Royal Württemberg State Railways

Private interest groups were formed and, from 1834, the state also worked on the question, giving experts the task of finding suitable solutions.

After years of preparatory work, it was decided to set up a railway network, the main lines of which would be built by the state.

In eastern Württemberg the Rems line was built in 1861, running from Cannstatt via Schorndorf–Aalen to Wasseralfingen and in 1863 the junction at Nördlingen to the Bavarian railway network was achieved.

In 1867 it reached Crailsheim where trains on the Upper Jagst line from Aalen called and, in 1869, the connection was made with the Tauber Valley Railway to Mergentheim.

The spa town of Wildbad in the Black Forest was linked in 1868 to the Enz Valley Railway at the junction of Pforzheim in Baden.

In 1913 the statistics showed the following: After defeat in the First World War, the 1919 Reich Constitution ended the independence of the Württemberg railways.

German landscape painter Hermann Pleuer achieved fame through his impressionistic paintings of the trains and stations belonging to the K.W.St.E.

In everyday speech the German abbreviation for the Royal Württemberg State Railways, K.W.St.E., was jokingly said in the Swabian dialect to stand for „Komm Weible, Steig Ei“ or "Come on woman, climb aboard".

The comic song "Auf der schwäb'sche Eisebahne" (On the Swabian railways) has been sung by many artists, and versions can be seen on YouTube.