Frankenbahn
In 1843 and 1844, planning for the development of railway lines around Stuttgart were in full swing. The engineer and expert Charles Vignoles foresaw the Western Railway towards Bruchsal branching off the Northern Railway (now called the Franconia Railway) towards Heilbronn near Tamm. His colleague, railway engineer Karl Etzel revised his proposal in July 1845 and advised against it. He recommended that the Western Railway separate from the Northern Railway at Bietigheim.