Vennbahn (a former Belgian railroad in Germany)

[railrunner112]

I would like to showcase my personal project for the European Vennbahn, a former railway (now railtrail) know for it's enclave; after world war 1 Germany was seen as the one guilty for it (they weren't, but that is another story) and as a punishment they were ordered to give over land to Belgium, one issue did arise though, the Vennbahn ran though this piece of land and this meant it would run through a border three times in a few kilometers (which meant everything has to be checked again and again) the solution to this issue; Germany handed over extra terrain around the Vennbahn creating an enclave and so it became that there was a Belgian railway running through Germany.
My route depicts this line in the 90's, it has seen better days. Bigger stations got turned into small stops and in a last effort to give the line a new breath of life a tourist line got started (Vennbahn v.o.e.) sadly this did not last and around 2001 the Vennbahn went bankrupt, around 2004 the line got broken up to become a bicycle route, a fate we see alot more lately.
Anyway enough chatter time for screens;
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The station of Raeren, Homebase for the vennbahn. This station was once Germany but is now the Belgian border station.
FB_IMG_1766775667751.jpg the train moves to Roetgen, it is still in Belgium but will soon enter the enclave. FB_IMG_1766775652756.jpg
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The train in the enclave, station Lammersdorf and the viaduct between Monschau and Kalterherberg.

FB_IMG_1766775662450.jpg received_2074788273324873.pngAfter Kalterherberg we officially get back into Belgium and we reach Sourbrodt, the former border station. The pink signals are Belgian switching signals attached onto Germany signals, a clear sign of it's German history.

[duiker]

Looks very good. Do you want to release this one, or will it stay as your private project???

Vincent

[railrunner112]

I want to release this one, actually I hoped to have finished a first version this month but I sadly had to delay it. First version will have most of the route between Raeren and Bullingen (Belgium) finished so that route can be driven like the tourist train did. After that I will finish the line to Trois-ponts in Belgium, the other tourist train stop, after that Stolberg in Germany. And as last I will finish the line from Bullingen to Junkerrath (Germany)

[railrunner112]

Looks very good. Do you want to release this one, or will it stay as your private project???

Vincent

For those interested I released a test version on treinenwereld.eu, the site is Dutch but most browsers can translate sites now.

[railrunner112]

Next to expanding the scenery I am also updating the scenery on existing tracks. In this case the forest between Roetgen and Lammersdorf. received_2158696151600761.webp received_690545804137302.webp I am also working on custom fitting trains for the routes, the Vennbahn 201.001 and 5922 are riding in the early morning tot Roetgen.
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[NorthernWarrior]

This looks good. Will it require any original default MSTS items or is everything going to be included in the package? I'm looking into OR again but the backups I kept of my old MSTS CD's on the hard drive sadly got deleted some time ago in a stupid "Don't look back" moment. So all I can run going forward will be content created exclusively for OR.

[oper190]

the backups I kept of my old MSTS CD's on the hard drive sadly got deleted

Vern - in the library this is the file for the default MSTS folders and content: https://trainsim.com/forums/filelib-...ileid?fid=2001

[NorthernWarrior]

Vern - in the library this is the file for the default MSTS folders and content: https://trainsim.com/forums/filelib-...ileid?fid=2001

Excellent. I’ll check that out. After posting I did find an abandonware site with the archived ROM’s which looked legit and as someone who paid £50 for MSTS when it first came out have no qualms about reacquiring. However, there’s always a risk they slipped something nasty in the archive when you come to install so using the TS source is a better idea. And all this because MS put a security jacket on the CD’s which changes to their own O/S later flagged as harmful.

Anyhow sorry that’s a bit OT for this thread, but once back up and running looking forward to trying the Vennbahn.

[railrunner112]

It will not require the default msts routes since I want the route to be OR ready. And with the OR only functions the route has Route Riter cant even clean it up anymore.

lately I have been building stations for the route, a task I fist deemed difficult but thanks to Gemini it became alot easier to make good textures. My latest station is included in the topic Open Rails Screen Shots without Train 2026 so I will ignore that one here.
Line 45
Malmedy; relatively modern station that closed very soon around the end of the 80's. During the end of the 90's it got renovated for the Red Cross, to this day it still is in use by them.
received_1470485091527978.webp Trois-ponts
The end of line 45 and the connection up the more active mainline. Fun fact: the ride from Trois-ponts to Malmedy and further was so steep that the museum steam train would get a backup diesel to get back to Raeren. It was also not uncommon for lumber trains to get split up in two.
received_1513804940088903.webp Line 45a
Losheim
The first station back on german soil, once had three tracks but is now reduced to two.
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Stadtkyll
Privately owned station, when the line got renovated around the end of the 80's (especially for the army trains to sourbrodt) almost all stations got cut off. Stadtkyll is now privately owned. But the cut loose siding shows how it is not active as a railway station.
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Line 37 (not Vennbahn)
Not a station but a test for the multiple bridges along this line, below the abandoned Factory of dolhain. Not rail related but some buildings are fun to make and enhance the experience.
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Line 38 (rebuild, not Vennbahn) Hombourg
Around 1998 a rich german navy technician who went on his pension decided to rebuild a railway line, thanks to some good stocks he was able to rebuild 3km of tracks, renovate a station and collect over 100 train cars. This station was and is known as hombourg.
Sadly only a part of his work is left today but volunteers are trying to renovate and save his legacy as an open air museum.
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[railrunner112]

Alot of work is still being put into the route. Important scenery in Germany has been added, like the Falkenbach viaduct; destroyed at the end of world War two and rebuild by the Americans with an improvised trestle bridge which still stands today.
I still need to figure out the different level crossing sounds for the German part of the route though.
Furthermore I have been finishing up scenery along the route with more green and started working on the tourist train that ran on it between 1990 and 2001.
Open Rails NewYear MG 2026-08-28 10-39-41.png Open Rails NewYear MG 2026-08-28 10-41-35.png Open Rails NewYear MG 2026-08-26 09-25-04.png Open Rails NewYear MG 2026-08-26 09-25-54.png Open Rails NewYear MG 2026-08-26 09-27-28.png