Alte Hammer Eisenbahnbrücke

If you want to see kestrels in nature, the way to get there is rewarding.
The first railway bridge between Neuss and Dusseldorf-Hamm was opened on July 24, 1870. Without opening ceremonies, the bridge, which was initially called "King Wilhelm's Railway Bridge", will be used for the first time for the transport of soldiers and material on the way to France.
The first plans for a bridge date back to 1850. The Prussian government in Berlin rejected the construction but for military reasons. The Royal Railway Directorate in Elberfeld 1864 turned again to the War Department in Berlin. The Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahngesellschaft wanted to build the bridge at its own expense. On October 31, 1865, the Dusseldorf Chamber of Commerce turned to the Prussian Minister of Trade, Commerce and Public Works with the request for approval of a railway bridge over the Rhine near Hamm. Finally, the Prussian king granted 1867 approval.For shipping, four openings of 100 meters in width and 17 openings for the foreshore bridges were required. In May 1868 the work begins. On 20 November 1869, a serious accident occurs when a ship laden with iron ore collides with a bridge scaffold and one of the four arches collapses. In this misfortune 15 people find death.Only in the spring, the debris are removed and the work can be continued. For military reasons, the structure is attached. In addition to the fortress-like towers on the bridgeheads there was also a Sperrfort. This can be clearly seen on old maps. It was demolished in 1885.Increasing traffic and military reasons led to the construction of a second bridge 32 meters downstream between 1909 and 1911, so that four tracks now led across the Rhine. Towards the end of World War II on March 3, 1945, all bridges in Düsseldorf were blown up. 1947 was the reconstruction of a double-track bridge, which was reconstructed from parts of the southern bridge. The ruins of the southern bridge were not rebuilt, the iron parts were scrapped, but pillars and bridge towers stopped and decayed over time.

A voir les graffitis sur le Rhin de Neuss.