Ordinary share certificate issued by the Greifswald – Grimmen Rail Company

• No. 625 with a value of one thousand imperial marks dated 1 July 1896
• size: 33.5 x 23.5 cm
• Purchased at an auction in 1994

The ordinary share entitles its bearer 'to acquire ownership of the assembled assets of the Greifswald-Grimmen Rail Company and to participate in its profits in an amount commensurate with this value'. The red stamp indicates that it has been devalued to 700 marks due to inflation.

AG Lenz & Co. in Stettin is the majority shareholder and subsequent company owner.

Originally the enterprise had been set up by a Concessional Decree of the Prussian king dated 8 May 1885 'to establish a publicly limited company incorporated as "Greifswald – Grimmen Rail Company", [...] in order to construct and to undertake railway operations from Greifswald to Tribsees via Grimmen for the transport of persons and goods by means of steam locomotion, subject to the provisions of the Railway Act for Ancillary Rail Services in Germany (dated 5 July 1892).'

Construction of the tracks begins at the end of February 1895; they are ready to start operations as early as 1 October 1896. The official inauguration takes place on 21 November 1896.

The main purpose of the company is to transport cargo and to connect the south-western areas in the former district of Grimmen. Its route length is 50.54 kilometres. The journey takes around 2 hours and 50 minutes.

The railway is shut down when the Red Army occupies the area on 30 April 1945.

Subsequently almost all of the tracks are dismantled as reparations. The remaining route between Grimmen and Grimmen Schützenplatz (approx. 2 km) is used for shunting, while the Grimmen–Schützenplatz railway station becomes a freight transshipment point.