Royal Bavarian State Railways

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Coat of arms of the Royal Bavarian State Railways
Owner's inscription on a goods wagon

The Royal Bavarian State Railways (Königliche Bayerische Staats-Eisenbahnen or K.Bay.Sts.B.) was the state railway company for the

German state railways (after that of the Prussian state railways) with a railway network of 8,526 kilometres (including the Palatinate Railway
or Pfalzbahn) by the end of the First World War.

Following the abdication of the Bavarian monarchy at the end of the First World War, the 'Royal' title was dropped and on 24 April 1920 the Bavarian State Railway (Bayerische Staatseisenbahn), as it was now called, was merged into the newly formed German Reich Railways Authority or

Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft
, the Gruppenverwaltung Bayern, was disbanded.

As a nation-state,

First World War. After 1815 the territory of Bavaria included the Palatinate, or Pfalz, which was west of the Rhine and bordered on France and became part of the newly formed German state of Rhineland-Palatinate
in 1946.

The three Bavarian main lines

Bavarian Maximilian Railway
in green

With the nationalisation of the Munich-Augsburg route in 1844 the Bavarian state railway era began. In the beginning the Royal Bavarian State Railways concentrated on the construction of 3 main lines:

In the following years the state railway network was continually expanded. Gaps were closed and from the middle of the 1880s the countryside was opened up with an extensive branch line network. These were known as the Lokalbahnen or 'local lines'.

Bavarian branch lines (Lokalbahnen)

Main article: Bavarian branch lines

Branch lines were once a common feature of the Bavarian countryside. The constant ringing of bells (German: bimmeln) as they crossed ungated tracks gave rise to the nickname Bimmelbahn. There were over 180 of them, including about 20 private lines. The majority were

Second World War, led to widespread closures. By 1977 there were only 79 branch lines left and further closures have occurred since. By contrast, some lines are enjoying new-found museum status, such as Mellrichstadt–Fladungen, and others continue to thrive as a result of border re-opening and holiday traffic, as in the Bavarian Forest
(Bayerische Wald).

In 1995 the

DMUs. The first branch line proper was built in 1872 and ran from Siegelsdorf to Markt Erlbach. The last was Zwiesel to Bodenmais
, in the Bavarian Forest, which opened as late as 1928 and is still operational.

Track was often lightly laid, limiting axle-loading to 4.25 or 5 tonnes. On well-drained land, sand, gravel, cinders or a mix of the three was sometimes used instead of normal ballast. Rail bridges were simple and tracks followed the lines of roads, paths, or rivers where possible to keep civil engineering to a minimum. Specially designed branch line coaches (Lokalbahnwagen) were produced from the 1890s onwards, initially in green livery with white outlines. These lasted well into the 1960s. On some of the more robust lines, wooden or steel 'thunderboxes' were used from the 1930s onwards, and even former main line six-wheelers were cascaded to some branches.

Railways taken over by the Royal Bavarian State Railways

Organisation

The regional administrative branches were originally called railway offices (Bahnämter) and major railway offices (Oberbahnämter). The latter were located in Augsburg, Bamberg,

Deutsche Reichseisenbahnen
) after 1920.

Locomotives of the Royal Bavarian State Railways

Like the majority of its sister administrations in the other German states, the Royal Bavarian State Railways procured its railway engines from locomotive manufacturers within its own borders. These included Joseph Anton von

Krauss & Co. Engine Works of Munich. Four engines were purchased from Baldwin in the US in 1899 and 1901 in order to study modern construction techniques. The knowledge thus obtained was used in the design of new Bavarian machines. Details of the individual Bavarian locomotive classes may be found in the List of Bavarian locomotives and railbuses
.

Bavarian locomotives

The Bavarian Class S 3/6 Locomotive

The one example of the Bavarian S 2/6 engine was designed and built by Anton Hammel, an engineer at the Maffei Locomotive Works, within 5 months and was displayed to the public at the 1906 Nuremberg State Exhibition. After its return from the exhibition it was taken over by the Royal Bavarian State Railways on 21 November 1906. A few months later, in July 1907, it set the world speed record for steam locomotives, recording a top speed of 154.5 km/h on the Munich to Augsburg line. Since being taken out of service in 1925 it has been preserved in the Nuremberg Transport Museum.

After the success of this record-holding locomotive, Hammel designed a Pacific engine for Bavaria, based on the Class IVf engines built by Maffei for the

Baden State Railways. This new express locomotive, the Bavarian S 3/6 (later the DRG Class 18.4-5), illustrated right, was a major success and continued to be built by the DRG. For many enthusiasts this is the most beautiful German steam locomotive and its popularity is testified by the numerous models produced in recent years by manufacturers such as Roco, Märklin and Trix
.

In 1914 the first units of the most powerful Bavarian steam locomotive, the

Class Gt 2x4/4 Mallet
tank engine (later DRG Class 96.0) entered service. This was used in pusher service to support trains on the steeper Bavarian inclines.

Perhaps the most iconic branch line engine was the

Second World War
and the last one retired in 1963.

List of Bavarian coaches and goods wagons

The following is a representative list of Bavarian coaches and goods wagons:

Branch lines

Railway museums in Bavaria

See also

Sources

  1. Meyers Konversationslexikon von 1888.
  2. Organisationsstruktur der Königlich Bayerischen Staatseisenbahnen.
  3. On the Nebenbahnen, Model Trains International, 20 November 1995.

Bibliography

  • Günther Scheingraber: Die Königlich Bayerischen Staatseisenbahnen. Frankh, Stuttgart 1975,
    ISBN 3-440-04233-2
  • Ludwig von Welser: Bayern-Report. Merker, Fürstenfeldbruck 1994–2001 (Bände 4–9)

External links
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