Key takeaways
- Standard gauge, not narrow gauge. The CFTR runs on 1435 mm – that sets it apart from most heritage railways in the region.
- Volgelsheim is the hub: departure point, depot and workshop sit there in a small area.
- Flat Ried instead of mountains – the route profile determines what subjects are possible at all.
- Run by an association whose members carry out operations, maintenance and track upkeep themselves.
- Seasonal operation with few dates – without checking the current season's timetable, the trip isn't worth it.
Contents
- 1.Fact file
- 2.Business areas
- 3.Structure & brands
- 4.History at a glance
- 5.How to recognise the company
- 6.Strengths and weaknesses
- 7.A branch line that survived structural change
- 8.Where the railway sits in Alsace’s heritage offering
- 9.Route, season and timetable pattern
- 10.Locomotives, carriages and what actually runs
- 11.Photographing at a heritage railway on flat ground
- 12.Verdict
- 13.Frequently asked questions
Fact file
| Legal form | Association under French law, run entirely by volunteers |
|---|---|
| Track gauge | 1435 mm – standard gauge, not a narrow-gauge railway |
| Region | Southern Alsace, the Rhine plain between Colmar and the Rhine |
| Starting station | Volgelsheim near Neuf-Brisach |
| Mode of operation | Steam as the flagship, diesel for shunting and additional services |
| Route character | Flat branch line through the Ried and Rhine water meadows, with no notable gradient |
| Season | Summer half-year, mainly Sundays and public holidays |
| Operating brand | "Ried Express" – the train name under which the service is offered |
| Official website | www.ried-express-cftr.fr |
Business areas
Structure & brands
History at a glance
How to recognise Chemin de Fer Touristique du Rhin
Does the train really belong to Chemin de Fer Touristique du Rhin?
- Standard gauge – the vehicles are full size, unlike the narrow-gauge railways of the Vosges
- Volgelsheim as base – depot, workshop and departure track all sit together
- Vintage carriages – wooden-bodied or older steel coaches instead of modern rolling stock
- Flat route profile – the locomotive works steadily, no ramps in the exhaust beat
- Landscape close to the Rhine – riparian woodland, canals and fields instead of a mountain backdrop
- Volunteer staff – guards and footplate crew wear no corporate uniform
Strengths and weaknesses
What the company stands for
- Standard-gauge steam operation has become rare in Alsace – here it runs to schedule
- The Volgelsheim base combines departure point, depot and workshop in one place
- Flat terrain allows locations you can reach on foot without a car
- Combines well with other destinations in Upper Alsace over one weekend
- Volunteers are happy to explain things if you don't approach them during operations
Where it falls short
- Without a gradient, you miss the dramatic exhaust that mountain lines produce
- Operating days are limited to a few dates in the summer half-year
- The trackside surroundings are partly overgrown and restrict locations
- Public transport links to Volgelsheim are weak, a car is practically essential
- Vehicle rosters are rarely published in advance
Updated: August 2026 – Several heritage railways run in southern Alsace, but only a few of them at full size. The Chemin de Fer Touristique du Rhin is one of them: standard gauge, a genuine branch line, a steam locomotive hauling vintage carriages. If you know the narrow-gauge operations of the Vosges, you notice the difference at first glance at the track.
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A branch line that survived structural change
Around 1900, Upper Alsace was covered densely with branch lines. They carried sugar beet, timber and industrial goods to the Rhine ports and people into the towns. After the First World War the administration changed, with the founding of SNCF the network passed into state hands – and from the post-war decades onwards, passenger services on the small lines gradually disappeared.
What remained were stretches of track with a freight or connecting function. That’s exactly where heritage railways come in: they don’t need a route network, just a piece of infrastructure that’s still passable. The CFTR secured this remnant in the Ried and built a seasonal operation out of it.
Where the railway sits in Alsace’s heritage offering
The region has several operations that differ significantly in technique. That matters more for trip planning than pure distance: four destinations mean four different railway worlds here.
| Operation | Gauge | Character | What you get there |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chemin de Fer Touristique du Rhin | Standard gauge | flat branch line in the Ried | steam hauling vintage carriages |
| Train Touristique Thur Doller | Standard gauge | valley line in the Doller valley | steam operation with landscape |
| Abreschviller | 700 mm | former forest railway | narrow gauge in the forest |
| Cité du Train, Mulhouse | Exhibition | national collection | vehicles without running service |
If you’re planning a weekend, that gets you standard gauge, narrow gauge and a museum within a radius you can cover in two days. On the Baden side, the Kandertalbahn is another operation within reach. Strasbourg Gare Centrale in the north and Basel SBB in the south make good starting points – both stations are worth a stop in their own right.
Flat profile means light beats location
On mountain lines, the gradient makes the shot because the locomotive works visibly. In the Ried, the train runs steadily and quietly. Here the direction of light decides – backlight late in the afternoon over the fields achieves more than any detour to a supposedly better curve.
Route, season and timetable pattern
The starting point is Volgelsheim near Neuf-Brisach, a few kilometres from the Rhine. The line runs through the Ried, a flat floodplain landscape of fields, canals and patches of woodland. There’s practically no gradient, but there are long straight sections and a number of level crossings.
Services run in the summer half-year on selected days, mostly Sundays and public holidays. The usual pattern: several round trips per operating day, a turnaround stop at the end of the line, return to Volgelsheim. We deliberately don’t list departure times here – they’re set anew each season.
Confirm the operating day
Check the current season's operating calendar first, then plan your journey. A Sunday in summer is no guarantee.
Clarify the train formation in advance
Whether steam or diesel hauls the train is crucial for planning your shot. This information rarely appears in the published timetable.
Ride the first trip
From the carriage you can spot where field paths lead up to the track and where vegetation blocks the view.
Choose locations by light
On flat terrain you have a free choice. Use it for the sun's direction, not for the shortest walk.
Plan for the depot at the end
After the last round trip, the vehicles stand in Volgelsheim. From publicly accessible areas you can document details there.
What does an operating day at the Ried Express give you?
A location rarely delivers more than one genuinely different shot per round trip.
Locomotives, carriages and what actually runs
The CFTR works with standard-gauge vehicles: a steam locomotive as the workhorse of the seasonal service, plus diesel locomotives and small shunting locomotives for shunting duties and as a reserve. The carriages are older vintage vehicles, some with wooden bodies, some steel coaches from the post-war era.
We deliberately don’t name individual locomotive numbers. With association-run operations, the operational fleet changes with certificate expiry, boiler inspections and workshop capacity – a number that’s correct today can be wrong in two years. What’s reliable is the type description: medium-sized tank and tender steam locomotives, as were common in French branch-line service, plus two-axle shunting tractors of the Y 8000 type. European heritage railways contract out heavy boiler work to specialised works; the best-known address in the German-speaking world is the Dampflokwerk Meiningen. Without such workshops, steam operation would end for almost all associations once a boiler certificate expires.
Alsace's heritage railways in one weekend
With Traintrack you plan the route and document every visit right on the spot.
Photographing at a heritage railway on flat ground
Good conditions when …
- the operating day includes several round trips
- the air is cool and the steam stays visible
- public field paths lead close enough to the track
Check first when …
- you're speculating on a particular vehicle roster
- a special train with a photo stop is planned
- you want to take shots in the depot area
Never
- step onto the track or track bed, even between two round trips
- stand in the danger zone at level crossings
- enter the workshop or stabling area without authorisation
The big advantage of a heritage railway over the main network: you know in advance when the train is coming, and it comes several times. That lets you test a spot on the first round trip and correct it on the second. The basics of steam photography are covered in photographing steam trains, and light planning in planning the sun’s position at a photo spot. Special trains sometimes add organised photo stops, where the train halts for photos or runs past a spot repeatedly – you can find such dates via the tips in the article finding special trains and excursions.
Level crossings aren't photo spots
Many crossings lie in the flat Ried, and they look easy to survey. Even so: the danger zone is not a place to stand, and the safety technology on heritage lines works differently than on the main network. Position yourself to the side and outside the zone, not in the middle of the road. Details are in safe distance at the track.
Verdict
The Chemin de Fer Touristique du Rhin is no spectacular mountain railway, and it doesn’t try to be one. It preserves a flat branch line in the Rhine Ried with the means an association can muster: its own staff, its own workshop, a manageable seasonal timetable.
For you that means: no spontaneous visit, but a planned date. If you know the operating day, factor in the light, and put the Cité du Train or the Doller valley into the same weekend, you get one of the densest heritage railway regions in Western Europe in one go. And if you don’t just want to watch but to get involved, railway associations covers the usual routes in – most operations are desperately looking for new blood for the workshop and track upkeep, not just for footplate duty.
Short verdict
Standard-gauge steam in the Alsatian Ried, run by an association. Flat profile, short line, few operating days – but ideal to combine with Mulhouse and the Doller valley.
Your heritage railway list grows with every visit
Log operations, vehicles and dates – and see what's still missing from the region.
Summary
- The CFTR is the standard-gauge representative among Alsace's heritage railways, and a useful complement to the narrow-gauge operations in the Vosges.
- Anyone photographing the line works with landscape and light, not gradient and exhaust plume.
- The association carries the entire operation, which limits operating days and makes vehicle rosters hard to plan for.
- Combined with Mulhouse and the Doller valley, you get a weekend covering three completely different railway worlds.
Frequently asked questions
What gauge does the Chemin de Fer Touristique du Rhin run on?
Standard gauge, i.e. 1435 mm. That's not a given in Alsace: the forest railway at Abreschviller runs on 700 mm, and other operations in the region use metre gauge. At the CFTR, locomotives and carriages are full size, so they look correspondingly different in photos.
Where do the trains depart from?
The starting point is Volgelsheim near Neuf-Brisach on the Rhine plain, east of Colmar. The depot and the association's workshop are also there. The line runs through the Ried towards the Rhine and the Rhine side canal. There's no direct interchange with the SNCF network at this point.
Does a steam locomotive really run here?
Steam is the flagship of the operation, but it isn't used on every operating day. Diesel vehicles stand ready for shunting duties and as a reserve, including small locomotives of the Y 8000 type, which were standard on SNCF for decades. Which locomotive runs on your date is best checked in advance.
How long is the line?
It's a short branch line in the Rhine Ried. We deliberately don't give an exact distance here, because the sections in use vary by season and track condition. As a guide: a run takes well under an hour, and a round trip with a stop fits comfortably into a morning.
Is the CFTR a railway operator?
No, it's an association. Different rules apply in France to operations on a separate line disconnected from the national network than to trains on the SNCF Réseau network. In practice that means: no group in the background, but members who take on footplate duty, workshop work and track upkeep themselves.
When is the season?
In the summer half-year, mainly on Sundays and public holidays. Specific departure times change every season and are only published on the association's own website, so we don't list them here. The pattern is reliable: several round trips on an operating day, a turnaround stop at the end of the line, and return to Volgelsheim.
Is it worth combining with other destinations in Alsace?
Very much so. The Cité du Train in Mulhouse is within easy reach and covers the museum side, and the Train Touristique Thur Doller between Cernay and Sentheim offers a second standard-gauge line. If you still have time, the Kandertalbahn on the Baden side is another operation within reach.
What's the best way to photograph it?
Because the terrain is flat, the direction of light matters more than the location. Plan the sun's position against the running time – how to do that is covered in planning the sun's position at a photo spot. For the steam plume itself, the rules from photographing steam trains apply: the cooler the air, the more visible the exhaust.
Am I allowed to stand by the line?
Only from publicly accessible paths. The track bed, level crossing areas and the depot site are operational railway land and remain off limits, even when a train is standing still. The distance rules are summarised in safe distance at the track.
Can I get involved with the association?
Heritage railways live on new members, and the CFTR is no exception. How joining such associations typically works, and what tasks exist besides footplate duty, is described in the article railway associations. Contact details are available only on the official association website.
Log vehicles from Chemin de Fer Touristique du Rhin
Company, vehicle, location and date logged in seconds – and visible to the community.
The operational level in the railway operator database
Who actually runs the trains, with keeper markings and identifying features on the vehicle.
Typical vehicles
Y 8000
Small, diesel-powered, constantly on the move: the Y 8000 is an SNCF shunting tractor. Here's how to read the code and recognise the vehicle in the station throat.
ClassCorail Driving Trailer (B5uxh)
A coach with a driving cab but no motor: the Corail driving trailer B5uxh turns a locomotive-hauled train into a push-pull set. Here's how to spot it and read its code.
Where you will find Chemin de Fer Touristique du Rhin
Spotting locations where you will regularly come across vehicles from this organisation – with viewpoints, the best light and coordinates.
Strasbourg Gare Centrale
Strasbourg is the only major French station where German and French traffic meet every day. On top of that there's an architecture found nowhere else: a historic station building completely enclosed in a glass shell.
Border stationBasel SBB
No other station in Europe brings three national rail systems together as tightly as Basel. Swiss long-distance trains, its own French station section, and just a few tram minutes away a station on Swiss soil operated by DB – plus the most important north-south freight hub on the Alpine route.
More companies
Cité du Train
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.
Heritage railwayTrain 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.
Heritage railwayTrain 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.
Heritage railwayKandertalbahn
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.
Related guides from the blog
- How Do You Photograph Steam Trains? The Ultimate Guide to Steam Train Photography (Equipment, Settings, Light, Spots)
- Planning Sun Position at a Photo Spot: Light Instead of Luck
- Safety Distance at the Track: The Rules That Save Lives
- Railway Clubs in Germany, Austria & Switzerland: Types, Membership, Costs, Tips
- Finding Special Trains and Charter Runs: Never Miss One Again
