Lokalbahn AGThe Lokalbahn AG company (Lokalbahn Aktien-Gesellschaft), or 'LAG' for short, was a private company based in Munich, Bavaria, whose lines of business was the construction and operation of branch lines (the so-called Lokalbahnen or Sekundärbahnen) in Germany and Austria-Hungary. It existed from 1887 to 1938. HistoryThe company was founded on 9 February 1887 by the Lokomotivfabrik Krauss & Co. and the Lechner & Krüzner Branch Line Construction and Operating Company (Lokalbahnbau- und Betriebsunternehmung Lechner & Krüzner). Krauss brought with them the narrow gauge Feldabahn in Saxony-Weimar, which had been built in 1879/80, into the new company. The LAG rapidly grew into an important transportation organisation. From 1889 to 1891 alone their routes grew to a length of 430 kilometres. However this did not constitute a single network. The routes were built where tourism, mineral resources, industry, agriculture or forestry could anticipate a significant volume of traffic. The LAG had no preference for a particular system. There were steam and electrical operations, standard gauge and narrow gauge and both separate routes as well as the co-use of roads. These activities were complemented, at least for a while, with a rack railway, the Schafbergbahn, steamship operations on the Wolfgangsee and horse and motorised transport. The LAG proved to be extremely progressive with its introduction of electrical train operations. The Württemberg railway line from Meckenbeuren to Tettnang was the first electrically operated standard gauge railway in Germany (the planning of which Oskar von Miller, amongst others, took part). The Ammergaubahn from Murnau to Oberammergau, which was sold to the company, became the first single-phase AC line in Germany. Apart from its own routes in southern Germany the company owned the majority of shares in the Lausitz Railway Company (Lausitzer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft) and had a share in the Salzkammergut Lokalbahn AG and the Central Bank for Railway Stocks. The latter had, especially over the West Hungarian Lokalbahn-AG, influence on the numerous railway routes in Hungary with a total length of over 700 kilometers, which had been built by the LAG. During the First World War and the years following, the company had to combat major difficulties. The loss of the Hungarian routes hit their accounts especially hard. After overcoming inflation, things improved again, however the worldwide economic crisis as well as the increasing pressure of competition from road transport services brought the company to the brink of ruin at the beginning of the 1930s. With the loans from Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft, reductions in capital and write-offs by the states of Bavaria and Württemberg, restoration to profitability was achieved again in 1934, however it only postponed the end. With effect from 1 August 1938 the entire assets transferred to the Deutsches Reich under a Reich law. Railway lines in GermanyStandard gauge lines
Opened: 29 July 1888.
Opened: 1 June 1889. On 18 May 1889 the body of the Queen Mother, Marie of Bavaria, was transported by rail here.
On 1 January 1908 the Bavarian state railway took over the line as part of the subsequent Munich–Garmisch-Partenkirchen railway.
Opened: Fürth – Zirndorf on 30 November 1890, to Cadolzburg on 14 October 1892.
(The line lies in Lower Silesia north of Görlitz and east of the Neiße, in present-day Poland)
Opened: Munich-Isartal Station – Thalkirchen, 2.,1 km on 10 April 1892 (G), on 1 June 1892 (P)
Opened: 15 August 1896.
Opened: 28 May 1897.
Opened: 1 May 1900, from November 1898 trial runs.
Opened: 4 December 1895 with 2 railbuses. Own power station until 1926. From 1 February 1962 railbus operations. Narrow gauge lines
Opened: Salzungen – Dorndorf – Lengsfeld, 19.7 km long, 1 June 1879 (goods traffic), 22 June 1879 (passenger traffic).
Narrow gauge (1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in)) section opened: Ravensburg–Weingarten, 4.1 km long, 6 January 1888 (P), 15 July 1888 (G).
Opened: Stadtamhof/Regensburg – Donaustauf, 8.7 km long, 23 June 1889 (P), 1 May 1892 (G).
Opened: 8 May 1893 with factory connections in the area of the town Forst (Lausitz). Locomotives and wagonsThe LAG acquired a total of 84 tank locomotives from Lokomotivfabrik Krauss & Co., of which 53 machines went into the Deutsche Reichsbahn in 1938. The standard gauge engines were mainly allocated to DRG Class 98. In addition 5 electric locos and 14 standard gauge railbuses as well as 6 narrow gauge railbuses went to the DR. Furthermore, 133 standard gauge and 34 narrow gauge passenger coaches went to the DR, as well as 228 standard gauge luggage vans and goods wagons and 40 narrow gauge ones. In addition the Reichsbahn received 74 rollbocks. The tank engine Füssen from 1889 has been preserved in running condition. Literature
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