Heritage railways

Angelner Dampfeisenbahn

The Angelner Dampfeisenbahn runs on a standard-gauge branch line through the Angeln region – from Süderbrarup on the Kiel–Flensburg line to the Schlei at Kappeln. No overhead line, steam and diesel traction, and a timetable that depends on volunteer work.

Arbeitskreis Ostertalbahn e.V.

The Arbeitskreis Ostertalbahn keeps a Saarland branch line between Ottweiler and Schwarzerden running. No overhead line, no scheduled service, no steam as standard – instead railcars that have long since vanished elsewhere, on a line with its branch-line character intact.

Bahnpark Augsburg

Bahnpark Augsburg isn't a heritage railway with its own line, but a preserved motive power depot: a roundhouse, turntable and workshop buildings in their original layout. The vehicles stand exactly where they belong – in the shed, not in an exhibition hall.

Bayerisches Eisenbahnmuseum

founded 1969

The Bayerisches Eisenbahnmuseum in Nördlingen combines two things that rarely go together: one of Germany's largest vehicle collections and its own line service. Its base is a preserved motive power depot with a roundhouse and turntable in the Nördlinger Ries.

Brohltal-Eisenbahn (Vulkan-Expreß)

The Brohltal-Eisenbahn is one of the few metre-gauge railways west of the Rhine still carrying passengers uphill daily. From the Rhine bank at Brohl-Lützing, the Vulkan-Expreß climbs into the eastern Eifel – with diesel railcars in regular service and a Mallet steam locomotive on selected days.

Buckower Kleinbahn

Between Müncheberg and Buckow runs a heritage railway that neither steams nor diesels: the Buckower Kleinbahn runs under overhead wires. Electric vintage railcars on a branch line are a rarity in Germany – a subject you'll hardly find anywhere else.

Dampf-Kleinbahn Mühlenstroth e.V.

The Dampf-Kleinbahn Mühlenstroth runs a narrow-gauge field railway with its own steam operation near Gütersloh. The society did not take over a line from the state railway but built its own from scratch on its own land – a special case that is rare in the heritage railway scene.

Dampfbahn Fränkische Schweiz

Between Ebermannstadt and Behringersmühle, a society runs the surviving section of the Wiesenttalbahn as a heritage railway. Standard gauge, steam and diesel locomotive operation, a manageable seasonal timetable – and a line that runs slowly enough for photographers to catch the same train twice.

Dampfeisenbahn Weserbergland e.V.

Between Rinteln and Stadthagen, a society runs heritage trains over a line it doesn't own. That very separation of infrastructure and operation makes the Dampfeisenbahn Weserbergland a good case study – and one of the most predictable steam opportunities in Lower Saxony.

DB Museum Koblenz

The DB Museum Koblenz isn't a heritage railway, but a vehicle depot in a former locomotive depot. The site in Koblenz-Lützel belongs to the DB Museum as a branch location and shows above all what it was built for: machines from the era of the great electrification.

Delmenhorst-Harpstedter Eisenbahn-Freunde e.V.

Between Delmenhorst and Harpstedt lies a freight line that becomes a heritage railway on summer Sundays. The train carries the line's historic nickname: Jan Harpstedt. The operation is run by a club that runs on someone else's tracks and maintains its own vehicles.

Dessau-Wörlitzer Eisenbahn

The Dessau-Wörlitzer Eisenbahn links Dessau with the Garden Realm of Wörlitz – standard gauge, diesel-operated, and only in season. It's run not by a club, but by a municipal transport company. That makes it a special case between heritage railway and local transport.

Deutsches Dampflokmuseum Neuenmarkt-Wirsberg

The Deutsches Dampflokmuseum sits in a former steam locomotive depot at the foot of the Schiefe Ebene incline. It doesn't run trains itself – it's a collection – but right outside the door lies one of Germany's best-known steep gradients, still carrying scheduled services today.

Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin

founded 1983

The railway department of the Deutsches Technikmuseum sits in two preserved roundhouses of the former Anhalter Güterbahnhof. The museum is a large institution run by a foundation, not a heritage railway – the vehicles stand here, they don't run. That's exactly what makes it Berlin's best wet-weather option.

DEV Museumseisenbahn Bruchhausen-Vilsen

founded 1964

The Bruchhausen-Vilsen–Asendorf heritage railway is regarded as Germany's oldest. The Deutscher Eisenbahn-Verein invented the model here in the 1960s that dozens of societies now follow: a leased line, volunteer-run operation, metre-gauge track under steam.

DGEG Eisenbahnmuseum Bochum-Dahlhausen

The Eisenbahnmuseum Bochum-Dahlhausen is housed in a fully preserved steam locomotive depot. Alongside one of Germany's largest vehicle collections, you get to see something rarer here: the operational facilities that made a steam locomotive fit for service in the first place.

DGEG Eisenbahnmuseum Neustadt/Weinstr.

The DGEG Eisenbahnmuseum in Neustadt an der Weinstraße sits in the grounds of a former motive power depot and collects the railway history of the Palatinate. It is also the starting point of the Kuckucksbähnel – museum and running heritage railway lie right next to each other here, which is unusual.

DGEG Kuckucksbähnel

The Kuckucksbähnel runs from Neustadt an der Weinstraße through the Elmstein valley into the Palatinate Forest. The line was built for timber transport, not day-trippers – and that still shapes its character today: narrow, wooded, slow.

DGEG Ruhrtalbahn Hattingen–Wengern-Ost

Between Hattingen and Wengern Ost, a train runs on heritage days over a line that no longer has any role in regular service. The Ruhrtalbahn is a textbook example of how many levels sit behind a single heritage run.

Drachenfelsbahn

founded 1883

The Drachenfelsbahn has run from Königswinter up the Drachenfels since 1883 – on metre gauge, with a rack rail, and electric today. It's not a seasonal attraction but a year-round mountain railway operation using technology that has practically died out on Germany's main-line network.

Eisenbahnfreunde Traditionsbetriebswerk Staßfurt

In Staßfurt, a society keeps a complete locomotive depot alive: roundhouse, turntable, workshop and a collection made up mostly of East German vehicles. Not a museum behind glass, but a site where work happens – and which is accessible on open days.

Eisenbahnmuseum Bayerischer Bahnhof zu Leipzig

At the Bayerischer Bahnhof in Leipzig stands Germany's oldest surviving terminus station – and alongside it a society maintains a collection of operational and under-restoration vehicles. The site combines two things that rarely coincide: the earliest railway history and active steam operation.

Eisenbahnmuseum Darmstadt-Kranichstein

Eisenbahnmuseum Darmstadt-Kranichstein doesn't sit in a hall – it occupies a preserved locomotive depot. The turntable, loco shed and water tower stand exactly where they always did, and the vehicles sit inside them rather than on a museum plinth.

Eisenbahnmuseum Schwarzenberg (VSE)

The Verein Sächsischer Eisenbahnfreunde has built up one of the largest collections of Saxon vehicles in the former Schwarzenberg locomotive depot. On top of that comes running operation on an Ore Mountains line that is itself already a subject worth photographing.

Fichtelbergbahn

founded 1897

The Fichtelbergbahn isn't a weekend heritage railway - it's a narrow-gauge line with a year-round timetable and scheduled steam operation. From Cranzahl it climbs on 750mm gauge up to Oberwiesenthal, Germany's highest town.

Förderverein Bahnbetriebswerk Arnstadt / historisch e.V.

In the former Arnstadt motive power depot stands one of Thuringia's largest collections of historic steam locomotives. A preservation society holds shed, turntable and vehicles together - with no heritage line of its own, but with a complete depot instead.

Frankfurter Feldbahnmuseum e.V.

The Frankfurt Light Railway Museum preserves a class of vehicle almost nobody knows any more: the 600-millimetre light railway from brickworks, peat cuttings and building sites. On running days these machines run again on the museum grounds – steam included.

Fränkisches Freilandmuseum Fladungen (Rhön-Zügle)

The Fränkisches Freilandmuseum Fladungen runs its own heritage railway, the Rhön-Zügle: standard gauge, a good 17 kilometres through the Streutal, with a locomotive hauling historic coaches on steam days. Museum and railway belong to the same organisation.

Hannoversches Strassenbahn-Museum e.V.

The Hannoversches Strassenbahn-Museum in Wehmingen is no depot behind tape, but an operation with its own line and overhead wire. On running days, historic tramcars from several decades run there – electric, to a timetable and carrying passengers.

Härtsfeld-Museumsbahn

The Härtsfeldbahn was a metre-gauge branch line on the Ostalb, known locally as the "Schättere". A society has rebuilt a section from Neresheim and now runs heritage services there – narrow gauge in a region where nothing else of the kind survives.

Harzer Schmalspurbahnen (HSB)

founded 1993

The Harzer Schmalspurbahnen run one of Europe's largest connected metre-gauge networks – and steam runs to a timetable on it. The Brockenbahn, Harzquerbahn and Selketalbahn are three very different railways under one roof.

Hespertalbahn

The Hespertalbahn runs where coal was once transported: on a short standard-gauge line in Essen-Kupferdreh, right on Lake Baldeney. An association keeps the operation going – industrial history in a local recreation area.

Hessencourrier

The Hessencourrier keeps the former Kassel–Naumburg branch line alive – standard gauge, steam-hauled and run entirely by volunteers. For photographers, it's one of the quietest ways in North Hesse to catch a steam train out in open countryside instead of amid station bustle.

Historische Feldbahn Dresden e.V.

The Historische Feldbahn Dresden preserves a world of vehicles that would otherwise have vanished entirely: 600-millimetre locomotives, tubs and equipment from quarries and industrial works. It's shown at the former Herrenleite quarry near Pirna – with trains running on selected days.

IG Bw Dieringhausen

In Gummersbach-Dieringhausen stands one of the few largely preserved motive power depots in North Rhine-Westphalia. A society keeps the roundhouse, turntable and a mixed vehicle collection in good order – the focus is on the site itself, not on long runs.

Kandertalbahn

The Kandertalbahn links the Rhine plain at Haltingen with the small town of Kandern – standard gauge, with steam, on operating days in season. In Markgräflerland it has long been known simply as the “Chanderli”, and it lies so close to Basel that a railway day can be planned across two countries.

Kasbachtalbahn

The Kasbachtalbahn climbs from Linz am Rhein in tight curves up into the Kasbach valley – so steeply that vehicles and crews need special certification. Services are mostly run with Uerdinger railbuses, built for exactly this kind of branch line.

Lokalbahn Schierling-Langquaid (Laabertalbahn)

Between Schierling and Langquaid runs one of the short Bavarian light railways that survived structural change. Today the line in the Laber valley is used seasonally for excursion and heritage services – an operation that wouldn't exist without volunteer commitment.

Lokwelt Freilassing

Lokwelt Freilassing displays its vehicles exactly where they were once serviced: in the historic roundhouse of the former locomotive depot. The museum isn't run by a society but institutionally – and it sits so close to Salzburg that you can combine the museum with cross-border traffic in a single day.

Mainschleifenbahn

The Mainschleifenbahn links Seligenstadt near Würzburg with Volkach-Astheim – a standard-gauge branch line with no overhead wire, on which heritage services now run. It's operated by its own operating company holding a railway licence, kept going by volunteer commitment from the region.

Märkische Museums-Eisenbahn (Sauerländer Kleinbahn)

founded 1976

The Märkische Museums-Eisenbahn runs one of the few metre-gauge heritage lines in western Germany, in the Sauerland. It operates with steam, on the surviving remnant of a light-railway network in the Märkischer Kreis – run by a society whose members handle footplate duty and workshop work themselves.

MPSB

The Mecklenburg-Pomeranian Narrow Gauge Railway was a rarity: a public light railway on a gauge of 600 millimetres, in other words field-railway size. In Schwichtenberg a society has rebuilt this operation from scratch – with steam, diesel, and a line unlike any other.

Museums-Eisenbahn-Club Losheim

The Museums-Eisenbahn-Club Losheim runs heritage services between Merzig and Losheim am See – standard gauge, in seasonal operation, with steam as the defining form of traction. The service rests on an association whose members take on driving duty, track maintenance and workshop work in their spare time.

Museumsbahn Bremerhaven-Bederkesa

Between Bremerhaven and Bad Bederkesa lies a standard-gauge line with no scheduled local service left. What runs there in the summer half-year is heritage traffic – organised by an association whose members handle driving duty, carriage care and track work themselves.

Museumseisenbahn Ammerland-Saterland e.V.

Between Ocholt and Sedelsberg, an association keeps a standard-gauge branch line running through the moor and geest country of north-western Lower Saxony. Trains run in the summer half-year on individual dates, exclusively with diesel traction and exclusively with volunteer crew.

Museumseisenbahn Friesoythe-Cloppenburg e.V.

The Museumseisenbahn Friesoythe-Cloppenburg runs on a standard-gauge branch line in the Oldenburger Münsterland that is no museum piece: freight traffic still uses the same route. The heritage service itself runs on individual dates in the summer half-year and is entirely volunteer-run.

Museumseisenbahn Küstenbahn Ostfriesland e.V.

Between Norden and Dornum, a stretch of the former East Frisian Coastal Railway survives. A society runs heritage services there in the summer half-year – standard gauge, diesel-hauled, in a region otherwise dominated by narrow-gauge island railways.

Nassauische Touristenbahn e.V.

The Nassauische Touristenbahn runs heritage services on the Aartalbahn, one of the longest surviving branch-line routes in Hesse. Scheduled local services haven't run there for decades – what's runnable and what isn't has changed repeatedly over the years.

Niederlausitzer Museumseisenbahn

The Niederlausitzer Museumseisenbahn keeps vehicles and lines from the era of the Deutsche Reichsbahn running in southern Brandenburg. The region is coal country – heavy diesel traction and industrial railways still shape it today, and it's in exactly this setting that the heritage services take place.

Öchsle-Bahn

The Öchsle-Bahn runs on 750 millimetres from Warthausen to Ochsenhausen – almost twenty kilometres through the hilly Upper Swabian countryside. It's carried by an unusually clear structure of an infrastructure company, an operating company and a volunteer association.

Parkeisenbahn Chemnitz

The Parkeisenbahn Chemnitz runs on 600 millimetre gauge through the Küchwald – and it doesn't run as a backdrop, but as an operation with a timetable, signals and a duty roster. A large part of that duty is carried out by teenagers, supervised by volunteer adults.

Parkeisenbahn Cottbus

Most German park railways stop running in autumn. The Parkeisenbahn Cottbus is one of the few that keeps going. That makes it interesting for spotters: it's one of the very few chances to see 600 millimetre narrow-gauge operation in winter light too.

Parkeisenbahn Görlitz

Görlitz is known for wagon building on a grand scale – double-deck carriages for regional services have been built here for decades. In the same part of town runs a railway with a gauge of 600 millimetres, kept going by volunteers and youth work. The contrast is worth the detour.

Parkeisenbahn Peißnitzexpress Halle (Saale)

The Peißnitzexpress runs on an island in the Saale. That sounds picturesque and is operationally a burden: floods, riverside woodland and limited access determine when and how it runs. For visitors that means above all one thing – check beforehand whether it's running at all.

Parkeisenbahn Wuhlheide

founded 1956

The Berlin Parkeisenbahn in the Wuhlheide is the largest railway of its kind in Germany. The difference from smaller park railways isn't just the track length: here several trains run at once, there are crossings, stations with dispatching, and an operation that deserves the name.

Preßnitztalbahn

In the Preßnitz valley a rebuilt Saxon narrow-gauge railway runs with 750 millimetre gauge and steam operation. The same name is carried by a railway operator whose locomotives run on standard gauge across the whole country. Both belong together – and are still two different things.

Prignitzer Kleinbahnmuseum Lindenberg (Pollo)

Pollo was the local nickname for the Prignitz light railway – a 750 mm network built under Prussian light-railway law that opened up villages on the plain. In Lindenberg a stretch of it has been rebuilt, by volunteers and in small steps.

Rennsteigbahn

The Rennsteigbahn runs over the ridge of the Thuringian Forest – a standard-gauge line with steep-gradient sections and one of Germany's highest stations. Unlike a park railway, a proper railway operator stands behind it, with everything that entails.

Rhein-Sieg-Eisenbahn (RSE)

The name Rhein-Sieg-Eisenbahn stands for one of the oldest chapters in German narrow-gauge history: the Bröltalbahn opened in 1862 as Germany's first narrow-gauge line in public service. Today the abbreviation RSE denotes a standard-gauge operation around Bonn running museum and charter services.

Rügensche Kleinbahn (Rasender Roland)

founded 1895

The Rasender Roland isn't a railway that only raises steam at weekends. On a gauge of 750 millimetres it runs between Putbus and Göhren on a fixed timetable through the Baltic seaside resorts – with steam locomotives in everyday service and a form of operation found in only a few places left in Germany.

Sächsisch-Oberlausitzer Eisenbahngesellschaft (SOEG)

founded 1890

The SOEG operates the Zittau narrow-gauge railway – a 750 mm network with two branches that splits at Bertsdorf. It runs year-round and in scheduled service with steam, carried by a municipal company rather than a heritage society. The train splitting at Bertsdorf is the operational trademark of the railway.

Sächsische Museumseisenbahn Windbergbahn

The Windbergbahn south of Dresden is considered Germany's oldest mountain railway. It wasn't built for day-trippers but for hard coal from the Döhlen Basin – laid out on principles modelled on the Semmering. Today a heritage society preserves what remains of the line.

Sächsisches Eisenbahnmuseum Chemnitz-Hilbersdorf

The Sächsisches Eisenbahnmuseum Chemnitz-Hilbersdorf isn't a heritage line, but a preserved motive power depot. Roundhouse, turntable and the neighbouring marshalling yard together form a site whose completeness has become rare – and which gave the place its name, 'Schauplatz Eisenbahn' (Railway Scene).

Sächsisches Schmalspurbahn-Museum Rittersgrün

The Sächsisches Schmalspurbahn-Museum Rittersgrün sits in the original terminus of a 750 mm line that no longer exists. Instead of running trains, you get the technology that made Saxon narrow-gauge railways economical in the first place: transporter wagons, engine shed and a completely preserved station ensemble.

Sauschwänzlebahn

founded 1890

The Sauschwänzlebahn in the Wutach valley isn't an organically grown branch line, but a bypass route planned by the military. Because the alignment had to stay flat, height was gained through spiral tunnels, loops and viaducts – and that's exactly what still makes it one of the most unusual standard-gauge lines in southern Germany today.

Schwäbische Alb-Bahn (SAB)

The Schwäbische Alb-Bahn runs where most branch lines vanished long ago: across a bare plateau with few settlements. Between Münsingen and Schelklingen, the standard-gauge line runs through the biosphere reserve and across a former military training area – services run mostly with railbuses.

Schwarzbachbahn - Steam in Saxon Switzerland

The Schwarzbachbahn isn't a finished heritage railway but a reactivation project. Volunteers in the Schwarzbach valley in Saxon Switzerland are bringing a disused branch line back, section by section. Visit and you'll see less train running than track building – and that's exactly where its real appeal lies.

Selfkantbahn

The Selfkantbahn is the last operational remnant of the Geilenkirchener Kreisbahnen. On 1,000-millimetre gauge it runs a short stretch of light railway at the very western edge of Germany – with steam on operating days and a fleet assembled from industrial and light-railway stock.

Straßenbahnmuseum Leipzig-Möckern

The Straßenbahnmuseum Leipzig-Möckern isn't a showroom but a historic tram depot, from which real trains run out onto the network on event days. It runs on 1,458 millimetres – a special gauge found almost nowhere outside Leipzig.

Stumpfwaldbahn Ramsen

The Stumpfwaldbahn at Ramsen runs on a gauge of 600 millimetres – the measure of light railways built for fields and forests, not classic heritage railways. From the end of the Eistalbahn it runs through the Stumpfwald towards the Eiswoog, with steam operation on running days and vehicles in miniature format.

Süddeutsches Eisenbahnmuseum Heilbronn

The Süddeutsches Eisenbahnmuseum Heilbronn uses a former motive power depot as its exhibition site. Steam, diesel and vintage electric locomotives stand side by side in a range never seen in regular service – and the roundhouse supplies the backdrop as well.

Südwestfälisches Eisenbahnmuseum

The Südwestfälisches Eisenbahnmuseum sits in the former Siegen motive power depot – roundhouse, turntable and open-air grounds included. The site tells the story of freight traffic in a mining and iron region where the railway was never a sideshow.

Trossinger Eisenbahn

founded 1898

The Trossinger Eisenbahn links the station on the Gäubahn with the town – over less than four kilometres, and electric since its very beginnings. Among German heritage railways, that makes it a special case: no steam, no society running it, but a municipal railway with a historic railcar.

Ulmer Eisenbahnfreunde

The Ulmer Eisenbahnfreunde aren't a heritage railway with its own line, but a society that runs steam charter trains on the public network. That's a fundamental difference: if you want to photograph here, you don't plan around a heritage timetable but around individual charter runs across southern Germany.

Verein Verkehrsamateure und Museumsbahn (VVM)

The Verein Verkehrsamateure und Museumsbahn runs two very different sites: a heritage railway station on the Baltic coast with its own train service and historic trams, and an engine shed east of Hamburg. Visit both and you get railway, tram and local transport history in one go.

Waldeisenbahn Muskau

The Waldeisenbahn Muskau isn't a reconstructed park railway but the surviving remnant of a genuine industrial railway network on 600 mm gauge. Its branches run through the Muskau Heath to destinations that would be worth visiting even without the railway – and it's still worked with steam and diesel today.

Bregenzerwaldbahn (Wälderbähnle)

The Bregenzerwaldbahn was a 760 mm narrow-gauge line from Bregenz to Bezau. What remains is a short stretch, on which a society runs steam and diesel trains during the summer half of the year. For spotters, it's one of the few chances to see Bosnian gauge in operation in Vorarlberg.

Eisenbahnmuseum Strasshof

Eisenbahnmuseum Strasshof isn't a reconstructed museum but a genuine locomotive depot on the Nordbahn that lost its job. The roundhouse, turntable and water crane still stand where they belong – along with Austria's largest vehicle collection.

Erzbergbahn

founded 1891

The Erzbergbahn runs from Vordernberg over the Präbichl to Eisenerz – standard gauge, but with rack sections, because pure adhesion isn't enough on these gradients. The ore traffic is long gone; what remains is a heritage line with technology that has almost died out on the regular network.

Gurkthalbahn

Carinthia once had a sizeable narrow-gauge network. Of the Gurkthalbahn, a short stretch near Treibach-Althofen has survived, on which a society runs steam trains in summer. Anyone wanting to see 760 millimetres in operation has only a few addresses left in Austria.

Kamptalbahn

The Kamptalbahn isn't a disused heritage line, but a preserved standard-gauge branch line between Hadersdorf am Kamp and the northern Waldviertel. Vintage services there run as special trains on a line that also carries other traffic – and that changes your planning fundamentally.

NostalgieExpress Leiser Berge

The NostalgieExpress Leiser Berge brings day trippers from Korneuburg to Ernstbrunn on summer weekends – over a standard-gauge branch line in the Weinviertel that otherwise carries no passenger traffic at all. For spotters, it's a rare combination of a seasonal train and open countryside.

ÖGEG Österreichische Gesellschaft für Eisenbahngeschichte

The ÖGEG isn't a heritage railway with one line, but an association with several fields of activity: a large vehicle site at Ampflwang in the Hausruck forest, its own workshop work, and special steam workings on the public network. That changes how you plan an encounter with it.

Waldviertlerbahn

The Waldviertler narrow-gauge railways are Austria's largest surviving 760 mm network: two branches from Gmünd, genuine route length rather than a demonstration stretch, and with the Class 399 a steam locomotive design built specifically for this network. Operation and management, however, differ between the two branches.

Bahnmuseum Albula

The Bahnmuseum Albula in Bergün is an exception among heritage railways: it owns no line of its own and runs no trains of its own. The attraction is outside – the metre-gauge Albula line of the Rhaetian Railway runs past the building to a regular timetable, UNESCO World Heritage status included.

Museumsbahn Blonay–Chamby

founded 1968

The Blonay–Chamby museum railway links two active metre-gauge networks over the slopes above Lake Geneva across just a few kilometres. The association runs steam and electric traction on its own line – and alongside that maintains one of the most extensive collections of historic narrow-gauge vehicles in Switzerland.

Schinznacher Baumschulbahn

The Schinznacher Baumschulbahn isn't a scaled-down branch line, but a genuine field railway: 600 millimetres gauge, tight curves, short vehicles. It runs through the grounds of a tree nursery in Aargau and preserves a railway technology that has otherwise almost completely disappeared.

Tram-Museum Zürich

The Tram-Museum Zürich doesn't sit in a hall on the edge of town, but in a former operational depot on the active network. Historic trams run from here on the same metre-gauge tracks used by scheduled services – a museum that moves right through the middle of operations.

Verein zur Erhaltung der Bahnlinie Etzwilen–Singen

The Verein zur Erhaltung der Bahnlinie Etzwilen–Singen runs a special case: a standard-gauge heritage line that crosses a national border, passing over the Rhine on a striking steel bridge along the way. The association maintains the infrastructure itself – not just the vehicles.

Museum Buurt Spoorweg

founded 1967

The Museum Buurt Spoorweg runs between Haaksbergen and Boekelo in the Dutch region of Twente. It's considered the oldest heritage railway in the country – and shows a phenomenon that surprises many: Dutch heritage tracks are mostly worked by German steam locomotives.

Museumsbahn S.T.A.R.

The Museumsbahn S.T.A.R. in the province of Groningen differs from most heritage railways: it runs between Stadskanaal and Veendam to a genuine timetable and meets the main network there. That makes it less an excursion attraction and more a preserved branch-line operation.

Museumstoomtram Hoorn-Medemblik

The Museumstoomtram between Hoorn and Medemblik isn't a heritage railway in the usual sense, but a preserved steam tramway. You can tell at a glance: the locomotives' running gear is skirted, because these vehicles once ran through streets and villages.

Stoom Stichting Nederland

The Stoom Stichting Nederland owns no heritage line of its own. It runs its steam trains over the normal Dutch network – among freight trains, Intercity services and Sprinters. That makes it the exception among the country's heritage operators, and it changes everything about how you photograph it.

Veluwsche Stoomtrein Maatschappij

founded 1975

The Veluwsche Stoomtrein Maatschappij operates the longest classic steam line in the Netherlands, between Apeldoorn and Dieren. Its operational hub Beekbergen is more motive power depot than museum – and the reason heavy locomotives run here, where industrial locomotives have to suffice elsewhere.

Vennbahn

founded 1889

The Vennbahn is the rare case of a railway line that became a state border in its own right: because the track bed stayed Belgian after 1920, German exclaves appeared in the middle of the Eifel. Little train operation remains today – but the history and the trackbed remain all the more.

Train 1900 Fond-de-Gras

The Train 1900 doesn't run a scenic line but an ore railway. Between Pétange and Fond-de-Gras in Luxembourg's Minett region, a society has preserved the track of iron-ore mining – with steam operation on standard gauge and an industrial ensemble at the end of the line that would never have survived without the railway.

APPEVA Voie Étroite

The APPEVA keeps a piece of First World War military field railway running in the Somme valley. 600 millimetre gauge, open wagons, a ramp from the valley up to the plateau – and one of France's largest field railway collections in the depot at Froissy.

Chemin de Fer Touristique du Rhin

The Chemin de Fer Touristique du Rhin keeps a standard-gauge branch line alive in southern Alsace. Its starting point is Volgelsheim near Neuf-Brisach, run with steam and historic carriages – carried by an association whose members look after the locomotive, workshop and track themselves.

Cité du Train

founded 1971

The Cité du Train in Mulhouse is France's central railway collection. It holds vehicles that exist nowhere else – from early steam locomotives to record-breaking electric traction. A museum with a collection, not an operation with a timetable.

Train des Pignes à vapeur

The Train des Pignes à vapeur runs on an active metre-gauge line in the Provençal foothills – without owning any infrastructure of its own. An association supplies the steam locomotive and coaches; the line belongs to a regular railway operation. That very separation makes this operation unusual.

Train du Pays Cathare et du Fenouillèdes

Between Rivesaltes and Axat lies a standard-gauge line that winds through the gorges of the Fenouillèdes. The TPCF keeps it running as a tourist railway – with diesel railcars instead of steam, but with a route profile that most heritage railways simply cannot offer.

Train touristique d'Abreschviller

The forest railway at Abreschviller runs on 700 millimetres – a gauge you rarely come across. A timber line in the Vosges woods has become a tourist railway that runs open carriages through a narrow valley. For photographers the forest is both a blessing and a problem.

Train Touristique Thur Doller

Between Cernay and Sentheim, an association keeps an Alsatian branch line running. Standard gauge, a steam locomotive, historic coaches, and a valley course with enough curves to make photographing the same train several times in one day worthwhile.

Brecon Mountain Railway

founded 1980

The Brecon Mountain Railway runs on a gauge of around 600 millimetres along the trackbed of a former standard-gauge line through the Welsh national park. It isn't run by a volunteer society but as a private company with its own workshop in Pant.

Swanage Railway

founded 1972

The Swanage Railway has brought back a branch line in Dorset closed in 1972 – right down to reconnecting it to the national network. Between Swanage and Norden, steam and diesel trains pass the ruined castle at Corfe Castle, one of the best-known railway motifs in southern England.

Watercress Line

The Watercress Line is the heritage line of the Mid-Hants Railway between Alton and Alresford. Its trademark isn't a locomotive, but the topography: the climb to Medstead & Four Marks pushes every steam locomotive to its limit and delivers sound and smoke that flat lines simply don't.

Hultsfred–Västerviks Järnväg (HWJ)

Between Hultsfred and Västervik lies the longest surviving 891mm line in Sweden. This gauge exists almost nowhere else – it's a Swedish home-grown development, and the reason the vehicles on this railway don't match anything else in Europe.

Panevėžys–Rubikiai Narrow-Gauge Railway

The Panevėžys–Rubikiai narrow-gauge railway is the last operational remnant of what was once an extensive Lithuanian 750mm network. The entire railway is a protected heritage site – track, stations and rolling stock together. Services run mostly with Soviet-era narrow-gauge diesel locomotives, not steam.