Schleiden is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It lies in the Eifel hills, in the district of Euskirchen, and has 12,998 inhabitants as of 30 June 2017.[3] Schleiden is connected by a tourist railway to Kall, on the Eifel Railway between Cologne and Trier. The town consists of 18 settlements, the largest of which are Gemünd and Schleiden proper.
Sub-divisions
The borough of Schleiden is divided into 18 settlements (population figures of those at their main residence as at September 2020):[4]
The Olef Valley Railway (from Kall to Hellenthal) stopped at Schleiden station; regular passenger services were discontinued by Deutsche Bundesbahn in 1981. Because of the Eifel National Park, which was newly established in 2004, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia is supporting tourism with a two-year programme of passenger services in the tourist season on Sundays and public holidays. These services terminated in 2004 in the district of Gemünd, and in 2005 they continued to Schleiden. The regional railway was managed by the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Sieg; Rurtalbahn was the operator. Regular traffic ended on 16 October 2005. Since 2006 services have been operated privately as a museum railway in the summer season, with the 2008 season being operated by the Rhein-Sieg-Eisenbahn. From 2010, the trains will run again to Hellenthal station, using an historic MAN railbus. Due to massive damage caused by the 2021 European floods, museum railway services were suspended.[6]
Until 1997 there was regular freight traffic via Schleiden to Hellenthal, after that only military traffic to Schleiden-Höddelbusch (tank loading ramp). The last troop loading took place there in winter 2002 with diesel and steam locomotives from a private railway.[7] Belgium handed back the Vogelsang Training Area on 1 January 2006. The training area on the Dreiborn Plateau was turned over to non-military use and has a documentation centre and hiking area.
Public figures
Johannes Sturm (Sturmius) (1507–1589), educator and scholar of the Renaissance, a professor in Paris and founder of the University of Strasbourg
Johannes Sleidanus (1506–1556), historian, professor, Schleiden / Strasbourg
Leopold Schoeller (1792–1884), industrialist and Privy Councillor of Commerce
Gustav Poensgen (1824–1904), industrialist and Privy Councillor of Commerce
Rudolf Poensgen (1826–1895), industrialist and councillor of commerce
Carl Poensgen (1838–1921), industrialist and Privy Councillor of Commerce