Railways

Hartung columns or 'Hartungsche Säule' may be a familiar name in Berlin, but outside the German capital, their name mostly raises questions. What does the name Hartung stand for?

Railway line 47, the section of the Vennbahn between Sankt Vith and Troisvierges, was commissioned in late 1889 and crossed the Our River via a brick viaduct near the German village of Hemmeres.

Height differences in the landscape, forests, or rivers? In the late nineteenth century, nothing could stop the construction of railway line 47 between Sankt Vith and Troisvierges in Luxembourg. Along with railway line 48, this route formed the historic Vennbahn, where iron ores and coal were transported.

A turntable, signal box, rails and mechanical signals: the former station of Sourbrodt along the Vennbahn treats you to unique historical railway heritage.

Right on the border between Belgium and Luxembourg, the Huldange tunnel was inaugurated in 1889, the last hurdle for goods trains running on the Vennbahn.

Until 2014, you could still see trains passing in the French-fortified town of Bitche. From then on, train traffic on the route section between Niederbronn via Bitche to Sarreguemines was discontinued.

In 1916, the German army constructed a 285-metre-long viaduct in the village of Born in just eight months.

The Frontzate, the former railway line 74 connecting Diksmuide with Nieuwpoort, suddenly played a leading role as a front line during the First World War.

The Belgian Ronse station is today the terminus for trains from Ghent, but until the mid-twentieth century, it was a junction of four different railway lines.

In a remote corner of a former freight station in Brussels, called the Maritime Station, a water tower in Art Nouveau style was built to refuel steam locomotives with water.