Wernigerode & the Harzer Schmalspurbahnen in 1996
Home Poland & Germany 1996 Wolsztyn in 1996 Dresden in 1996
Saturday April 13
During my stay it was still possible to cover the Harzquerbahn and the Selketalbahn sections of the HSB in one day, behind steam, starting from Wernigerode and ending up in Gernrode or vice versa. DB standard gauge trains made it possible to get to and from Gernrode. On April 13 1996 I chose the first option making my way to Gernrode from Wernigerode including a visit to the end of the Harzquerbahn at Nordhausen. Before I started out I purchased one of the 5 day 'Zeitkarte' tickets, or in English a 5 day rover. By this time the HSB was a private system not included in the Inter Rail ticket. However at 80DM for 5 days, including unlimited trips on the Brockenbhan, I got excellent value of money. The 13th was a very cold and overcast day but the roar from the HSB tanks more than made up for this ! |
I travelled as far as Drei Annen Hohne behind 99 7237-3, on train 8903, where the lengthy break in the timetable was explained. The loco that brought the first train of the day up from Nordhausen, number 8904, swapped with 99 7237-3. So for the journey on to Nordhausen I was hauled by 99 7231-6 which unusually was running smokebox first towards Wernigerode.
99 7238-1 arrives at Drei Annen Hohne with the first Brocken bound train of the day at 99 7237-3 takes water prior to running back to Wernigerode with the service from Nordhausen. April 13 1996
99 7231-6 sits at a very cold Benneckenstein station waiting to cross the 10:08 from Nordhausen to Wernigerode. April 13 1996
A quick turn around at Nordhausen enabled me to get back to the junction station of Eisfelder Talmühle to connect with the train on to the Selketalbahn section of the HSB. This train was headed by 99 7233-2. The ultimate destination was Gernrode however en route the virtually empty train visited the two branch lines off the main route, these being to Hasselfelde and Harzgerode.
99 7239-9 stands at Eisfelder Talmühle with a Nordhausen bound train whilst to the right is the Wernigerode bound service I had just arrived on. Out of sight further to the right is the Gernrode train, number 8972, I was about to take. April 13 1996
The loco for the Gernrode train, 99 7233-2, heads away from watering at Eisfelder Talmühle. In the background are stone wagons on transporters. Yes the HSB was still a freight railway. April 13 1996
99 7233-2 runs round her short train at the end of the Hasselfelde branch. At this time there was a 10kph speed limit over most of the branch thus making progress very slow ! April 13 1996
From Hasselfelde the train made its way back to the junction station of Stiege and on through the cold, but attractive, countryside. A few passengers joined and left the train but hardly enough to make it pay. The next time there was any hustle and bustle was on arrival at Alexisbad. Here the loco had to run round to gain access to the steep branch to Harzgerode, meanwhile I was surprised to find Mallet 0-4-4-0t 99 5905-5 on train 8965 to Hasselfelde. This train had started out as 8959, the 13:37 from Gernrode to Harzgerode.
Mallet 0-4-4-0t 99 5906-5 takes water at Alexisbad before heading off to Hasselfelde. April 13 1996
Once 99 7233-2 had run round I sat back in the train ready to head up to Harzgerode. However nothing much seemed to be happening. That is until I looked out the window and saw the Mallet crew getting a good few shovels of coal from 99 7233-2. Perhaps the bunker of the Mallet isn't big enough for the job ?
More coal ? Mallet 0-4-4-0t 99 5906-5 takes water and gets a top up of coal from 99 7233-2 at Alexisbad. April 13 1996
Coaling the Mallet had caused the train to start running late. By the time we headed back through Alexisbad and on towards Gernrode it was clear I was going to miss my DB train at Gernrode, the 17:32, by some margin. Despite the language barrier the guard seemed to understand me and also seemed totally unconcerned. If I'd known the German for 'Get the crew to put a sock in it' I would have felt happier. However the reaction of the guard made me think there was still the possibility of making my train. This is what happened. From 30 minutes or so down we arrived early and without anything like fast running.
The connection from Gernrode back to Wernigerode was made is several stages, Gernrode-Quedlinburg, Quedlinburg-Halberstadt and finally Halberstadt-Wernigerode. Poor connections made this an unnecessarily lengthy journey. The most interesting section was the first. The train that turned up was some sort of 4 wheeled railbus that must have dated from the 1960s. It had bench seats and superb forward vision for the passengers. The track on the line was not in the greatest condition. Even at moderate speeds the ride was lively. However the character of the railbus made it much more fun than a trip in one of the BR 4 wheel railbuses of the 1980s.
The
next day I travelled some more on the HSB.
Back to April 12 1996