Wo die Züge Fähre fuhren

Where the trains were carried by ferries

A short family-friendly Mini-Multi about an interesting story out of the early days of the Bonn railways, when trains moved over the river Rhine via a ferry.

In 1869 together with the extension of the railway on the right side of the river Rhine coming from the South up to Oberkassel, a new interconnection with the that time already existing Bonn railway left side of the river Rhine has been opened up.

As there was no bridge at Oberkassel, the trains had to be carried across the river via a ferry, a so called traject. As a complete train incl. locomotive was too heavy for the ferry, all the waggons were undocked for the transport and reconnected again to a different engine at the other side of the river. The crossing took round about 20 minutes incl. (un-)docking procedures.

The ferry business was in operation basically until beginning of World War 1 and was finally shut down completely end of 1918 (incl. dismantling of the shore constructions). During the best year 1873, 93.107 waggons and 274 locomotives have been carried over the river Rhine.

More information can be found in the Wikipedia article and on the homepage of the Bonn-Beuel museum of local history (unfortunately only in german).

About the cache:

Your vehicle can be parked best at the Joseph-Schumpeter-Allee, at the parking area opposite of the Telekom or in the car park Bonner Bogen (see waypoints). From there it's only a few minutes walk. Who comes by bicycle can drive directly right up to the start.

At the starting point you will find an information board about the history of the Bonn-Oberkassel traject described above (unfortunately also only in german language). At this location in the former times the rails went down towards the river Rhine. Take a look at the board and answer the following questions to determine the coordinates for the final:

1. Which three digit yellow number can be found aside the blue pole?
A = first digit of the three digit number
B = second digit of the three digit number
C = third digit of the three digit number

2. Which four digit year date can be found below the left map extract at the bottom of the green board?
D = first digit of the four digit number
E = second digit of the four digit number
F = third digit of the four digit number
G = fourth digit of the four digit number

The location of the container can now be calculated as follows:

N 50° 43.(E-A) (D-C) B
E 007° 08.E G (A-B)

Hint: You can open the hiding-place with a little hook on the right side. Please open the cover carefully and close it afterwards again in the same way.

Enjoy your walking, reading, searching and logging. And please trade fair!

Additional info: Who comes with kids will find at the parking area opposite of the Telekom building ("Haribo ship") and at the Rhine banks at the Kameha hotel also two nice playgrounds.

Traject at the banks on the Bonn side of the river