Alter Bahnhof Oberkassel

Opened in 1853, Alter Bahnhof Oberkassel initially served as a classic train station. The Aachen-Neuß-Düsseldorfer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft operated this station. Trains from Mönchengladbach terminated here. For a brief period, another station, Obercassel Rheinstation, existed nearby on the Rhine meadows. This even served Prussian royalty crossing the river by ferry. However, by 1884, this line was decommissioned, solidifying Alter Bahnhof Oberkassel’s role. The current station building, a stately structure with a distinctive tower, dates back to 1896. This tower housed waiting rooms, especially for first-class passengers, a reflection of the four-class system of the Prussian State Railways. Competition arrived in 1898 with the Rheinische Bahngesellschaft’s electric tram line, connecting Düsseldorf to Krefeld and later to Neuss in 1901. This led to the end of passenger services at Alter Bahnhof Oberkassel in 1902. The waiting rooms were then converted into a restaurant, a tradition that continues to this day. The station area was briefly used for passenger transport again after World War II. Freight transport operations ceased in 1972. The land was then used, among other things, by a timber trading company. The building itself has seen several owners. Josef Vossen acquired it in 1911, keeping it within the family for two generations. After the Vossen brothers relinquished their lease in 1988, Deutsche Bundesbahn planned to sell the dilapidated building for office space. Public outcry led to Mohammad Rahbaran purchasing and restoring the building in 1991, reopening it as the Belsenbräu gastro-brewery. Today, Alter Bahnhof Oberkassel houses a popular restaurant and brewery, run by Jürgen Flohr and Klaus Unterwainig since 2007. They’ve been brewing their own beer since 2008, now known as Belsen Alt.