on 1 july 1870, the grand duchy of mecklenburg friedrich-franz railway's lübeck–bad kleinen line was opened to the lbe station in lübeck, and in 1871 the first continuous services operated between hamburg and stettin (now szczecin). the eutin-lübeck railway company established a line to eutin in 1873, completing a link between lübeck and kiel. in 1916, lübeck-segeberg line opened to bad segeberg. from the beginning it was operated by the lbe; it only acquired its own rolling stock after the second world war.