Grand Duchy of Hesse State Railways
Encyclopedia
Länderbahnen
The German term Länderbahnen generally refers to the state railways of the German Empire in the period from about 1840 to 1920 when they were merged into the Deutsche Reichsbahn after the First World War....
at the time of the German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
. In the 19th century, the Grand Duchy of Hesse
Grand Duchy of Hesse
The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine , or, between 1806 and 1816, Grand Duchy of Hesse —as it was also known after 1816—was a member state of the German Confederation from 1806, when the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt was elevated to a Grand Duchy, until 1918, when all the German...
consisted of three provinces. Between the rivers Rhine, Main and Neckar
Neckar
The Neckar is a long river, mainly flowing through the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, but also a short section through Hesse, in Germany. The Neckar is a major right tributary of the River Rhine...
the province of Starkenburg
Starkenburg
Starkenburg is a historical region of the state of Hesse in Germany, consisting of the districts of Bergstraße, Darmstadt-Dieburg, Groß-Gerau, and Odenwaldkreis, along with the city of Darmstadt...
embraced the Odenwald
Odenwald
The Odenwald is a low mountain range in Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg in Germany.- Location :The Odenwald lies between the Upper Rhine Rift Valley with the Bergstraße and the Hessisches Ried in the west, the Main and the Bauland in the east, the Hanau-Seligenstadt Basin – a subbasin of...
and the Hessian Ried. It also included the ducal residence of Darmstadt
Darmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
. West of the Rhine, was the province of Rhenish Hesse (Rheinhessen) with the towns of Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
, Worms
Worms, Germany
Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts, who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over the title of "Oldest City in Germany." Worms is the only...
and Bingen
Bingen am Rhein
Bingen am Rhein is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.The settlement’s original name was Bingium, a Celtic word that may have meant “hole in the rock”, a description of the shoal behind the Mäuseturm, known as the Binger Loch. Bingen was the starting point for the...
. The province of Upper Hesse
Upper Hesse
The province of Upper Hesse was one of three provinces in the Grand Duchy of Hesse and later the People's State of Hesse. Its territory covers the area of land north of the River Main in the historic region of Upper Hesse...
(Oberhessen), which included the Vogelsberg
Vogelsberg
Vogelsberg is a municipality in the Sömmerda district of Thuringia, Germany....
and the Wetterau
Wetterau
The Wetterau is a fertile undulating tract, watered by the Wetter, a tributary of the Nidda River, in the western German state of Hesse, between the hilly province Oberhessen and the north-western Taunus mountains....
was not directly linked by land to the others.
As a result of its lack of territorial integrity, the state did not initially build its own state railway. Rather it took part in joint state railway projects with its neighbouring states:
These were the:
- Main-Neckar Railway with FrankfurtFrankfurtFrankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
and BadenBadenBaden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany.... - Main-Weser line with Frankfurt and KurhessenProvince of KurhessenThe Province of Kurhessen was a province of Prussia within Nazi Germany from 1944-45.Although all German states, including Prussia, had been de facto dissolved since 1933, the Nazi government formally dissolved the Prussian Province of Hesse-Nassau into two provinces on 1 April 1944: Kurhessen and...
- Frankfurt-Offenbach Railway with the Free City of Frankfurt
As for the rest, a large number of projects by the private Hessian Ludwig Railway Company was encouraged.
Not until 1876 did the Grand Duchy of Hesse
Grand Duchy of Hesse
The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine , or, between 1806 and 1816, Grand Duchy of Hesse —as it was also known after 1816—was a member state of the German Confederation from 1806, when the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt was elevated to a Grand Duchy, until 1918, when all the German...
found its own state railway. Its basis was the acquisition of the Upper Hessian Railway Company
Upper Hessian Railway Company
The Upper Hessian Railway Company was a private concern whose aim was to build and run railway lines in the province of Upper Hesse in the Grand Duchy of Hesse, a state within the German Empire in the 19th and early 20th centuries.Whilst the Main-Weser railway had linked Wetterau, a town in the...
.
This opened and operated the Vogelsberg and Lahn
Lahn
The Lahn River is a -long, right tributary of the Rhine River in Germany. Its course passes through the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia , Hesse , and Rhineland-Palatinate ....
-Kinzig
Kinzig (Main)
The Kinzig is a river in southern Hesse, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Main. It is 82 km long. Its source is in the Spessart hills, near Schlüchtern. The Kinzig flows into the Main in Hanau. The Main-Kinzig-Kreis was named after the river...
lines from Giessen between 1869 and 1871. In 1880, of a total of 175.8 kilometres (109.2 mi) of route, 147.2 km (91.5 mi) lay in Hessen-Darmstadt and 28 km (17.4 mi) in Prussia.
After its transition into state ownership, the network was expanded in accordance with a statute of 29 May 1884, by three branch lines, that fed into the Giessen - Gelnhausen
Gelnhausen
Gelnhausen is a town and the capital of the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located approx. 40 kilometers east of Frankfurt am Main, between the Vogelsberg mountains and the Spessart range at the river Kinzig...
line in the Vogelsberg region:
- Nidda - SchottenSchottenSchotten is a town in the middle of Hesse, Germany. Larger towns nearby include Alsfeld in the north, Fulda in the east, Friedberg in the south and Gießen in the west.-Location:...
from 26 May 1888 - StockheimStockheimStockheim is a municipality in the district of Kronach in Bavaria in Germany....
- GedernGedernGedern is a town in the Wetteraukreis district in Hesse, Germany, and historically belongs to Oberhessen. It is located northeast of Hanau at the foot of the Vogelsberg, once one of the largest inactive volcanoes in Europe.-Neighboring towns:...
from 1 October 1888 - HungenHungen-Hungen:Hungen is a town in the district of Gießen, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated 20 km southeast of Gießen, and 18 km northeast of Friedberg. Surrounding towns are Laubach to the north, Nidda to the east, Wölfersheim to the south, and Münzenberg and Lich to the west.The history of Hungen...
- LaubachLaubach' is a town of approximately 10,000 people in the region of Hesse, Germany. Laubach is known as a , a climatic health resort. It is situated east of Gießen. Surrounding are the towns of , , and .-Points of interest:...
from 1 June 1890
A further state branch line between Eberstadt
Eberstadt
Eberstadt is a municipality in the district of Heilbronn, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is best known for its winegrowing and its yearly international high jump meeting .-External links:*...
and Pfungstadt
Pfungstadt
Pfungstadt is a German town of 25,117 inhabitants, in the district of Darmstadt-Dieburg in the state of Hesse.The town was first mentioned in 785 as property of the Monastery of Lorsch and got its town rights in 1886 due to its railway station...
was opened on 20 December 1886. It was only 1.9 km (1.2 mi) long and was operated by the "Main-Neckar Railway", but had its own staff, locomotives and coaches.
In 1897 the Hessian State Railways were merged into the Prussian-Hessian Railway Company
Prussian-Hessian Railway Company
The Royal Prussian and Grand-Ducal Hessian State Railways was a state-owned network of independent railway divisions in the German states of Prussia and Hesse in the early 20th century...
.
See also
- Grand Duchy of HesseGrand Duchy of HesseThe Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine , or, between 1806 and 1816, Grand Duchy of Hesse —as it was also known after 1816—was a member state of the German Confederation from 1806, when the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt was elevated to a Grand Duchy, until 1918, when all the German...
- History of rail transport in GermanyHistory of rail transport in GermanyGerman Railway history began with the opening of the steam-hauled Bavarian Ludwig Railway between Nuremberg and Fürth on 7 December 1835. This had been preceded by the opening of the horse-hauled Prince William Railway on 20 September 1831...
- Prussian state railwaysPrussian state railwaysThe term Prussian state railways encompasses those railway organisations that were owned or managed by the State of Prussia...
External links
- There is an English-language discussion forum at Railways of Germany