Gelnhausen – Langenselbold railway line

Gelnhausen – Langenselbold
Route length:	20.0 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend Connection of the state railway and the Spessart railway 0.0 Gelnhausen district station 2.6 Hailer 3.8 Meerholz Kreisbahnhof 6.0 Niedermittlau district station 7.4 Bernbach 8.5 Altenmittlau 10.0 Horbach Birkigsbach 11.9 News 14.5 Somborn Hasselbach 16.2 Gondsroth 17.3 Neuenhaßlau Viaduct over the Kinzig Valley Railway 20.0 Langenselbold district station Langenselbold State Railway Station

The Gelnhausen – Langenselbold railway was in operation between 1904 and 1963 and opened up the open court in a large, U-shaped loop. It was built and operated by Freigerichter Kleinbahn AG .

Furnishing

The 20 km long, standard gauge small railway connected a number of communities on the northern edge of the Spessart . It was connected to the Kinzig Valley Railway at its two endpoints in Gelnhausen and Langenselbold . The kilometering was changed during the existence of the railway: In 1926 it was counted from Langenselbold (0.0 km) to Gelnhausen (20.0 km), but in the opposite direction when it was closed.

carrier

Freigerichter Kleinbahn AG was founded on November 19, 1903 in Gelnhausen . The Prussian state , the district of Gelnhausen and the province of Hesse-Nassau each participated in one third. The railway's concession dates back to October 9, 1903 and was for 99 years. Operations began on October 16, 1904. The management was in Wächtersbach .

In 1937 the railway was merged with three other railways, in which the district of Gelnhausen played a major role, the Bad Orber Kleinbahn AG, the Spessartbahn AG and the Wächtersbach-Birsteiner Kleinbahn , as all four railways had major economic problems. He formed the own company " Gelnhausen Kreisbahnen ", which later became part of the Gelnhausen district works.

traffic

The railway was of purely local importance. After the Second World War , it quickly lost its importance due to the growth in road traffic. Despite the heavy rush hour traffic in the Rhine-Main area , passenger traffic was stopped on May 22, 1955 and transferred to a private bus company. Freight traffic ended on September 30, 1963.

literature

• Railway Atlas Germany. Edition 2009/2010, Eupen 2009, ISBN 978-3-89494-139-0 .
• Thomé: Guide over the lines of the district of the Reichsbahndirektion Frankfurt (Main). Revised 1926. Ed .: Reichsbahndirektion Frankfurt (Main), p. 140 f.
• Gerd Wolff, Andreas Christopher: German small and private railways. Volume 8: Hesse . EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2004, ISBN 3-88255-667-6 , p. 94 ff .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Thomé
2. ↑ Railway Atlas , p. 77 f.
3. ^ Certificate of approval from Freigerichter Kleinbahn AG dated October 9, 1903 (2nd addendum) dated April 15, 1955 . In: The Hessian Minister for Labor, Economy u. Transport (ed.): State gazette for the state of Hesse. 1955 no. 19 , p. 465 , point 497 ( online at the information system of the Hessian state parliament [PDF; 4.0 MB ]).