The development of the Duchy of Nassau through a route through the Aartal, which had been planned since 1845, was only realized after 1866 with the construction of two branch lines to the north from Limburg to Hadamar and to the south from Diez to Zollhaus. Moritz Hilf, a renowned railroad planner and builder, was commissioned with the planning and construction. Hilf dared to attempt to overcome the Taunus Pass Eiserne Hand without tunnels and other engineering structures at a gradient ratio of 1:31. This made the new line the steepest in the German Reich without cogwheel support. This Bäderbahn was opened on 15.11.1889, the line between Zollhaus and Langenschwalbach on 01.06.1894. In order to connect the Aartalbahn to the planned new Wiesbaden main station, a line from Dotzheim station to Wiesbaden was planned. The construction of a future goods station on Dotzheimer Str. meant that a second track had to be built from Curve station and Biebricher Allee had to be underpassed next to the track of the Aartalbahn.

A crossing station was built next to Waldstraße below Schiersteiner Straße for the Curve freight station traffic on the Langenschwalbacher Bahn. The new route was accepted on 21.04.1904. On 01.10.1907, the Landesdenkmal station became the last stop on the Aartalbahn line. Rumors had been circulating since the late 1960s about the Federal Railway's plans to close the line to save costs. Finally, September 24, 1983 was the last day of operation for the Aartalbahn. In order to be able to use it for excursions, the Kommunale Eigengesellschaft Wiesbaden leased the line from the Deutsche Bundesbahn in 1985. The first museum trains ran at the end of the year. In 1986, the Historisch-Technische Vereinigung Nassauische Touristik-Bahn e.V. (NTB) was founded, which has since been committed to the development of a tourist and museum railway operation and offers trips on historic trains. In 1987, the route of the 53.7 km long Aartalbahn was listed as a cultural monument. Since the closure of the Aartalbahn, there have been initiatives and associations campaigning for the reactivation of the railroad for both passenger and freight traffic.