The Cologne-Minden Railway Company received a concession to build the railway from Wanne to Osnabrück on 28 May 1866. This was part of the Hamburg–Venlo railway, which in turn was part of an international Paris–Hamburg railway. On 1 January 1870, the CME commenced passenger services on the first section between Wanne station and Münster station on its trunk line. Appelhülsen station was opened at the same time. The importance of the station for the transport of passengers and freight in Appelhülsen and the surrounding area was so great that it was classified as a second class station. After Buldern and Bösensell stations received freight facilities, it was reclassified as a third class station. Until 1942, Appelhülsen station was the only railway station between Münster and Dülmen. It included a workshop and a carpenter's workshop, with up to 30 people working at the time. General freight traffic was stopped in 1973. The station came under the control of Dülmen station in 1974. The signal box was replaced by an electronic interlocking, which is remotely controlled from Dülmen, in 1998. The signal box was demolished in November 2000. The name of the station was changed from Appelhülsen to Nottuln-Appelhülsen in 2004. A new pedestrian crossing was built over the railway tracks as part of the renovation of the station in 2012. The parking lots and bicycle stands were expanded in the autumn of 2013.
Station building
The station building was built of yellow bricks in 1870 together with the rest of the station. The station restaurant was closed in 1970 and the ticket office was closed 1975. The municipality of Nottuln acquired the heritage-listed entrance building in 1999. All attempts to sell the building, including over eBay, were unsuccessful. On 18 January 2007, the roof of the station building was so badly damaged by extratropical cyclone Kyrill that it had to be demolished in April 2007 for safety reasons. The municipality of Nottuln had listed the building as a monument.
Operations
Passenger services
The station is served only by regional services of the so-called Haard-Achse network: the RE 2 Rhein-Haard-Express and the RE 42 Niers-Haard-Express. Both lines are operated by DB Regio AG, Region NRW as part of the Rhein-Haard network.
