Tired from his hike through Wolfsschlucht, Laachus wonders what the easiest way is to get to Rodder Maar so he can ask the great white egret why it can swim.

“I could take the Brohltalbahn,” Laachus says, pleased with his good idea, and is now in a great hurry to get to the train station in Brohl. The Vulkan-Express is already waiting on the tracks, and Laachus excitedly takes a seat in one of the historic cars. What happens next is something he never could have imagined. Traveling at 20 km/h, Laachus experiences the unique volcanic landscape up close. Pounding and groaning, the nostalgic narrow-gauge railway with its steam locomotive winds its way over high viaducts and struggles its way up the Brohl Valley, gaining altitude meter by meter. The indescribably beautiful area completely captivates Laachus. But what’s that? Suddenly it’s dark, because the Volcano Express is driving into the rock. The nearly 100-meter-long tunnel impresses Laachus. After the train has left the tunnel behind, he spots a poster hanging above a seat. “Night of the Volcanoes,” it says. “That’s interesting,” thinks Laachus, already making a mental note of the last week of July.

That’s when there will be numerous events, and the special highlight of the closing weekend will be a large, impressively simulated volcanic eruption, the poster promises. “I have to go there,” Laachus thinks, smiling contentedly. Niederzissen station is already almost in sight. He gets off there and hikes across the Bausenberg—the best-preserved horseshoe crater in the Eifel—to the Rodder Maar to find out why it can hold water.

Location info:

Vulkan-Express, Bahnhofstraße, 56656 Brohl-Lützing