Many years of hard work on the Wiehl Valley Railway line have left clearly recognisable marks. Technical and operational overhaul of our 'workhorse' is urgently needed. Only then can the challenging work for the preservation of the Wiehl Valley Railway line be guaranteed for the future.
Members of the preservation society have already invested extensive work in the preservation of the vehicle in the past. In the absence of an own workshop this was done in Waldbröl under the open sky. Related to the general inspection of the vehicle (required in a six-year cycle) there is now work pending that cannot be completed under such conditions. Now a weatherproof workshop, specialist equipmewnt, as well as the guidance and collaboration of DB-railwaymen are required.
Therefore it has been agreed with our co-operating railway infrastructure company, the Rhine-Sieg-Railway (RSE), to transfer the maintenance vehicle 'SKL' from Waldbröl to their railway workshop in Bonn-Beuel for the general inspection. For several reasons, the transport could only be carried out by lorry. Of course we, as railwaymen, were not very happy with this decision.
For such transport there are special vehicles with appropriate lifting gear. Unfortunately, such a vehicle was not available in the immediate vicinity in the medium term. To be able to conduct the transport nevertheless as economically as possible, the preservation society requested a variety of companies to to make tender based on an catalogue of requirements and technical considerations. This resulted in an collaboration with Dornseiff, a company with an understanding of the objectives and capabilities of the preservation society.
Meanwhile our maintenance vehicle 'SKL' has arrived at the railway workshop for a technical overhaul and improvements to its appearance. Members of the preservation society have already started the work. Any kind of support is welcome - be it as a volunteer (Info-phone: +49 2264 1418) or with an donation (IBAN: DE 55 3846 2135 1005 5550 15; Reference: SKL). This will help to make our 'workhorse' operational again as fast as possible. We will make progress reports on this subject here on our webpage.