Leipzig–Dresden Railway Company (Germany)

The Leipzig–Dresden Railway Company (Leipzig-Dresdner Eisenbahn-Compagnie) was a German railway company chartered in 1835 to build the first long-distance railway in Germany between Leipzig and Dresden. The line opened in stages from April 1837 (Leipzig–Althen) and was completed throughout to Dresden on 7 April 1839, a route of 116 km.

The company's first steam locomotive was Adler ('Eagle'), supplied by Robert Stephenson and Company of Newcastle in 1835 to a 2-2-2 Patentee design. Adler hauled the inaugural passenger trains on the Nuremberg–Fürth section of the Bavarian Ludwigsbahn (the first German railway to use steam) in December 1835, before being followed by sister engines for the Leipzig–Dresden line.

The Leipzig–Dresden was nationalised by the Kingdom of Saxony in 1876 to form part of the Royal Saxon State Railways (Königlich Sächsische Staatseisenbahnen).