page_title: Odenwald Railway (Baden)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Odenwald Railway (Baden) / History
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Bahnhof Lauda, Gleisseite des Empfangsgebäudes
context_page_description: The Odenwald Railway was the name given to a Baden railway line in southwestern Germany built from between 1862 and 1866. It ran from Heidelberg via Neckargemünd and Meckesheim through the Little Odenwald mountains to Waibstadt, Mosbach, Osterburken and Lauda to Würzburg in Bavaria.
context_section_description: The plans in the mid-19th century to build a railway network in the Grand Duchy of Baden, initially focused on the construction of the Baden Mainline as a north–south route through the Upper Rhine Valley from Mannheim to Basel as well as a connection through the Lake Constance area to Constance. However, northeastern Baden continued to be ignored. Therefore, from the 1850s, ever louder demands were raised for a connection to the rail network from the poor areas in southern Odenwald, in the Bauland and in the Tauber valley (mockingly known as Badisch Sibirien, Baden Siberia, because of its small population, cold winters and isolation from the rest of Baden). While a railway line through the area was expected to be only marginally profitable, if at all, railway construction was seen, with its transport benefits, to be an investment that would promote development in this area.
  The Kingdom of Bavaria also had  an interest in the construction of a railway between the Palatinate and Lower Franconia, since such a railway would connect the Bavarian heartland with the then Bavarian Palatinate, bypassing Württemberg. However, Bavaria wanted a route along the Main river via Wertheim, Miltenberg, Amorbach and Eberbach, while Baden preferred a more southerly route via Mosbach. After lengthy negotiations, the two countries agreed in 1862 on a route through Mosbach. The agreement also included the construction of a railway bridge over the Rhine at Mannheim, so that the direct railway reached the Palatinate from Würzburg. 
  The Baden Odenwald Railway was opened in two stages: from Heidelberg via Neckargemünd, Meckenheim Neckarbischofsheim, Aglasterhausen and Neckarelz to Mosbach on 23 October 1862 and from Mosbach to Würzburg via Osterburken and Lauda on 25 August 1866. The construction of the second section was delayed as a result of the fighting in Tauberbischofsheim during the War of 1866.
  The routing of the Odenwald Railway on the section between Neckargemünd and Mosbach is peculiar. Instead of running through the Neckar valley via Eberbach it took the hillier and thus operationally problematic route through the Elsenz and Schwarzbach valleys via Meckenheim, Neckarbischofsheim and Aglasterhausen. This route was chosen because the Grand Duchy of Hesse reached to the river Neckar between Neckargemünd and Eberbach, so that a railway would have had to run through Hesse, which was not considered desirable.
  Shortly after its completion, the Odenwald Railway was connected by two routes with the Württemberg railway network, from Meckenheim via Sinsheim to Jagstfeld (westliche Gabelbahn, ”Western Fork Railway”, opened 1868/1869) and from Jagstfeld to Osterburken (Östliche Gabelbahn,  ”Eastern Fork Railway”, opened in 1869). Following the completion of the Odenwald Railway, the Tauber Valley Railway (Taubertalbahn) was opened between 1867 and 1869 to Wertheim and Bad Mergentheim in order to develop the Tauber Valley.
caption: Lauda station in 1871. Here the Tauber Valley Railway branched off from the Odenwald Railway.
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