Aalten is situated on the Arnhem–Winterswijk railway line, which traverses the municipality from west to east (or vice versa, if you prefer). However, in the second half of the 19th century, there were also various plans to construct alternative routes running in a (more or less) north-south direction.
Below is some information regarding these plans. It is perhaps superfluous to mention that none of these projects ever came to fruition.
Zutphen–Aalten
In the mid-19th century, there were no railways in the Achterhoek yet. However, in 1865, plans were drawn up to build a railway line from Zutphen to the ‘Prussian borders’. The line was intended to run via Vorden, Hengelo, Zelhem, and Aalten. This route would be the shortest and, moreover, offered the advantages that the ground was ‘firm, level, and inexpensive, and no major engineering works would be required’. It is unknown to us why these plans were never executed.
Gelsenkirchen–Aalten–Zutphen
In the spring of 1872, an engineer from the German Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (Railway Company) in Berlin arrived at Aalten town hall to gather information for the potential construction of a railway line from Gelsenkirchen, via Bocholt and Aalten, to Zutphen. As the adjacent newspaper article shows, plans were already underway at that very same moment for a railway line from Winterswijk heading westwards, passing Aalten.
“Should one of these lines come into being, this village, one of the largest in the county, will very swiftly attain a high degree of prosperity, particularly as an unparalleled desire for progress in every field is observed here among the core of the populace.”
However, these plans were never carried out. This was likely due to the fact that the Nederlandsch-Westfaalsche Spoorweg-Maatschappij (NWS) had only just been founded, having already been granted the concession to build the Zutphen–Winterswijk railway line on 27 March. A year later, the Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft received the concession for the Winterswijk–Borken–Gelsenkirchen railway line, which would connect to the Dutch line.
Rees–Aalten
In 1885, there was once again talk of the potential construction of a railway line that would pass Aalten in a north-south direction. This time, the planned route ran from Rees, via Isselburg and Dinxperlo to Aalten. Later, we also found Groenlo added to this list. It was, incidentally, also considered as a steam tramway. At the end of the year, however, the Graafschapbode reported that the preparatory work had been halted due to a disagreement between the German and Dutch sides regarding the location of the Dinxperlo-Suderwick station.
