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pictures

The motive power depot  Bw Kreuzberg

The depot Bw Kreuzberg was built around 1918 at the end of WW I. It was to provide motive power to serve the southern end of the new double track line from Liblar near Cologne to Rech in the Ahr-valley via Rheinbach and Meckenheim. This line was designed to extend the capacity of rail-haulage from the Ruhr-coal-area to the Lorraine/Saar iron-ore area. It was almost finished, just a few km of rails and a bridge at Ahrweiler were not finished at the end of the war. Work on this line continued until 1921, when the economic depression forced the final standstill.

Also the depot provided service to the upgraded and extended Ahrtalbahn, which was completed in 1912. Only by this greater view of military and economic strategic importance basically outside the Ahr region can one understand the building of such a depot, which looks nowadays so much oversized.

Between the two wars it had a tracklayout of up to 14 parallel tracks, a 20m turntable, a 9-door roundhouse with workshop, several watercranes, a coaling crane and a up to 100 strong workforce.

After WW II Bw Kreuzberg lost its importance quickly as the second track was lifted and the Ahrtalbahn returned to the status of a local branchline. After the steam era ended in the mid-60s and even the diesel engines were withdrawn the depot was closed in 1987.

But the rich heritage and the still prominent buildings and trackage convinced the authorities in 1996 to protect it from demolition and it was listed as a technical heritage site of a total of 110.000 square meters.

Due to local political pressure to convert the area for a new housing project the listed status was discontinued in November 2006, but since then nothing has changed.