About old tramways

A 31 kilometer long international cycle route over the former tramway route Princenhage - Rijsbergen and former tramway route Rijsbergen - Meersel.
After Meerseldreef the route follows the river Mark.
The cycle route starts and ends at the café het Roode Hert in Princenhage.

The route starts with the tram line Princenhage - Wernhout

The Princenhage - Wernhout tram line was a tram line in North Brabant. From the Princenhage the line ran via Rijsbergen and Zundert to the Belgian border at Wernhout.

On 24 July 1890 the line was opened by the Zuid-Nederlandsche Stoomtramweg-Maatschappij. In Princenhage there were connections to the tram line Breda - Oudenbosch and in Wernhout to Antwerp.
From 22 May 1937 passenger traffic was discontinued, on 11 January 1937 freight traffic was also stopped and the line was broken up.

Little can be found of the line, as the route followed the N263 for the most part.

The second tram line is the Hoogstraten-Meerle-Rijsbergen tram line, built in 1899, which was part of the Turnhout-Merksplas-Hoogstraten-grens-Rijsbergen line. On 20/3/1899 the line opened to Meersel-Dreef, broken up by the Germans in 1943; on 1/9/1899 opening of the connection with Rijsbergen, closed in 1934.