Sorpe Dam

The Sorpesee is a beautiful leisure and recreation area in the Sauerland

The main prerequisite for the construction of the Sorpetalsperre was the Röhrtalbahn, which connects Sundern with the Upper Ruhr Valley Railway in Neheim-Hüsten. The steam locomotives of the Röhrtalbahn transported heavy construction trains over a construction track laid at that time and a newly built viaduct to the construction site on the Sorpedamm. This was the largest construction site in Europe from 1926 to 1935. More than 300,000 tons of construction material were transported by the steam freight trains to the Sorpedamm. There then took over small Feldbahnen further transports. The Sorpetalsperre needed with their original catchment area of ​​the Sorpe over three years to be filled. In order to increase the efficiency, the catchment area was subsequently enlarged by passing water from the neighboring valleys into the dam via an ancillary system. This extended the catchment area from originally 53 km² to 100.3 km² [1].

With a depth of over 70 meters, the Sorpesee is the deepest reservoir in the Ruhr Association and is also one of the largest reservoirs in the Sauerland.
A popular leisure and recreation area.