Finnentrop station

Finnentrop station was established during the construction of the Ruhr–Sieg line from 1858 to 1861 and the station buildings were completed in 1860.[5] Located in the village of Neubrucke, it was called Finnentrop after a nearby estate and the district was given the same name in 1908.[6] The first entrance building was built in 1870. This was replaced by a new building in 1898 because of increasing traffic and then served until its demolition in 1937 as housing for railway families.[5] A locomotive depot was built in the 1870s in conjunction with the building of the branch lines to Olpe and Wennemen. However, only one locomotive was stationed there in 1892.[6] Together with Altenhundem, the station gradually developed into one of the operating centres of the Ruhr–Sieg line. In 1914, after the closure of an on-site locomotive depot at the Finnentrop steel works in 1901, the station’s locomotive depot became an independent depot.[7] In the First World War, a field kitchen was set up next to the station and a medical team was established in the station waiting room.[8] After World War II, 660 people were employed at the station.[9]

In 2002, the Deutsche Bahn AG installed a ticket machine in the station building. Two years later, the municipality took over the building. As part of the modernisation program for stations, North Rhine-Westphalia invested about €1 million in the remodeling of the station. In late 2007, during the first phase the station building was demolished[10] and the station forecourt was completely redesigned. A citizens' initiative had previously made proposals for new uses of the building.[11][12] A new platform access bridge with elevators was erected, the three platforms were raised to 76 cm high and a multi-use platform was built: buses now stop directly opposite the trains now, making a barrier-free transition possible. Further work on the island platforms and on the new pedestrian bridge began in 2015.

The station building demolished in 2007

A four road roundhouse was built in 1874.[13] It was expanded after World War II. Around 1921, a 20-metre turntable was added.[14] It was partially destroyed in 1944 and it was closed in 1982. On 6 February 2010, the roundhouse collapsed, when it was overloaded with snow. The carriage-maintenance facility, which had developed after the First World War[7] was also closed.[13] The walls of the roundhouse, however, have been retained.[15] The depot also had a decontamination facility for cleaning and disinfecting livestock wagons.[7]

The first mechanical signal box (code name: Fr) was commissioned at the marshalling yard in 1913 and three more were subsequently commissioned: Fs in 1924, Ff in 1928 and Fn in 1937. In 2002, the last three were replaced by an electronic interlocking built by Siemens.[16] The raised signal box Ff, which is heritage-listed[17] but threatened by demolition, is still preserved and the Fn and Fs signal boxes are heritage-listed by the municipality of Finnentrop.

Finnentrop station is served twice per hour by the following passenger services:[18]

• Regional-Express service RE 16 (Ruhr-Sieg-Express) towards Essen, Hagen and Siegen,
• Regionalbahn service RB 91 (Ruhr-Sieg-Bahn) towards Hagen and Siegen and
• Regionalbahn service RB 92 (Biggesee-Express) towards Olpe.

Several regional bus lines operate from the adjacent central bus station.

• Franz Bitter (2012). "Finnentrop: Das Pfarrdorf / seine Industrie: Der Eisenbahnknotenpunkt und seine Bewohner" (PDF) (in German). Archived from the original (PDF; 2.0 MB) on 2012-11-12. Retrieved 4 August 2013. (revised version of Robert J. Sasse)

• Station forecourt webcam
• "Finnentrop locomotive workshop" (in German). nebenbahnromantik.de. Retrieved 4 August 2013.