The term Kleinbahn (literally 'small railway', plural: Kleinbahnen) was a light railway concept used especially in Prussia for a railway line that "on account of its low importance for general railway transport" had less strict requirements placed on its construction and operation that main lines (Hauptbahnen, Vollbahnen ) or secondary lines ( Nebenbahnen i.e. normal branch lines). Even public railway lines built for constructional or industrial purposes were counted as Kleinbahnen.
The concept was defined in the Prussian Kleinbahn law of 28 July 1892, that was designed to encourage the construction of local railway lines by private companies. The word Kleinbahn was chosen by a majority of MPs in the Prussian parliament instead of a range of other options - Lokalbahn (local line), Bahn unterster Ordnung (line of the lowest order) or Bahn untergeordneter Bedeutung (line of secondary importance) - because it was neither a foreign word nor had negative overtones.
In several former German states such as (Mecklenburg, Oldenburg and Baden) the concept Kleinbahn was partially adopted for lines of limited length and light construction. In the other German-speaking states, the terms Lokalbahn (Baden, Bayern, Austria), Sekundärbahn (Saxony) or Vizinalbahn (Bayern) were preferred.
In everyday speech the term Kleinbahn is widely used as a synonym for narrow gauge lines or garden railways. Despite that, Kleinbahnen may be built in either 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge as well as in narrow gauge.
The construction and operation of Kleinbahnen were carried out to less stringent requirements, e.g. tracks were laid in a gravel rather than a normal ballast bed, and usually by private companies, which nevertheless in many cases involved substantial participation by the state, the province or local communities. The Kleinbahn company with the largest railway network in the whole of the German Empire was the 'Pomeranian state railways' (Pommerschen Landesbahnen) founded in 1940.
Except in Berlin, the Kleinbahn law has been superseded everywhere by new national railway laws. The former Kleinbahnen are classified today as Nebenbahnen (branch lines).
There is a list of German Kleinbahnen in the list of former German railway companies.
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The Stadler GTW is an articulated railcar for local transport made by Stadler Rail of Switzerland. GTW stands for Gelenktriebwagen.
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 Lokalbahn AG company, or 'LAG' for short, was a private company based in Munich, Bavaria, whose lines of business was the construction and operation of branch lines in Germany and Austria-Hungary. It existed from 1887 to 1938.
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 'Hanover version' of the Wismar railbus was developed in the early 1930s as a light railbus for economical passenger services on branch lines in Germany.
The Deutscher Eisenbahn-Verein or DEV was founded in November 1964 as the Deutscher Kleinbahn-Verein. Its purpose was the preservation of a working branch line with all its installations as a living open-air museum. The term Kleinbahn was primarily a Prussian concept that referred to light branch lines with lower traffic demands and of more lightweight construction than main lines or normal branch lines, hence the Kleinbahnen were mainly found in northern Germany.
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The Forchheim–Höchstadt an der Aisch railway linked the Upper Franconian county town of Forchheim to the county town of the former neighbouring county of Höchstadt via the lower Aisch Bottom (Aischgrund). It is also known in German as the Aischgrundbahn, Hirtenbachtalbahn or Hemhofenbahn.
The DB Class V 51 and DB Class V 52 are classes of almost identical narrow gauge 4 axle diesel hydraulic locomotives built in 1964 for the Deutsche Bundesbahn, being built for 750 mm and 1,000 mm gauge lines respectively.
The Vilshofen –Ortenburg railway, also known as the Wolfach Valley Railway, is a branch line or Lokalbahn in the province of Lower Bavaria in southern Germany. It was opened on 16 January 1908 and closed to passenger services on 30 September 1962.
The Lower Saxon State Railway Office or NLEA was a central authority that managed the operation of many light railways in the North German state of Lower Saxony. These were predominantly those railways which the state had a financial stake in.
The Celle–Wittingen Light Railway was founded on 21 June 1902 by the Prussian state, the town of Celle and 33 municipalities. On 15 August 1904 it opened the 51 km long, standard gauge line from Celle Stadt (Nord) via Beedenbostel and Hankensbüttel to Wittingen West. This line was also called the Lachte Valley Railway (Lachtetalbahn) because part of it ran along the river Lachte. The journey time on the Celle–Wittingen line in 1906 was about 2 hours and 20 minutes. In 1908 the station at Wittingen West was moved to the east side of the state station in order to enable a common station to be created with the Kleinbahn Wittingen-Oebisfelde, opened in 1909, and the Kleinbahn Bismark-Gardelegen-Wittingen, later the Altmärkische Kleinbahn AG. The new route made the construction of embankments and a bridge over the state railway necessary.
The Rügen narrow-gauge railway – nicknamed Rasender Roland – is a steam-powered narrow-gauge railway that runs from Putbus by way of Binz, Sellin, and Baabe to Göhren on the island of Rügen off the Baltic Coast in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Since 2008, it has been run by the Eisenbahn-Bau- und Betriebsgesellschaft Pressnitztalbahn mbH. There is an interchange with the island's Deutsche Bahn mainline network via the Veolia-run OLA railways. The Rasender Roland is one of the island's tourist attractions. It serves several holiday destinations, mainly the bathing resorts in Rügen's southeast.
A number of narrow-gauge lines survive, largely as a consequence of German reunification, in the former East Germany where some of them form part of the public transport system as active commercial carriers. Most extensive of those still employing steam traction is the Harz mountain group of metre-gauge lines, the Harzer Schmalspurbahnen. Other notable lines are the Zittau–Oybin–Jonsdorf line in Saxony, the Mollibahn and the Rügensche Kleinbahn on the Isle of Rügen on the Baltic coast and the Radebeul-Radeburg line, Weisseritztalbahn in the suburbs of Dresden. Although most rely on the tourist trade, in some areas they provide significant employment as steam traction is particularly labour-intensive.
The Hohenzollerische Landesbahn (HzL) was the largest non-federally owned railway company in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft and Südwestdeutsche Verkehrs-Aktiengesellschaft. It operated passenger and freight traffic since 1900. Its field of activity latterly extended to large parts of southern Baden-Württemberg.
The Hechingen–Gammertingen railway is a branch line in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is owned by the owned by the Hohenzollerische Landesbahn (HzL). It runs from Hechingen via Burladingen to Gammertingen and is single track and non-electrified throughout.
The Engstingen–Sigmaringen railway is a branch line in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is owned by the owned by the Hohenzollerische Landesbahn (HzL). It runs from Engstingen via Gammertingen to Sigmaringen and is single track and non-electrified throughout.
