Swiss Northeastern Railway[a]
Iron bridge across the Thur, built in 1856/7 as part of the line between Winterthur and Schaffhausen which was put into service in 1857 (lithograph from 1857)
Overview
Native name	Schweizerische Nordostbahn
History
Opened	1 July 1853 (1853-07-01)
Closed	1 January 1902 (1902-01-01)
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)standard gauge
Swiss Northeastern Railway in 1871–1874 Legend km Konstanz (Baden) 100.88 national border Friedrichshafen (Württemberg) 56.06 Schaffhausen 82.15 82.15 Romanshorn Waldshut (Baden) 42.70 national border (Rhine bridge) 26.14 Winterthur 97.27 Rorschach 27.43 Turgi 0.00 Zürich 43.44 Wöschnau nearAarau

TheSwiss Northeastern Railway^[a] (Schweizerische Nordostbahn; NOB) was an early railway company in Switzerland. It also operated shipping onLake Constance (Bodensee) andLake Zürich. Until the merger of theWestern Swiss Railways into theJura–Simplon Railway (JS) in 1890/91, it was the largest Swiss railway company.

The Swiss Northeast Railway was created on 1 July 1853 by the merger of theSwiss Northern Railway (Schweizerische Nordbahn—SNB— informally known as theSpanisch-Brötli-Bahn), and theZürich-Lake Constance Railway (Zürich-Bodenseebahn).^[1] The originally planned continuation of the Northern Railway fromBaden toBasel initially failed due to the different interests of the cantons ofZürich,Aargau andBasel.

The main initiator of the merger were the Zürich-based businessmanAlfred Escher, who previously headed the Zürich-Lake Constance Railway, and economistBruno Hildebrand. They advocated the funding of the railways by private investors instead of public funds and suggested the founding ofSchweizerische Kreditanstalt to meet the large capital requirements of the railways.

The NOB endeavored to establish connections with foreign countries to generate freight traffic. It first opened a direct connection from Zürich toLake Constance. Thus it became a direct competitor of theUnited Swiss Railways (Vereinigte Schweizerbahnen; VSB) based inSt. Gallen. the NOB opened theline from Romanshorn to Winterthur on 16 May 1855. TheZürich–Winterthur extension was opened in two stages from Winterthur toOerlikon on 27 December 1855 and to Zürich on 26 June 1856; this gave a connection to the former Northern Railway between Zürich and Baden. The arrival of the railway caused the village of Romanshorn to grow into one of the most important transport hubs in eastern Switzerland. The NOB started a shipping service on Lake Constance in 1855. Thetrain ferry service between Romanshorn andFriedrichshafen (Germany) was established in 1869. This led the NOB to expand the railway facilities and to construct the largest of the ports on Lake Constance (measured by area), which required the shore to be raised.

The NOB started work on theWinterthur–Schaffhausen railway in 1856 and it was opened on 16 April 1857. The line of the former Northern Railway between Zürich and Baden was extended to the west. The section of theBaden–Aarau railway from Baden toBrugg with the bridge over theReuss was opened on 29 September 1856. The rest of the line toAarau was opened on 15 May 1858 where the network of NOB connected with the network of theSwiss Central Railway (Schweizerische Centralbahn; SCB) atWöschnau on theAargau-Solothurn canton border, meaning that Zürich was now connected with Basel.

On 18 August 1859, the NOB was able to complete a direct connection with a foreign country with the opening of theTurgi–Waldshut line. This completed the main network of Northeastern Railway. The most important northern gateway to Switzerland was Basel, but it was controlled by the SCB. Freight transport was NOB's most important business segment, which initially enjoyed good returns.

The NOB was involved with other railway companies. After theSchweizerische Ostwestbahn (Swiss East West Railway, OWB), which had been founded in 1861, had become bankrupt in an attempt to build a line fromLa Neuveville viaBern andLucerne to Zürich, the NOB together with the cantons of Zürich,Zug andLucerne, took over part of its line and completed it as theZürich–Zug–Lucerne Railway (ZZL), which was finished on 1 June 1864.

The NOB—like other railway companies at the time—aimed at short-termprofit maximisation for private bankers. The bankers took offices in management and the board of directors to secure their profits. The rights of the other shareholders was undermined by the use of common stock. They gained exemption from tax and subsidies through political influence. Alfred Escher was not only Chairman of the NOB and Chairman ofKreditanstalt, but also a member of theExecutive Council of Zürich and, for 34 years, theNational Council. Maintenance was neglected and the assets of the railway company were run down. This had already created a crisis in 1857, which was intensified in 1867.

The behavior of the Zürich railway barons led theSwiss National Railway (Schweizerische Nationalbahn; SNB) to attempt to build a second rail link betweenLake Geneva and Lake Constance to compete with the existing railway companies from 1872. As a defense measure, the NOB and SCB extended their existing networks between 1873 and 1882. The two companies founded theAargau Southern Railway (Aargauische Südbahn) and theBötzberg Railway (German:Bötzbergbahn) with equal shareholdings. The former was built and opened between 1873 and 1882 theRupperswil–Immensee railway line with a branch line from Hendschiken to Brugg, connecting the network of the NOB and the SCB with theGotthard Railway in 1882. The Bötzberg Railway, operated by the NOB, opened theBrugg–Pratteln railway in 1875, which together with the existing lines of the NOB and the SCB created a direct connection from Zurich to Basel.

In addition, the NOB under the new CEOFriedrich Peyer im Hof, tried to eliminate the competition in advance by an accelerated expansion of its own network. It secured concessions for various railway lines and entered into commitments with cantons and founding committees for the construction of these unprofitable lines. This forced the NOB to borrow money, which led to massive indebtedness. The financial difficulties brought the NOB to the brink of collapse. The construction of theLake Zürich right-bank line, which it had begun in 1873, had to be discontinued because of the financial crisis. The importantLake Zürich left-bank railway to Ziegelbrücke, however, was opened in 1875. The NOB could not paydividends for years from 1877. The price of its shares collapsed fromSwiss Francs (CHF) 670 in 1871 to CHF 53 in 1879. An investigation commissioned by the General Assembly found grave mistakes in corporate governance.

On 2 March 1877, the NOB requested that the Federal Council release it from its obligations to build railways. On 14 February 1878, theFederal Assembly confirmed an agreement that the construction obligations would be maintained, but would be deferred until the completion of the NOB's financial restructuring. The construction period for the so-called "moratorium lines" (Thalwil–Zug,Etzwilen–Schaffhausen,Bülach–Schaffhausen,Koblenz–Stein,Dielsdorf–Niederweningen and the Lake Zurich right bank line) was extended. An agreement with thecanton of Glarus set the date for the completion of theGlarus–Linthal line at 1 May 1879.^[2] The payment of dividends was suspended from 1880 to 1883. On 25 October 1887, the Federal Council instructed the NOB to begin construction of the Lake Zurich right bank line. The deadlines for the remaining moratorium lines were set on 27 June 1888.

The ruinous competitive project of the National Railway ended ininsolvency. The participating towns and municipalities had to suffer decades of debt. The NOB took over the network of its rival for a fraction of its construction cost on 1 October 1880. The Zofingen–Suhr section was resold to the SCB.

The situation of the NOB slowly improved again after 1880. Increasing traffic led to the extension of stations and the procurement of additional rolling stock. After Alfred Escher's death in 1882,Adolf Guyer-Zeller became head of the NOB.

The railway crisis had caused many domestic shareholders to sell their securities to major foreign shareholders. Railway shares played a major role inspeculation on thestock exchange. A financial group led by Adolf Guyer was able to secure a majority of votes at a general meeting of the company, allowing it to select the board of directors and replace it with people who would cooperate with its interests.

The vast majority of the shares were in foreign hands, the majority of thebonds belonged to Swiss owners. At the time, the interest rate was 4% for secure Swiss rail bonds. In order to increase the return of the shares, bonds were converted into shares with an interest rate of 3½%. This reduced the company's interest burden and increased profits.

On 8 January 1885, aWinterthur–Zürich train ran into a train coming fromWettingen after passing a stop signal. The train from Wettingen was pushed back fromSeebach over the junction on the open track towards Zurich. The accident caused seven casualties and major property damage.^[3] An NOB passenger train hit a group ofCentral Railwayworkers, which had been busy with track work, at the southern exit from Gütsch tunnel near Lucerne on 30 May 1898. Seven railway workers were killed immediately and four seriously injured.^[4] On 4 June 1899, the Zurich–Geneva night express of the NOB ran past a designated stopping point in Aarau and ran into two stationary Central Railway locomotives. The accident caused two deaths and three serious injuries.^[5]

Labour regulations and the wage demands of railway workers, which the other private railways acceded to in 1896, met with resistance from the profit-oriented NOB. This led to a labour dispute with NOB staff in 1897. In Zurich, masses of passengers wrote in the complaints book. At times, milk was scarce. The 5000 employees were able to enforce their claims after 41 hours of strikes. The industrial action at the NOB contributed to the holding ofa referendum in 1898, which approved the nationalisation of the largest private railways.^[6]

The NOB with a route network of 853 km and the Swiss Lake Constance fleet passed into the possession of theSwiss Federal Railways (SBB) on 1 January 1902.

Shipping was the natural continuation of the railway lines that ended at the lakes. The transport of the passengers was not difficult. The transport of goods, however, was much more complicated and expensive because the goods had to be reloaded twice.

The Lake Constance (Bodensee) route was the most important trade route for traffic between Switzerland and Germany. The Rhine only became navigable to Basel in 1904. The NOB started operating shipping services on Lake Constance with theThurgau and theStadt Zürich in 1855. The NOB merged with theSchweizerischen Dampfboot-Aktiengesellschaft für den Rhein und Bodensee (Swiss Steamboat Corporation for the Rhine and Lake Constance) on 1 January 1857. It was founded in 1850 in Schaffhausen as a cantonal enterprise and in the following four years put into service the steamshipsStadt Schaffhausen,Rhein,Stadt St. Gallen andBodan. In 1863, shipping operations onthe Rhine were discontinued and the four steamships were relocated to Romanshorn.

On 11 March 1861 the steamerStadt Zürich rammed and sank the Bavarian steamerLudwig. Three persons survived, 13 were killed. On 12 February 1864 the Bavarian steamerJura was also rammed and sunk by theStadt Zürich.

In order to avoid the reloading of goods, the Bavarian and the Württemberg steamship administration together with the NOB decided in 1867 to transport railway wagons bytrain ferry. A steam ferry known as "steam ferry I" was used on the Friedrichshafen–Romanshorn route. This over 70 metre-long ferry was able to accommodate 18 freight wagons, but had a horrendous rate of coal consumption. It was retired in 1882 and subsequently scrapped. A second ferry known as "steam ferry II" started operating between Lindau and Romanshorn in 1874.

In 1884, the flat-deck steamerStadt Zürich was converted into the semi-private steamerZürich. In 1887, the NOB put the newly built saloon steamerHelvetia III into service, which caused a sensation with itsclipper bow andbowsprit. In 1892, the mixed steam/sailing shipSäntis replaced theStadt Schaffhausen. The mixed steam/sailing shipSt. Gotthard was similarly replaced by the flat-deck steamerStadt St. Gallen in 1897.

In 1902, with the nationalisation of the NOB the entire shipping company was transferred to the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB).

• 
  Flat-deck steamerThurgau
• 
  Flat-deck steamerBodan in about 1880 in Rorschach
• 
  Steam/sailing shipHelvetia in Romanshorn
• 
  Stean train ferry I in Romanshorn harbour
• 
  Stean train ferry II in the Romanshorn shipyard
• 
  Steam/sailing shipSaentis
• 
  Steam/sailing shipSt. Gotthard

In 1864, theDampfbootgesellschaft linkes Ufer (Left Bank Steamboat Company) was established inHorgen. In 1868, it merged with the olderZürichsee-Walensee-Gesellschaft AG (Lake Zürich-Walensee Company) to form theDampfbootgesellschaft für den Zürichsee (Steamboat Company for Lake Zürich). Shortly before the commissioning of theLake Zürich left bank railway (Linksufrige Zürichseebahn), the NOB took over the entire shipping fleet in 1875. The NOB curtailed operations immediately so rival companies formed. When theZürich–Meilen–Rapperswil railway started operation in 1894, the existing fleet of six ships:Helvetia,Concordia,Lukmanier,St. Gotthard,Taube andSchwalbe was reduced.

With the nationalisation of the NOB in 1903, shipping operations were outsourced. All public shipping services were taken over by theZürichsee-Schifffahrtsgesellschaft (Lake Zürich Navigation Company; ZDG) in 1902. Thepaddle-wheel and screw steamers taken over from the NOB were replaced by more modern ships, with the exception of theHelvetia.

A train ferry operated on Lake Zurich only for a short time. The NOB put an unnamed train ferry built byEscher, Wyss & Cie. into operation in 1885. The traffic from the left bank transshipment port ofWollishofen to the right bankUetikon was used practically exclusively for traffic to/from the localCU Chemie Uetikon chemical factory. Operations were discontinued with the opening of the Zürich–Meilen–Rapperswil railway in the autumn of 1894.

• 
  Helvetia, commissioned in 1875
• 
  Concordia (1864) operating to the Zürich theatre.
• 
  Rear of theSt. Gotthard (1865)
• 
  Lukmanier (1865), sister ship of theSt. Gotthard
• 
  Schwalbe (1865), the first screw steamer on Lake Zurich
• 
  Unnamed train ferry, commissioned in 1885

Swiss Northeastern Railway and Bözberg Railway 1897–1901

Route map Legend Singen Emmishofen[b] Konstanz Etzwilen Kreuzlingen[c] Friedrichshafen Hafen Schaffhausen Romanshorn Neuhausen Rorschach Gossau Waldshut Sulgen Pratteln Stein  Koblenz  Eglisau Winterthur Bülach Niederglatt Effretikon Bözberg Tunnel Niederweningen Wetzikon Oberglatt Kloten Brugg AG Hinwil Turgi  Seebach Otelfingen Wettingen Oerlikon Lenzburg Altstetten Wollishofen  Zürich Aarau  Suhr Wöschnau   Kollermühle Thalwil  Uetikon Lucerne Rapperswil Zug Ziegelbrücke Linthal Without intermediate stations and connecting lines

In 1882, the company owned 142locomotives, 488passenger cars and 2400freight cars.^[7]

• Bärtschi, Hans-Peter (30 November 2011)."Schweizerische Nordostbahn (NOB)".Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (in German). Retrieved28 January 2019.
• Bärtschi, Hans-Peter; Ramsauer, Adrian; Hauswirth, Jürg (2005).Die Bodenseebahn 1855–2005. Romanshorn–Winterthur–Zürich (in German). Lucerne: Minirex.ISBN 3-907014-18-9.
• Dietler (1917)."Schweizerische Nordostbahn".Röll: Enzyklopädie des Eisenbahnwesens (in German). Retrieved28 January 2019.
• Frey, Thomas; Schiedt, Hans-Ulrich."Schweizerische Nordostbahn".bahndaten.ch. Daten zu den Schweizer Eisenbahnen 1847–1920 (in German). ViaStoria. Retrieved28 January 2019.
• Hunziker, Fritz (6 April 1952)."Von der "Minerva" bis zur "Linth""(PDF).Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). Retrieved28 January 2019.
• Luz, Alfred (1932).Die Anfänge der Schweizerischen Nordostbahn bis zur Vollendung des Stammnetzes (1852–1859) (in German). Zürich: Hans A. Gutzwiller AG.
• Reimann, Lukas (1 July 2009).Geschichte der Schifffahrt in der Schweiz (in German).
• Schleich, H. (1894). "Die bauliche Entwicklung des Bahnhofes Winterthur".Schweizerische Bauzeitung (in German) (23/24): 121 ff.ISSN 0036-7524.
• Wägli, Hans G. (2010).Schienennetz Schweiz und Bahnprofil Schweiz CH+ (in German). Zürich: AS Verlag.ISBN 978-3-909111-74-9.
• Weissenbach, Plazid (1913).Das Eisenbahnwesen der Schweiz(PDF 14.8 MB) (in German). Retrieved28 January 2019.
• Ziegler, Peter (18 December 2013)."Zürichsee".Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (in German). Retrieved28 January 2019.
• "Die Geschichte der Personenschifffahrt auf dem Bodensee".Bodenseeschifffahrt.de (in German). Florian Scholz. 26 February 2014. Retrieved28 January 2019.
• "Schifffahrt".Dem Rhein Entlang (in German). Maturitätsarbeit an der Kantonsschule Baden. 26 November 2006. Retrieved28 January 2019.
• Jung, Joseph (2019) [2022].The Laboratory of Progress: Switzerland in the Nineteenth Century, Vol. 2, tr. Ashley Curtis. NY: Routledge.
• Maw, W.H. and J. Dredge, eds. (1872).Engineering. 19 April 1872. London.
• Mieg, Harald, A and Heike Oevermann (2014).Industrial Heritage Sites in Transformation. London and NY: Routledge.

• Railway lines opened in 1853
• Defunct railway companies of Switzerland
• Transport in Zurich
• Shipping companies of Switzerland
• Swiss companies established in 1853
• Railway companies established in 1853

• CS1 German-language sources (de)
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles containing German-language text
• Articles using infobox templates with no data rows
• Pages with no gauge entered in Infobox rail line