175 Years Anniversary of the Royal Bavarian State Railways
After the takeover of the Royal Privileged Ludwigs-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (Nuremberg-Fürth) 1841, the state railways history began through the foundation of the Royal “Königlichen Eisenbahnbau-Kommision in Nuremberg”. Along with the nationalisation of the “München-Augsburger Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft”, the Royal Bavarian State Railways were founded in 1844.
The Royal Bavarian State Railways initially focused on the construction of three main lines:
- The Ludwig-Süd-Nord-Bahn from Lindau to Hof with connection to the railway network of Saxony.
- The Ludwigs-West-Bahn from Bamberg via Schweinfurt and Würzburg to Aschaffenburg with connection to Hessen.
- The Bavarian Maximilian Railway created an East-West connection from the border to Württemberg near Neu-Ulm, via the existing Augsburg-Munich line to Austria.
The state railway network was further expanded and soon connected all major cities of the Kingdom of Bavaria. The rural regions were also being developed and received a widely branched local railway network. By the end of the First World War, the Royal Bavarian State Railways became, with a route network of 8526 kilometers, the second largest German national railway.
After the end of the monarchy in November 1918, the predicate "Royal" of the railway administration name was omitted. On April 1, 1920, the Bavarian State Railways were taken over as “Gruppenverwaltung Bayern” by the German Reichsbahn. This was part of a state treaty.
In the era of the K.Bay.Sts.B some new designs and constructions of locomotives and wagons marked important milestones in history. There is for example, "The Queen of the steam locomotives" of the Bavarian locomotive type S 3/6, built by the locomotive factory J. A. Maffei in Munich (first delivered in 1908) – which is considered the unrivaled beauty of the German steam locomotives for their unique construction, even today.
Innovative ideas were also available when it came to optimization of the traffic on the local railways. There was an additional door installed at the back of the steam locomotive Pt 2/3, allowing the stoker to come on the train and to take over the duties of the locomotive driver. As a filigree model, the Pt 2/3 appears in the green livery of the Bavarian State Railways (Art. No. 707005
). The 3-axle locomotive convinces with separately attached handlebars, a filigree chassis and an elaborate livery with decorative stripes.
The ideal supplement is a 5-piece car set of a GmP (Art. No. 809003
), ie a freight train with passenger transport.
The Bavarian GtL 4/4 was put into service for the first time in 1911 by the Bavarian State Railways. The locomotives have undergone a few modifications and were then built until 1927. The locomotives proved to be very successful when operating and with an output of 450 hp, they were considered the strongest local train locomotives of Bavaria. A total of 117 locomotives were produced. Almost all maintenance depots in Bavaria, which served branch lines, had GtL 4/4 locomotives in their vehicle fleet.
This model also appears as a special model (art. no. 709903
), matching the anniversary theme.
There is no question that freight cars suitable for the locomotive are also available. There is a turntable wagon team loaded with logs (art. no. 822301
), a rail transport wagon loaded with rail profiles (item no. 823606) and a filigree open livestock wagon loaded with cattle (item no. 826003
) in the program , So you can get this special anniversary on your model railway layout or in your collection.
If that's not enough, here are a few wonderful models, the anniversary art: