Lower Saxon State Railway Office

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The Lower Saxon State Railway Office (German : Niedersächsische Landeseisenbahnamt) or NLEA was a central authority that managed the operation of many light railways (known as Kleinbahnen ) in the North German state of Lower Saxony. These were predominantly those railways which the state had a financial stake in.

German language West Germanic language

German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol (Italy), the German-speaking Community of Belgium, and Liechtenstein. It is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg and a co-official language in the Opole Voivodeship in Poland. The languages which are most similar to German are the other members of the West Germanic language branch: Afrikaans, Dutch, English, the Frisian languages, Low German/Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, and Yiddish. There are also strong similarities in vocabulary with Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, although those belong to the North Germanic group. German is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English.

A light railway is a railway built at lower costs and to lower standards than typical "heavy rail": it uses lighter-weight track, and is more steeply graded and tightly curved to reduce civil engineering costs. These lighter standards allow lower costs of operation, at the price of slower operating speeds and lower vehicle capacity.

The term Kleinbahn was a light railway concept used especially in Prussia for a railway line that "on account of its low importance for general railway transport" had less strict requirements placed on its construction and operation that main lines or secondary lines. Even public railway lines built for constructional or industrial purposes were counted as Kleinbahnen.

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History

As in most Prussian provinces, a large number of Kleinbahn railway lines appeared in the Province of Hanover following the passing of the Prussian Kleinbahn law.

Prussia state in Central Europe between 1525–1947

Prussia was a historically prominent German state that originated in 1525 with a duchy centred on the region of Prussia on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It was de facto dissolved by an emergency decree transferring powers of the Prussian government to German Chancellor Franz von Papen in 1932 and de jure by an Allied decree in 1947. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organised and effective army. Prussia, with its capital in Königsberg and from 1701 in Berlin, decisively shaped the history of Germany.

Province of Hanover Prussian province

The Province of Hanover was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1868 to 1946.

Railways managed by the NLEA

The Gittelde–Grund railway, also known as Kleinbahn Gittelde-Grund, was a railway line connecting the mining town of Grund at the western edge of the Harz mountains with the station of Gittelde on the Herzberg–Seesen railway. It opened in 1910 and closed in 1971.

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