Drachenfels Railway

Drachenfels Railway
Electric railcar at the summit station
Overview
Locale	North Rhine-Westphalia
Operation
Opened	July 13, 1883
Closed	Still open
Technical
Line length	1.5 km (0.93 mi)
Track gauge	1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in)
Electrification	750 V DC Overhead line
Highest elevation	289 m (948 ft)
Maximum incline	20%
Rack system	Riggenbach

The Drachenfels Railway or Drachenfelsbahn 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 289 m (948 ft).

The line is 1.5 km (0.93 mi) long and has a rail gauge of 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 ³⁄₈ in). It is a rack railway, using the Riggenbach design to overcome a height difference of 220 m (722 ft) 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. The railcars were modernised by SLM in 1998-9 and can operate either singly or in pairs.

The line opened, with steam traction, on July 13, 1883. It was converted to electric traction in 1953, with steam trains retained for use in times of peak traffic. On September 14, 1958 the railway suffered a serious accident when a steam train derailed, resulting in 17 deaths and ending the use of steam on the line.

References

• Web page http://www.werkbahn.de/eisenbahn/zahnrad/drachenfels.htm, retrieved 4 March 2005, 19:00 GMT.
• Web page http://www.hochschulstellenmarkt.de/info/d/dr/drachenfelsbahn.html, retrieved 4 March 2005, 19:30 GMT.
• Wikipedia article Drachenfelsbahn (in German), last updated 15 February 2005, 12:19.
• Book Europe's Greatest Tramway Network, by F. Van Der Gragt, published (in English) by E. J. Brill of Leiden, Netherlands, 1968, no ISBN, page 120.

External links

• Drachenfelsbahn website