Key takeaways
- 700 mm is the special feature. This gauge is exceptionally rare in operation anywhere in Europe.
- A forest railway, not a branch line – the line was built for timber, not for passengers.
- The forest dictates the photography: little light, hardly any viewpoints outside the train.
- An early switch to tourism in the 1960s saved the trackbed from being torn up.
- A short line, a busy season – in summer there are more operating days than at most association-run railways.
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.Why exactly 700 millimetres
- 8.From timber line to tourist railway
- 9.Route, season and planning
- 10.Small locomotives for a narrow gauge
- 11.Photographing in the forest
- 12.Operating structure and volunteers
- 13.Verdict
- 14.Frequently asked questions
Fact file
| Operating body | Association-based structure with volunteer involvement |
|---|---|
| Gauge | 700 mm – a rare intermediate size between light railway and narrow gauge |
| Route | Abreschviller – Grand Soldat in the Vosges woods |
| Region | Département Moselle, northern Vosges on the Lorraine–Alsace border |
| Origin | Forest railway for hauling timber out of the Vosges woods |
| Type of operation | Steam and diesel alternating, mostly open carriages |
| Character of the line | Narrow wooded valley with a moderate gradient, mostly shaded |
| Season | Spring to autumn, daily operation possible in summer |
| Official website | www.train-abreschviller.fr |
Business areas
Structure & brands
History at a glance
How to recognise Train touristique d'Abreschviller
Does the train really belong to Train touristique d'Abreschviller?
- 700 mm gauge – narrower than 750 mm, wider than a light railway; an intermediate size that's rarely found
- Open carriages – low bodies without windows, the norm on forest railways
- Wooded setting – the line runs through tree cover almost the whole way, with hardly any open ground
- Small locomotives – narrow-gauge engines with a low boiler, not mainline locomotives
- Sawmill connection – the line ends where the timber was once hauled to
- Short running time – a round trip comfortably fits into a morning
Strengths and weaknesses
What the company stands for
- One of Europe's rarest gauges in regular operation
- The forest-railway character has survived and hasn't been polished into something else
- Comparatively many operating days in summer – easier to plan around than pure weekend railways
- Open carriages allow shots taken from the moving train
- Combines well with the Alsatian heritage railways for a weekend
Where it falls short
- The forest swallows light – shots are technically more demanding than in the open
- Hardly any open viewpoints outside the train, the line is hard to see from outside
- The line is short and doesn't fill a whole day on its own
- Getting to the valley by public transport is awkward
- Reliable public information on the operating structure and the fleet is scarce
Updated: August 2026 – Gauges are a footnote for outsiders and a defining feature for railfans. The Train touristique d’Abreschviller runs on 700 millimetres – a size you could count on one hand among Europe’s operating lines. Behind that is no quirk, but the history of a forest railway that was never built to any standard.
Collect rare gauges
600, 700, 750, 760, 1000 mm – log which ones you've already experienced in operation.
Why exactly 700 millimetres
Forest railways didn’t have to follow any standard. They were private or works railways with no connection to the public network, built to whatever suppliers of track and locomotives happened to offer at the time. That’s why forest railways in Europe exist at 600, 700, 750, 760, 800 and 900 millimetres – each size its own, self-contained world.
For today’s operation that’s a real, practical problem. At 600 or 750 mm an association can still find replacement vehicles and track panels on the used market. At 700 mm that market barely exists. Everything that’s needed has to be adapted or built from scratch. That explains why operations like this work in a technically conservative way and keep vehicles in service for decades.
From timber line to tourist railway
The Vosges are forestry country. Before the lorry, there was no way to bring felled timber out of narrow valleys to the sawmills except by rail. That’s exactly what the line in the Abreschviller woods was built for, at the time part of the German imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine.
When the lorry took over the job, almost all forest railways of this kind disappeared. Here something different happened: instead of being dismantled, the line switched to tourist services in the 1960s – an early case for France. That’s why the railway is still recognisable today as a forest railway and hasn’t been reshaped into a museum piece. It never had anything to do with the SNCF network: forest railways were works railways with no connection to public transport. Travel from further afield today runs via hubs such as Strasbourg Gare Centrale.
| Operation | Gauge | Original purpose | Today |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abreschviller | 700 mm | Timber haulage in the Vosges | Tourist services in the wooded valley |
| Waldeisenbahn Muskau | 600 mm | Forest and industrial railway in Lusatia | Heritage services with steam |
| Frankfurt Light Railway Museum | 600 mm | Industrial and military light railway | Museum with running days |
| APPEVA, Haute Somme | 600 mm | Military light railway, later agriculture | Museum and collection operation |
The comparison shows how differently these operations are set up today, even though they’re technically related. Abreschviller is the only one to have kept its original trackbed through the woods intact along its whole length.
Open carriages are an advantage, not a compromise
Forest railway carriages have no windows – and therefore no glass to shoot through. From an open carriage you get shots of your own train set going round a curve that are simply impossible from a closed carriage. Sit on the outside and facing the direction of the curve.
Route, season and planning
The line runs from Abreschviller up the valley to Grand Soldat. It climbs gently, follows the valley floor and runs through woodland almost the whole way. That’s decisive for the pictures: there’s hardly any open ground from which you could shoot the train freely.
In summer the operation is busier than at most association-run railways – daily runs are possible in the high season. We deliberately don’t give exact times, because they’re set anew each season.
Put your visit in the high season
A summer date pays off here: more round trips, more chances of steam, and less risk of turning up to nothing.
Ride the first round trip in the open carriage
From the train you get subjects that are simply impossible from outside in the forest – and you spot where paths reach the track.
Look for patches of light, don't avoid them
In closed tree cover, the one spot where sun breaks through the canopy is worth more than any curve.
Get your camera ready for high ISO
Set your auto range generously beforehand. In the forest, an ISO limit gets you blur instead of noise.
Station and vehicles at the end
Vehicles and equipment stand at the starting station. The light there is better than on the line – use it for detail shots.
How much ISO do you need under the canopy?
A guide value for preparation – on-site metering beats any formula.
Small locomotives for a narrow gauge
Narrow-gauge locomotives in forest-railway format are used: small steam engines with a low boiler, plus diesel locomotives of the kind common in forestry and industrial operations. The carriages are open or half-open – the norm on forest railways, because closed bodies would make the narrow vehicle top-heavy.
We deliberately don’t give individual running numbers. On a gauge with no spare-parts market, the available fleet depends heavily on workshop capacity. European operations farm out heavy boiler work to specialist works; the best-known address in the German-speaking world is the Dampflokwerk Meiningen.
Lorraine and Alsace in one weekend
Three gauges, two types of operation – Traintrack keeps you on top of it all.
Photographing in the forest
Works
- shots from the open carriage facing the direction of the curve
- detail subjects at the starting station, where more light reaches
- deliberately high ISO rather than too long a shutter speed
Check first
- which forest paths running parallel to the line are publicly accessible
- whether steam or diesel is running on your date
- whether there are special runs with a photo stop
Don't
- use the trackbed as a walking path
- use flash – it achieves nothing in the forest and disturbs passengers
- approach staff while they're firing up or shunting
The key shift compared with open lines: here you’re not working with position and angle, but with light. Anyone who works through the sun’s direction beforehand finds the two or three spots where it actually reaches the track at all – the article Planning sun position at a photo spot shows the method. Everything else is scattered light.
In the forest you hear the train later
Dense tree cover dampens sound heavily. A narrow-gauge train with a diesel piloting it is barely audible at twenty metres, and the trackbed is narrow. Stay on paths and don't assume you'll be warned in time. That applies outside running hours too, because engineering and shunting movements happen without notice.
Operating structure and volunteers
As with almost all operations of this size, an association-based structure with volunteer involvement stands behind the running of trains. There is no reliable public account of the exact current legal form, so we give none here – a guessed figure would be worse than an honest gap.
The practical side is clear: locomotive duty, workshop work and line maintenance in a wooded area are work that nobody does on the side. How getting involved with operations like this typically works is described in Railway associations.
Verdict
Abreschviller is no destination for mileage collectors. The line is short, the light difficult, and you can barely see it from outside. But anyone who likes narrow-gauge engineering finds something here that barely exists anywhere else: a forest railway that still looks like a forest railway – including a gauge that’s hardly found in operation anywhere but here.
Plan the railway as half a day within a bigger tour through Lorraine and Alsace. With the Train Touristique Thur Doller and the Cité du Train you’ll then have seen three gauges and two types of operation in one weekend.
Quick verdict
A 700 mm forest railway in the Vosges woods, run as a tourist attraction since the 1960s. Short and dark – but a gauge and character of line that are practically unique in operation.
Keep a record of the rare stuff
Unusual gauges and small operations don't show up in any database – your own notes are the source.
Summary
- Abreschviller shows what a forest railway looks like when it hasn't been reshaped into a museum piece.
- The 700 mm gauge makes the operation a special case even technically – spare parts can barely be bought in anywhere.
- Photographically the forest is the real subject: it supplies the mood while taking away the light.
- As one stop on a tour through Lorraine and Alsace it's ideal; on its own as a single day's destination it's too short.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the railway run on 700 mm gauge of all things?
Because forest railways didn't have to follow a standard. They were private or works railways, built to whatever the supplier of track and vehicles happened to offer. That's why forest railways in Europe exist at 600, 700, 750, 760, 800 and 900 mm. 700 mm is among the rarest of these sizes, which makes the operation a special case when it comes to spare parts.
Where does the train go?
From Abreschviller into the Vosges woods as far as Grand Soldat. The line follows the course of the valley, climbing gently, and runs through woodland almost the whole way. A single run takes well under an hour; a round trip with a stop fits into half a morning.
Does steam run here?
Steam and diesel alternate. Which traction is used on your visit depends on the running day, demand and vehicle availability. If you specifically want steam, check in advance – the technique for that is covered in How to photograph steam trains. In the dark forest the steam plume is, incidentally, harder to separate from the background than out in the open.
What was the railway originally used for?
As a forest railway for hauling timber. The Vosges were and are forestry country, and before the lorry, the narrow-gauge railway was the only way to bring felled timber from the valleys to the sawmills. When the lorry took over that job, most lines like this disappeared. Here, a switch to tourist services followed instead.
How is the operation organised?
Through an association-based structure with volunteer involvement. There is no reliable, permanently valid public account of the exact current legal form, so we give none here. What is certain: this is not a transport undertaking running a regular service, but a seasonal tourist operation on its own trackbed.
How many operating days are there?
Considerably more in summer than at most association-run railways – daily running is possible in the high season. We deliberately don't give specific times, because they're set anew each season. As a rule of thumb: the closer to the summer holidays, the more likely a running day.
What makes photography difficult here?
The light. The line runs through the forest, and closed tree cover swallows several stops of light. On top of that there's high contrast wherever individual patches of sun fall through the canopy. In practice that means accepting high ISO values and denoising deliberately afterwards – how to do that is covered in Removing image noise.
Can I walk along the line?
Only on marked forest and walking paths. The trackbed itself is operational railway land, even though it sits in the middle of the woods and looks harmless. Narrow-gauge trains are quiet, and in dense tree cover you hear them later than on an open line. The rules are summarised in Safe distance from the track.
What can the visit be combined with?
With the operations in Alsace. The Train Touristique Thur Doller and the Chemin de Fer Touristique du Rhin both run on standard gauge, and the Cité du Train in Mulhouse adds the museum side. That gives you three gauges and two types of operation in one weekend.
Are there comparable forest railways?
In Germany, the Waldeisenbahn Muskau is the best-known case, though there at 600 mm. Anyone after light-railway engineering in general finds it at the Frankfurt Light Railway Museum. In France, the APPEVA in the Somme valley is the closest relative.
Log vehicles from Train touristique d'Abreschviller
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.
Where you will find Train touristique d'Abreschviller
Spotting locations where you will regularly come across vehicles from this organisation – with viewpoints, the best light and coordinates.
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