It ran from Bochum-Laer to the Dannenbaum colliery (later the site of the Bochum I plant of Opel), the Prinz Regent colliery and Haus Weitmar (a stately house) on the way to Bochum-Dahlhausen station in Dahlhausen on the Ruhr Valley Railway, which runs next to the Ruhr river.

In 1811, the Gute Hoffnung iron works provided the cast-iron rails and wagons for the line, which was referred to as the englische Kohlenbahn ("English Coal Railway").

As part of the construction of the Ruhr Valley Railway from 1863, a section of the line was converted to standard gauge in 1865 and in 1868 conversion started on a further 10.2 kilometres to Laer (opened on 10 October 1870) and Bochum-Weitmar station was built.

[2][3] A siding to the Friedlicher Nachbar colliery, opened in 1894, included the only railway tunnel on the network; it was 350 metres long.

The further conversion of a disused branch on the edge of central Bochum is approved and construction will begin in the coming months.