The Leipzig-Dresden railway line through time

The growth of the German rail network was rapid. The bulk of the expansion being paid for by private railway companies similar to the Leipzig - Dresden Railway Company. The rapid spread of the railways had several important repercussions. Building railways to and across state boundaries led to greater co-operation between states, which had previously kept themselves apart. Some small states could now be crossed in less than an hour by train and reasons for the continued existence began to evaporate in the smoke of the new engines. Custom controls and duties became a major hindrance to trade and commerce. The politicians now could see how extensively railways were altering both economic and social structures. The spread of nationalism was being advanced from the building of a Saxon railway line. Bringing together people with a common language and culture was now only waiting for political change.

The first railway state was Bavaria in 1835, followed by Saxony in 1837, quickly joined by Prussia and Braunsweig in 1838. Anhalt, Hessen-Darmstadt and Baden were members by 1840. The railway age was taking hold in Germany with important repercussions for the whole pattern of the princely states. The age old relationship between time and space quickly evaporated. Railways crossed state boundaries and custom posts and duties became increasingly an irrelevance. Although the first lines mainly linked towns and generated extensive passenger traffic, the lines built during the forties attracted heavy freight traffic and laid the foundations for future industrial growth. Riesa, a small village, which had been selected by James Walker to be the crossing point of the Elbe was developing into an industrial centre for the area, based on its original coke ovens. Long overland routes were opened up and the movement of bulk cargoes like coal became viable as freight rates plunged. Saxony, stripped of territory in 1815 because of its support for Napoleon, was enjoying an economic surge based to a major extent on the building of the railway line from Leipzig to Dresden. Kirchenturmpatriotismus was weakening as people could make journeys throughout not only Saxony but into other states with relative ease.

Between 1840 and 1880 nearly 90% of present German lines were built. Most of the major cities, industrial areas and ports were interlinked, fares were low enough to enable most people to travel by train. Germany for the traveller was 'shrinking'. News travelled quicker and communities became less insular. The seeds were sown for the political unification of the disparate states by the IRON RAIL.