Steam horses on the move - the state railway in Braunschweig

"Moving by means of any kind of steam engines should be forbidden in the interest of public health. The rapid movements cannot fail to cause mental unrest in passengers, called 'delirium furiosum'," warn Bavarian doctors in 1835. But they remain unheard:Shortly thereafter, the steam-powered railway began its triumphal march on German soil - first a private railway in Nuremberg, then the first German state railway on the Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel route.

Amsberg, the North German railway pioneer

Horse-drawn carriages, carriages and ships were the most important means of transport for goods and people in the early 19th century. This also applies to the small Duchy of Brunswick:Many roads are difficult to drive on, journeys are strenuous and time-consuming, and trade is forced to remain regional. There is someone in the duchy who wants to change that:Philipp August von Amsberg (1788-1871), the ducal chamber assessor for rural roads, who is appointed finance director in 1835. Amsberg looks enviously to England, which has long since been gripped by railroad fever:the first steam locomotive was put into operation there as early as 1804 and the first public line for passenger transport was set up in 1825. In 1824, in a memorandum, Amsberg submitted the plan to build railway connections from Braunschweig to Hamburg.

Geo-strategic interests

It is not just curiosity about the new that drives Amsberg, but above all economic and geostrategic interests:Braunschweig is in danger of being sidelined on important trade routes, especially due to the overwhelming competition from the neighboring kingdoms of Prussia and Hanover. By including Braunschweig in a future railway network early on, Amsberg wants to secure and expand his country's trade relations.

The plans initially met with resistance from neighboring countries. "The realization of the project would bring about an irreparable disadvantage for the entire province (...), Hamburg and Braunschweig would seize trade," complained the Celle merchants. However, the Duchy of Brunswick, ruled by Duke Wilhelm (1806-1884), is behind Amsberg's plans and secured funding for a first line to Wolfenbüttel to connect the two most important cities in the Duchy.

The first train runs in Bavaria

Construction work begins in August 1837. It will not be a premiere on German soil:on December 7, 1835, the Bavarian Ludwigsbahn "Adler" drove from Nuremberg to Fürth. But the Ludwigsbahn is a private company, while in Braunschweig a state government is taking matters into its own hands for the first time. The "Herzoglich Braunschweigische Staatseisenbahn" is founded - also as a precautionary measure to ward off a takeover by Prussia. It is the first state-owned German railway.

Maid voyage on December 1, 1838

On December 1, 1838, the time had come:the first two state railways started their maiden voyage. They are called "Swift" and "Advance", in German:"Hurtig" and "Progress". The destination is a Turkish coffee house 15 kilometers away in Wolfenbüttel, which the ducal railway authority had built especially to make the small town more attractive to day trippers. Celebrities meet on board the trains, including Duke Wilhelm von Braunschweig and Philipp August von Amsberg. Travel comfort is still lacking:the duke has his carriage placed on a flat goods wagon so that he can enjoy the journey - protected from drafts and smoke. The other travelers get on the open wagons, put on smoking goggles and wrap themselves in blankets.

Cheers and criticism

The first ride is a true mass spectacle. "People flock from near and far to see the miracle," writes the Hannoversche Zeitung. Even if some people are afraid of the noisy, steel "steam horses" at first:the majority of the population is entranced by the smoking giants. There was only resentment in the Braunschweig Assembly of Estates:the farmers represented here in particular find it scandalous "to throw the people's hard-earned money in the dirt like this", that is to say to use the railway for pleasure trips instead of transporting goods.

Daily trips

From now on, the two trains will commute four times a day on a single track between Braunschweig and Wolfenbüttel. The rush is overwhelming, several hundred people want to ride every day. In the first five months alone, there are more than 100,000 travelers. The transport of goods, on the other hand, only started slowly, only gained importance after a few years and established an economic boom in Braunschweig. The high income from the sale of tickets made it possible to expand the rail network to Harzburg. In October 1841, the entire route to Harzburg, which now covers almost 45 kilometers, is opened. This serves not only for tourism in the Harz Mountains, but above all for industry, because mining and the timber industry flourish in the Harz Mountains.

In the shadow of powerful neighbors

Ernst August I, King of Hanover, is also among those who marvel at the Braunschweig railway. At first he had dismissed the railway as a useless gimmick. But a test drive in Braunschweig changed his mind:he went from adversary to patron when it came to state railways and had a dense rail network built in Hanover. The state of Prussia is even more eager, investing in the railways on a large scale in the 1940s and finally swallowing up the Braunschweig state railway:in 1869 Amsberg - meanwhile head of the ducal railway and post office in Braunschweig - had to set up its own state railway sell to the neighbors, because Braunschweig is now heavily in debt.