some of the Selfkantbahn's rolling stock, Germany

This 5.5 km long railway is the remaining section of the former Geilenkirchener Kreisbahn and the last remaining metre-gauge railway in North Rhine-Westphalia. The current operator is the Tourismusbahnen im Rheinland GmbH a member of the Association of Interest Group Historischer Eisenbahnverkehr e.V. (IHS).In 1970, the IHS bought its first steam loco, 900 mm gauge Klöcknerhütte No.19 (built by Jung in 1956) from the Klöcknerhütte in Hagen-Haspen, which was regauged and in use from 1971 (in the pics.)

In 1969, the first heritage rail traffic began on the Geilenkirchen - Gillrath - Schierwaldenrath - Gangelt section, from which today's Selfkant (Bahn) Railway emerged. The original plan of the museum railway activists to electrify the route and use vehicles from the Aachen tramway failed because of the high costs.

Since 1973 there has only been a museum operation with regular use of steam locomotives on the section between Geilenkirchen - Gillrath and Gangelt - Schierwaldenrath. The reason for this relocation away from the former production center Geilenkirchen was that the superstructure of the line between Geilenkirchen and Gillrath was too poor for rail vehicles to be able to travel regularly. In addition, when modernizing roads in the Selfkant area, the aim was to save costs on the construction of new level crossings.

Nevertheless, the IHS plans to extend the route west to Gangelt and east to the Geilenkirchen bypass. This is intended to achieve greater tourist attractiveness. 

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