The Osnabrück–Brackwede railway, also the called the Haller Willem, is a single-track branch line running through the Teutoburg Forest (German: Teutoburger Wald) from Osnabrück via Dissen-Bad Rothenfelde and Halle (Westf) to Brackwede in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The former Hankenberge station lies 177 metres above sea level and is situated close to the highest point of the line.

The Halle–Brackwede road that Stuckemeyer operated on quickly acquired the name of Haller Willem due to his popularity among the locals.

The disadvantage was that the freight would have had to be transhipped at the terminal stations, which is why the line was ultimately built to standard gauge.

Because it was decided to avoid a tunnel for cost reasons, tight bends were required on a grade of 1:40 on this section.

[3] The Prussian government rejected the project on 8 June 1879, as it was first focussing on the construction of main lines.

It basically adopted the route of the explanatory report, but the line would be able to be extended to Detmold and Bergheim.

On the very day of the founding of the committee, it wrote a letter to the Royal Ministry of Public Works (Königliche Staatsministerium für öffentliche Arbeiten).

The responsible railway administration now endorsed the project but demanded a grant of 10,000 marks per kilometre for the construction of the line.

In the following months the committee struggled to overcome problems as some municipalities and companies did not want to pay their share of the subsidies.

On 5 January 1885, the proposed project was advertised in the Osnabrücker Zeitung newspaper and a period of 14 days was specified for objections.

The stations of Künsebeck and Westbarthausen were similar and the building of Steinhagen, Borgholzhausen, Wellendorf and Oesede also matched.

The special train consisted of five magnificent decorated passenger cars, hauled by a steam locomotive.

The Osnabrücker Zeitung reported that the line would be well received by tourists because of the landscape and that many excursions were already planned by clubs.

The citizens were outraged over this long traveling time since a journey via Löhne was shorter by a few minutes despite the detour.

Natural resources were transported out of the Teutoburg Forest, but it also brought workers and school students to the towns.

On 6 February 1905, the railway division (Eisenbahndirektion) of Munster, announced that they wanted to raise the speed limit on the line to 50 km/h.

DB developed a program to modernise passenger and freight operations on the southeastern section between Dissen-Bad Rothenfelde and Bielefeld.

The municipalities participated intensively to modernise the station environments and the designation of new residential developments near the line.

After the NordWestBahn (NWB) won the contract for the Ems-Senne-Weser network in Ostwestfalen-Lippe and neighbouring Münsterland, it submitted an attractive offer to the transport association for the operation of services on the Haller Willem.

After a cost-benefit study by the Landesnahverkehrsgesellschaft Niedersachsen (state public transport company of Lower Saxony) predicted that a reactivated service would carry 3,600 passengers a day, the VLO completely renovated and modernised the section.

With the electrification in other parts of the Federal Republic, DRB class 50 locomotives were used for regional services over the whole line from 1963.

DB Class V 100 diesel locomotives were used from 1963 to 1983 to haul freight and passenger trains, even for shunting operations in stations.

DB class 216 locomotives were used for individual services regularly from the mid-1970s, shortly after their deployment in Oldenburg and Osnabrück.

For a few years from 1975 until the cessation of passenger service on the northern section of the line, DB class V 200.0 locomotives were used on the Haller Willem.

Photographs show the use of DR class VT 75 that had replaced the battery railcars after the Second World War.

Freight transport operates to a siding located at Quelle station, which is served from Brackwede twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Empty wagons are delivered to the siding of the Kastrup Recycling company and are filled with scrap.

The line is served by Regionalbahn service RB 75 (Haller Willem), operated by NordWestBahn with Bombardier Talent diesel railcars.