Alte Fahrt (Datteln–Olfen)

The Alte Fahrt is a disused branch of the Dortmund-Ems Canal. With the growing ship traffic on the canal, various side arms had to be built as early as 1929, just 30 years after it was opened. Larger ships in particular were able to use side arms of the canal and thus avoid each other. Many years later the main canal was widened at the crucial points and the so-called second voyages were dismantled or separated from the main canal. Many of the former tributaries are now closed biotopes and invite you to go on discovery tours on foot or by bike.

The Alte Brücke canal bridge leads the Alte Fahrt of the Dortmund-Ems canal across the Lippe.

The bridge is one of the four historic bridges of the Alte Fahrt of the Dortmund-Ems-Kanal (DEK) between Datteln and Olfen. Further north, the DEK crosses the eastern road in Olfen with the Schiefe Brücke and the Stever with another canal bridge, further south is the canal bridge over the Pelkumer Weg.

The canal bridge over the Lippe was designed in the style of historicism under the direction of the Royal Prussian Chief Construction Director Karl Hinckeldeyn and completed in 1895. Three sandstone arches with a span of 21 meters are arched over the Lippe, which forms the border between Datteln and Olfen. The bridge is 18 meters high, the bridge trough 15 meters wide and 70 meters long.

In order to compensate for losses caused by smuggling or evaporation or infiltration, since 1897 the water supply into the canal has been operated at the bridge. In addition there was a basin beside the lip, from which with the help of steam engines water was pumped up into the channel. In 1914, this water supply was replaced by the water transfer Hamm on the Datteln-Hamm Canal and shut down. The former machine house is now privately owned, and some of the conveyor systems adjacent to the bridge still exist.
The old drive and the bridge trough are still filled with water, but separated by several dams from the channel triangle in dates.

The Alte Fahrt is a disused section of the Dortmund-Ems Canal on the Dattelner Meer. The 8,650-meter section stretches from Datteln (channel kilometer 21.5) to behind Olfen (30.3 km).
The Dortmund-Ems Canal was opened in 1899. In the area of the Old Ride, the channel was provided with particularly high dams, at 5,600 meters higher than twelve and at 2,775 meters higher than nine meters. In addition, five canal overpasses had been built in this area, three roads and Lippe and Stever crossing. From 1929 to 1937, the first new, brisk line was built by Datteln in the direction of Lüdinghausen. Overall, the Dortmund-Ems Canal has received eight "second journeys". They had become necessary to take account of the increased volume of traffic with larger types of ships. In particular, the bridge structures, which did not allow ships to navigate, previously delayed the rapid transport of goods. The construction was also a job creation measure of the National Socialists, after their seizure by prisoners from the concentration camp Börgermoor completed.