The best city hikes and walks around Witten

As is so often the case with old train stations

The old Witten-Annen Süd stop is located here at the Rheinischer Esel.

This is where the quarrels just happen.

The former Witten-Annen Süd stop is located on the former Dortmund-Löttringhausen–Bochum-Langendreer railway line, popularly known as the “Rheinischer Esel”. This line was opened in 1880 by the Rhenish Railway Company and served both passenger and freight traffic. The Witten-Annen Süd stop was put into operation in 1880 and played an important role for local industry, especially the nearby Vereinigte Hamburg mine. Over time, however, the line lost importance and passenger traffic was discontinued on November 30, 1979. Freight traffic was gradually reduced and finally completely discontinued on December 31, 2004. Today, the former stop is part of the popular “Rheinischer Esel” cycle and hiking trail, which runs along the old railway line and connects Dortmund with Witten. The former Witten-Annen Süd station is somewhat hidden on Hellerstrasse near the Düwelssiepen junction at the end of a dead-end street. Although the tracks have been removed, some relics of the railway past are still visible, reminding us of the historical significance of this place.

The Braunschweig South Wing tunnel is a historic mining tunnel in Witten, North Rhine-Westphalia. It belongs to the former Braunschweig mine, which was in operation between 1748 and 1886. The tunnel is located near the German Mining and Field Railway Museum and the former forced labor camp Nachtigallstrasse2. The Braunschweig mine consisted of two wings, the north wing and the south wing. Mining in the south wing began in 1750 and was operated by the tradesmen Johann Peter Hundeiker and Gerhard Peter Merklinghaus. Today the tunnel is part of the Route of Industrial Heritage and a popular destination for hikes and circular walks. Source: KI

West of the branch that leads from Nachtigallstraße to Steinhausen, the Mausegatt coal seam appeared on the steep mountain slope. The coal layer was awarded on February 6, 1751 under the name Braunschweig. It sank to the south to the Borbecker Mulde and to the north to the Nachtigaller Mulde. Source: "When coal was still the future"; Gerhard Koetter, Klartext publishing house

The Ruhr Valley Railway is a partially historic railway line from Düsseldorf-Rath via Essen-Kupferdreh, Bochum-Dahlhausen, Hattingen, Hattingen-Welper, Hattingen-Blankenstein, Witten-Herbede, Hagen-Vorhalle and Schwerte to Warburg. (...) The Ruhr Valley Railway was primarily used to transport coal to the Ruhrort port, bypassing the Heißener Berg. (...) The Middle Ruhr Valley Railway was put into operation on December 28, 1869 from Dahlhausen (Ruhr) via Hattingen on the left (southern) side of the Ruhr to Henrichshütte in Welper. On June 1, 1874, it was extended via Herbede and Wengern Ost to Herdecke (today: Vorhalle). (...) Public passenger transport on the Hattingen–Wengern Ost section was discontinued on May 23, 1971. (...) The (middle) Ruhr Valley Railway has been used since the beginning of 2005 as a railway for tourist scheduled services on the Bochum-Dahlhausen–Hattingen–Herbede–Wengern Ost–Hagen-Vorhalle–Hagen Hbf section, after the Bochum-Dahlhausen Railway Museum had already operated its own museum train service between Hattingen and Wengern Ost or Oberwengern between 1981 and 2004. (...) During the tourist season, however, the Ruhr Valley route is mainly used by historic steam trains from the Bochum-Dahlhausen Railway Museum or by nostalgic rail buses. (...) In addition to tourist services, freight transport takes place on the route every working day for a forwarding and logistics company in Hattingen and a large scrap metal recycling company in Herbede, which is operated by DB Cargo. (...) On a section of the middle Ruhr Valley Railway, the Ruhr Valley Cycle Path, which was built by the Ruhr Regional Association between 2005 and 2006, runs alongside the route between the Hardenstein ruins and Wengern on the site of a former second track. (...) Since July 2020, it has been examined whether the Hattingen-Hagen section should be reactivated for local rail passenger transport. A feasibility study has been drawn up for this purpose, which, in addition to the Hattingen-Hagen connection, also takes into account the connection to Witten Central Station via the Ruhr viaduct of the Elbschetalbahn. (...) Source and link to the full article: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruhrtalbahn

An eye-catcher in the station lobby.