Erkelenz

Erkelenz station is a station in the town of Erkelenz in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It lies on the Aachen–Mönchengladbach railway and has been classified by Deutsche Bahn since January 2011 as a category 4 station. The station is served by the Wupper-Express and the Rhein-Niers-Bahn. It consists of a simple station building from the 1950s with two platforms. Close to the station there are a park and ride lot and transfer facilities to express, regional and city buses. While freight has declined in importance at Erkelenz station with the relocation of heavy traffic from rail to road in the 1980s, passenger traffic has developed to such an extent that the station today is the most important stop between Aachen and Moenchengladbach, based on entry and exit numbers. From 1992 to 2001, Erkelenz station was an InterRegio stop on the route towards eastern Germany (Aachen–Chemnitz). With the conversion of the railway line to electronic interlocking operation in November 2007, the crossovers were taken out, so the station is now regarded operationally as a halt, and the new German Ks-Signal system of signalling was installed. The former third platform track was taken out of use during the remodelling so that trains can no longer overtake at the station. Later, the third track was completely dismantled.

The Church of St. Martin (German: Filialkirche St. Martinus) was a Roman Catholic church in the village of Borschemich, Erkelenz in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. It was built between 1906 and 1907 in the Gothic Revival style to designs of the architect Heinrich Renard. It took over the role from a medieval church which was located nearby, which was demolished upon completion of the new building. The church was deconsecrated in 2014, and it was demolished in February 2016 as part of the destruction of the entire village of Borschemich in order to make way for the Garzweiler surface mine. A new smaller church with the same dedication was built as its replacement in Neu-Borschemich between 2013 and 2015.

The Grenzlandring ("border-region ring"), sometimes written Grenzland-Ring, was a high-speed oval race track in the Lower Rhine area of Germany, around the town of Wegberg and close to Mönchengladbach and the Dutch town of Roermond. The concrete ring was secretly constructed in 1938-1939 as a "strategically important" supply route for construction of Nazi Germany's Westwall fortifications, at total cost of about 3.3 million Reichsmark. As a military project, it was not shown on road maps. After minor use early in World War II, the ring was disused, but survived the war largely intact. Immediately after the war, parts of the ring were used by U.S. and British military units. In 1947, the Grenzlandring, also known as the Wegbergring or Wegberg-Ring, was locally "rediscovered" when Carl Marcus, mayor of nearby Rheydt, drove one night along what seemed to be a more or less straight country road. When he passed a bicycle rider more than once, he suddenly realized that the road was in fact circular. Beginning in the late 1940s, the ring was used for auto and motorcycle racing. The all-time lap record was set in September 1949 by Bavarian Georg "Schorsch" Meier on a supercharged BMW 500 motorbike at 216 km/h (134 mph), and in September 1951 Toni Ulmen set the all-time record for cars, driving his Veritas 2000 RS to 212 km/h (132 mph).On August 31, 1952, for reasons never completely explained, Berliner Helmut Niedermayr crashed his Formula Two Reif/Veritas-Meteor at the exit of the Roermonder Kurve at nearly 200 km/h (120 mph),, killing 13 spectators and injuring another 42. Although the actual event was not stopped to avert panic in the crowds, racing was subsequently banned from the ring by the government, after a total of five competitions attended by an estimated 300,000 people.Subsequently, a southern section of the road was removed, while the remaining portion was asphalted for local traffic.

Hückelhoven-Baal station is in the Hückelhoven district of Baal in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia on the Aachen–Mönchengladbach railway. It is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 5 station. With its construction as an interchange station on two levels, it became important as a hub for passenger services, but in recent years it has lost this significance due to the closure of the adjacent section of the Jülich–Dalheim railway. Meanwhile, the passenger station has been reclassified as a halt and it was renamed as Hückelhoven-Baal in 2002. Baal freight yard still exists.

Wegberg (German pronunciation: [ˈveːkbɛʁk]; Limburgish: Berk [ˈbæʀ(ə)k]) is the northernmost town in the district of Heinsberg in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

The Battle of Dahlen was fought on April 23, 1568, between a Dutch rebel army led by Jean de Montigny, Lord of Villers, and a Spanish army commanded by Sancho Dávila y Daza. As a part of William of Orange's planned invasion, the Dutch rebels were trying to conquer the town of Roermond when the arrival of the Spanish force compelled them to withdraw. Dávila pursued the retreating force and inflicted a defeat upon Villers near the small town of Dahlen (today known as Rheindahlen). The survivors of this encounter sought refuge under the walls of Dahlen, where the Spanish infantry finally defeated them. This battle is sometimes considered the official start of the Eighty Years' War.

Beckrath is a village in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, 507 kilometres (315 mi) west of Berlin and 9.9 kilometres (6.2 mi) south of Mönchengladbach.

The former Royal Air Force Hospital Wegberg, commonly abbreviated to RAF(H) Wegberg, was a Royal Air Force (RAF) military hospital located in Wegberg, near the city of Mönchengladbach, in the then West Germany. It was opened in 1953 to serve the British Armed Forces personnel already in the area, and in anticipation of the construction and opening of the large RAF Rheindahlen base, nearby.

Rheindahlen (called Dalen from the Early Middle Ages to the Early Modern Period around 1700, and Dahlen until 1878) is a town in the western and largest borough of the city of Mönchengladbach in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Since the reorganisation of Monchengladbach's boroughs (Stadtbezirke) on 22 October 2009 Rheindahlen has been part of Mönchengladbach West. From the granting of Nideggen town rights in 1354 until the incorporation of the mayoralty of Rheindahlen into M.-Gladbach on 30 June 1921, the place was an independent town. In 1878, the town was renamed from Dahlen to Rheindahlen in the Prussian Province of Düsseldorf by order of Emperor William I. Its renaming was primarily for postal reasons in order to avoid confusing the Dahlen in the Rhine Province with the municipality of Dahlen in Saxony within the North German Postal Zone. Its old name linguistically meant Delle or "hollow", which refers to the location of the village in a depression.

Malefinkbach is a river of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It flows into the Rur near Hückelhoven.

Köhm is a small river of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It flows into the Niers near Erkelenz-Keyenberg. Its upper course no longer exists due to lignite mining (Garzweiler surface mine).

The former Royal Air Force Rheindahlen, more commonly known as RAF Rheindahlen, was a non-flying Royal Air Force (RAF) military administrative base, becoming part of the Rheindahlen Military Complex (JHQ Rheindahlen) in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany; collectively a part of British Forces Germany (BFG). The Royal Air Force station was named after the nearby town and railway station of Rheindahlen. In the 1950s and 1960s, it was more commonly referred to as RAF Mönchengladbach; due to Rheindahlen being the Army's name for the same JHQ. It was unusual in that the RAF station land was publicly accessible, with public transport routes, and even German civilian mail service (Rheindahlen 2).