The Hanoverian Western Railway was a line from the
Löhne to
Emden
Emden () is an independent city and seaport in Lower Saxony in the northwest of Germany, on the river Ems. It is the main city of the region of East Frisia and, in 2011, had a total population of 51,528.
History
The exact founding date of E ...
, built by the
Royal Hanoverian State Railways The Royal Hanoverian State Railways (German: ''Königlich Hannöversche Staatseisenbahnen'') existed from 1843 until the annexation of the Kingdom of Hanover by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1866. At that time its railway network, which comprised 800&nb ...
in the mid-19th century in the west of the
Kingdom of Hanover
The Kingdom of Hanover (german: Königreich Hannover) was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Han ...
in the modern
German states of
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...
and
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...
.
Route and construction
The development of Hanover's western railways began in 1847 with the construction of the
Hanover–Minden line. This line connected to the
trunk line
In telecommunications, trunking is a technology for providing network access to multiple clients simultaneously by sharing a set of circuits, carriers, channels, or frequencies, instead of providing individual circuits or channels for each clie ...
of the
Cologne-Minden Railway Company
The Cologne-Minden Railway Company (German, old spelling: ''Cöln-Mindener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'', ''CME'') was along with the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company and the Rhenish Railway Company one of the railway companies that in the mid-19th ...
from
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
via
Hamm
Hamm (, Latin: ''Hammona'') is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northeastern part of the Ruhr area. As of 2016 its population was 179,397. The city is situated between the A1 motorway and A2 motorway. Hamm railwa ...
.
The Hanoverian Western Railway branches off the
Hamm–Minden line at
Löhne station
Löhne (Westfalen) station is in the city of Löhne in the northeast of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It lies on the Hamm–Minden railway, which is part of the Cologne-Minden trunk line that was originally proposed by Friedrich Hark ...
and runs along the valleys of the
Else and the
Hase
The Hase is a long river of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Ems, but part of its flow goes to the Else, that is part of the Weser basin. Its source is in the Teutoburg Forest, south-east of Osnabrück, on the north slope ...
south of the
Wiehen Hills
The Wiehen Hills (german: Wiehengebirge, , also locally, just ''Wiehen'') are a hill range in North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony in Germany. The hills run from west to east like a long finger away from the main upland area of the Lower Saxon ...
via
Bünde
Bünde (Low German ''Buine'') is a town in the Herford district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Geography
Bünde is situated between Osnabrück (west), Hannover (east) and Bielefeld (south).
Waterways
The town is crossed from west to east ...
and
Melle to
Osnabrück. As the next section from Osnabrück via
Ibbenbüren
Ibbenbüren ( Westphalian: ''Ippenbürn'') is a medium-sized town in the district of Steinfurt, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Geography
Ibbenbüren is situated on the Ibbenbürener Aa river, at the northwest end of the Teutoburger forest ...
to
Rheine
Rheine () is a city in the district of Steinfurt in Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest city in the district and the location of Rheine Air Base.
Geography
Rheine is on the river Ems, approx. north of Münster, approx. west of Osnabrück a ...
was located in the
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
n
Province of Westphalia
The Province of Westphalia () was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946. In turn, Prussia was the largest component state of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918, of the Weimar Republic and from 1918 ...
, it was built by the Prussian government and leased by the Royal Hanoverian State Railways. From Rheine, the line then runs along the
Ems river to the north and through
Salzbergen
Salzbergen is a municipality in the Emsland district, Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Ems, approx. 25 km south of Lingen, and 10 km northwest of Rheine.
It has the oldest oil refinery in the world, opened in 1860.
S ...
,
Lingen,
Meppen and
Papenburg
Papenburg (; East Frisian Low Saxon: ''Papenbörg'') is a city in the district of Emsland, Lower Saxony, Germany, situated at the river Ems. It is known for its large shipyard, the Meyer-Werft, which specializes in building cruise liners.
Geog ...
to Emden.
The line was opened in stages between 1854 and 1856. First, the Emden–Papenburg section was completed on 24 November 1854, without any connection to other lines. The Löhne–Osnabrück section was opened on 21 November 1855 to a temporary terminus at the ''Hannöversche Bahnhof'' ("Hanoverian station"). The Lingen–Papenburg section was opened on 2 May 1856 and the remaining Osnabrück–Lingen section was put into operation on 23 June 1856. At the same time the central workshops for the entire route were established in Lingen.
In the following years, Rheine developed as a railway junction. On 27 June 1856, the
Münster–Rheine line was opened and in 1865 the
Almelo–Salzbergen line was opened, connecting to the Dutch network.
Transfer to Prussia
After the
Austro-Prussian War
The Austro-Prussian War, also by many variant names such as Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as ("German War"), (; "German war of brothers") and by a variety of other names, was fought in 186 ...
, the Kingdom of Hanover was annexed by Prussia. The Royal Hanoverian State Railways became Prussian property and on 15 December 1866, it became a division of the
Prussian state railways, based in Hanover.
The section of line between Emden and Rheine was acquired by the
Royal Westphalian Railway Company on 1 January 1868.
Notes
References
* {{Cite book, publisher=Bundesbahndirektion Hannover , title=1843-1983. 140 Jahre Eisenbahndirektion Hannover , location= Hanover , year=1983 , language= German
Defunct railway companies of Germany