page_title: Siegburg–Olpe railway
section_title: Planning and construction
hierarchical_section_title: Siegburg–Olpe railway / History / Planning and construction
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Festschrift-Titelseite „Zur Eröffnungsfeier der Eisenbahnstrecke Bergneustadt–Olpe“
context_page_description: The Siegburg–Olpe railway or Agger Valley Railway is a single-tracked, non-electrified branch line in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Part of a direct link from Cologne, only the section from Overath to Gummersbach-Dieringhausen is still in operation. The section of line from Siegburg to Overath and from Dieringhausen to Olpe are closed.
  The line is named after the River Agger, which it follows for a long way and crosses several times.
context_section_description: The first documented written discussions on a railway through the Oberbergische district date back to 1861. At that time, manufacturers founded a committee that planned a railway connection between Cologne and Kassel. This was originally intended to be a main line. This project did not materialise because the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company (Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft) preferred a more northerly lines via Hagen and because of the problem of financing it—a main line would have cost 30 million gold marks. For comparison, the section from Bergneustadt to Olpe was priced at 3,367,000 marks in its building permit.
  The planners of the Siegburg–Olpe railway preferred a direct connection to Cologne from the beginning rather than the indirect route via Siegburg. But at this time, there was still a military base in Cologne, which was in the way of the line. Another early plan proposed a line through the Agger valley from Siegburg to the Ruhr as part of the East Rhine Railway. This plan was rejected after the intervention of Cologne industrialists.
  The Agger Valley Railway was the first major railway line inside the district of Oberbergischer Kreis. Before its construction, some critics claimed that its operations would not be profitable, so it was only agreed after long discussions and after  the exertion of political pressure. The critics came mainly from the Cologne area because of its connection to Siegburg, as well as from the staff of the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company, which favoured a route to the north. The political pressure included the Prussian minister for railway at the time, Albert von Maybach, the most influential person in the region in relation to railway construction after Hermann von Budde.
  The first railway connections in the region occurred in Brügge (in the municipality of Lüdenscheid) in, 1874, in Olpe in 1875 and in Wipperfürth in 1877. The connections there were too far from the Oberbergischer Kreis for passengers and profitable freight operations.
  For cost reasons, the railway was built as a branch line.  In most places it was built right next to the road, straight through the villages. This would still be a problem at the beginning of the 20th century. Further evidence of cost savings are the stations of Ründeroth and Derschlag. Their entrance building were previously at Recklinghausen and Recklinghausen Süd. Since they were no longer large enough, they were dismantled and re-erected on the Agger Valley Railway. In the case of the Derschlag station another source gives a different origin for the entrance building. An 1885 plan of the station indicates it was moved from Horst station (now in Gelsenkirchen) to Derschlag.
caption: Title page of the Festschrift for the opening ceremony of the Bergneustadt – Olpe section
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