Chemin de fer touristique du Rhin, Heritage railway in Volgelsheim, France.
The Chemin de fer touristique du Rhin is a volunteer-run heritage railway based at Volgelsheim station, a two-storey building of reddish-brown and grey masonry with a gabled central section, a small spire and a round window. Its trains, hauled by steam locomotives or diesel shunters, run about 12 to 13 km along a private branch of the Colmar–Neuf-Brisach line through the Ried plain to Marckolsheim.
The association was founded in 1982 under the Alsatian local law of 1908, with its seat at Volgelsheim station, and about thirty members are registered, of whom roughly ten work actively. Its mission is to restore diesel and steam locomotives; the collection's centrepiece is the pair of 030TB steam engines 130 and 134, the last preserved locomotives of the former Elsaß-Lothringen network. The Elsaß-Lothringen railway company itself was developed continuously by Otto von Bismarck between 1871 and 1918, when Alsace belonged to the German Empire.
The association, founded in 1982 under the 1908 French law on associations, has its seat in Volgelsheim station and about thirty registered members, of whom roughly ten are active. They maintain the locomotives and carriages on weekends throughout the year and run the trains in summer. The line is called the Ried-Express after the Ried plain it crosses west of the Rhine.
Departure from Volgelsheim station is at 15:00, with a stop at the association's depot for a guided visit of the preserved rolling stock, then on to the Sans-Souci landing stage; the return arrives around 18:10. Trains run from early May to late September on Sundays and public holidays, plus some Saturdays in July and August. A train-only trip or a train-plus-boat combination with the BFS boat from Breisach can be chosen.
The association's two steam locomotives, 030TB130 and 030TB134, are the last preserved engines of the former Elsaß-Lothringen network, a type designated T 3. Only three locomotives of this Reichseisenbahnen class escaped scrapping; the third belongs to the Train1900 association at Fond-de-Gras in Luxembourg.
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