page_title: Glan Valley Railway
section_title: Route
hierarchical_section_title: Glan Valley Railway / Route
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: DB 515 536-1 im Jahr 1986 bei Überquerung der Nahe auf der Bayerischen Brücke zwischen Staudernheim und Odernheim
context_page_description: The Glan Valley Railway is a non-electrified line along the Glan river, in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It consists of the Glan-Münchweiler–Altenglan section, which was built as part of the Landstuhl–Kusel railway and sections that were built later for military reasons: Homburg–Glan-Münchweiler, Altenglan–Staudernheim and Odernheim–Bad Münster am Stein. The line had strategic importance, otherwise traffic was rather low, except on the Glan Munchweiler–Altenglan section.
  The line runs right next to the river for 60 km of its 85 km length from Homburg to Bad Münster. The line is closed, except for the ten km section from Glan-Münchweiler to Altenglan that forms part of the Landstuhl–Kusel line. It is used for tourism and draisine rides have been offered on the section between Altenglan and Staudernheim since 2000. In contrast, the Waldmohr–Glan-Münchweiler section has been dismantled.
context_section_description: The southern section from Homburg to Glan-Münchweiler branches off the Mannheim–Saarbrücken line and initially runs through the Bruch country. The line crosses the vast Jägersburger Wald (Jägersburg forest) and touches Waldmohr and Schönenberg-Kübelberg, which is located on the northern edge of the Peterswald (forest). A few kilometres later the line reaches the Glan valley, which the line now follows to Odernheim. Between Homburg and Glan-Munchweiler the line crosses the Glan river four times because of the large meanders in its upper reaches and one of its loops is shortened by the Elschbach tunnel. After Lauterecken, the river valley widens considerably, so there are fewer bridges. Shortly before Meisenheim, the Glan Valley Railway runs through Meisenheim tunnel.
  The line forks at Odernheim. A branch opened in 1897, which still exists, runs in a wide arc and ends near the Disibodenberg in Staudernheim. The southern branch, which was built for strategic reasons and is now dismantled, passed through the Kinnsfels tunnel to the Nahe valley near the Gangelsberg (mountain) and passes on the right bank of the Nahe parallel to the Nahe Valley Railway, which ran on the other side, and reaches Bad Münster by a bridge over the river.
  In terms of landscape, most of the line from Schönenberg-Kübelberg to Odernheim runs through the North Palatine Uplands, where it has been dismantled between Waldmohr and Glan-Münchweiler. The northern part of the line between Odernheim and Bad Münster then runs through the Naheland.
  From Homburg to Jägersburg the railway runs through the, Saar-Palatinate district of the Saarland. With the exception of Elschbach which is part of the district of Kaiserslautern, the line to Odenbach then runs through the Kusel district. The northern part between Meisenheim and Staudernheim or Bad Münster am Stein respectively is located in the district of Bad Kreuznach.
caption: Battery railcars on the Nahe bridge of the Glan Valley Railway near Staudernheim
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