Feldchenbahnbrücke

Near Dortmund's Aplerbeck district, five brick arches carry a footpath over the Emscher. The Feldchenbahnbrücke is about twenty-five metres long and five metres wide, its largest arch spanning the river itself. It is the last surviving relic of the colliery railway linking the Zeche Vereinigte Schürbank & Charlottenburg to the Dortmund-Soest line.

The line took shape between 1867 and 1870 as a single track about sixteen hundred metres long. It curved in an S shape towards the main railway while coal from the Zeche rolled along its length. When the mine closed in 1925, the tracks came off and the bridge and embankment passed to walkers and cyclists. In 2003 doubts about the structure's integrity put demolition on the table. The crossing passed to the city of Dortmund instead, and a restoration in 2005 cleaned and refilled the joints. Concrete slabs reinforce the old masonry and keep moisture out.

Small circular openings, the oculi, pierce the spandrels between the arches. They served as ventilation in railway days and still give the brickwork much of its character. The protected monument carries you across the Emscher on foot: a short walk straight into Dortmund's industrial past.