 1 The main room at 4 an der Malzmühle. |
 2 The view from the balcony, including the railway, perfect! |
 3 99 7237 struggles for adhesion approaching the crossing at Westerntor with the 08:55 from Wernigerode to Brocken. |
 4 The famous level crossing through the crossroads at Westerntor with 99 7237 heading for the Brocken. |
 5 Looking towards the centre of Wernigerode with the Westerntor (Western Gate) prominent. |
 6 A bronze depiction of Wernigerode which is outside of the tourist office. |
 7 A deserted main square in Wernigerode on a quiet Sunday morning. |
 8 Lovely wood carvings on the town hall in Wernigerode. |
 9 More fantastic painted wood carvings. |
 10 Looking out into the street from the entrance hall at the excellent Kartoffelhaus restaurant. |
 11 The streets of Wernigerode were deserted on this Sunday morning. |
 12 A weather vane which will have seen some events since 1939. |
 13 The view along Breite Strasse as Wernigerode comes to life. |
 14 Cafe Wien on Breite Strasse, just one of many lovely buildings in Wernigerode. |
 15 Shiny! |
 16 Further along Breite Strasse and out of the pedestrian zone. |
 17 A house with some interesting wooden features on Breite Strasse. |
 18 A very ornate frontage on Breite Strasse. |
 19 The amount of time and work which went into this wooden frontage must have been considerable. |
 20 Looking up to the Schloss. |
 21 The view along Pfarrstrasse. |
 22 And the view along Grüne Strasse. |
 23 Most of the snow had melted but there was still the odd patch to be found in more sheltered places. |
 24 Wernigerode HSB depot has “Red Camel” 199 874 waiting for something to do as 99 7234 goes off shed ready to haul the 10:25 to Brocken. |
 25 99 7234 and 199 872 at Wernigerode station. |
 26 V100 199 872, formerly a standard gauge loco, stands at Wernigerode station. These locos were regauged in the late 1980s to replace the 2-10-2t “Brockenloks”. Fortunately, the fall of Communism saw the steam saved for future service. These diesels are now largely used on empty stock workings around Wernigerode. |
 27 The 2-10-2s have plenty of domes and other attachments on top of the boiler! |
 28 No photos!! |
 29 The fireman on 99 7234 doses the powder water treatment from the box on top of the smokebox. |
 30 Looking towards Wernigerode at a grey Halberstadt. The railway water tower, now no longer needed, dominates. |
 31 A pair of HEX units at Halberstadt. |
 32 Looking east at Halberstadt, once a busy place. The steam shed stood between the station and tower in the distance. |
 33 The much improved Halberstadt station is now a major point of interchange on the railways of the Harz. |
 34 Blankenburg-Harz, a station which had seen much better days….. |
 35 There is still some freight at Blankenburg. |
 36 Tom and the railcar which had brought us from Halberstadt. |
 37 Blankenburg is the start of the Rubelandbahn, the steepest adhesion worked railway in Germany at around 1 in 16. The line was electrified in the 1960s to ease operations. It remains an isolated section of electric operation. |
 38 Trains arrive from and depart to other parts of Germany diesel hauled. Stood at Blankenburg station was this pretty ugly Voith Maxima 30 CC diesel hydraulic. |
 39 Blankenburg-Harz. |
 40 Must have been something to look at….. |
 41 Blankenburg station has some impressive but now sadly very underused buildings dating back to when the line was much busier. |
 42 In Blankenburg, near to the station. |
 43 Looking towards the town centre of Blankenburg, a town which still has the air of East German days about it. |
 44 Bored now….. |
 45 There are signs of recovery in Blankenburg with several buildings having been nicely restored. |
 46 Wooden clad buildings in Blankenburg. |
 47 More grand old buildings in Blankenburg. |
 48 A nice old building in need some of some TLC. |
 49 Blankenburg railway works, much quieter than it was. |
 50 The reason for heading over the Blankenburg, standard gauge 2-10-2t 95 027. Built by the KPEV (Prussian State Railways) as a class T20. |
 51 95 027 in Communist days? |
 52 95 027, overhauled at Magdeburg, based at Blankenburg. |
 53 Looking forwards along the motion. |
 54 Crank pin and knuckle detail. |
 55 Water tank gauge. |
 56 95 027 at Blankenburg depot. |
 57 171 002, one of the electric locos used on the Rübelandbahn between electrification and 2005. |
 58 Diesel shunter ‘Rapante 8’ at Blankenburg. |
 59 95 027 sets back at Blankenburg depot. |
 60 The KPEV T20 is an impressive beast with what appears to be small water tanks for the size of loco. |
 61 A wooden framed building in need of serious attention. |
 62 On the footplate on 95 027, looking over at the driver’s side. |
 63 The fireman’s side of the footplate on 95 027. |
 64 An unusual feature of 95 027 is the staggering of the gauge glasses, done to better see the water level on severe gradient changes. |
 65 A view into the firebox through 95 027’s Marcotty Firehole door. |
 66 Driver’s notices. |
 67 GSM-R D, a bit different to the UK version. |
 68 95 027’s motion and under the boiler a feedwater heater. |
 69 At the front of 95 027, above the dustbin sized cylinder, is a cross compound air pump made by Knorr. |
 70 Don’t drink the water….. |
 71 Inside the shed at Blankenburg is out of ticket 50 3708. This class 50 is an East German Reko loco. |
 72 50 3708 last ran on September 21 2014. |
 73 A piston valve of the Schulze type. Similar in thinking to the Trofimoff valve but with springs between the valve head components. |
 74 The back end of Reko 50 3708. |
 75 I am really not sure why there is the top half of a manikin on the footplate! |
 76 Cabside of 50 3708. |
 77 Built in 1941 and reconstructed in 1962. |
 78 Bufferbeam detail which tells that the locomotive was given a main overhaul at Mansfelder Lokomotiv Werkstatt, being released to traffic on 22 September 2006. K7 refers to the type of repair, LBK indicates it is allocated to Blankenburg and the next overhaul fell due on 13 May 2011. |
 79 171 002 head on at Blankenburg depot. |
 80 Tom looks for some fan action but was disappointed. |
 81 The group at Blankenburg depot, from the left Stu, me, Pete, Tom and Roland. |
 82 95 027 waits time at Blankenburg depot. |
 83 A side road at Blankenburg depot. |
 84 The Rübelandbahn climbs out Blankenburg to the reversing station at Michaelstein. Here 95 027 runs-round its train in the snow. |
 85 The short train hauled by 95 027 was well filled. |
 86 95 027 runs-round at Michaelstein. |
 87 95 027 finds a hint of brightness at Michaelstein. |
 88 95 027 is now at the head of the train and ready to set off for Rübeland. |
 89 The snowy scene on the descent towards Rübeland. |
 90 Ready to cut off and go for servicing following arrival at Rübeland. The railway continues from here but the steam service does not. |
 91 95 027 at a snowy Rübeland station. |
 92 As in so many places the station building at Rübeland is huge. Was it ever fully utilised? |
 93 There is no longer a regular passenger service to Rübeland but the station is kept in good order. |
 94 A moment of weakness from Tom, a smile for the camera. |
 95 The impressive station building at Rübeland. |
 96 Rübeland signalbox. |
 97 Following on from a discussion around all photographers being a pain (to be polite!) Tom photobombs at Rübeland. |
 98 95 027 takes water at Rübeland. Normally it would run to the small museum nearby which hosts one of the original 2-10-2t locos used on the line, a loco named “Mammut” (Mammoth). Unfortunately, this was not possible due to incomplete track repairs. When at the depot “Mammut” is normally pulled out for display alongside the T20. Next time….. |
 99 The snowy scene at Rübeland. |
 100 A view up the partial frozen river Bode alongside the station building at Rübeland. |
 101 Having taken water 95 027 runs-round at Rübeland. |
 102 A well cared for wooden church at Rübeland. |
 103 Looking towards Blankenburg at Rübeland. As is normal in German there is no fence on the railway. |
 104 The route of the Rübelandbahn has been altered over the years. The line now climbs away from Rübeland sooner and less steeply than it once did. The old route diverged at this point (marked by the red track marker) running lower down before passing through a tunnel and up another section of 1 in 16. The museum containing “Mammut” is off to the right. |
 105 All freight trains on the Rübelandbahn are top and tailed to save running round at Michaelstein. The tale engine on this train, 185 641, brings up the rear in Rübeland. |
 106 The river Bode contains a fish ladder at Rübeland. |
 107 The new Rübelandbahn route climbs fairly sharply out of the valley, the old route is under the snow on the right. |
 108 A largely frozen weir on the river Bode. |
 109 95 027 repeats its running round at Michaelstein on the way back to Blankenburg. |
 110 95 027 at Michaelstein. |
 111 95 027 runs-round in the last of the light at Michaelstein. |
 112 Sunset at Blankenburg station. |
