In Bavaria, being the cradle of the railways in Germany, the era of the state railways began as early as 1844. The beginnings of the steam-powered railway were made by the line from Nuremberg to Fürth on December 7, 1835, which was operated by the private Ludwigs-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, which was a public company and had been financed primarily by local merchants. The long-distance railway between Munich and Augsburg was also created as a private project and opened in 1840. However, in order to be able to plan the construction of a joint network in the state, the “Royal Railway Construction Commission of Nuremberg” was founded in 1841, which began the construction of new lines.
Finally, in 1844, the Royal Bavarian State Railways were founded and from then the construction of long-distance railways was only a matter of the state. In the following period up to 1860 many important lines were built, connecting the most important cities in Bavaria. In addition, there were lines that led to the borders and created links with the networks of the other railway administrations.
However, the decision to nationalize took revenge when the state coffers were empty and no funds were available for further expansion. Thus, on March 19, 1856, a law was passed again permitting the establishment of private railroad companies. Less than a month later, the joint stock company of the Bavarian Eastern Railways was created, which created an extensive network in the eastern part of Bavaria until 1880. Since the state of Bavaria was doing better financially in the meantime, the Ostbahn was incorporated into the state railways in 1976.
At the same time there was the Pfalzbahn, which was created in 1870 as a merger of the three railways in the Bavarian Rhine province. This was also incorporated into the Bavarian State Railways on January 1, 1909. The Kingdom of Bavaria paid 300 million marks for the company, which was still private at the time and had a route network of 870 km. The administration remained in the same place, but has now become the Royal Bavarian Railway Directorate Ludwigshafen.
In addition to the state railway, there was the local railway stock company or LAG in Bavaria, which, however, was able to hold its own as an independent company until 1938. It was launched in 1887 by the locomotive factory Krauss & Co. and did not operate a continuous network. New lines were created where there was a need for passenger or goods transport away from the main lines. The LAG was able to spread quickly and even operated lines abroad. At the beginning of the twentieth century, they promoted electrification and were the first to commit to single-phase alternating current.
The locomotives from Bavaria were characterized by the fact that they were adapted to the topographical conditions of the country. The most important suppliers were the Munich factories of Maffei and Krauss, but the Augsburg-Nuremberg machine works, known today only as MAN, also built vehicles and constructed bridges, among other things.
When designating rail vehicles, a system was initially used that indicated the number of driving axles with A...D and was supplemented by a consecutive Roman numeral. Later, it was based on the Swiss system and thus indicated the proportion of driving axles to the total number of axles. So G 4/5 referred to a goods locomotive in which four of the five axles were coupled. A small t denoted tank locomotives, so that for example a small passenger tank locomotive was listed as Pt 2/3.
Among the locomotives were heavy freight locomotives that could pull sufficient loads on the many steep inclines in Bavaria. The flagships, however, were various types of express locomotives that operated between the major cities. These were complex designs with elaborate four-cylinder compound engines and pointed smokebox doors and cabs, in which prestige also played a major role.
A climax in development was the S 2/6, which was developed and built in a relatively short time in 1906 and set a record of 154.5 km/h the following year. In doing so, it was partly evident that attempts were also being made to prove themselves against their major competitor, Prussia, with the quality of the well-engineered locomotives. Many locomotives were given a green livery with adornments and other decorations to make them visually appealing as well.
It was a little different with the local railways, where the locomotives were optimized primarily with regard to their economy. There were a few small two- and three-axle types, some of which were designed to be operated by one person. In addition, experiments were carried out with railcars with different types of power, which focused on cheaper operation and the best possible use of space.