TTR98 The Railways of Germany part 6 Niedersachsen & Nordrhein-Westfalen. The economic centre of Niedersachsen is Hanover: VW, the harbour and various aluminium processing plants. We spend time at Lehrte and at its eastern end we un-pick the knot of this busy five -way junction. On the passenger side Hanover is at the end of the north south spine NBS  and the west end of the NBS to Berlin - a major hub in the network. Nearby are the towns of Göttingen - very attractive and Hildersheim - very busy. Industrial Braunschweig lies at the extreme east of our itinerary.  There is a multi-track railway south of Minden all the way to Hamm where the  Ruhr rail ring begins and we visit, Bielefeld and Gütersloh - where  TWE , now part of the French Veolia group, shunt wagons for Miele white goods. We visit the Miele factory and watch  products being loaded to rail vans destined for Denmark and Switzerland. Not far away Claas load agricultural machinery onto wagons for export by sea through Antwerp and by rail to Russia.  We conclude at Celle a lovely medieval town on the ABS to Hamburg. RT 93