The line branches from the Regensburg-Weiden railway at Weiden station and proceeds along the B 470 highway through the Weiden suburbs of Rehbühl and Weiden-West and past the Seltmann porcelain factory. Near the Brandweiher estate the route swings to the southwest and then runs northwest through the Manteler forest and from Schwarzenbach along the Haidenaab to Pressath. In Pressath a branch line to Kirchenthumbach branched off until 1962 and there is still a siding to the Grafenwöhr training camp. Next, the line runs along the Haidenaab, passing to the east side of Rauher Kulm and meets the Nuremberg-Cheb railway at Kirchenlaibach station. After Kirchenlaibach station the line runs to the northwest along the B 22 through the Seybothenreuth forest and between the Pensenberg and Schlehenberg mountains to Bayreuth. The line passes through the Bayreuth districts of Grunau, Colmdorf and Neue Heimat and then reaches the line from Schnabelwaid. The two lines run parallel across the valley of the Red Main river on a nearly 1.5 km long embankment; the line from Weiden runs on the eastern track. Coming from the south the two lines cross the B 22 (Wieland-Wagner-Strasse), then the Bayreuth mill canal and finally, just before the entrance to Bayreuth station, it crosses the B 2 (Albrecht-Dürer-Straße) and immediately afterwards the Red Main.