First German railway. Historical artwork of crowds of people watching the first German train on 7 December 1835. This train ran from Nuremberg to Furth, a distance of 7 kilometres. The train was powered by a steam engine and took 12 minutes to complete the journey. It caused a sensation, and soldiers had difficulty controlling the crowds. Though the line was never extended, and was closed in 1922, by the 1840s over 1000 kilometres of rail had been built in Germany. The locomotive for the train was called Adler (the Eagle), and had been purchased from England. The first regular train services on this line only ran twice a day. This is a mid-19th century German engraving.