The West Holstein Railway Company was founded in 1875 with the aim of connecting the west Holstein region in the present-day district of

Dithmarschen Dithmarschen (, Northern Low Saxon, Low Saxon: ; archaic English: ''Ditmarsh''; da, Ditmarsken; la, label=Medieval Latin, Tedmarsgo) is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of ...

in the German state of

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...

with the railway junction of

Neumünster Neumünster () is a city in the middle of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. With more than 79,000 registered inhabitants, it is the fourth-largest municipality in Schleswig-Holstein (behind Kiel, Lübeck and Flensburg). History The city was fi ...

and beyond with the cities of

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

and Lübeck. Its creation involved the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Re ...

, the

Altona-Kiel Railway Company The Altona-Kiel Railway Company (german: Altona-Kieler Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, AKE) was a joint-stock company, established under the law of Denmark in personal union with the Duchy of Holstein, that built and operated an 105 km railway line betw ...

, neighbouring villages and towns and the town of Tonning.

History

After Schleswig-Holstein was annexed by Prussia as a result of the

Second Schleswig War The Second Schleswig War ( da, Krigen i 1864; german: Deutsch-Dänischer Krieg) also sometimes known as the Dano-Prussian War or Prusso-Danish War was the second military conflict over the Schleswig-Holstein Question of the nineteenth century. T ...

, the Glückstadt–Elmshorn Railway Company (''Glückstadt-Elmshorner Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft''), which owned the railway from

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

to Itzehoe (now part of the

Marsh Railway The Marsh Railway (german: Marschbahn) is a main line in the state of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany that links the stations of Elmshorn in the south and Westerland on the island of Sylt in the north. It is part of long route from Hamburg-Alt ...

) was able to promote the extension of its line to Heide. The West Holstein Railway Company (''Westholsteinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'') opened its first 79 km long stretch from

via

Hohenwestedt Hohenwestedt (Low Saxon: Wiste') is a municipality in the district of Rendsburg-Eckernförde, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated approximately 23 km south of Rendsburg, 25 km west of Neumünster and 40 km southwest of K ...

to Heide and Weddinghusen to Karolinenkoog at the Eider estuary as the first branch line in Germany (

Neumünster–Heide railway The Neumünster–Heide railway is a single-track, non-electrified railway line the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, connecting the city of Neumünster in central Holstein and Heide, the seat of the district of Dithmarschen. Geography The ...

and the Heide–Karolinenkoog railway) on 22 August 1877. From here, the town of

Tönning Tönning (German; Low German ''Tünn'', ''Tönn'' or ''Tönnen''; Danish: ''Tønning''; North Frisian: ''Taning'') is a town in the district of Nordfriesland in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. History Tönning was destroyed in the Bu ...

on the

Eiderstedt Eiderstedt (german: Eiderstedt, ; da, Ejdersted; North Frisian: ''Ääderstää'') is a peninsula in the district of Nordfriesland in the German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein. Overview It is approximately 30 km in length and 15&nbs ...

peninsula was reached by means of a steam ferry, which operated from 6 August 1878. The bridging of the river would have been too expensive because of its considerable width and only in 1886 was the Marsh Railway extended through

Friedrichstadt Friedrichstadt (; da, Frederiksstad) is a town in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the river Eider approx. 12 km south of Husum. History The town was founded in 1621 by Dutch settlers. Du ...

. This extension made the line to Karolinenkoog largely unnecessary, so that the northern section was closed in 1942 after a long period of low use. On 1 November 1878, the Wesselburen–Heide Railway Company (''Wesselburen–Heider Eisenbahngesellschaft''), with the involvement of the West Holstein Railway, the

and the Wesselburen municipality, opened a line that branched off from the Heide–Karolinenkoog railway in Weddinghusen and ran west for 11 kilometres to Wesselburen. After the Wesselburen–Heide Railway had passed in the ownership of the West Holstein Railway Company on 1 April 1881, which already operated its trains and infrastructure, the line was extended a further 10 km to Büsum. Freight traffic commenced on 1 November 1883 and passenger traffic on 15 November 1883. On 1 July 1890, the Prussian state railways bought the company, including its exactly 100 km long network, and placed it under the ''Eisenbahndirektion'' ( railway division headquarters) in Altona. Today ''Nordbahn Eisenbahngesellschaft'' operates passenger services from Neumünster via Heide to Büsum. The branch-line to Karolinenkoog was closed in sections. Passenger services—as far as Hemmerwurth—ended on 23 May 1954 and freight traffic operated for another five years.

References

* {{Authority control Defunct railway companies of Germany