changed after the opening of the first railway lines in Germany.
A railway committee was founded in Wesel under the leadership of Ludwig Bischoff, the headmaster of the Wesel high school, on 2 March 1841. During the preliminary considerations for the construction of the Cologne–Minden railway, the committee proposed a line through Wesel, Münster and Bielefeld to Minden. Bischoff referred in a memorandum to the advantages of this route, which could in the long term link the fortress city of Wesel with the Westphalian provincial capital of Münster and the Prussian capital of Berlin, and suggested that it would support the movement towards German national unity. In addition, the northern route was the shortest connection from Berlin to the Rhine and was favourable for railway building. The head of the Cologne-Minden Railway Committee, David Hansemann, rejected the initiative on the grounds that the line chosen should be the shortest route, especially since the connection between Berlin and the fortified city of Cologne was more important
After Hansemann's rejection, the Wesel Committee concentrated increasingly on a link between Cologne and Amsterdam, which would connect the Ruhr with the North Sea. The town of Emmerich, which was also seeking a connection at the time, received approval by cabinet order on 15 September 1845 for preparatory work for the construction of a branch line from Oberhausen on the Cologne-Minden Railway via Wesel and Emmerich with a connection to the Amsterdam–Arnhem railway, which was opened between 1843 and 1845. The Wesel and Emmerich Committee merged into a joint committee based in Wesel on 22 January 1846. After the March Revolution in 1848, Ludwig Bischoff had to resign from the school and leave the town of Wesel and the committee due to his liberal views.
In 1850, the town again contacted the Prussian Ministry of Commerce to promote the construction of the line. The town emphasised its loyalty to the king and the House of Hohenzollern and referred to its importance as the most northwestern bulwark in Prussia. To compensate for the obstacles associated with the law governing its fortress status, the town sought financial support for the line's construction and equal treatment with other unprofitable lines. As an alternative to the state assuming all construction costs, Wesel proposed state participation in the capital raising for the construction and a declaration that it would guarantee interest at the rate of three and a half percent. The town continued to seek support from some senior military personnel; as early as 1843, the Prussian Ministry of War had endorsed a rail connection to Wesel. In November 1850, the Prussian Minister of Commerce August von der Heydt instructed Wesel to stop promoting the scheme and indicated that the current situation made it impossible to issue an interest guarantee. This reflected ongoing negotiations between Prussia and the Netherlands.
After the Netherlands agreed to change the line from Amsterdam to Arnhem from () to (), nothing stood in the way of the project. On 1 October 1853, the Cologne-Minden Railway Company (Cöln-Mindener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, CME) received the concession for the Oberhausen–Arnhem route. Planning in the Wesel area had begun on the basis of various preliminary contracts as early as 1852.
Construction and commissioning of the Oberhausen–Arnhem railway
The construction of Wesel station was subjected to special conditions due to its proximity to the fortress. The Ministry of War initially wanted a station on the western side. This would have required the building of a 200 Prussian rod (≈ 753 metre)-long embankment to protect against flooding and ice on the Lippe. In addition, the Rheintor (Rhine Gate), which formed the entrance to the pontoon bridge over the Rhine, would no longer have been usable by horse-riders and wagons. In this case, the railway would have built an opening bridge for the railway. In addition, the station could have been fired on from the other bank of the Rhine. A station on the eastern side, on the other hand, satisfied the town and the CME and was ultimately built due to the problems with the western option. The CME intended to build the railway embankment to be flood-proof at 35 Prussian feet (≈ 11.0 metres) above the level of Wesel. The military administration required a reduction in the overall height to 30 feet (≈ 9.4 m), and later to 28.5 feet (≈ 8.9 m).
The Ministry of War permitted the station to be built within the fortress area so that it would not be too far away from the town. Since buildings this close to the walls could have offered protection for attackers, the station buildings had to be single-storey and made of wood. In addition, they had to be able to be dismantled within a day. The construction also resulted in demands from the military to expand the fortifications substantially. To protect the existing fortress, the Ministry of War called for the construction of Fort Fusternberg on the land between the station and the Lippe (at a cost of 185,000 thalers). The ministry also required the construction of a tower fort with extended walls on the town side of Fort Fusternberg (135,000 thalers) that would defend the Lippe crossing if Fort Fusternberg fell. Lunette 23 would have to be raised because of the railway embankment (1500 thalers). In addition, the construction of a horse-hauled railway including protective works from the station to the port was required in order to bring operating materials to safety in the fortress in the event of war (28,500 thalers). The CME rejected the additional costs of 350,000 thalers and declared itself ready to build a bulwark on the strong point of Flamer Schanze on the other side of the Lippe. The CME was ready to build the military railway, but was against the construction of the defensive structures. The company pointed out that the railway embankment would be demolished without compensation in the event of war and therefore could not bear the additional costs. In addition, the advantages of railway construction would be greater than the disadvantages for the fortress system. Since the Prussian Minister of War, Friedrich Graf von Waldersee, was not ready to agree, but the commitments made to the Netherlands in relation to the construction of the railway could not be postponed, the matter was referred to the Prussian King Frederick William IV. On 10 April 1856 the CME agreed to pay half of the cost of 174,250 thalers, while the other half was to be paid from the railway fund. The king approved the project on 14 April 1856.
The whole line became usable with the commissioning of the Dinslaken–Wesel–Emmerich section on 20 October 1856. The CME had held opening ceremonies over several days from 17 October 1856, including, among other things, a special trip from Deutz to Amsterdam and back. While the outward journey between Ruhrort and Emmerich used water transport on the Rhine with a stop in Wesel, a train was taken for the return journey. No fixed program was originally planned in Wesel. Because the steam locomotive had to replenish its water supplies in Wesel, the people of Wesel decided to take advantage of this ten-minute break; the festival committee was informed of the project and made no objection. The mayor asked all the town councilors to gather on the platform in festive clothes when the train arrived at 12:30 p.m. and a music corps would also line up. In addition, the project was promoted in the town, so that the citizens would be present in large numbers. The project was implemented as planned.
In the beginning, the station had a separate office building for the stationmaster in addition to the entrance building. An open loading ramp and loading road bordered the large goods shed. A two-track engine shed was available for the locomotives of the trains terminating in Wesel. Next to it was the water station; two water cranes were installed over an 1120 cubic Prussian feet (≈ 34.6 cubic metre) storage container. An average of 19 officials and workers were employed at the station in 1858. The station precincts contained track with a length of 650 rods (≈ 2.27 km) and 16 sets of points. There were already 22 sets of points and 715 rods (≈ 2,69 km) of track in 1862. 25 sets of points were installed in 1868 and 26 sets of points in 1870. The number of employees temporarily dropped to 13, after the completion of the remaining work, then rose continuously to 28 in 1870. The CME established a tree nursery on some land that could not be sold in order to demarcate the railway area.
Wesel station's freight traffic fell short of expectations in the early days, despite good traffic on the line. 101,375 outgoing passengers were counted at the station in 1858, which was similar to traffic at Essen and Hamm. Military tickets accounted for almost ten percent of passengers. The volume of freight traffic was significantly lower, with around 50 incoming and outgoing freight wagons per day. Due to the fortress ring, the establishment of factories within the town was technically impossible. Buildings outside the city walls were prohibited. The situation only changed gradually after the town was demilitarised in the early 1890s. Another disadvantage, which resulted from the fortress, was the route between town and the station. The entrance from Berliner Tor was angled and covered with gravel and coarse sand. Despite regular cleaning, the street was covered with horse manure and furrowed by wagon wheels. There was no paved sidewalk or railings to fence off the moats. Since the street was not illuminated until the beginning of the 1860s, serious injuries and fatalities occurred after falls, especially at night or in thick fog. The military railway to the port went into operation on 3 July 1865. The CME had delayed its construction because it feared that it would lose goods traffic to the shipping industry.
The first major renovation took place in 1870. The freight shed was expanded from 1059 square feet (≈ 104.3 square metres) to 5666 square feet (≈ 558.1 square metres) and the loading ramps for military traffic were extended. With the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War on 24 July 1870, freight traffic was discontinued and passenger traffic was reduced from 18 trains to one pair per day. The mobilisation lasted until 14 August 1870 and the peacetime timetable was restored from 21 September 1870.
Construction of the Haltern–Venlo railway and expansion of the railway facilities