Finnentrop-Lenhausen railroad bridge

In September 1860, the section master builder Küll asks the bailiff Kaiser in Serkenrode for permission to work on the building site on Sundays. He justifies this with the advanced season and the need to close the vaults before the frost sets in. The bailiff, who doesn't want to mess things up with any of the higher powers, neither earthly nor heavenly, first asks the district administrator in Meschede, which takes time, but sends the increasingly impatient master builder a letter full of administrative gobbledygook and pleasantries asking him to wait and see.

But he is a practitioner and knows how to help himself, as the letter contained in the files testifies: To Mr. Amtmann Kayser, Zu Serkenrode: "To date, I have not yet received a promise or any other resolution to my requests to be allowed to work on the local bridge construction site during Sundays. In view of the urgency of the work, however, I have no hesitation in allowing work to be carried out on the aforementioned construction site today, and I request that any complaint or report that may be made to the local police office in this regard be charged solely to me." Lenhausen, September 23, 1860.

The Sections Baumeister (signature:) Küll. Then comes the reply from Meschede: The circumstances are not such that work on Sundays and public holidays can be permitted. It is not clear from the files whether or how the differences of opinion on bridge construction will be further resolved. In any case, the Sections master builder Küll and his men did a great job. The bridge did not have to be thoroughly renovated until 140 years later and would then be able to fulfill its purpose for many years to come.

The municipality of Finnentrop wanted to place the arched bridge over the Lenne, which was built in 1860, under monument protection in 1986. The process took a whole five years until it was entered in the monument file in 1991: "The bridge is a double-track ashlar masonry bridge consisting of 4 segmental arches and resting on stream piers and a road culvert. Blendoculi divide the spandrels above the piers. The parapet is set off from the substructure by a bulbous cornice. On both sides near the bridgeheads, polygonal pulpits with brick parapets divide the masonry vertically. The actual bridge railing is a simple bar grating. In the development of bridge construction, this early structure for South Westphalia documents the architectural form of the first half of the 19th century, which was still rooted in historicism, in the transition to the purely engineering form of the following period.... The bridge documents an important achievement in railroad construction from the beginnings of railroad history in South Westphalia. In addition, the object shapes the Lenne valley in a striking way. There are scientific, in particular economic, railroad and architectural-historical reasons for its preservation and use. ..."

In 2000, the bridge had to be completely renovated, for which the railroad made demands that changed the appearance of the structure. In response to the objection of the Westfalen Office for the Preservation of Monuments that it was in favor of a renovation without external changes, the railroad pointed out that the measure could be carried out without the approval of the monument protection authorities, and that the railroad did not require any permits for work on its facilities. (Author: Wolf-Dieter Grün)

You can find an article on the construction of the Ruhr-Sieg line and the events in the municipality of Finnentrop at: http: //www.heimatbund-finnentrop.de/historie/ruhr-sieg-strecke.pdf (Author: Wolf-Dieter Grün)