Spring Steam Saga in Aachen

DAY 1

Travelling by Eurostar from London St Pancras to Brussels, then onwards to Aachen and our hotel for four nights, the Ibis Marschiertor Hotel, where we check in and enjoy our first evening at leisure.

DAY 2

After breakfast this morning, we board our coach to Rommerskirchen to visit the charming 600mm-gauge Oekoven Railway where we enjoy an exclusive steam charter over their delightful heritage line. Our next stop is Krefeld Nord Station, the oldest station building in Krefeld, where we indulge in a two-course lunch at the excellent station restaurant - complete with its own brewery! Our second steam charter of the day departs from here as we board the historic Krefeld "Schluff" Railway for a nostalgic journey through beautiful scenery to Hulser Berg and returning to the depot at St. Tonis. We return to Aachen by road for an evening at leisure.

DAY 3

Today, we travel by train into the heart of the Ruhr region to Bochum-Dahlhausen where we join a mainline steam excursion on the fantastic Ruhr Valley Railway journeying through beautiful scenery and passing tunnels, ironworks, lakes, and castle ruins on a scenic three-hour round trip to Wengern. On our return, we enjoy free time to discover the collection at the Bochum Railway Museum and explore the grounds aboard the narrow-gauge railway before retracing our steps to Aachen for an evening at leisure.

DAY 4

A day of cross-border steam delights awaits us today as we begin with the morning train into the Netherlands to Schin op Geul for a steam-hauled journey over the "Million" Railway, one of the most expensive railway lines in the country in terms of construction costs. Our nostalgic journey takes us through the enchanting landscape to Simpelveld where we change to a vintage railbus travelling along the old international railway line to Vetschau and return. After taking time for lunch and visiting the locomotive shed, we will rejoin the steam train and continue to Kerkrade where our private coach waits to transfer us to Schierwaldenrath. Here, we ride the bucolic Selfkantbahn over the 5.5km metre-gauge line to Gillrath, returning by road and by rail to Aachen for our final evening.

DAY 5

We bid farewell to Aachen and to Germany, returning by rail to Brussels, where we will join the Eurostar service to London St Pancras.

*Important Note: Whilst the arrangements for all described steam train travel are in place, we do reserve the right to make substitutions should it be deemed necessary for whatever reason.

B=Breakfast, L=Lunch