Altona-Kiel Railway Company
Encyclopedia
The Altona-Kiel Railway Company 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 between Altona
and the Baltic Sea
port city of Kiel
. Altona was at that time the second largest city under Danish rule and the railway line was the first built in Danish-controlled territory.
and Baltic Sea
s and they agreed to promote this objective as members of the Altona-Kiel railway committee.
In 1833, the economist Friedrich List
had proposed a network of railways in Germany, including a rail link between the Hanseatic
cities of Hamburg
and Lübeck
. In 1835, this proposal was rejected by the Royal Railway Commission, established by the King of Denmark, Frederick VI
, as the heir to the throne, later Christian VIII
, would only agree to a rail link between the Elbe
and the Baltic Sea on Danish-only territory, for fiscal reasons.
was commissioned to plan the route. He came to the conclusion that in order to avoid hills the line should not pass through Segeberg
but should instead run via Barmstedt
and Neumünster
. As a result of the influence of Klaus Panje, Elmshorn offered to increase its shares in the enterprise if the line took a more westerly course, which a general meeting of the company agreed to in May 1842. Christian VIII issued the company a license for the line on 28 June 1842. The line’s termini would be built close to the respective ports. In the plan of 1844, other stations would be built in Pinneberg, Tornesch
, Elmshorn, Wrist
, Neumünster and Bordesholm; and there would be halts in Stellingen, Eidelstedt, Halstenbek
, Priesdorf, Horst, Dauenhof, Siebenecksknöll, Brockstedt, Pahdenstedt, Fohrde and Meimersdorf.
. It was opened under the name of the Christian VIII Baltic Railway (Danish
: Christian VIII Østersøen Jernbane) on 18 September 1844, the birthday of the king, with a ceremony in the train hall of the not yet completed Altona station and the first rail service to Kiel (travel time: three hours). This was the first railway line in the Danish state. It was originally equipped with ten locomotives, eight tenders, 37 carriages and 50 freight wagons. The speed limit was 45 km/h during the day and 30 km/h by darkness.
The rolling stock was ordered after an international tender. Five steam locomotive
s with an 1A1 wheel arrangement
were built by the companies of Kitson, Thompson & Hewitson of Leeds
and R and W Hawthorn
of Newcastle
. Tenders were built by Wöhlert
in Berlin
. Carriages were supplied by Röhe & Wienbarg of Altona. Parcel and freight wagons were supplied by Meyer of Uetersen
, Knupper of Altona and Schweffel & Howaldt of Kiel.
developed an artificial medium time for its timetable, making the maximum variation from true geographic time of 20 seconds, which was not perceived as noticeable.
This problem, created increasing problems on all railways as travel distances and speeds increased, finally leading to the convening of the International Meridian Conference
in October 1884 in Washington, D. C., which agreed to adopt a universal day for astronomical purposes, eventually leading to the world being split into time zone
s, independent of precise astronomical time, including Germany’s adoption of Central European Time
in 1893.
and Altona station, which passed through the Altona Harbour Tunnel, known as the Schellfischtunnel (Haddock Tunnel). This line, which was opened in 1845, involved the haulage of wagons by cable up a 210 metre-long steep slope to overcome a height difference of 30 metres. The port railway in Kiel was opened to traffic on 1 September 1844.
Also in 1845, the company expanded its network as it took over management of operations of the 34 km-long line of the Rendsburg-Neumünster Railway Company (Rendsburg-Neumünstersche Eisenbahn). While trying to purchase the lines of the English railway entrepreneur, Sir Samuel Morton Peto
(the Flensburg–Husum–Tönning Railway Company
), the AKE managed to purchase from him the valuable Rendsburg–Neumünster line on 1 January 1864. After that, Peto progressively reduced his business in Schleswig-Holstein and the AKE became its most important railway company.
The company, together with the government of Hamburg, built the Hamburg-Altona link line and the former Klosterthor station, connecting the AKE’s line to the Berlin–Hamburg line near the former Berlin station and to the Lübeck-Büchen Railway
’s Lübeck–Hamburg line near the former Lübeck station. Freight trains ran over the line from 30 September 1865 and passenger trains ran over it from 16 July 1866.
On 31 May 1866, the almost 90 km-long Neumünster–Ascheberg
–Eutin
–Neustadt
line was opened in east Holstein, including a local port railway and the connection from Ascheberg to Kiel
via Preetz
. On 10 December 1875, the 45 km-long Neumünster–Segeberg–Oldesloe line was added.
The Altona–Blankenese line was opened on 19 May 1867 and its 18 km-long extension to Wedel
on 2 December 1883. In 1907, this line became part of the Hamburg-Altona City and Suburban Railway and in 1934, part of the Hamburg S-Bahn
.
.
From 1870 to 1884 the AKE managed the operations of the Schleswig Railway Company, which it did not own.
The AKE was also significantly involved in the Oldenburg District Railways. It managed the operations, from the opening of the first line from Neustadt in Holstein
to Oldenburg on 30 September 1881.
The AKE also owned shares in the West Holstein Railway Company (Westholsteinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft) and later acquired the Wesselburen-Heider Railway Company (Wesselburen-Heider Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft).
in 1867. In 1883 the Prussian government began to negotiate for the purchase of the Altona-Kiel Railway.Prussia took over administration and management on 1 March 1884 as the Royal Altona railway division (Königliche Eisenbahndirektion Altona), which moved into temporary premises in Altona. The company was purchase for 70.65 million marks
by the Prussian State Railways
on 1 January 1887 and the corporation was dissolved. Today the Hamburg-Altona-Kiel line is owned by Deutsche Bahn AG.
Personal union
A personal union is the combination by which two or more different states have the same monarch while their boundaries, their laws and their interests remain distinct. It should not be confused with a federation which is internationally considered a single state...
with the Duchy of Holstein
Holstein
Holstein is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is part of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of Germany....
, that built and operated an 105 km railway line between Altona
Altona, Hamburg
Altona is the westernmost urban borough of the German city state of Hamburg, on the right bank of the Elbe river. From 1640 to 1864 Altona was under the administration of the Danish monarchy. Altona was an independent city until 1937...
and the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
port city of Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
. Altona was at that time the second largest city under Danish rule and the railway line was the first built in Danish-controlled territory.
Background
The company was founded in December 1840 on the initiative of merchants from Altona and Kiel. Among the initiators in Kiel were Georg Hanssen and Johann Christian Kruse. The participants sought to improve the transport of their goods to markets by connecting the NorthNorth Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
and Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
s and they agreed to promote this objective as members of the Altona-Kiel railway committee.
In 1833, the economist Friedrich List
Friedrich List
Georg Friedrich List was a leading 19th century German economist who developed the "National System" or what some would call today the National System of Innovation...
had proposed a network of railways in Germany, including a rail link between the Hanseatic
Hanseatic League
The Hanseatic League was an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe...
cities of Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
and Lübeck
Lübeck
The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...
. In 1835, this proposal was rejected by the Royal Railway Commission, established by the King of Denmark, Frederick VI
Frederick VI of Denmark
Frederick VI reigned as King of Denmark , and as king of Norway .-Regent of Denmark:Frederick's parents were King Christian VII and Caroline Matilda of Wales...
, as the heir to the throne, later Christian VIII
Christian VIII of Denmark
Christian VIII , was king of Denmark from 1839 to 1848 and, as Christian Frederick, king of Norway in 1814. He was the eldest son of Hereditary Prince Frederick of Denmark and Norway and Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, born in 1786 at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen...
, would only agree to a rail link between the Elbe
Elbe
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
and the Baltic Sea on Danish-only territory, for fiscal reasons.
Financing
Finance was raised as follows in 1844:- 27.0%: Danish government
- 21.6%: Altona
- 19.2%: private investors
- 16.2 %: Kiel
- 13.1%: shares held by the Company
- 1.1 %: NeumünsterNeumünsterNeumünster is an independent town in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, which has a total of four independent towns.-Current Situation:Neumünster station is major railway junction with lines running in six directions, including the important Hamburg-Altona–Kiel and Neumünster–Flensburg lines.Near...
- 1.1%: Altona Support Institute
- 0.4 %: ElmshornElmshornElmshorn is a town in the district of Pinneberg in Schleswig-Holstein in Germany. It is located 32 km north of Hamburg at the small river Krückau, close to the Elbe river, is the sixth-largest city in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany...
- 0.3 %: PinnebergPinnebergPinneberg is a town in Schleswig-Holstein, capital of the district Pinneberg in Germany. The town has 42,301 inhabitants. Pinneberg is located 18 km northwest of Hamburg....
Route selection
The English engineer George W. BuckGeorge W. Buck
George Watson Buck was Engineer of the Montgomeryshire Canal in the early 19th Century, and was responsible for the unique lock paddle design....
was commissioned to plan the route. He came to the conclusion that in order to avoid hills the line should not pass through Segeberg
Bad Segeberg
Bad Segeberg is a German town of 16,000 inhabitants, located in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, capital of the district Segeberg. It is situated approximately northeast of Hamburg, and west of Lübeck.It is famous for its annual Karl-May-Festival...
but should instead run via Barmstedt
Barmstedt
Barmstedt is a town in the district of Pinneberg, in the south of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated approx. 8 km northeast of Elmshorn, and 30 km northwest of Hamburg. It has approximately 9,500 inhabitants which makes it the smallest town in the Pinneberg...
and Neumünster
Neumünster
Neumünster is an independent town in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, which has a total of four independent towns.-Current Situation:Neumünster station is major railway junction with lines running in six directions, including the important Hamburg-Altona–Kiel and Neumünster–Flensburg lines.Near...
. As a result of the influence of Klaus Panje, Elmshorn offered to increase its shares in the enterprise if the line took a more westerly course, which a general meeting of the company agreed to in May 1842. Christian VIII issued the company a license for the line on 28 June 1842. The line’s termini would be built close to the respective ports. In the plan of 1844, other stations would be built in Pinneberg, Tornesch
Tornesch
Tornesch is a town in the district of Pinneberg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated approx. 7 km southeast of Elmshorn, and 25 km northwest of Hamburg. Tornesch is also the home of the Klaus-Groth-Schule, named after the German poet Klaus Groth...
, Elmshorn, Wrist
Wrist, Germany
Wrist is a municipality in the district of Steinburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.- Geography :Wrist is situated 2 kilometres south east of Kellinghusen on the main railway line from Hamburg to Kiel. The Bundesstraße 206 passes Wrist. It is connected with the Bundesautobahn 7 in the east. The...
, Neumünster and Bordesholm; and there would be halts in Stellingen, Eidelstedt, Halstenbek
Halstenbek
Halstenbek is a free municipality in the district of Pinneberg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the north-western border of the city of Hamburg and approximately 5 km southeast of Pinneberg.- Geography :...
, Priesdorf, Horst, Dauenhof, Siebenecksknöll, Brockstedt, Pahdenstedt, Fohrde and Meimersdorf.
Construction and opening
Construction of the 105 km long line started in March 1843, originally as single-track except in Kiel, Neumünster and Altona to let two trains in opposite directions pass. The chief engineer (in 1845 promoted to executive director of the company) was Edward Dietz, who had previously worked for the Leipzig–Dresden Railway CompanyLeipzig–Dresden Railway Company
The Leipzig-Dresden Railway Company or LDE was a private railway company in the Kingdom of Saxony, now a part of Germany. Amongst other things, it operated the route between Leipzig and Dresden, opened in 1839, and which was the first long-distance railway line in Germany...
. It was opened under the name of the Christian VIII Baltic Railway (Danish
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
: Christian VIII Østersøen Jernbane) on 18 September 1844, the birthday of the king, with a ceremony in the train hall of the not yet completed Altona station and the first rail service to Kiel (travel time: three hours). This was the first railway line in the Danish state. It was originally equipped with ten locomotives, eight tenders, 37 carriages and 50 freight wagons. The speed limit was 45 km/h during the day and 30 km/h by darkness.
The rolling stock was ordered after an international tender. Five steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
s with an 1A1 wheel arrangement
UIC classification of locomotive axle arrangements
The UIC classification of locomotive axle arrangements describes the wheel arrangement of locomotives, multiple units and trams. It is set out in the International Union of Railways "Leaflet 650 - Standard designation of axle arrangement on locomotives and multiple-unit sets". It is used in much...
were built by the companies of Kitson, Thompson & Hewitson of Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
and R and W Hawthorn
R and W Hawthorn
R and W Hawthorn Ltd was a locomotive manufacturer in Newcastle upon Tyne, England from 1817 until 1880.-Locomotive building:Robert Hawthorne first began business at Forth Bank Works in 1817, building marine and stationary steam engines. In 1820, his brother joined him and the firm became R and W...
of Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
. Tenders were built by Wöhlert
Johann Friedrich Ludwig Wöhlert
Johann Friedrich Ludwig Wöhlert was a German businessman.Johann Wöhlert was born on 16 September 1797 in Kiel in north Germany. Trained as a joiner, in 1818 Wöhlert went to Berlin...
in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. Carriages were supplied by Röhe & Wienbarg of Altona. Parcel and freight wagons were supplied by Meyer of Uetersen
Uetersen
Uetersen ) is a city in the district of Pinneberg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated approx. south of Elmshorn, and northwest of Hamburg at the small river Pinnau, close to the Elbe river...
, Knupper of Altona and Schweffel & Howaldt of Kiel.
Schedule and time
The end points of the lines in Altona and Kiel were found have a time difference in exact astronomical time of about 40 seconds due to their location. Depending on what time was adopted a train between Altona and Kiel could be considered to have arrived nearly a minute "too early" or "too late”, even if “really” on time. To address this problem, the railway in collaboration with the Altona Observatory and its director Heinrich Christian SchumacherHeinrich Christian Schumacher
Heinrich Christian Schumacher was a German-Danish astronomer.-Biography:He was born at Bramstedt, in Holstein, and studied at Kiel, Jena, Copenhagen, and Göttingen. In 1810, he became adjunct professor of astronomy in Copenhagen...
developed an artificial medium time for its timetable, making the maximum variation from true geographic time of 20 seconds, which was not perceived as noticeable.
This problem, created increasing problems on all railways as travel distances and speeds increased, finally leading to the convening of the International Meridian Conference
International Meridian Conference
The International Meridian Conference was a conference held in October 1884 in Washington, D.C., in the United States to determine the Prime Meridian of the world. The conference was held at the request of U.S. President Chester A...
in October 1884 in Washington, D. C., which agreed to adopt a universal day for astronomical purposes, eventually leading to the world being split into time zone
Time zone
A time zone is a region on Earth that has a uniform standard time for legal, commercial, and social purposes. In order for the same clock time to always correspond to the same portion of the day as the Earth rotates , different places on the Earth need to have different clock times...
s, independent of precise astronomical time, including Germany’s adoption of Central European Time
Central European Time
Central European Time , used in most parts of the European Union, is a standard time that is 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time . The time offset from UTC can be written as +01:00...
in 1893.
Expansion of the railway network
Immediately after the completion of the main line, the construction started on a link between the low-lying banks of the ElbeElbe
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
and Altona station, which passed through the Altona Harbour Tunnel, known as the Schellfischtunnel (Haddock Tunnel). This line, which was opened in 1845, involved the haulage of wagons by cable up a 210 metre-long steep slope to overcome a height difference of 30 metres. The port railway in Kiel was opened to traffic on 1 September 1844.
Also in 1845, the company expanded its network as it took over management of operations of the 34 km-long line of the Rendsburg-Neumünster Railway Company (Rendsburg-Neumünstersche Eisenbahn). While trying to purchase the lines of the English railway entrepreneur, Sir Samuel Morton Peto
Samuel Morton Peto
Sir Samuel Morton Peto, 1st Baronet was an English entrepreneur and civil engineer in the 19th century. A partner in Grissell and Peto, he managed construction firms that built many major buildings and monuments in London...
(the Flensburg–Husum–Tönning Railway Company
Flensburg–Husum–Tönning Railway Company
The Flensburg–Husum–Tönning Railway Company built the first railway line in the Duchy of Schleswig. The line opened in 1854 and was one of the oldest railways in Germany.-Organisation and construction :...
), the AKE managed to purchase from him the valuable Rendsburg–Neumünster line on 1 January 1864. After that, Peto progressively reduced his business in Schleswig-Holstein and the AKE became its most important railway company.
The company, together with the government of Hamburg, built the Hamburg-Altona link line and the former Klosterthor station, connecting the AKE’s line to the Berlin–Hamburg line near the former Berlin station and to the Lübeck-Büchen Railway
Lübeck-Büchen Railway Company
The Lübeck-Büchen Railway was a German railway company that built railway lines from Lübeck to Büchen and to Hamburg in the 19th century.-Background :...
’s Lübeck–Hamburg line near the former Lübeck station. Freight trains ran over the line from 30 September 1865 and passenger trains ran over it from 16 July 1866.
On 31 May 1866, the almost 90 km-long Neumünster–Ascheberg
Ascheberg
Ascheberg is a municipality in the district of Coesfeld in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.The neighbouring cities, towns and municipalities of Ascheberg are the city Münster, the town Drensteinfurt , the city Hamm, the town Werne Ascheberg is a municipality in the district of...
–Eutin
Eutin
Eutin is the district capital of Eastern Holstein located in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein. As of 2005, it had some 17,000 inhabitants....
–Neustadt
Neustadt
- Germany :* in Baden-Württemberg:** Titisee-Neustadt, a town in the district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald* in Bavaria:** Bad Neustadt an der Saale, the capital of the Rhön-Grabfeld district...
line was opened in east Holstein, including a local port railway and the connection from Ascheberg to Kiel
Kiel–Lübeck railway
The Kiel–Lübeck railway is a non-electrified, mostly single-track railway line in eastern Schleswig-Holstein in north Germany. It links Kiel and Lübeck, the only two cities in the state...
via Preetz
Preetz
Preetz is a town in the district of Plön, in Schleswig-Holstein, Northern Germany. In the town centre is a small lake, the Kirchsee.-History:...
. On 10 December 1875, the 45 km-long Neumünster–Segeberg–Oldesloe line was added.
The Altona–Blankenese line was opened on 19 May 1867 and its 18 km-long extension to Wedel
Wedel
Wedel is a town in the district of Pinneberg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Elbe, approximately south of Elmshorn, and mile, west of Hamburg.-Foundation and Middle Ages:...
on 2 December 1883. In 1907, this line became part of the Hamburg-Altona City and Suburban Railway and in 1934, part of the Hamburg S-Bahn
Hamburg S-Bahn
The Hamburg S-Bahn is a railway network for public rapid mass transit in the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. Together the S-Bahn, the Hamburg U-Bahn, the AKN railway and the regional railway form the backbone of railway public transport in the city and the surrounding area...
.
Share holdings
On 31 December 1862, the AKE took over operations of the Elmshorn–Glückstadt line, opened on 20 July 1845, from the Glückstadt-Elmshorn Railway Company (Glückstadt-Elmshorner Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft), founded in 1844. On 15 October 1857, the line had been extended to ItzehoeItzehoe
Itzehoe is a town in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein.As the capital of the district Steinburg, Itzehoe is located on the Stör, a navigable tributary of the Elbe, 51 km northwest of Hamburg and 24 km north of Glückstadt...
.
From 1870 to 1884 the AKE managed the operations of the Schleswig Railway Company, which it did not own.
The AKE was also significantly involved in the Oldenburg District Railways. It managed the operations, from the opening of the first line from Neustadt in Holstein
Neustadt in Holstein
Neustadt in Holstein is a town in the district of Ostholstein, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the Bay of Lübeck , approx...
to Oldenburg on 30 September 1881.
The AKE also owned shares in the West Holstein Railway Company (Westholsteinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft) and later acquired the Wesselburen-Heider Railway Company (Wesselburen-Heider Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft).
Nationalisation
As a result of the Second Schleswig War, Holstein became part of PrussiaPrussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
in 1867. In 1883 the Prussian government began to negotiate for the purchase of the Altona-Kiel Railway.Prussia took over administration and management on 1 March 1884 as the Royal Altona railway division (Königliche Eisenbahndirektion Altona), which moved into temporary premises in Altona. The company was purchase for 70.65 million marks
German gold mark
The Goldmark was the currency used in the German Empire from 1873 to 1914.-History:Before unification, the different German states issued a variety of different currencies, though most were linked to the Vereinsthaler, a silver coin containing 16⅔ grams of pure silver...
by the Prussian State Railways
Prussian state railways
The term Prussian state railways encompasses those railway organisations that were owned or managed by the State of Prussia...
on 1 January 1887 and the corporation was dissolved. Today the Hamburg-Altona-Kiel line is owned by Deutsche Bahn AG.