Von Schlagrahmdampfern und anderen verlorenen Dingen

Not everyone who nowadays drives on the A73 between Nuremberg and Bamberg knows that they are travelling on a former waterway. As recently as half a century ago, the old Ludwig-Main-Danube-Canal (in short: Ludwig-Canal) was located here, which represented the last puzzle piece of a navigable connection between the oceans. Built within a remarkable ten years’ time of construction, the canal, which was opened in 1846, was the realization of a small dream of humanity as it finally connected the North Sea with the Black Sea. Unfortunately, the idea could not support itself financially: Too powerful were the railroads, which saw their rise simultaneously, and which soon undermined the ambitious canal project’s future as they were in every regard the faster, more comfortable, and better means of transportation of the hour.