The Heide Express (literally: "Heath Express") is the name used by the Lüneburg Transport Society (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Verkehrsfreunde Lüneburg) or AVL to market special railway trips with their historic trains on 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 ...

(OHE) railway network in northern Germany.

Activities

In addition to running special trains, the society organises presentations, model railway swapmeets, film showings and exhibitions, usually in Lüneburg. These are accompanied by excursions.

Operations today

The Heide Express operates today on the OHE lines around Lüneburg, Winsen, Soltau and Celle as well as Walsrode. Services operate irregularly several times a year and, in the summer months for special occasions. There are no regular weekend services as, for example, on the

Moor Express The Moor Express or Moorexpress is a heritage railway in the northern part of Lower Saxony in Germany. It runs between Stade and Osterholz-Scharmbeck passing through Bremervörde, Gnarrenburg and Worpswede. Services * Tickets for the special rai ...

. The following routes are operated: * Winsen (Luhe)–Niedermarschacht (with bus connexions to the Geesthacht Railway Society) * Winsen (Luhe)–Salzhausen–Hützel * Lüneburg–Bleckede (–Waldfrieden) * Lüneburg Süd–Amelinghausen–Hützel (some run to Soltau) * Celle–Hankensbüttel–Wittingen * Celle–Beckedorf– Hermannsburg–Müden (Örtze) * Walsrode–Bomlitz * Walsrode–Altenboitzen In cooperation with other societies the AVL's rolling stock is used for special trains on other lines. They appear regularly in the Hamburg region.

Rolling stock

The AVL's rolling stock is used in various combinations. The Heide Express trains are mainly hauled by the V46-01 (from Lüneburg) or the DL 0601 (from Winsen) using train rakes composed of ''

Umbauwagen The Umbau-Wagen or Umbauwagen was a type of German railway passenger coach operated by the Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) which appeared in the mid-1950s. The name means "rebuild coach" and they were made by rebuilding or converting former state railwa ...

'' and platform coaches, or they just use the GDT 0518 railbus.

Locomotives and railbuses

Passenger coaches

Goods wagons and special wagons

Some services also use locomotives owned by the

. This is especially the case for trips in the Celle area.

External links

*http://www.heide-express.de (official web site)
List of rolling stock
*http://heidebahn.de (Information about railways on the Lüneburg Heath)

References

{{coord missing, Lower Saxony Heritage railways in Germany Transport in Lower Saxony