The first railway into Wiesbaden, came after a number of years of debate (not planning). There were three entities involved in these talks, with one of them.....the Grand Duchy of Hesse being the negative party. The two other parties? The Free City of Frankfurt (note, at this point, it was not part of any nation, or Prussia), and the Duchy of Nassau (mostly responsible for Wiesbaden itself).
So this is a bit of local history....which came to be settled in 1835.
Why the argument by the Grand Duchy of Hesse? Their control was over Mainz-Kastel, which is where the railway would pass through....to reach Wiesbaden (roughly three miles away). At this point in the early 1830s.....the Grand Duchy was really attached to Mainz (across the river from Mainz-Kastel).
The negative position was driven by port traffic, and this fear that the port would be lessen in terms of profit....if the railway was built. So their negotiation tendency in this whole episode....Frankfurt ought to go and build this railway to Darmstadt, and pass through Offenbach instead. I know.....it's a fairly stupid argument but this was the drama played out for several years as these officials met and discussed the matter.
The final part was opened in the spring of 1840. This Frankfurt to Wiesbaden train? It was the ninth line built in Germany at that point.
The end-point in Wiesbaden? This originally came to what they called the Taunusbahnof, which stood at the corner of Rhine Strasse, and Wilhelm Strasse. There today? No. This train station was dismantled around 1906, when the new station was built (which still stands today). Why the dismantling? Well....it was capable of handling major traffic, and it had been noted already in the 1880s as a eyesore in the local community.
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