West Rhine Railway
The history of the Ahr Valley Railway begins as a branch line of the West Rhine Railway ("Linke Rheinstrecke"). This line was built up the Rhine from Cologne to Rolandseck via Bonn by the Bonn–Cologne Railway Company ("Bonn-Cölner Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft") between 1844 and 1856; it was extended to Bingerbrück via Remagen and Koblenz by the Rhenish Railway Company ("Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft") in 1858/59.