The Deutsche Reichsbahn, also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the German national railway system created after the end of World War I from the regional railways of the individual states of the German Empire. The Deutsche Reichsbahn has been described as "the largest enterprise in the capitalist world in the years between 1920 and 1932", nevertheless its importance "arises primarily from the fact that the Reichsbahn was at the center of events in a period of great turmoil in German history".
The term Prussian state railways encompasses those railway organisations that were owned or managed by the State of Prussia. The words "state railways" are not capitalized because Prussia did not have an independent railway administration; rather the individual railway organisations were under the control of the Ministry for Trade and Commerce or its later offshoot, the Ministry for Public Works.
The Royal Bavarian State Railways was the state railway company for the Kingdom of Bavaria. It was founded in 1844. The organisation grew into the second largest of the German state railways with a railway network of 8,526 kilometres by the end of the First World War.
The Royal Bavarian Eastern Railway Company or Bavarian Ostbahn was founded in 1856. Within just two decades it built an extensive railway network in the eastern Bavarian provinces of Upper Palatinate (Oberpfalz) and Lower Bavaria (Niederbayern) that had previously been largely undisturbed by the railway. Much of this network is still important for local and long distance rail traffic operated by the Deutsche Bahn today.
The Class S 3/6 steam locomotives of the Royal Bavarian State Railways were express train locomotives with a 4-6-2 Pacific or 2'C1' wheel arrangement.
The Bavarian Class GtL 4/4 engines were superheated steam locomotives in service with the Royal Bavarian State Railways for duties on branch lines (Lokalbahnen).
The Bavarian Class D XII steam locomotives were manufactured by the firm of Krauss from 1897 for the Royal Bavarian State Railways. Ninety six of them were procured for service on the stub lines running from Munich into the mountains, but in reality they were stationed in many large Bavarian locomotive depots. Two engines were transferred to the Palatinate Railway (Pfalzbahn) in 1916, the remaining 94 later joined the Deutsche Reichsbahn fleet and were incorporated as DRG Class 73.0-1 with operating numbers 73 031–124.
The goods train locomotives of Class C VI were German steam engines built between 1899 and 1905 for the Royal Bavarian State Railways. It had great similarity to the Prussian G 5.4, but had a higher boiler overpressure and better riding qualities. In all the Bavarian state railways procured 83 engines of this type over that period. More machines with slight modifications were acquired between 1907 and 1909. These 37 engines were given the designation G 3/4 N. The Deutsche Reichsbahn inherited 64 Class C VI and 32 Class G 3/4 N engines. These were given operating numbers 54 1301–1364 and 54 1401–1432. The Class C VII locomotives remained in service until 1931, their Class G 3/4 N sister locomotives until 1935.
The C IV was a steam locomotive, built for goods train duties, that was manufactured between 1884 and 1897 for the Royal Bavarian State Railways.
The Bavarian C III engines were steam locomotives of the Royal Bavarian State Railways.
The Class S 3/5 engines of the Royal Bavarian State Railways were express train steam locomotives with a 4-6-0 wheel arrangement.
Bavarian branch lines comprised nearly half the total railway network in Bavaria, a state in the southeastern Germany that was a kingdom in the days of the German Empire. The construction era for branch lines lasted from 1872, when the first route, from Siegelsdorf to Langenzenn, was opened, to 1930, when the last section of the branch from Gößweinstein to Behringersmühle went operational.
The Bavarian Class A, later B IX were German steam locomotives with the Bavarian Eastern Railway.
The Bavarian Class C, later C II, was a German steam locomotive with the Bavarian Eastern Railway.
The Bavarian Class D IV was a German steam locomotive with the Bavarian Eastern Railway.
The Bavarian Class D II was a German goods train tender locomotive with the Bavarian Eastern Railway.
Three different types of German electric goods train locomotive belonged to the Deutsche Reichsbahn's DRG Class E 91. In addition to the standard locomotives (Einheitslokomotive) described below there was also a Prussian class that was given the designation E 913 in 1927.
The Bavarian Forest Railway links the heart of the Bavarian Forest around Regen and Zwiesel to Plattling and the Danube valley on one side, and the Czech Republic through Bayerisch Eisenstein on the other. In the Danube valley it forms a junction with the Nuremberg–Regensburg–Passau long-distance railway and, to the south, regional lines to Landshut and Munich.
