The Petersberg Railway, or ''Petersbergbahn'', was a

rack railway A rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway, cog railway, or cogwheel railway) is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with ...

line in the

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

region of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The line ran from

Königswinter Königswinter (; ; Low Franconian: ) is a town and summer resort in the Rhein-Sieg district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Königswinter is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, opposite Bad Godesberg, at the foot of the ...

to the summit of the

Petersberg Petersberg may refer to: * The Hotel Petersberg near Bonn, the site of the ** Petersberg Agreement, 1949, regarding the international status of West Germany. ** Petersberg tasks, 1992 and 1997, regarding European security cooperation. Also known as ...

mountain, and was built to serve the

Hotel Petersberg The Hotel Petersberg is a hotel and official guest house of Germany, termed the "Bundesgästehaus" (the official title being ''Gästehaus der Verfassungsorgane der Bundesrepublik Deutschland''). It is located on the Petersberg (Siebengebirge), Pete ...

there. The line opened in 1889 and closed in 1958. The line had a

rail gauge In rail transport, track gauge is the distance between the two rails of a railway track. All vehicles on a rail network must have wheelsets that are compatible with the track gauge. Since many different track gauges exist worldwide, gauge dif ...

of and used the Riggenbach rack design, with trains propelled by

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

s. From 1913, the Petersberg Railway was under the same ownership as the nearby Drachenfels Railway, which is still in service. Although never physically connected, the two railways used the same track gauge and rack equipment, and rolling stock was transferred between the two lines.

References

External links

*
Mountain railways Metre-gauge railways in Germany Private railway companies of Germany Königswinter Railway lines in North Rhine-Westphalia Rack railways in Germany Railway lines opened in 1889 Railway lines closed in 1958 Petersberg (Siebengebirge) {{Germany-rail-transport-stub