Schalke-Nord Station

The world as a guest in Schalke

Everything was supposed to be perfect: Two years after the Glückauf Stadium was completed, the new reception hall at Schalke-Nord Station ("Schalke-North Station") was finished. This is where away fans are to be welcomed before matches. From here, it is only a five-minute walk to the stadium. But the West German Football Association puts a spanner in the works.

Humble beginnings

Around 1875, Schalke-Nord station was still not very prestigious. The size of the waiting shelter on the right-hand side of the picture also suggests that passenger numbers were modest.

Source: Institut für Stadtgeschichte Gelsenkirchen

The first extension

More and more people moved to Schalke. As the population grew, so did the number of passengers. In the 1920s, the station already had a larger building.

Source: Institut für Stadtgeschichte Gelsenkirchen

Short path

To get to the Glückauf stadium, passengers only had to cross König-Wilhelm-Straße for a short distance. The stadium was directly on the other side of the road.

Source: Sammlung Karlheinz Weichelt

What a bad timing. The Schalker Kreisel ("Schalke spinning top") has been thrilling spectators at the Glückauf Stadium for just over two years. More and more people from all over the region are flocking to Schalke at the weekend. A new station building at Schalke-Nord Station is designed to make travelling to the stadium as convenient as possible for fans who do not live in the city. But when it opens in November 1930, the crowds on home match days are small. The Western German football championship banned the team led by Szepan and Kuzorra from playing. It declared them to be professionals due to excessive hand money. In Germany, only amateurs were allowed to play (click here for the story). Schalke began the 1930/31 season with a makeshift team. Their goal: to stay in the league. But the fight against relegation no longer attracted as many people as the attractive game of the Schalker Kreisel. In 1931 the ban was lifted. Now the new railway station pays off in full: 70,000 people are in the stadium for the first match of Szepan and Kuzorra.

The railway station Schalke-Nord existed long before the myth of the Schalke Market was born. The station had been used for passenger transport since 1875. At that time, passengers were still welcomed here in a modest half-timbered house. From there, they had to walk about 15 minutes down König-Wilhelm-Straße to reach Schalke Market. From there, they could continue walking down the magnificent Kaiserstraße or visit the shops in Schalke Street. The train journey was not cheap. Only fans with enough money could afford the regular train journey. In 1974 - one year after FC Schalke moved to the Parkstadion for its matches - train services also stopped at Schalke-Nord Station. In 1985, the station building was placed under a preservation order. Just a few years ago, a property centre and a Turkish restaurant used the premises. It was foreclosed in 2022. It is now owned by the city of Gelsenkirchen. There are no plans yet as to how the building will be used in the future. Prior refurbishment of Schalke-Nord station is unavoidable. However, this will incur high costs.

Frontansicht des Gebäudes Bahnhof Schalke-Nord. Über dem Rundeingang ist ein Schild mit der Aufschrift "Immobilien Business Center" zu sehen.

Vacancy since 1974

Train services were discontinued in 1974, shortly after FC Schalke 04 moved to the Parkstadion. The station building from 1930 has been a listed building since 1985.

Source: Olivier Kruschinski