Hessian Ludwig Railway
The Hessian Ludwig Railway (HLB ) was one of Germany's largest private railway 697 km long route.
- 4.1 locomotives
- 4.2 steam railcar
- 4.3 Fleet
Prehistory
The Hessian Ludwig Railway was a product of the failed - or rather lack of - railway policy of the Grand Duchy of Hesse. While the province Starkenburgring quite early with the Main-Neckar Railway took a major railway connection and the province of Upper Hesse was developed by the Main- Weser Railway least at margins - on both cars, the Grand Duchy of holding shares and they were operated as Kondominalbahnen - recorded for the third province, Rheinhessen, a corresponding development not expire.
Since the state was not active here, this was the opportunity for private-sector involvement in the form of a corporation. Therefore, the seat of the Hessian Ludwig Railway was not the capital of Darmstadt, but the capital of the province of Rheinhessen, Mainz. However, the first impetus for a construction in Rheinhessen did not come from the locals, but from the outside; especially Franco- Bavarian circles had interested in this. From military-strategic reasons, the Prussian state a left-bank route but was hostile to. The Grand Duchy of Baden saw in the project a competition for the Main-Neckar Railway, which was also Baden held shares.
As 1844, the Bavarian government to the construction in the Bavarian Palatinate granted the concession, the northern continuation of the path appeared attractive Rheinhessen. Also, the pioneer of the German railways, Friedrich List, sat down personally for a railway construction from Mainz to Worms. The Grand Ducal Government in Darmstadt initially remained in their negative attitude, especially since they had committed themselves to a state railway system in 1842 by law. From 1845, but is also found in the government advocates a private railway for the province Rheinhessen.
Route network
Trunk route: Mainz- Ludwigshafen ( France) (1853 )
Completely unclear was the first route. The alternative Mainz- Alzey- Worms was soon discarded in favor of direct Track layout along the Rhine ( However, it was later also built as Rheinhessen train (see below). On August 15, 1845 for the Mainz- Ludwigshafen railway company was granted the concession. Society named later in Hessian Ludwig railway Company (HLB ) to - in honor of Grand Duke Ludwig II of Hesse and by Rhine, although he declined the railway construction initially subsequently, the HLB came more and more into financial difficulties, as some shareholders.. . their money withdrew construction of the line was begun in the spring of 1848, when the state coffers were empty then as a result of the March Revolution of 1848, one could expect no support from this side - the railway construction threatened to grind to a halt until August 1852. decided the Hesse-Darmstadt municipal Government to support the HLB Moreover, with Bayern -. a contract with respect to the total distance Mainz- Ludwigshafen in terms of the Bavarian Palatinate closed.
While the Worms had a station location preferred in the harbor, the HLB was able to prevail with the more westerly current location after some back and forth. After that, the building went rapidly, the 46- kilometer route was opened in several sections from Mainz to Worms in the period of 23 March ( Mainz- Oppenheim ) to 24 August 1853. As of November 15, 1853 wrong trains consistently on the railway line Mainz- Ludwigshafen. In the beginning, 6 daily passenger trains ( including two high-speed trains ) in each direction, between Mainz and Worms go. In Mainz was connected to the steam ships of the " Cologne and Düsseldorf societies" and by the ferry Mainz-Kastel to the Taunusbahn to Wiesbaden and Frankfurt am Main.
Rhine -Main- Train ( 1858)
But even with your second route, the Rhine -Main- track, she reached beyond the borders of the province Rheinhessen out and reached for the first time, the state capital: in 1853 the Grand Ducal Government approved the establishment of the Bank for Trade and Industry in Darmstadt. Part associated with the permit conditions, it was, among other things, that the Bank should build the railway line between Bingen Mainz to Darmstadt and Aschaffenburg. In 1855 there were between the Ludwig Railway and the Bank to a contract that transferred the building rights on the Ludwig Railway, took the train to the bank and regulated the financing. The route led first by Gustav castle (now Ginsheim ) via Darmstadt to Aschaffenburg. In Darmstadt, it had its own railhead, which was east of the station of the Main-Neckar Railway, a through station, placed. Between Gustav castle and Mainz initially reversed the ferry Mainz- Gustav castle, by a fixed bridge (now South Bridge ) in 1863 has been replaced.
Left Rhenish Railway (1859 )
Already at the beginning of the 1840 years in formation of a railway committee that sought a route from Mainz to Bingen, which lay on the border between the Grand Duchy and the Kingdom of Prussia at the time. The said agreement between the Bank for Trade and Industry and the Ludwigsbahn of 1855 transferred the railway and the construction rights for this track. In 1857, the route was surveyed, recorded 1859 traffic: October 17, 1859, freight and passenger traffic on December 27, 1859. Today this route is part of the Left Rhine line. With it, the last gap in the rail link from Basel to Cologne was closed. The HLB linked via the Rhine -Main Railway now the Rhenish Railway and Royal Bavarian State Railways, and thus Cologne, Munich and Vienna.
Urban Verbindungsbahn Frankfurt ( 1862)
In addition to self-made routes HLB tried to integrate into its network to foreign routes. 1862 took over the HLB the operation of the Municipal Verbindungsbahn Frankfurt am Main, but the infrastructure remained the property of the Free City of Frankfurt. This commitment must be seen at the railway line Frankfurt- Hanau in connection with the acquisition of Frankfurt- Hanau Railway Company and the management.
Frankfurt- Hanau Railway (1863/1872)
For the expansion of the compounds of HLB in the Rhine -Main area in particular in direction was the province of Upper Hesse, an exclave of the Grand Duchy, the Rhine -Main area to Bavaria and through the Kinzig valley towards Bebra railway line Frankfurt- Hanau of high interest. The route ran from Hanau station in Frankfurt to Hanau and continue on the Main-Spessart -Bahn to the Bavarian border in Kahl am Main to Aschaffenburg.
The HLB therefore since 1862 sought to their acquisition. However, a merger failed because of the opposition of the Hessian State. So took the HLB only the management of the Frankfurt- Hanau Railway Company for the period from 1 January 1863 to 31 December 1872. According to the annexation of Hesse-Cassel in the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, the Frankfurt- Hanau Railway Company was finally 1872 rise in the HLB.
Main Train ( 1863)
As a branch line of the Rhine -Main- train in Bishop Home Main train to Frankfurt am Main opened in 1863. The HLB took there the Main-Neckar - station of the Main-Neckar Railway. This station had already been extended for 1862. The HLB thus reached from their main line of the railway junction Frankfurt and joined so on to the already operated by it routes the connection Municipal Railway and the railway Hanauer.
Rheinhessen train (1864/1871)
The Rheinhessen Bingen train - Alzey - Worms was opened in three different sections sequentially 1864-1871. Here, the end of the track rail line Alzey -Mainz was used for the lines with.
Riedbahn (from 1869)
First phase
The Riedbahn was initially created as a connection between the state capital of Darmstadt and the equally significant for the Grand Duchy city of Worms. 1869, the route from Darmstadt Goddelau and Biblis was opened to the Rose Garden. This led from 1870 to 1900 the ferry Worms rose garden over the Rhine. On 1 December 1900, was replaced by a double-track bridge over the Rhine, which is a continuous train enabled. The previous endpoint Rose Garden was shut down.
In 1975 the section of Darmstadt- Goddelau was shut down due to lack of traffic and largely canceled. From Darmstadt performs a track to Weiterstadt - Riedbahn and terminates in an industrial track.
Second phase of construction
On October 15, 1879, the route followed by Biblis about Waldhof Mannheim Neckarstadt. The Riedbahn ended in Mannheim not in the main station, but in Ried Bahnhof, which today Kurpfalzbrücke lay to the north.
Third phase of construction
Then also the section from Goddelau to Frankfurt - Goldstein was put into operation on November 24, 1879. So it was the HLB managed to build a competitor to Main-Neckar Railway, which moreover Mannheim directly - without going through Mannheim -Friedrich field - reached. What do the HLB attributed this route in north-south traffic, shows that they subsidized the construction of the Gotthard Railway with 800,000 marks to secure themselves future traffic. Next " upgraded" was the connection by 1880 a bypass Mannheim on Käfertal was created in the Rhine Valley line to Mannheim's main train station, making the Riedbahn from the south was forth threaded into the Mannheim train station.
Nibelungen Train ( 1869)
Die Nibelungen railway connects since October 27, 1869 Worms with Bensheim on the Main- Neckar line. Between Worms and Hofheim the connection uses the Riedbahn. Was April 1, 1903 - the HLB was nationalized at this time - set up a link from Lorsch to Heppenheim an der Main-Neckar Railway. However, it was not economical to operate. Passenger services ended in 1936 and the total operation was shut down no later than 1958.
Mainz- Alzey (1871 )
The railway line Alzey -Mainz was opened by HLB in 1871.
Taunus Railway (1871 )
The long-term trial of HLB to bring the Taunus railroad under its control, was in 1871 granted only a brief success early as 1872 they had to cede back to the Prussian state, received as consideration but also a concession for a connection between Cologne and Frankfurt over the Westerwald.
Wiesbach Valley Railway (1871-1895)
The Wiesbach rollercoaster of Armsheim - Wendelsheim was opened in sections 1871-1895 of the HLB.
Main -Lahn -Bahn (1877 ) / Ländchesbahn (1879 )
From the concession for a route from Frankfurt to Cologne via the Westerwald but only a section between Frankfurt- Höchst and Eschhofen ( Limburg) was converted and opened in 1877, the Main -Lahn -Bahn. Was supplemented this route
Frankenthal Freinsheim (1877 )
The railway line Freinsheim - Frankenthal was opened on 15 October 1877.
Alzey- floor home (1879/1896)
The railway line Alzey- floor home went as a development path for lying between the main routes villages in two phases on October 1, 1879 to October 1, 1896 in operation.
Odenwaldbahn (1882 )
The Odenwaldbahn with their parts:
- Eberbach- Wiebelsbach -Heubach (since 2006: Large -Umstadt Wiebelsbach )
- Wiebelsbach Heubach Darmstadt and
- Wiebelsbach Heubach Hanau
Was from 1882 in all sections passable. It was the power of the engineer ago probably most complex web that HLB has built. They opened up especially the economically disadvantaged mountainous region of Odenwald. One meaning as a rival to the existing north-south connections in the Rhine valley she could never be due to the difficult topography.
Line numbers
Early 1890s missed the HLB of its route network line numbers:
- Line 1: Frankfurt- Hanau- Eberbach
- Line 2: Darmstadt- Wiebelsbach -Heubach
- Line 3: Mainz- Alzey
- Line 4: Armsheim - Wendelsheim
- Line 5: Bingen- Alzey- Worms
- Line 6: Mannheim- Worms Lampert Home
- Line 7: Bingen -Mainz -Frankfurt
- Line 8: Mainz- Worms
- Line 9: Mainz- Darmstadt -Aschaffenburg
- Line 10: Frankfurt- Hanau -Aschaffenburg
- Line 11: Frankfurt- Limburg
- Line 12: Wiesbaden- Niedernhausen
- Line 13: Frankfurt -Mannheim
- Line 14: Darmstadt -Worms
- Line 15: Bensheim -Worms
Nationalization
After Prussia the railways had largely nationalized in its own jurisdiction, the HLB was largely surrounded by the network of the Royal Prussian State Railways, which exercised pressure on the HLB with their tariffs. The tiny compared to the huge state railway HLB could not withstand it. It reduced the maintenance of their equipment and vehicles and drastically increased the dividend for its shareholders. Since the compensation of the shareholders taught by the dividends paid in the last few years at a nationalization under the provisions of the Concession Act, the shareholders exploited the web from so twice. The receiving State Railway then had to pay the bill.
The private Hessian Ludwig Railway Company (HLB ) was nationalized by the State Treaty of 23 June 1896. By the Most High decree of March 17, 1897 then the establishment of a followed by " Royal Prussian and Grand Ducal Hessian railway Direction" in Mainz on April 1, 1897. This was the HLB part of the Prussian - Hessian Railway operating and financial community, which live in the vernacular with " high Bismarck " commented.
Vehicle park
Locomotives
The Hessian Ludwig Railway started operations with 6 locomotives Maschinenfabrik Esslingen; this contributed - as was customary - sounding names: "Give " (after Baron von Schenk, Director of the Hessian Ministry of Finance ), " Dalwigk " (after Baron von Dalwigk, then Hessian Secretary and previously Mainz territorial commissioner - this locomotive pulled the opening move on the track Mainz - Oppenheim ), " Gutenberg" ( according to John Gensfleisch called " Johannes Gutenberg", the inventor of book printing ), " Arnold Walpoden " (after Arnold Walpoden, the initiator of the " Rhenish Federal " in 1254 ) and " Mainz " and " Worms ".
1861 had already HLB 39, 1864 already 52 locomotives. The end of 1895, a year before the Hessian Ludwig Railway was nationalized, the stock was 216 locomotives.
Steam railcar
A pioneering effort yielded the HLB with the use of three steam railcar design Thomas, who had been developed according to a draft of the upper machinist George Thomas in the HLB. The vehicles were equipped at the bottom of all three classes of cars. The upper area was a third-class metropolitan area. At the bottom of four window bays were available and the seats were arranged here in four compartments 2 3, the third class and the upholstery classes per formed a large capacity compartment of two window axes. In the upholstery class seats on the side on which they were wider, were assigned to the second class, assigned on the narrower side of the first class and there formed with additional doors opposite the gear as small individual compartments. One of the two compartments first class was reserved for "ladies". The third class showed as 60, the cushion 20 seats on classes.
The vehicles were first used on the Odenwaldbahn between Darmstadt and Erbach, 1881 between the Rosengarten, Mannheim and Bensheim. They perverted usually with two or three other, attached car.
Fleet of cars
In addition to eleven passenger cars first and second class cars were 19 cars of the third class, and 36 baggage and freight cars to the beginning inventory (on a fourth car class has been omitted ).
The end of 1895, a year before the Hessian Ludwig Railway was nationalized, was the stock 544 passenger cars, 107 baggage car, 1552 covered and 2240 open wagons.
Personalities
- Clemens Lauteren, first vice-president, from 1854-1867, and finally President Honorary President of the Board of Directors of Ludwigsbahn
- Christian Ludwig of Purity, from 1888 Chairman of the Board of the Ludwig Railway