Palatine Ludwigsbahn Company

The Palatine Ludwigsbahn Company ("Pfälzische Ludwigsbahn-Gesellschaft") was a German railway concern that was founded to operate the Palatine Ludwig Railway ("Ludwigsbahn") in the Palatinate, a region of southwest Germany that was once part of the Kingdom of Bavaria within the German Empire.

Meanwhile/before then on 1 January 1870, the Palatine Ludwigsbahn Company, the Palatine Maximilian's Railway Company and the Palatine Northern Railway (with which the Neustadt-Dürkheim Railway Company had amalgamated) had merged under the name "United Palatine Railways" ("Vereinigte Pfälzische Eisenbahnen") or Palatinate Railway ("Pfalzbahn") for short, forming a management and operational association with its headquarters in Ludwigshafen. Nevertheless Palatine Ludwigsbahn was responsible for the subsequent opening of the following railway lines:

* Ludwigshafen–Frankenthal–Bobenheim, convert|19|km|abbr=on, on 15 November 1853
* Speyer–Germersheim, convert|13|km|abbr=on, on 14 March 1864
* Speyer–Rhein station – towards Schwetzingen, convert|4|km|abbr=on, on 10 December 1873
* Landau–Annweiler, convert|15|km|abbr=on, on 12 September 1874
* Annweiler–Biebermühle–Zweibrücken, convert|57|km|abbr=on, (Queich valley line) and
* Biebermühle–Pirmasens main station, convert|7|km|abbr=on, on 25 November 1875
* Einöd–Bierbach–Reinheim–Saargemünd, convert|33|km|abbr=on, on 1 April 1879 (Blies valley line)
* Biebermühle–Waldfischbach, convert|5|km|abbr=on, on 1 June 1904 (Biebermühl line)

In addition the following narrow gauge routes belonging to the Palatine Ludwigsbahn should be mentioned:
* Ludwigshafen–Dannstadt, convert|13|km|abbr=on, and Ludwigshafen–Frankenthal, convert|11|km|abbr=on, on 15 October 1890
* Frankenthal–Großkarlbach, 13 km, on 1 July 1891
* Speyer Lokalbahnhof–Geinsheim, convert|19|km|abbr=on, on 26 August 1905 (Pfefferminzbähnel/Gäubähnel)
* Geinsheim–Neustadt branch line station, convert|10|km|abbr=on, on 31 October 1908 (Pfefferminzbähnel/Gäubähnel)

On 1 January 1909, the Ludwigsbahn was transferred into the ownership of the Royal Bavarian State Railways along with the other companies belonging to the Palatinate Railway.

ee also

*History of rail transport in Germany
*Royal Bavarian State Railways
*List of Palatine locomotives and railbuses

External links

* There is an English-language discussion forum at [http://germanrail.8.forumer.com/ Railways of Germany]