Vennbahn

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A viaduct of the Vennbahn near Bütgenbach, Wallonia, Belgium.
A viaduct of the Vennbahn near Bütgenbach, Wallonia, Belgium.

The Vennbahn is a railway that was German when it was built, but is now in Belgium, and runs across the Hohes Venn (Hautes Fagnes) to the south of Aachen. It runs for some 75 km roughly southwards from Eupen via Raeren (the site of the depot), Monschau (Montjoie) and Malmedy to Trois-Ponts, with a 20-km eastward branch at Oberweywertz to Bütgenbach and Losheim. It connects with the Brussels-Cologne main line at Eupen and with the Liège-Luxembourg line at Trois-Ponts. Till the end of 2001 this standard gauge line operated tourist services, some of which were steam-hauled. These then closed for want of funds to maintain the line. Part of the track is now used by railbikes. As the trackbed remains Belgian territory even when the line runs through Germany, it has created five small enclaves of Germany on its western side.

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