Bröl Valley Railway

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+29⁄32 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 name	Bröltalbahn/ Rhein-Sieg-Eisenbahn
Technical
Line length	87.3 km
Track gauge	785 mm (2 ft 6+29⁄32 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 Sieg 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 Paper factory (refuge siding) 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 Bröl 27.8 Rossenbach 223.77 m 31.1 Waldbröl 262.5 m

Siegburg–Niederpleis–Rostingen
0.0 Siegburg 57.90 m 0.7 Sieg 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 to Hennef 68.90 m 5.9 Birlinghoven 75.60 m Pleisbach 7.3 Dambroich 81.60 m 8.2 Scheuren Mill 88.82 m 9.7 Uthweiler-Jüngsfeld 101.71 m refuge siding 11.9 Oberpleis 119.42 m 13.3 Herresbach 133.45 m 15.2 Nonnenberg 157.00 m refuge siding 17.1 Quirrenbach 194.00 m 17.8 Rostingen 205.60 m Dachsberg (refuge siding) Himberg (refuge siding)

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 Eulenberg (refuge siding) 24.9 Hanfmühle 130.00 m 25.9 Eudenberg 142.44 m refuge siding 27.9 Krautscheid 167.00 m 30.9 Mendt 212.63 m Steineberg (refuge siding) 33.7 Buchholz 247.30 m Bennau-Berg (refuge siding) 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.