Upper Ahr Valley Railway Route

The old Ahrbahntrasse is a particularly beautiful section, partly deeply cut, partly on an imposing high dam, from which you can discover some beautiful hidden ponds.

The Upper Ahr Valley Railway was a 25 km long railway line. Between Blankenheim (forest) and Ahrdorf, it established part of the connection between the Eifel route and the Rhine route. It was opened on May 1, 1913 after three years of construction. In Blankenheim (Wald) there was a connection to the Eifel line Cologne-Euskirchen-Gerolstein-Trier, in Ahrdorf a connection to the Dümpelfeld-Lissendorf section of the Ahr Valley Railway. While the line survived World War I unscathed, it was badly damaged in World War II. Numerous bridges and a tunnel had to be restored. In 1950, freight traffic between Blankenheim (Wald) and Mülheim was resumed, and in 1951 to Ahrdorf. Since 1954, passenger trains have been running again between Blankenheim (Wald) and Mülheim. From 1958 the railway line was gradually closed. The tracks were then completely dismantled between 1963 and 1980. Source: geocaching.com/geocache/GC3R56Z_obere-ahrtalbahn-bf-blankenheim-wald

This section was inaugurated in 1913 and was a cross-link between the then existing routes Remagen - Adenau (1885) and the route Cologne - Trier (1869). Work on this primarily strategic railway had begun on 1 April 1910. On March 3, 1961, the last official freight train ride on the route Blankenheim (forest) and Ahrdorf took place.