The Bröl Valley Railway (German: Bröltalbahn) was the first public narrow gauge railway in Germany and had a track gauge of 785 mm (2 ft 6+2932 in). It was the heart of a railway company, which from 1925 also ran bus services and from 1956 its passenger services only ran by road. Goods trains continued to run until 1967, when the remaining trackage was lifted.

Bröl Valley Railway
Overview
Native nameBröltalbahn/ Rhein-Sieg-Eisenbahn
Technical
Line length87.3 km
Track gauge785 mm (2 ft 6+2932 in)
Hennef–Waldbröl (actual Bröl Valley Railway)

0.0 km
Hennef passenger station
67.32 m above NN
1.0
Hennef goods station
68.00 m
1.0
to Asbach
68.00 m
2.2
Allner
70.22 m
4.4
Bröl
79.59 m
9.7
Ingersauel Mill
98.69 m
12.5
Herrnstein
114.48 m
13.6
Büchel
120.16 m
14.7
Felderhoferbrücke
126.35 m
17.0
Schönenberg
140.17 m
Saurenbach (refuge siding)
20.3
Ruppichteroth
164.40 m
24.0
Benroth
188.64 m
25.4
Berkenroth
200.98 m
27.8
Rossenbach
223.77 m
31.1
Waldbröl
262.5 m
Siegburg–Niederpleis–Rostingen
0.0
Siegburg
57.90 m
0.7
Jointly used
with the SSB und der Straße
Brück
1.5
Siegburg-Mülldorf
58.60 m
3.3
to Beuel
68.90 m
3.3
Niederpleis
68.90 m
3.3
68.90 m
5.9
Birlinghoven
75.60 m
7.3
Dambroich
81.60 m
8.2
Scheuren Mill
88.82 m
9.7
Uthweiler-Jüngsfeld
101.71 m
11.9
Oberpleis
119.42 m
13.3
Herresbach
133.45 m
15.2
Nonnenberg
157.00 m
17.1
Quirrenbach
194.00 m
17.8
Rostingen
205.60 m
Beuel–Niederpleis–Hennef–Asbach
0.0
Beuel
52.00 m
1.8
Pützchen
60.10 m
Vilich
4.5
Hangelar
66.00 m
6.7
Großenbusch
67.45 m
8.2
to Siegburg
68.90 m
8.2
Niederpleis
68.90 m
8.2
to Rostingen
68.90 m
10.4
Buisdorf
63.20 m
11.9
Quadenhof
65.00 m
14.0
Geistingen
68.45 m
14.8
Hennef passenger station
68.20 m
15.8
Hennef goods station
68.00 m
15.8
to Waldbröl
68.00 m
17.8
Geisbach
74.15 m
19.8
Kuchenbach
90.70 m
23.6
Dahlhausen
121.25 m
24.9
Hanfmühle
130.00 m
25.9
Eudenberg
142.44 m
27.9
Krautscheid
167.00 m
30.9
Mendt
212.63 m
Steineberg (refuge siding)
33.7
Buchholz
247.30 m
36.5
Bennau-Thal
228.98 m
38.4
Asbach
(today the RSE Museum)
245.70 m

The firm was founded on 3 February 1869 as the Bröl Valley Railway Company (Brölthaler Eisenbahn-Actien-Gesellschaft) or BTE. On 10 June 1921 it was renamed as the Rhine-Sieg Railway (Rhein-Sieg-Eisenbahn-AG) or RSE. The company headquarters was moved in 1917 from Hennef (Sieg) to Beuel. In 1983 the RSE went into the Rhein-Sieg-Verkehrsgesellschaft. It should not be confused with the Rhein-Sieg-Eisenbahn GmbH founded in 1994 by the Verkehrsclub Deutschland.

The 785 mm gauge railway network of the Bröl Valley Railway was, at its peak, a total of 87.3 kilometres long and, towards the end, was mainly worked by goods services. With the take over of the Heisterbach Valley Railway in 1901 an isolated section of 750 mm gauge line also belonged to the BTE.

In the old Bröl Valley Railway engine shed in Asbach is a railway museum about the old railway that was founded in 2000.

Literature

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Sources

  • Adolf Becker (1988), Rhein-Sieg-Verkehrsgesellschaft mbH (ed.), Die Bröltalbahn – Rhein-Sieg-Eisenbahn (in German) (1. ed.), Niederkassel-Mondorf: Verlag Kersting, ISBN 3-925250-05-0
  • Sascha Koch: Eisenbahnen im Oberbergischen und die Geschichte des Bahnbetriebswerkes Dieringhausen. Galunder Verlag, Nümbrecht, 2005. ISBN 3-89909-050-0.

Others

  • Manfred Frickhöfer: Die Rhein-Sieg-Eisenbahn (Bröltalbahn). Druck: quickprint grube & speck, Karlsruhe 1979.
  • Carsten Gussmann, Wolfgang Clössner: Die Heisterbacher Talbahn und Industriebahnen im Siebengebirgsraum. Freiburg im Breisgau 2006. ISBN 978-3-88255-456-4.
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