The Braunschweig and Hannover Explorer

Name: The Braunschweig and Hannover Explorer
Start: 2026-06-13T08:00:00+01:00
End: 2026-06-15T19:00:00+01:00
Location: 6th Floor, Derwent House, 150 Arundel Gate, S1 2FN Sheffield, United Kingdom

Schedule

Sat, 13 Jun, 2026 at 08:00 am to Mon, 15 Jun, 2026 at 07:00 pm

UTC+01:00

Location

6th Floor, Derwent House, 150 Arundel Gate, S1 2FN Sheffield, United Kingdom | Sheffield, EN

This three day series of tours will visit the extensive Verkehrsbetriebe Peine-Salzgitter (VPS) network (think Scunthorpe steeleworks, but bigger), goods lines in the Braunschweig area, the Hannover freight ring, two docks systems in Hannover, a heritage railway, a peat railway and possibly a tram tour of Braunschweig.
The base for the tour is Braunschweig, with Hannover and Berlin being the nearest airports. The city has ample accommodation, but the most convenient large hotels for the station are the ACHAT and InterCity hotels, both easily available on booking.com or hotels.com.
We will use the Verein Braunschweiger Verkehrsfreunde (VBV) 45-211 locomotive and their historic coaches as well as the Esslinger Triebwagen.
Saturday 13 June 2026 - Day 1 - The Braunschweig and Hannover Explorer
Braunschweig Hbf - Braunschweig Rbf - Beddingen VPS - Salzgitter Hafen (reverse) - Salzgitter Walzwerke - Salzgitter Immendorf West - Alstom Works and, subject to on the day usage, the test track (reverse) - Salzgitter Immendorf West (reverse) - Salzgitter Walzwerke - Salzgitter Hütte Nord - Salzgitter Hütte Sud (reverse) - Lok depot (possible visit) - Schacht Konrad to Industriestraße Nord road bridge (reverse) - Salzgitter Hütte Sud (reverse) - Salzgitter Walzwerke - Beddingen VPS - Gross Gleidingen (reverse) - Braunschweig Hbf - Gleismarode (reverse) - Schandelah (reverse) - Braunschweig Rbf - Lokpark
We start from Braunschweig Main Station, approximately 08:00 hrs leaving to the east so we can travel through the extensive goods yards to join the main line towards Hannover before entering the VPS system at Beddingen. Our traction for the day is diesel locomotive V45-211 built in 1957.
The Verkehrsbetriebe Peine-Salzgitter (VPS) operate a non-electrified rail network of 155 km south west of Braunschweig. Of this 84 km are main line tracks and 71 km are station tracks at Salzgitter (SZ) and Peine. There are connections to the DB InfraGO AG network at Peine, Beddingen, Salzgitter-Bad, and Broistedt and we shall cover all of these on the first two days of the tour. The VPS network serves the Salzgitter steelworks, the canal ports of Salzgitter and Peine, the Beddingen intermodal terminal and various private companies, including Alstom. To reach Salzgitter Hafen we traverse a relatively new section of track not shown on older maps.
We have permission to visit the branch to the Alstom Transport Deutschland Railway Works, and, subject to usage on the day, hope to have a ride around their short test track, which we believe will be a first for a railtour. Our tour will cover most of the VPS system and, although the loco depot is closed for the weekend, we have asked for someone to open it up so we can have a short visit.
When we exit the VPS system we will take the south to west curve at Beddingen and reverse at Gross Gleidingen. Passing through Braunschweig main station we curve north to Braunschweig-Gliesmarode to reverse and go back south to take the freight curve back onto passenger track as far as Schandelah. A final reversal and we can take the Braunschweig freight avoider back into the Braunschweig goods yard and the line in the south of the yards to the Lokpark railway museum and depot. From here it is an easy walk back the main station.
Sunday 14 June 2026 - Day 2 - The Braunschweig and Hannover Explorer
Braunschweig Hbf - Peine - Lehrte - Hannover Ring - Hannover Linden - Hafen Hannover-Linden (reverse) - Ronnenberg (reverse) - Ahlem - Hannover Hainholz (reverse) - Hannover Nordhafen (reverse) - Hannover Hainholz (reverse) - Ahlem - Hannover ring - Hannover Messe - Sarstedt - Hildesheim - Derneburg - Salzgitter Bad - Borssum (reverse) - Salzgitter Bad (reverse) - Salzgitter Hütte Sud - Salzgitter Engelnstedt - Lengede-Broistedt - Ilsede Nord - Peine Gbf - Braunschweig Hbf
Todays tour will use the Esslingen railcar, diesel locomotive traction having proved prohibitively expensive.
Leaving Braunschweig at about 08:00 hrs we travel west through Peine (noting the freight line from Salzgitter which we will travel later) to Lehrte where we join the Hannover ring, parts of which are freight only. Our first highlight is the harbour (hafen) system at Hannover Linden, where we will visit a number of branches, which ones we visit depending on traffic on the day. Leaving the hafen railway we head south over the rare freight curve to Ronnenberg where we reverse and go back the same way to rejoin the ring and curve towards Hannover main station to reach Hannover Hainholz goods station where we must reverse again. Heading north now we will take the branch to Hannover Nordhafen and spend time doing as much of the track as we can in the time available before retracing our route to Hannover Hainholz and the Hannover ring as far as the curve south to Hannover Messe.
Fast running in prospect as we head south through Sarstedt to reach Hildesheim. Onto non-electrified metals now as we pass through Derneburg and Salzgitter Ringelheim to reach the start of the Warnetalbahn heritage railway at Salzgitter Bad. We will travel to the end of the railway at Borssum, and back to Salzgitter Bad. We reverse here to re-enter the VPS system on the long connecting line to Lengede-Broistedt Nord and Peine where we will probably see torpedos of molten steel in the sidings ready for dispatch. The day concludes with a final run down this mornings outward route back to Braunschweig.
Monday 15 June 2026 - Day 3 - The Braunschweig and Hannover Explorer - Wittmar excursion
Braunschweig Hbf - Wolfenbüttel - Wittmar - The gate at Schachtanlage Asse (reverse) - Wittmar - Wolfenbüttel - Braunschweig Hbf
Our first excursion this morning takes us south from Braunschweig, departing about 08:30 hrs to Wolfenbüttel where we take the branch line to Schöppenstedt as far as Wendessen where we diverge onto the freight line to Wittmar. Although reached by occasional steam excursions, these do not continue the further 2km to the Schachtanlage Asse complex which is the reason for the branches retention. This is a former salt mine used for storage of radioactive waste. We expect to reach the gate before returning to Braunschweig for our second excursion of the day.
Monday 15 June 2026 - Day 3 - The Braunschweig and Hannover Explorer - Great Moor excursion
After a break at Braunschweig for purchase of refreshments we take a charter coach at about 12:00 hrs to the Moorbahn Großes Moor (Great Moor railway) for our charter train over this peat railway system. We will travel the usual tourist circuit, and it is likely that we will continue onto normally non-passenger parts of the system though this is not confirmed and we understand the system is currently being slowly shut down with the regular excursions facing an uncertain future. The coach will transport us back to Braunschweig hauptbahnhof.
Monday 15 June 2026 - Day 3 - The Braunschweig and Hannover Explorer - Braunschweig tram excursion
We hope to offer a short tour of the Braunschweig tram system in the evening, but there are difficulties with our proposed route which have to be overcome. Please check this page for updates to see if we are successful, and book separately.