[2] The construction of the Wendelstein Railway was the vision of privy councillor (Geheimer Kommerzienrat), Dr. h.c. Otto von Steinbeis, an industrialist, who was involved in forestry and agriculture in the alpine foreland as well as logging in Bosnia on a grand scale and built, in parallel with that, an extensive light railway (Kleinbahn) network.

In 1908 he published his plans and on 4 February 1910 Prince-Regent Luitpold signed the concession deed for the construction of the Wendelstein Rack Railway.

The original 9.95-kilometre (6.18-mile) long route, running from Brannenburg over the eastern flank of the mountain, has seven tunnels, eight galleries and twelve bridges.

As a result, the length of the line was reduced to 7.66 km (4.76 mi) and journey times to 55 minutes.

In 1987, with help from the Free State of Bavaria, the local parishes, the district of Rosenheim and the parent company of Lechwerke, the line was modernised at a cost of 17 million deutschmarks.