page_title: Plaue–Themar railway
section_title: Route
hierarchical_section_title: Plaue–Themar railway / Ilmenau–Schleusingen (Rennsteigbahn) / Route
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Der Bahnhof Rennsteig im Thüringer Wald. Thüringen, Deutschland. selbst fotografiert am 03.08.2003 GNU-FDL
context_page_description: Plaue–Themar railway is a 62 kilometre-long, single-track, non-electrified, standard-gauge branch-line in the Thuringian Forest in Germany. The Stützerbach–Schleusingerneundorf section was built as the first Prussian rack railway between 1879 and 1904 and connects the Erfurt–Schweinfurt railway in the north via the towns of Plaue, Ilmenau, Schleusingen and Themar with the Eisenach–Lichtenfels railway in the south.
  It is divided into three sections: the northern section from Plaue to Ilmenau is currently operated once an hour by Erfurter Bahn, the steep section in the middle from Ilmenau to Schleusingen, which originally contained stretches of rack, and the southern section from Schleusingen to Themar. There is occasional freight traffic on the southern section.
context_section_description: The Ilmenau–Schleusingen section has a length of 31.8 km. The line to Großbreitenbach, which was closed in 1998, branched off just after Ilmenau station. The line runs on a gentle curve to the right for 1.3 km through the built-up area of Ilmenau to Ilmenau Bad station. From there, the line follows the Ilm Valley along the foot of the Kickelhahn to Manebach. The station is located in the lower part of a linear settlement, which is about two kilometres long. The line follows the Ilm Valley through Meyersgrund, where there was another halt until 1920, to Stützerbach. The station is at the top of the valley. The line here separates from Bundesstraße 4 (B 4). The continues up the Ilm valley and then takes hairpin turns on the way to Rennsteig. The first steep section of the route starts after Stützerbach. On a stretch of 4.4 km it climbs through a difference in height of 156 m. The Rennsteig line follows the Lengwitz. In the valley of the Göpfersbach, the steepest section north of Rennsteig follows with a gradient that is in parts over 6.0%. The highest point of the line is on the zig zag in Rennsteig station at an altitude of 747.7 m. Beyond Rennsteig station the line runs down the next steep section (5.9%) to reach Schmiedefeld am Rennsteig after two kilometres. Beyond Schmiedefeld, the line runs along the right (western) slope of the Nahe valley. There are two further steep sections with a gradient of 5.9%. Near Schleusingerneundorf, the line reaches the valley floor of the Nahe and runs alongside the B 4 to the station. Beyond Schleusingerneundorf the valley widens and the line continues next to the road. It then runs directly through Hinternah, where the foothills begin. Shortly before the halt at Schleusingen Ost, the railway leaves the Nahe. This is where the last steep section (5.9%) begins, running down the Erle valley. Here the line meets the tracks of the Suhl–Schleusingen railway and runs into Schleusingen station.
caption: Rennsteig station
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