Hanoverian Western Railway

The Hanoverian Western Railway was a line from the Löhne to Emden, built by the Royal Hanoverian State Railways in the mid-19th century in the west of the Kingdom of Hanover in the modern German states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia.

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 of the Cologne-Minden Railway Company from Cologne via Hamm.

The Hanoverian Western Railway branches off the Hamm–Minden line at Löhne station and runs along the valleys of the Else and the Hase south of the Wiehen Hills via Bünde and Melle to Osnabrück. As the next section from Osnabrück via Ibbenbüren to Rheine was located in the Prussian Province of Westphalia, 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, Lingen, Meppen and Papenburg to Emden.