Kleinbahn
The term Kleinbahn was a light railway concept used especially in Prussia for a railway line that "on account of its low importance for general railway transport" had less strict requirements placed on its construction and operation that main lines or secondary lines. Even public railway lines built for constructional or industrial purposes were counted as Kleinbahnen.
Origin and use
The concept was defined in the Prussian Kleinbahn law of 28 July 1892, that was designed to encourage the construction of local railway lines by private companies. The word Kleinbahn was chosen by a majority of MPs in the Prussian parliament instead of a range of other options - Lokalbahn, Bahn unterster Ordnung or Bahn untergeordneter Bedeutung - because it was neither a foreign word nor had negative overtones.In several former German states such as the concept Kleinbahn was partially adopted for lines of limited length and light construction. In the other German-speaking states, the terms Lokalbahn, Sekundärbahn or Vizinalbahn were preferred.
In everyday speech the term Kleinbahn is widely used as a synonym for narrow gauge lines or garden railways. Despite that, Kleinbahnen may be built in either as well as in narrow gauge.