Hessian Ludwig Railway
The Hessian Ludwig Railway (German: Hessische Ludwigsbahn) or HLB with its network of 697 kilometres of railway was one of the largest privately owned railway companies in Germany.
Early history
The Hessian Ludwig Railway was a product of the failed – or, more accurately, non-existent – railway politics in the
Because the state was not active in this area, there was an opportunity for private involvement in the shape of a
When, in 1844, the Bavarian government issued a licence for railway construction in the Bavarian Palatinate, a northern expansion of the railway into Rhenish Hesse appeared attractive. In addition, the pioneer of the German railways, Friedrich List, personally championed the building of a line from Mainz to Worms. The grand ducal government in Darmstadt however, initially remained opposed, especially as it had passed a law in 1842 for a state railway system. From 1845 onwards, however, there were proponents in the government for a private railway for the province of Rhenish Hesse.
Lines
Mainz – Ludwigshafen – (France) (1853)
At first, the route to be used was totally unclear. The alternative from Mainz via
Whilst the city of Worms would have preferred a station in the vicinity of the port, the HLB, after a degree of toing and froing, built it further west where it is today. Thereafter building proceeded apace and the 46 kilometre long route was opened in several sections from Mainz to Worms during the period 23 March (Mainz – Oppenheim) to 24 August 1853. From 15 November 1853 trains ran through from Mainz to Ludwigshafen. Initially there were 6 passenger trains daily (2 of which were expresses) in each direction between Mainz and Worms. In Mainz there was a connexion to the steamships of the Cologne and Düsseldorf Company for Steamships on the Rhine River (Kölnische und Düsseldorfer Gesellschaft für Rhein-Dampfschiffahrt).
Rhine-Main-Railway
On 1 of August 1858 the Rhine-Main line from Mainz via Darmstadt to Aschaffenburg in Bavaria was opened. Initially the Rhine river was crossed by a train ferry east of the railway station Mainz Neuthor (today: Mainz Römisches Theater station) until a newly designed Rhine bridge was constructed by MAN-Werk Gustavsburg and given to traffic on 1 of December 1862. This line not only connected Mainz, second in importance after the grand-ducal capital, with Darmstadt. But it enabled also to run trains through from the Bavarian railways up the Rhine valley to Cologne and further on to Belgium.
Expansion of the network
Over the succeeding decades the following lines were added to the network and the HLB became the major provider of rail services within the two southern provinces of the grand-duchy (
- West Rhine Railway (Linksrheinische Bahn) – 1859 (Mainz-Bingen)
- Frankfurt City Link Line (Städtische Verbindungsbahn Frankfurt) – 1862 (owned by the City of Frankfurt, rail services provided by HLB)
- Frankfurt-Hanau Railway(Frankfurt-Hanauer Eisenbahn) - owned by the private Frankfurt-Hanau Railway Company, rail services were operated by the HLB from 1863. It purchased the line in 1872.
- Main Railway Mainbahn – 1863 (Mainz-Frankfurt)
- Worms–Bingen Stadt railway (Rheinhessenbahn) – 1864 to 1871
- Darmstadt–Worms railway Riedbahn - from 1869 (Darmstadt [later: Frankfurt]-Rosengarten [right bank of Rhine river, opposite Worms])
- Nibelungen Railway Nibelungenbahn – 1869 (Rosengarten-Bensheim)
- Alzey–Mainz railway (1871)
- Taunus Railway Taunus-Eisenbahn – 1871, sold in 1872 to the Prussian state railways
- Wiesbachtalbahn - 1871-1895
- Main-Lahn Railway Main-Lahn-Bahn – 1877 (Frankfurt-Limburg an der Lahn)
- Ländches Railway (Ländchesbahn) (Wiesbaden-Niedernhausen) - 1879
- Odenwald Railway (Odenwaldbahn) – 1882 (Darmstadt / Hanau-Eberbach)
Route numbers
In the early 1890s the HLB numbered its routes as follows:
- 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 über Lampertheim
- 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
Nationalisation
On 1 April 1897 the HLB was nationalised and became part of the Prussian-Hessian Railway Operating and Financial Association. The abbreviation "HLB" was said by the local people to stand for Hoch lebe Bismarck (Long live Bismarck).
Stock
Locomotives
The Hessian Ludwig Railway began operations with 6
At the end of 1895, i.e. one year before the Hessian Ludwig Railway was nationalised, it had 216 locomotives.
Coach fleet
In addition to 11 1st and 2nd class
At the end of 1895 the fleet comprised 544 coaches, 107 luggage vans, 1552 covered and 2240 open wagons.
See also
Sources
- Hans Döhn: Eisenbahnpolitik und Eisenbahnbau in Rheinhessen 1835-1914. Mainz 1957.
- Ralph Häussler: Eisenbahnen in Worms - Von der Ludwigsbahn zum Rheinland-Pfalz-Takt. Kehl, Hamm/Rheinhessen 2003. ISBN 3-935651-10-4
- Bernhard Hager: ’Aufsaugung durch Preußen’ oder ‚Wohltat für Hessen’?. Die preußisch-hessische Eisenbahngemeinschaft von 1896/97. In Andreas Hedwig (ed.), „Auf eisernen Schienen, so schnell wie der Blitz“. Regionale und überregionale Aspekte der Eisenbahngeschichte = Schriften des hessischen Staatsarchivs Marburg 19, Marburg 2008.
- Wolfgang Klee und Günther Scheingraber: Preußische Eisenbahngeschichte (=Preußen-Report. Band 1.2), Teil 2 1870/71 - 1920. Merker, Fürstenfeldbruck 1992. ISBN 3-922404-38-3
- Peter Scheffler: Eisenbahnknotenpunkt Mainz/Wiesbaden. Eisenbahn-Kurier-Verl., Freiburg 1988. ISBN 3-88255-620-X