Geislingen (Steige) station

Geislingen station is located at the 61.3 kilometre point of the Fils Valley Railway in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Until May 2000, there was a connection for freight to Geislingen-Altenstadt, a remnant of the former railway to Wiesensteig. The station is served by intercity and regional services.HistoryWhen Georg von Buhler and Carl Christian von Seeger originally planned a railway line from Stuttgart to Ulm, the connection through the Fils valley was in competition with a devious route along the Rems and Brenz valleys. They considered a climb over the Swabian Jura (Schwäbischen Alb) to be impossible.In the 1840s the Oberamt (district) seat of Geislingen had about 2,300 inhabitants. They lived mostly off the land or operated small businesses based on crafts. Less than one percent of them were employed in factories that were not indigenous to the area. It was not an important trading post despite its location on the Stuttgart–Ulm main road. The building of the road along the ancient track over the Jura that was known as the Geislinger Steige in 1824 did little to improve trade. The poor condition and the steep gradient of the road meant that carts could only climb with difficulty.The proposal to construct the Eastern Railway gave the councillors of the town and the Oberamt new hope and promised a good connection. On 16 December 1841, they wrote a petition in which they discussed the economic importance of the region and its production of flour, beer, grain, cattle, wood and stones. The potential for passenger traffic was originally considered insignificant. In order to stress the positives of their case, they ignored the looming decline of the town.