page_title: Black Forest Railway (Baden)
section_title: 1866-1919 - Operations as part of Baden State Railway
hierarchical_section_title: Black Forest Railway (Baden) / History / 1866-1919 - Operations as part of Baden State Railway
caption_attribution_description: Ansichtskarte Engen im Hegau mit Hohenhewen
context_page_description: The Baden Black Forest Railway is a twin-track, electrified railway line in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, running in a NW-SE direction to link Offenburg on the Rhine Valley Railway with Singen on the High Rhine Railway. Passing directly across the Black Forest, through spectacular scenery, the route is 150 km long, ascends 650 metres from lowest to highest elevation, and passes through 39 tunnels and over 2 viaducts. It is still the only true mountain railway in Germany to be built with two tracks, and is the most important railway line in the Black Forest. It was built between 1863 and 1873, utilizing plans drawn up by Robert Gerwig.
  This line should not be confused with the Württemberg Black Forest Railway, which runs between Stuttgart and Calw in Germany.
context_section_description: The two sections Offenburg–Hausach and Engen–Singen were opened for service in 1866, and the other parts of the line were finished in the next several years.  Due to the further delays caused by the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, the Black Forest Railway was not completed in its entirety until 10 November 1873.  In addition, the section Singen–Konstanz, which had been opened in 1863 as part of the Baden Mainline, was operationally linked to the Black Forest Railway.  Plans were also drawn up to connect the Elz Valley Railway from Freiburg via Elzach with Hausach, but this was never realized.
  Initially, there were 5 scheduled passenger trains running from Offenburg to Konstanz, and an additional 3 trains were run in the section Villingen–Konstanz.  There was also express passenger service from Konstanz to Immendingen, with this train then taking the Gäu Railway (Stuttgart–Singen) to Stuttgart, and one express train from Offenburg to Singen.  This last service took about four hours to make that trip.  The section Hausach–Villingen was expanded into a twin-track configuration by 1888.
  Scheduled passenger train service continually increased through the early 1900s.  Additionally, freight train service also saw growth in that same period.  Starting in the summer of 1906, more and more passenger express trains utilized the line, amongst them international connections such as Amsterdam–Konstanz, Ostende–Konstanz and Frankfurt am Main–Chur.  However, these connections were soon discontinued.
  After the start of World War I in 1914, service was steadily decreased for the duration of the war.  In the summer of 1918, just a single passenger train frequented the line.  Then, on 24 May 1918, a munitions train exploded near Triberg.
caption: Engen station around 1900
exif: {}