The Plaue–Themar railway is a 62 kilometre-long, single-track, non-electrified, standard-gauge branch-line in the Thuringian Forest (Thüringer Wald) 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. Plaue–Ilmenau Route Today's secondary line branches off the Erfurt–Schweinfurt railway in Plaue. The line climbs 200 metres during the 10 km-long section to Geraberg. The route followed here does not run through the easier Reichenbach valley, but instead climbs the slope up the valley of the Zahme Gera. The reasons are historical. There are numerous rocky areas where the terrain is nearly impassable. The line climbs steeply on the western slope of the valley and reaches a height that is about 30 m above the valley in Angelroda. Here it crosses the valley on a viaduct, which is followed by a 20 m deep cutting, where the line transitions from the Gera valley to the Reichenbach valley. It continues through relatively flat terrain to Martinroda, which also has a Haltepunkt (halt), although it is about 2 km from the village. The next place on the line is Geraberg. The route changes again from the Reichenbach valley to the Gera valley. The line runs above the village around Mönchsheide hill to Elgersburg station. In the village there is a cutting that is about 12 m deep, which takes the line from the Gera valley to the Reichenbach valley again. Here it runs relatively directly on the edge of the forest to the southeast towards Ilmenau-Roda. There the high point of the section is reached at an altitude of 515 metres. It then passes through a wide curve, past the halt of Ilmenau Pörlitzer Höhe (opened in 1995) through the town of Ilmenau down into the Ilm valley, where Ilmenau station is located at an altitude of 477 metres. History Background and construction When the Neudietendorf–Arnstadt railway reached Arnstadt, there were increasing demands for railway to Ilmenau. The efforts