The narrow-gauge railways in Saxony were once the largest single-operator narrow-gauge railway network in Germany. In Saxony, the network peaked shortly after World War I with over of tracks. At first, it was primarily created to connect the small towns and villages in Saxony – which had formed a viable industry in the 19th century – to already established standard-gauge railways. But even shortly after 1900, some of the railways would become important for tourism in the area.
History
Beginnings
Around 1875, the Royal Saxon State railway network, unlike other states in Germany, had already expanded to cover most of the territory of Saxony. Due to the mountainous terrain, any further expansion was met with a disproportional cost increase. In order to keep costs down, most new track projects were then planned and executed as branch lines, with smaller radii for curves, simpler operating rules and unsupervised stations and yards as the primary means to save costs. However, to connect the small towns and villages in the deep and narrow Ore Mountain valleys with their diverse industry, standard-gauge tracks were only feasible with an enormous amount of technical and financial investment. Therefore, the directorate of the Royal Saxon State Railways, given the example of the existing Bröl Valley Railway and Upper Silesian Railway, decided in favor of narrow-gauge railways.
The first narrow-gauge railway in Saxony opened in 1881 between Wilkau-Haßlau and Kirchberg. In addition, the Weißeritztalbahn and the Mügeln railway network were already under construction. Many additional narrow-gauge railways, such as the Thumer Netz, were built in short order, almost all of them using a standardized track gauge. In the meantime, standard-gauge projects in Saxony were scaled back to tracks that connected already existing standard-gauge railways, or where the transfer of goods between the standard and narrow tracks was not feasible or profitable.
Expansion before World War I
Within 20 years, the Saxon narrow-gauge railway network had almost reached its final size. After 1900, only few additional railways were added. Most were just additions to existing lines that brought operational advantages.
Although the narrow-gauge network made very little profit, it was very important for the industrial development of Saxony. Without the narrow-gauge tracks – that permitted industrial sidings to small companies in narrow and steep valleys – an industrial development in the poor Ore Mountain area of Saxony would have hardly been possible.
However, it was soon evident that the narrow-gauge railways were not always up to task for all cargo demands. Mainly, the transloading of freight between the breaks of gauge was time-consuming and expensive. To avoid additional cargo handling on the Dresden-Klotzsche–Königsbrück line, a container system was tested ("Umsetzkästen") in which the whole cargo box of a freight car was transferred between standard and narrow-gauge frames. Since this railway was converted to standard gauge shortly after, the tests were abandoned. Instead, roll-block traffic was now favored. However, it was soon evident that piggy-backing standard-gauge freight cars onto the narrow-gauge tracks did not meet the initial goals of operating the narrow-gauge railways on a very small budget: The railways needed large investments to reinforce the tracks, increase the structure gauge to accommodate a larger loading gauge and to acquire stronger steam locomotives.
Between world wars
Rail network expansion came to a halt on the outbreak of World War I; only projects on which work had already begun, such as the extension of Müglitz Valley Railway and the Klingenberg-Colmnitz–Oberdittmannsdorf Railway, were completed. The Pöbel Valley Railway was stopped, and later abandoned altogether.
In the 1920s, most Saxon narrow-gauge railways experienced a first crisis. Even though cargo and passenger traffic was up, the cost exceeded the operational income. Reason was foremost the 1920s German inflation as well as higher cost for the personnel. In addition, the Reichspost had started a bus service, which for marginally higher cost was faster and hence was drawing passengers away from the railway. The Deutsche Reichsbahn tried to counter that trend with more modern passenger cars, higher-powered locomotives and more trains. Some railways were planned to be converted to standard gauge, but only the Müglitz Valley Railway was converted in 1938. In the 1930s, a few of the railways were scheduled to end their service, but this did not happen until much later.