The Harz Railway or Trans-Harz Railway (german: Harzquerbahn) was formerly the main line of the

Harz Narrow Gauge Railways The Harz Narrow Gauge Railways (German: ''Harzer Schmalspurbahnen'' or HSB) is a railway company that operates a network in the Harz mountains, in central Germany (formerly East Germany). The company was formed after the Second World War as a me ...

(''Harzer Schmalspurbahnen'' or ''HSB'') and runs north to south right across 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 ...

from

Wernigerode Wernigerode () is a town in the district of Harz, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Until 2007, it was the capital of the district of Wernigerode. Its population was 35,041 in 2012. Wernigerode is located southwest of Halberstadt, and is picturesquely s ...

Nordhausen Nordhausen may refer to: * Nordhausen (district), a district in Thuringia, Germany ** Nordhausen, Thuringia, a city in the district **Nordhausen station, the railway station in the city * Nordhouse, a commune in Alsace (German: Nordhausen) * Narost ...

. However, the tourist attraction of the

Brocken The Brocken, also sometimes referred to as the Blocksberg, is the highest peak in the Harz mountain range and also the highest peak in Northern Germany; it is near Schierke in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt between the rivers Weser and Elbe. ...

, the highest mountain in the Harz, is so great that the

Brocken Railway The Brocken Railway (german: Brockenbahn) is one of three tourist metre gauge railways which together with the Harz Railway and Selke Valley Railway form the Harz Narrow Gauge Railways railway network in the Harz mountain range of Germany. It run ...

is effectively the main line today. The Trans-Harz Railway joins up with the

Selke Valley Railway The Selke Valley Railway (''Selketalbahn''), ''Gernrode-Harzgerode Railway'' (''Gernroder-Harzgeroder Eisenbahn'') and the ''Anhalt Harz Railway'' (''Anhaltische Harzbahn'') were different names for the metre gauge railway in the Lower Harz, Germa ...

Quedlinburg Quedlinburg () is a town situated just north of the Harz mountains, in the district of Harz in the west of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. As an influential and prosperous trading centre during the early Middle Ages, Quedlinburg became a center of in ...

at Eisfelder Talmühle where all trains are organised to make good connections.

Route

The line begins at the HSB's narrow gauge station in Nordhausen (Nordhausen Nord). It lies in northwest of and parallel to the

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

railway station. After passing the link line to the Nordhausen Tramway that joins it from the right, the railway bends towards the north and runs for 7 km to the station of Niedersachswerfen Ost almost parallel to the standard gauge line from Nordhausen to

Ellrich Ellrich is a town in the district of Nordhausen, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated on the southern edge of the Harz, 13 km northwest of Nordhausen. It is the northernmost settlement in Thuringia. History Second World War Durin ...

(the South Harz Line). The Harz mountains begin beyond

Ilfeld Ilfeld is a village and a former municipality in the district of Nordhausen, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated at the south foot of the Harz, at the entrance to the Bährethal, north from Nordhausen by the railway to Wernigerode. Since 1 J ...

(km 10.7). Behind ''Netzkater'' (km 14.0) lies the station of '' Eisfelder Talmühle'' (km 17.3), where the

branches off in a curve to the right. The Trans-Harz Railway continues to follow the B 81 federal road as far as ''Tiefenbachmühle'' halt (km 19.5) before turning in a westerly direction in order to reach the request stop of '' Sophienhof'' (km 21.0), the last stop in

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and larg ...

. The line runs through spruce forests over the state border with Saxony-Anhalt. At

Benneckenstein Benneckenstein () is a town in the district of Harz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it has been part of the town of Oberharz am Brocken. Benneckenstein is in the eastern Harz, 14 km southeast of Braunlage, and 24 km s ...

station (km 29.8) the line crosses the ridge at , its highest point so far. It then runs downhill into the valley of the

Warme Bode The Warme Bode is the right-hand headstream of the Bode in the High Harz mountains of central Germany in the states of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. It is long and is formed by the confluence of the Große Bode and Kleine Bode rivers. Name Th ...

, where the halt of Sorge (km 33.4; ) is located. Next the route climbs to its next summit at 557 m. After

Elend Elend may refer to: * Elend, Saxony-Anhalt Elend is a district of the town of Oberharz am Brocken in the Harz District, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It lies in the Bode valley in the High Harz in central Germany, at a height of . This part of the ...

(km 41.6) the line reaches the junction with the

at '' Drei-Annen-Hohne station'' (km 46.4). In 2009 the construction of a new stub line from Elend to Braunlage was discussed (see '' South Harz Railway Company''). Behind Drei-Annen-Hohne the line runs steeply downhill and the railway reaches the 58 m long

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

below the ''Thumkuhlenkopf''. It is the only tunnel in the Harz Narrow Gauge Railway network. On emerging from the tunnel

Wernigerode Castle Wernigerode Castle (german: Schloss Wernigerode) is a schloss located in the Harz mountains above the town of Wernigerode in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The present-day building, finished in the late 19th century, is similar in style to Schloss Ne ...

can soon be seen in the distance. In the vicinity of the station at ''

Steinerne Renne The Steinerne Renne is a waterfall and natural monument near the town of Wernigerode in the Harz mountains of central Germany. Location The Steinerne Renne is east of the Harz National Park in the Harz/Saxony-Anhalt Nature Park. It lies south ...

'' (km 54.5) the line enters one of the HSB's tightest curves with a 60-metre

radius In classical geometry, a radius ( : radii) of a circle or sphere is any of the line segments from its center to its perimeter, and in more modern usage, it is also their length. The name comes from the latin ''radius'', meaning ray but also the ...

, before reaching the station of

Wernigerode-Hasserode Hasserode has been a quarter in the town of Wernigerode in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt since 1907. Location Hasserode lies at the foot of the Harz Mountains in the valley of the River Holtemme, whose upper reaches include the water ca ...

(km 56.3). The next stations en route are ''Hochschule Harz'' halt (formerly ''Wernigerode-Kirchstraße'') and ''Westerntor'' station (where the Wernigerode-Westerntor

Bahnbetriebswerk A ''Bahnbetriebswerk'' is the equivalent of a locomotive depot (or motive power depot) on the German and Austrian railways. It is an installation that carries out the maintenance, minor repairs, refuelling and cleaning of locomotives and other ...

is found) at Wernigerode. Its terminus is the station at Wernigerode (km 60.5).

History

The first section of the Trans-Harz Railway to go into service was the line from Nordhausen to Ilfeld on 12 July 1897. On 7 February 1898 it was extended as far as Netzkater and on 15 September that year to Benneckenstein. From the north the section Wernigerode to Drei-Annen-Hohne was completed on 20 June 1898. The remaining section between Drei-Annen-Hohne and Benneckenstein was finally opened on 27 March 1899 along with the line up to the

, the highest peak in the Harz mountains. The original operating company was the

Nordhausen-Wernigerode Railway Company The Nordhausen-Wernigerode Railway Company (''Nordhausen-Wernigeroder Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'') or ''NWE'' was the second railway company to be founded in the Harz mountains in Germany, after the Gernrode-Harzgerode Railway Company (''Gernroder-H ...

. After the compulsory acquisition of the line in 1949, the

East German Deutsche Reichsbahn The Deutsche Reichsbahn or DR ''(German Reich Railways)'' was the operating name of state owned railways in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), and after German reunification until 1 January 1994. In 1949, occupied Germany's railwa ...

ran it until 1993. From 1899 the Trans-Harz Railway crossed another

metre gauge Metre-gauge railways are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. The metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by European colonial powers, such as the French, British and German Empires. In Europe, la ...

line at Sorge. This other line was operated by the South Harz Railway Company (SHE) and ran from

Walkenried Walkenried () is a municipality in the district of Göttingen, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the southern Harz, approx. 15 km south of Braunlage, and 15 km northwest of Nordhausen. Walkenried was the seat of the ''Samtgem ...

via Brunnenbachsmühle and Sorge to Tanne. A link line, initially just for passenger trains, was laid in 1913. In 1945 services between Sorge and Brunnenbachsmühle were closed, because this section crossed the

Inner German Border The inner German border (german: Innerdeutsche Grenze or ; initially also ) was the border between the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West Germany) from 1949 to 1990. Not including the ...

. The section from Sorge to Tanne continued to be worked until 1958. The tracks were left on the border bridge until the

fall of the Berlin Wall The fall of the Berlin Wall (german: Mauerfall) on 9 November 1989, during the Peaceful Revolution, was a pivotal event in world history which marked the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain and one of the series of eve ...

in 1989.

Operations

Railway traffic has sharply increased in recent years on the section between Nordhausen and Ilfeld. Since 2004 Nordhausen hybrid-trams have run directly from Ilfeld into the tram network at Nordhausen. Other trains run to Eisfelder Talmühle and continue onto the Selke Valley Railway. Apart from one pair of steam trains, all services are worked by diesel

railbus A railbus is a lightweight passenger railcar that shares many aspects of its construction with a bus, typically having a bus (original or modified) body and four wheels on a fixed base, instead of on bogies. Originally designed and developed ...

es. The only remaining goods trains on the Harz Narrow Gauge Railways work the line between Nordhausen and Eisfelder Talmühle. These regularly transport standard gauge ballast wagons from the ''Hartsteinwerken Unterberg'' on

rollbock ''Rollbocks'', sometimes called transporter trailers, are narrow gauge railway trucks or bogies that allow a standard gauge wagon to 'piggyback' on a narrow-gauge line. The Vevey system enables a coupled train of standard gauge wagons to be autom ...

s to Nordhausen. A number of converted

diesel locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...

s are available for this, which have

couplers Coupler may refer to: Engineering Mechanical * Railway coupler, a mechanism for connecting rolling stock in a train device ** Janney coupler ** SA3 coupler ** Scharfenberg coupler for multiple unit passenger cars * Quick coupler, used in constru ...

and buffers at the right height for handling standard gauge

goods wagons Goods wagons or freight wagons (North America: freight cars), also known as goods carriages, goods trucks, freight carriages or freight trucks, are unpowered railway vehicles that are used for the transportation of cargo. A variety of wagon type ...

.Veröffentlichung der Interessengemeinschaft Harzer Schmalspurbahnen
After 1993 daily trains services between Eisfelder Talmühle and Drei-Annen-Hohne were restricted to four pairs of trains. Only two pairs were hauled by

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

s. In addition, between Drei Annen Hohne and Wernigerode through trains run on the Brocken–Wernigerode route, the majority being steam-hauled.

Gallery

File:Nordhausen Bahnhof HSB.JPG, The station building at Nordhausen Nord File:199 872-3 am 16.08.2007 in Eisfelder Talmühle.jpg , No. 199 872-3 in Eisfelder Talmühle File:Eisfelder Talmuehle 99 7245.jpg, No. 99 7245 in Eisfelder Talmühle File:BenneckensteinBahnhof.jpg,

station File:Haltepunkt Sorge.jpg, No. 99 7236 at Sorge halt File:99 222 kurz vor Hp Sorge.jpg, 99 222 (''

Einheitsdampflokomotive The Einheitsdampflokomotiven ("standard steam locomotives"), sometimes shortened to ''Einheitslokomotiven'' or ''Einheitsloks'', were the standardized steam locomotives built in Germany after 1925 under the direction of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gese ...

'') File:Bahnhof Elend.jpg, Elend station with a railbus File:QuerbahnSteinerneRenne.jpg, Steinerne Renne station File:Harz Train.jpg, File:The Harz Train.jpg,

References

Sources

* ''Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland – Ausgabe 2005/2006''. Schweers + Wall, Aachen 2005, *

Film

* SWR: ''

Eisenbahn-Romantik Eisenbahn-Romantik (literally: "railway romance") is a German television programme, broadcast by SWR. It portrays railway-related reports, whose content covers modern railway systems, museum railways and their facilities as well as items on mode ...

– Die Harzquerbahn'' (Folge 327)

External links

Harzer Schmalspurbahnen GmbH

Interessengemeinschaft Harzer Schmalspurbahnen

{{Authority control Railway lines in Saxony-Anhalt Railway lines in Thuringia Railway lines opened in 1897 1897 establishments in Germany Transport in the Harz Buildings and structures in Nordhausen (district) Metre gauge railways in Germany