The Drachenfels Railway or Drachenfelsbahn is a mountain railway line in Germany. The line runs from Konigswinter to the summit of the Drachenfels mountain at an altitude of 289m (948ft).

The line is 1.5km (0.9mi) long and has a rail gauge of 1m (3ft3in). It is a rack railway, using the Riggenbach design to overcome a height difference of 220m (722ft) and a maximum gradient of 20%. 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 the 13th July 1883. It was converted to electric traction on the 12th July 1953. In September 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.

External links

• Drachenfelsbahn website

Sources

• Web page http://www.werkbahn.de/eisenbahn/zahnrad/drachenfels.htm, retrieved 4th March 2005, 19:00 GMT.
• Web page http://www.hochschulstellenmarkt.de/info/d/dr/drachenfelsbahn.html, retrieved 4th March 2005, 19:30 GMT.
• Wikipedia article , last updated 15th February 2005, 12:19.