Historic Steam Engine (Selfkantbahn)
Originally opened in 1900, the Geilenkirchener Kreisbahn (a meter gauge line that ran from Alsdorf to Tueddern), closed to freight traffic in 1971. This could have been the end for this line, but some railway enthusiasts founded the "Interessengemeinschaft Historischer Schienenverkehr e.V. (IHS) in late 1970 and started collecting rolling stock which was still available from several other German meter gauge lines.
After the last remainig part of the line between Gillrath and Schierwaldenrath (length 5.5 km) was taken over, the first train of the Selfkantbahn (this name was chosen for the region north of Geilenkirchen is called Selfkant) ran on August 14th, 1971 pulled by steam locomotive number 19. Number 19 was bought from a steel mill at Hagen. The last steam engine of the Geilenkirchener Kreisbahn was scrapped around 1960.
Since then, the Selfkantbahn operates on Sundays and Public Holidays between Easter and the end of September.
(Quelle: Homepage der Selfkantbahn)