Blankenburg (Harz) station is the most important station in

Blankenburg Blankenburg may refer to: Places * Blankenburg am Harz, a German town in the district of Harz, Saxony-Anhalt * Blankenburg Castle (Harz), the castle in Blankenburg am Harz (see above) * Bad Blankenburg, a German town in the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt dis ...

in the

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it th ...

district of

Harz The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...

in central Germany.

Location

The station lies in the north of the town. Whilst this simplified its accessibility from

Halberstadt Halberstadt ( Eastphalian: ''Halverstidde'') is a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, the capital of Harz district. Located north of the Harz mountain range, it is known for its old town center that was greatly destroyed by Allied bomb ...

to the north, it made a railway route into the

Harz Mountains The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...

very costly.

History

Blankenburg station was opened on 31 March 1873 by the Halberstadt-Blankenburg Railway Company (''Halberstadt-Blankenburger Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'' or HBE). In its early years trains only ran to the station from Halberstadt. The main purpose of the line was to provide a connexion for the Blankenburg smelting works to the railway network. On 3 July 1875 a 3.5 kilometre long line from Blankenburg station to the smelting works in the west of the town was completed. It was known as the Erzstufen Railway and was a

cog railway A rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway, cog railway, or cogwheel railway) is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack and pinion, rack rail, usually between the running Track (rail transport)#Rail, rails. The trains are fitted with one or ...

using the Abt rack system. It was the oldest industrial siding in the Harz. But it was closed again in 1885 because, from 1880, the Blankenburg–Tanne line, also built by the HBE, provided a better link to the factory. For topographical reasons the line had to leave Blankenburg station in a northwesterly direction, thus resulting in a

railway terminus A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing suc ...

. This line became the Harz Railway (''Harzbahn'') and since 1950 has been called the

Rübeland Railway The Rübeland Railway (german: Rübelandbahn) is a railway link from Blankenburg via Rübeland and Königshütte to Tanne in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It was built by the Halberstadt-Blankenburg railway (HBE) between 1880 and 1886 ...

(''Rübelandbahn''). From 1960–65 the Rübeland Railway was electrified. Its

electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic histor ...

system is different from the normal systems. Because this line is isolated from the rest of the electrified railway network, a variation optimised for the railway was able to be chosen. For a long time, however, this required the employment of special locomotives of Class E 251, later the Class 171, that were maintained at the

depot Depot ( or ) may refer to: Places * Depot, Poland, a village * Depot Island, Kemp Land, Antarctica * Depot Island, Victoria Land, Antarctica * Depot Island Formation, Greenland Brands and enterprises * Maxwell Street Depot, a restaurant in ...

near the station in Blankenburg. After the sections of the Rübeland Railway to Tanne and Königshütte were closed, in 2005 passenger services on the rest of the line to

Elbingerode Elbingerode is an ''Ortsteil'' of Oberharz am Brocken in the Harz district, in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. The former town was incorporated into the newly established municipality on 1 January 2010. Geography It is situated in the easter ...

were ceased. As well as Blankenburg station, that is mainly used for passenger services, Blankenburg also has a goods station and the North station, both responsible for marshalling trains for the Rübeland Railway.

Operation

Passenger services continue to be operated on the Halberstadt–Blankenburg railway, worked hourly by trains operated by Veolia Verkehr Sachsen-Anhalt. Both lines are worked by goods trains. These trains use a bypass curve north of the station, so that no change of direction is needed.

Sources

* Werner Steinke: ''Die Halberstadt-Blankenburger Eisenbahn''. Berlin 1982, . * Gerhard Zieglgänsberger, Hans Röper, Werner Steinke: ''Eisenbahnreviere Harz''. transpress 1992, .

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20070927115833/http://www.harz-bahnen.de/Blankenburg.htm {{Coord, 51, 47, 43, N, 10, 57, 44, E, dim:2000_region:DE-ST_type:landmark_source:dewiki, display=title Blankenburg (Harz) Buildings and structures in Harz (district) Transport in the Harz Railway stations in Germany opened in 1873