Gelnhausen circular paths
The Gelnhausen district railways were owned by the former Gelnhausen district in the state of Hesse, which was incorporated into the Main-Kinzig district in 1974 .
As early as the beginning of the twentieth century, three small railroad companies had emerged in the district, in which the Gelnhausen district was involved. It was about the
- Bad Orber Kleinbahn AG,
- Freigerichter Kleinbahn AG and the
- Vogelsberger Südbahn AG, which was initially called Wächtersbach-Birsteiner Kleinbahn-Gesellschaft
- Spessartbahn AG, from 1929, after the district had taken over their entire share capital.
It made sense to merge the administration of the initially legally independent railways, the total length of which was barely 61 km. The seat of administration was at times Wächtersbach, at times Gelnhausen.
Finally, the district also acquired all the shares in the other three companies and merged them on April 1, 1937 to form the Gelnhausen district railways. The rail network had meanwhile grown to almost 80 km due to the extension of the Vogelsberger Südbahn. After the Second World War, the district orbits became a division of the Gelnhausen district works . The Bad Orber Kleinbahn was the last local railway to operate until 1995, and since then the district works have only operated bus routes.
literature
- Gerd Wolff / Andreas Christopher: German small and private railways . Volume 8: Hesse. Freiburg 2004.
- Hofmann / Zundel: The Spessart Railway. Bad Orb 1986
- Reinhold Winter / Joachim Volz: Vogelsberger Südbahn . ISBN 3-9804078-0-2 . Birstein 1994.
- Reinhold Winter / Joachim Volz: Bad-Orber Kleinbahn . ISBN 3-9804-078-1-0 . Birstein 2001.
- Arnold Hufnagel: The history of the Freigerichter Kleinbahn . Homeland and History Association Freigericht 2000