The term ''Kleinbahn'' (literally 'small railway', plural: ''Kleinbahnen'') was a

light railway A light railway is a railway built at lower costs and to lower standards than typical "heavy rail": it uses lighter-weight track, and may have more steep gradients and tight curves to reduce civil engineering costs. These lighter standards allow ...

concept used especially in

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

for a railway line that "on account of its low importance for general railway transport" had less strict requirements placed on its construction and operation that main lines (''Hauptbahnen, Vollbahnen'') or secondary lines ('' Nebenbahnen'' i.e. normal branch lines). Even public railway lines built for constructional or industrial purposes were counted as ''Kleinbahnen''.

Origin and use

The concept was defined in the Prussian ''Kleinbahn'' law of 28 July 1892, that was designed to encourage the construction of local railway lines by private companies. The word ''Kleinbahn'' was chosen by a majority of MPs in the Prussian parliament instead of a range of other options - ''Lokalbahn'' (local line), ''Bahn unterster Ordnung'' (line of the lowest order) or ''Bahn untergeordneter Bedeutung'' (line of secondary importance) - because it was neither a foreign word nor had negative overtones. In several former German states such as (

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label= Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schweri ...

, Oldenburg and

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden i ...

) the concept ''Kleinbahn'' was partially adopted for lines of limited length and light construction. In the other German-speaking states, the terms ''

Lokalbahn A ''Lokalbahn'' or ''Localbahn'' ("local line", plural: -en) is a secondary railway line worked by local trains serving rural areas, typically in Austria and the south German states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. ''Lokalbahnen'' appeared at t ...

'' (Baden, Bayern, Austria), '' Sekundärbahn'' (Saxony) or '' Vizinalbahn'' (Bayern) were preferred. In everyday speech the term ''Kleinbahn'' is widely used as a synonym for

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

lines or

garden railway A garden railroad or garden railway is a model railway system set up outdoors in a garden. While G is the most popular scale for garden railroads, 16 mm scale has a dedicated and growing following especially in the UK. Model locomotives in ...

s. Despite that, ''Kleinbahnen'' may be built in either as well as in narrow gauge.

Construction and operation

The construction and operation of ''Kleinbahnen'' were carried out to less stringent requirements, e.g. tracks were laid in a gravel rather than a normal ballast bed, and usually by private companies, which nevertheless in many cases involved substantial participation by the state, the province or local communities. The ''Kleinbahn'' company with the largest railway network in the whole of the German Empire was the 'Pomeranian state railways' (''Pommerschen Landesbahnen'') founded in 1940.

Today

Except in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, the ''Kleinbahn'' law has been superseded everywhere by new national railway laws. The former ''Kleinbahnen'' are classified today as ''Nebenbahnen'' (branch lines).

Model railway

The name Kleinbahn, German for "small railway", is also the name of a model railway manufacturer based in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. The company was founded in 1947 by Erich Klein. The HO-scale models produced by the company are destined primarily for the Austrian market: most of the models are based on Austrian Railway prototypes. Their current catalogue offers a selection of locomotives; passenger and freight rolling stock; track and switches as well as catenery and signaling equipment. Kleinbahn produces an economically priced product that is readily affordable to a wider market. Kleinbahn has eschewed extreme detail and sophistication and has instead focused on the development and manufacture of models of a simpler and more robust finish. The models are not widely available as they are not available through the usual hobby shops. Instead, their product is available almost exclusively through company outlets located in a number of Austrian cities, including Vienna, where the company is headquartered, as well as

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label= Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

Klagenfurt Klagenfurt am WörtherseeLandesgesetzblatt 2008 vom 16. Jänner 2008, Stück 1, Nr. 1: ''Gesetz vom 25. Oktober 2007, mit dem die Kärntner Landesverfassung und das Klagenfurter Stadtrecht 1998 geändert werden.'/ref> (; ; sl, Celovec), usually ...

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital ...

, and

Bregenz Bregenz (; gsw, label= Vorarlbergian, Breagaz ) is the capital of Vorarlberg, the westernmost state of Austria. The city lies on the east and southeast shores of Lake Constance, the third-largest freshwater lake in Central Europe, between Switze ...

, all in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. Their products may also be purchased by mail order. Unfortunately, since the time of this writing, all of Kleinbahn's stores, with the exception of their “flagship” store in Vienna have been shuttered. However, their models are still available by “mail” order. See their web site for details.

List of ''Kleinbahnen''

There is a list of German ''Kleinbahnen'' in the

list of former German railway companies {{Short description, none This list contains an overview of the railway companies in Germany and German colonies that no longer exist. These include railway units that have no independent legal status. For railway companies in existence today, see ...

External links