CHEMIN DE FER TOURISTIQUE DU RHIN
Part of the once extensive railway network that existed on the French\German border area of the river Rhine the branch line from Vogelsheim to Marckolsheim still carries considerable freight traffic. Operating at weekends and bank holidays (when freight services are not running) from mid-May to mid-Sept the Chemin de Fer Touristique du Rhin runs tourist trains on the line. After leaving the industrial area around Port Rhénan the line travels 5 miles through pleasant riverside scenery and woodlands until it reaches the halt at Sans Soucis where it normally terminates although occasional trains run a further 5 miles to Port Rhénan. The depot at Port Rhénan has a large collection of locomotives and rolling stock including some from the French national collection.
The train we travelled on consisted of ex-Alsace-Lorraine
locomotive No O3OTB 134 built in 1900 hauling 1920's four-wheel
coaches with end balconies.
Other locomotives include another ex-Alsace-Lorraine locomotive No
O3OTB 134, an ex-Est 2-8-2T (141-TB-424) that is used with a rake of
Parisian suburban coaches on special excursions around the region and
a large collection of smaller locos and railcars.
You can buy a combined ticket that as well as allowing you to
travel on the train also gives you a river (actually the Rhine canal)
trip aboard an ancient steamer.
