Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn Gesellschaft

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The Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft was a railway company in Germany, developing the railway network in the Ruhr area together with the Cologne-Minden Railway during the 19th century.

[edit] History

The BME was founded on October 18, 1843 in Elberfeld (now a part of Wuppertal) to provide railway access for the Wupper valley, since the Cologne-Minden Railway had previously favoured laying its track via Duisburg.

Over the next decades, the BME built (and bought) a number of railway lines in the Ruhr valley:

• 1847–1849 Elberfeld - Oberbarmen – Schwelm – Hagen – Witten – Dortmund
• 1855 Dortmund – Hörde – Unna – Soest
• 1857 buyout of the Düsseldorf-Elberfeld Railway: Düsseldorf - Erkrath - Hochdahl - (Wuppertal-)Elberfeld
• 1859–1861 Hagen – Letmathe – Finnentrop – Kreuztal – Siegen (Ruhr-Sieg railway)
• 1859–1862 Witten – (Bochum-)Langendreer – (Essen-)Steele – Essen – Mülheim (Ruhr) – (Mühlheim-)Styrum – Duisburg
• 1863 acquisition of Steele-Vohwinkel Railway (Prinz-Wilhelm-Eisenbahn)
• 1864 acquisition Aachen-Düsseldorf-Ruhrort Railway
• 1866 Viersen – Kaldenkirchen – Venlo
• 1868 buyout of Hessische Nordbahn
• 1870 Neuss – Düsseldorf (including bridge over the Rhine)
• 1870–1873 Schwerte – Brilon Wald - Warburg
• 1872 Düsseldorf – (Essen-)Kettwig – (Essen-)Kupferdreh - Herdecke - Schwerte (Ruhrtalbahn)
• 1873 Rheydt-Odenkirchen – Jülich – Düren, Jülich - Weisweiler - Eschweiler-Aue (Talbahnlinie)
• 1876 Mülheim-Styrum – (Essen-)Kettwig(Lower Ruhr Valley railway)
• 1877 (Essen-)Werden – Essen
• 1879 Rheydt-Dalheim - Dutch border
• 1880 buyout of Dutch-Westphalian Railway (Niederländisch-Westfälische Eisenbahn)

In 1882, the BME was nationalised.