page_title: Lahn Valley Railway
section_title: After the Second World War
hierarchical_section_title: Lahn Valley Railway / History / After the Second World War
caption_attribution_description: English: Original captions: "Battle of the Bulge: Railroad yard near Limburg, Germany, struck by 9th Air Force light and medium bombers on Dec. 23, 1944, the first day of good weather during the Battle of the Bulge. Unfortunately, since the rail cars were not marked per the Geneva Convention, Allied POWs in transit sometimes lost their lives in rail attacks. (U.S. Air Force photo)" Note that the additional info gives the following information: "Railyard near Limburg was rendered unserviceable as part of the tactical air plan to isolate enemy troops from their sources of supply and reinforcement. (2 May 1945)"
context_page_description: The Lahn Valley Railway is a railway line between Niederlahnstein in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate to Wetzlar in Hesse. Its western terminus was originally in Oberlahnstein. Trains now mostly operate between Koblenz and Gießen. The line was opened by the Nassau Rhine and Lahn Railway Company and the Nassau State Railway between 1858 and 1863 and is one of the oldest railways in Germany.
context_section_description: The sections between Limburg and Koblenz, Niederlahnstein–Hohenrhein, Dausenau–Nassau and Fachingen–Balduinstein were only re-built after the Second World War. Signs of the war-time damage are still recognisable today on the tunnels as well as on the abutments and pillars of the Lahn bridges,
  Weilburg station was renewed and given disability access in preparation for Hessentag 2005. A temporary platform erected on this occasion was subsequently removed.
  In September 2010, the status of Leun/Braunfels station was downgraded from Bahnhof (station) to a Haltepunkt (halt), the island station was removed and a new outside platform was built with a platform overpass. This reduced the station’s staffing requirements. At the same time the platform lighting was replaced at the stations of Solms, Leun/Braunfels and Stockhausen (Lahn).
  The Arbeitsgemeinschaft Mechanische Stellwerke e. V. (“working community for mechanical signal boxes”) was founded on 21 February 2010 in Limburg to prevent the demolition of the historical and protective signal box Bo. The working community has set itself the goal of rehabilitating the signal box and, in the longer term, preserving it as a monument of the railway history in the Lahn valley for posterity. The signal box is located at the northern exit of Balduinstein station just before the Lahn bridge. The signal box was inaugurated in 1913 and went out of service on 1 September 2003. During the active period, the signal box was constantly occupied by a signalman. A mechanical interlocking device of the Bruchsal J type was installed in 1929. Later, a system operated by push buttons was used to operate the electrically-actuated Dr S2 interlocking from Siemens. Since the decommissioning of the signal box Bo during the 2015 modernisation, the dispatcher in the entrance building (Bf) has controlled all points and signals at the station.
  In preparation for Hessentag 2012, Wetzlar station was fundamentally renewed. Since the end of the works, the trains of the Lahn Valley Railways have operated from new, modernised platforms.
  In 2015, the signal technology on the Rhineland-Palatinate side (Diez–Niederlahnstein section) was modernised; the old mechanical and relay interlockings were taken out of operation, including signals and level crossings, on 24 August 2015 and replaced by a new electronic interlocking called Untere Lahn (lower Lahn) based at Diez station. At the same time, the many low platforms were replaced by new ones with the standard height of 55 centimetres.
caption: Limburg station after bombing raid on 23 December 1944
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