Rothaar Railway

The Rothaar Railway (German: Rothaarbahn) is a 48 km long German branch line running from Kreuztal on the Ruhr–Sieg line to Bad Berleburg via Erndtebrück (KBS 443) with a through connexion to Siegen. The line was opened to Hilchenbach in 1884 and extended to Erndtebrück and Marburg in 1888/89.

Rothaar Railway
Overview
Native name	Rothaarbahn
Locale	North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Termini	Kreuztal Bad Berleburg
Line number	2870 (Kreuztal–Erndtebrück) 2871 (Erndtebrück–Bad Berleburg)
Technical
Line length	48.5 km (30.1 mi)
Number of tracks	1
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Route number	443
Route map Ruhr-Sieg Railway from Siegen 0.0 Kreuztal Ferndorfbach Ruhr-Sieg Railway to Hagen 0.8 Kreuztal Ost Ferndorfbach Ferndorfbach 1.7 Ferndorf (Siegen) Ferndorfbach 4.5 Kredenbach 5.7 Dahlbruch 6.9 Hillnhütten 8.5 Stift Keppel-Allenbach Ferndorfbach 10.0 10.5 Hilchenbach Ferndorfbach 11.9 Vormwald Dorf 12.3 Vormwald Tunnel (188 m) 18.0 Vormwald 18.6 Schloßberg Tunnel (270 m) 19.5 Kronprinz-Eiche Tunnel (213 m) 22.0 Lützel 28.8 0.0 Erndtebrück Upper Lahn Valley Railway to Marburg 3.6 Birkelbach Old line to Altenhundem Eder 9.1 Aue-Wingeshausen Eder Eder 14.5 Berghausen 15.8 Raumland-Markhausen 17.3 Upper Eder Valley Railway to Battenberg 19.7 Bad Berleburg Source: German railway atlas[1]

Bad Berleburg railway station

The single-tracked line runs between Kreuztal and Hilchenbach along the southern slopes of the Ferndorf valley and winds tightly in order to gain height through the Rothaargebirge mountains using two switchbacks between Hilchenbach and Erndtebrück. The tunnelling under the ruins of Ginsburg castle by the Schloßberg Tunnel, near the long-distance walking trail of the Rothaarsteig, is particularly picturesque.

In Kreuztal-Ferndorf there are still two industrial sidings (Bender Eisen- und Metallwerke Ferndorf and Bandverzinkung der Thyssen Krupp Stahl) which handle a considerable amount of goods traffic. In Dahlbruch, three sidings (Eisenbau Krämer, SMS and a scrap merchant) are regularly worked by Railion. In Erndtebrück-Grünewald and Erndtebrück, the Kreisbahn Siegen-Wittgenstein works two sidings to the Erndtebrück Ironworks from Monday to Friday. Logs are loaded at Erndtebrück station. Trains can cross or pass at Ferndorf, Dahlbruch, Hilchenbach, Lützel and Erndtebrück.