High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The narrow gauge railways in Saxony was once the largest single-operator narrow gauge railway network in Germany. At its peak shortly after World War I the network had more than 500 km (311 mi) of tracks. At first, it was primarily created to connect the small towns and villages in Saxony – which had formed a viable industry in the 19th century – to already established standard gauge railways. But even shortly after 1900, some of the railways would become important for tourism in the area.