Wernigerode & the
Harzer Schmalspurbahnen in
1996
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Poland & Germany 1996 Wolsztyn
in 1996 Dresden in 1996
Saturday April 13
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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 !
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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
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