Drachenfelsbahn

Geschichte

The Drachenfels Railway is a rack railway line in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany. The line runs from Königswinter to the summit of the Drachenfels mountain at an altitude of 289m. Besides the two terminal stations, an intermediate station serves the Schloss Drachenburg.The Drachenfels Railway is one of only four rack railways still operational in Germany, along with the Bavarian Zugspitze Railway, the Stuttgart Rack Railway and the Wendelstein Railway.OperationThe line is 1.5km long and is single track. There are two terminal stations, Königswinter Drachenfelsbahn and Drachenfels, and a single intermediate station, Drachenburg, which also has a passing loop. The line has a track gauge of and uses the Riggenbach rack design to overcome a height difference of 220m and a maximum gradient of 20%. The line is electrified, with overhead supply at 750 V DC.The service is operated with a fleet of four four-wheel electric railcars, built in Rastatt between 1955 and 1960, plus a fifth identical railcar built by the railway itself in 1979. Although double-ended, the railcars are unusual in that they have doors only on one side, as all platforms are on the same side of the track. They can operate either singly or in pairs.

"Die Drachenfelsbahn ist die älteste betriebene Zahnradbahn in Deutschland. Die meterspurige Bahn verbindet seit 1883 die im Rheintal gelegene Altstadt von Königswinter mit dem Siebengebirge und endet knapp unterhalb des Drachenfels-Gipfels."