The Celle–Wittingen Light Railway () was founded on 21 June 1902 by the

Prussian state Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, the House of Hohenzoller ...

, the town of

Celle Celle () is a town and capital of the district of Celle (district), Celle in Lower Saxony, in north-central Germany. The town is situated on the banks of the river Aller (Germany), Aller, a tributary of the Weser, and has a population of about ...

and 33 municipalities. On 15 August 1904 it opened the 51 km long, standard gauge line from Celle Stadt (Nord) via

Beedenbostel Beedenbostel is a municipality in the district of Celle, in Lower Saxony, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the A ...

and Hankensbüttel to

Wittingen Wittingen () is a town in the district of Gifhorn, Lower Saxony, Germany. It is about northeast of Gifhorn, and southeast of Uelzen. Division of the town Wittingen consists of 27 districts: History The earliest identified record of Wittin ...

West (now the

Celle–Wittingen railway The Celle–Wittingen railway is a line belonging to the East Hanoverian Railways (''Osthannoversche Eisenbahnen'' or ''OHE''). Because its western portion runs along the River Lachte, it is also known as the Lachte Valley Railway (''Lachtetalb ...

). This line was also called the Lachte Valley Railway (''Lachtetalbahn'') because part of it ran along the river

Lachte The Lachte is a right-hand tributary of the Aller (Germany), Aller in the Südheide Nature Park in the north Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Course The Lachte river rises in the northern part of the Gifhorn (district), district of Gif ...

. The journey time on the Celle–Wittingen line in 1906 was about 2 hours and 20 minutes. In 1908 the station at Wittingen West was moved to the east side of the state station in order to enable a common station to be created with the ''

Kleinbahn Wittingen-Oebisfelde The Wittingen-Oebisfelde Light Railway () was a railway company in Germany that operated passenger and goods trains on the 43 kilometre long Wittingen–Oebisfelde railway. History The Wittingen–Oebisfelde Light Railway opened its line from W ...

'', opened in 1909, and the '' Kleinbahn Bismark-Gardelegen-Wittingen'', later the '' Altmärkische Kleinbahn AG''. The new route made the construction of embankments and a bridge over the state railway necessary. From 22 July 1912 the 'Salt Railway' (''Salzbahn''), a 7 km long branch, ran from Beedenbostel in a northerly direction via Mariaglück to Habighorst, where potash and salt works had been established in two separate locations. But by 1924 Mariaglück had become the terminus for trains on the branch. The Celle–Wittingen Light Railway had reached an agreement before 1914 to run operations jointly with the '' Celle-Garßen-Bergen Light Railway''. From 1910 this company called itself the '' Celle-Soltau, Celle-Munster Light Railway

GmbH (; ) is a type of Juridical person, legal entity in German-speaking countries. It is equivalent to a (Sàrl) in the Romandy, French-speaking region of Switzerland and to a (Sagl) in the Ticino, Italian-speaking region of Switzerland. It is a ...

''. On 8 November 1940 the Celle–Wittingen Light Railway became a public transport railway. From 23 February 1940 it was renamed the Celle-Wittingen Railway (''Eisenbahn Celle-Wittingen AG''). On 27 March 1944 this firm took over the ''Kleinbahn Celle-Soltau, Celle-Munster GmbH'', with which it was already linked as part of the operating group of Celle Light Railways (''Celler Kleinbahnen'') and was renamed again into the Celle Railways (''Celler Eisenbahnen AG''). On 10 July 1944 it was merged into the

East Hanoverian Railways The Osthannoversche Eisenbahnen AG (OHE) is a Celle based transportation company with railway network in North-eastern Lower Saxony around the Lüneburg Heath area of over 250 km. The OHE's main business is the transportation of freight ...

(''Osthannoversche Eisenbahnen'' or ''OHE'') along with several other railway companies.

Sources

*Klaus-Peter Sebastian (Herausgeber): ''Die Geschichte der Kleinbahnen im Isenhagener Land; Der OHE-Bahnbetrieb im Landkreis Gifhorn''. Landkreis Gifhorn, Museumsverein Gifhorn e. V. und Heimatverein Brome e. V., Gifhorn 2001, *Hans Wolfgang Rogl: ''Die Osthannoverschen Eisenbahnen''. alba-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1996, {{DEFAULTSORT:Celle-Wittingen Light Railway Defunct railway companies of Germany Gifhorn (district) Celle (district) Wittingen