sought a continuation of the line to Gehren and on to Schwarzburg, Rudolstadt and Saalfeld. There it would have connected with the Gera–Saalfeld–Eichicht railway opened in 1871. The building permit for the Arnstadt–Ilmenau railway was therefore issued only on the condition that this connection was to be built within 10 years and that the entire line was to be at least prepared to allow a second track to be built. This requirement meant that all viaducts, mountain sections and bridges had to be built significantly larger than originally planned. All stone bridges and the embankment from Plaue towards Ilmenau across the valley of the Zahme Gera (called the Sand valley in Plaue), which is 825 m long and up to 8.5 m high, were designed for the eventual laying of a second track, but only the abutments of stone bridges like the viaduct over Angelroda were built for two tracks, while the steel superstructures and pillars were built for one track. The only doubling of the track that was ever implemented was a section built between Arnstadt and Plaue during the construction of the main line from Plaue via Oberhof and Suhl to Würzburg and Stuttgart. As a result of tenacious negotiations, the Thuringian Railway Company was able to conclude treaties with all four Thuringian Principalities concerned. Agreements were signed with Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach on 16 April 1877, with Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and with Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt on 6 June 1877 and with Schwarzburg-Sondershausen on 27 June 1877. Tree clearing began in the winter of 1877/78 and the groundbreaking ceremony was held on 23 April 1878 at Kleine Spiegelsberg, between Roda and Elgersburg. The building was divided into two sections (Arnstadt–Angelroda and Angelroda–Ilmenau) and it was carried out simultaneously in all construction phases. On average, 300 workers were employed in each section. Among them were many workers from Italy, Croatia, Poland and the Tyrol. The pay was 3.50 M to 4.50 M per day in the summer and 2.25 M to 3.25 M per day in the winter because of the shorter days. Day labourers earned 2.25 M per day. During the construction work, five workers were killed in work accidents, while there were five major and eleven minor injuries. The line was essentially built by hand and was supplied by a field railway from Arnstadt. The most outstanding achievements were the rock cutting on the approach through a hill to the bridge in