The South Harz Railway Company (german: Südharz-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft) or SHE was founded in 1897 and, on 15 August 1899, opened a 24 km long, winding and hilly,
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 ...
railway 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 ''Samtgeme ...
via
Wieda
Wieda is a village and a former municipality in the district of Göttingen, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 November 2016, it is part of the municipality Walkenried.
Wieda is on River Wieda, a tributary of Zorge in the southern part of the ...
and
Brunnenbachsmühle to
Braunlage
Braunlage () is a town and health resort in the Goslar district of Lower Saxony in Germany. Situated within the Harz mountain range, south of the Brocken massif, Braunlage's main business is tourism, particularly skiing. Nearby ski resorts inclu ...
in 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 ...
of central
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. On 1 November 1899 a 3 km extension for goods trains was opened to the
Wurmberg
Wurmberg is a municipality in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.
Geography
Wurmberg is located on the so-called Platte, a Karst mountain range in the northern Black Forest (Schwarzwald).
Municipality
The municipality Wur ...
mountain.
From 24 August 1899 an 8 km line branched off in Brunnenbachsmühle that ran through
Sorge to
Tanne. It provided a link with the
Harz Railway
The Harz Railway or Trans-Harz Railway (german: Harzquerbahn) was formerly the main line of the Harz Narrow Gauge Railways (''Harzer Schmalspurbahnen'' or ''HSB'') and runs north to south right across the Harz Mountains from Wernigerode to Nordhaus ...
operated by 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 ...
and the
Harz line run by the
Halberstadt-Blankenburg Railway. This branch was cut in 1945 by the border zone and services were interrupted.
The "main branch" was worked by passenger trains and railbuses until 30 September 1962. Goods trains stopped running on 3 August 1963; the Wurmberg line had not been worked since 1958. Its operator was the Hermann Bachstein Central Office for Branch Lines (''Centralverwaltung für Secundairbahnen Herrmann Bachstein''), which had purchased the majority of shares in the South Harz Railway Company shortly after its foundation and which was turned into a public limited company (''
GmbH'') in 1965.
Sources
* Manfred Bornemann: ''Die Südharz-Eisenbahn.'' Verlag Ed. Piepersche Druckerei, Clausthal-Zellerfeld 1981
* Gerhard Zieglgänsberger, Hans Röper: ''Die Harzer Schmalspurbahnen.'' Transpress Verlag, Stuttgart 1999,
* Wínfried Dörner: ''Die Südharz-Eisenbahn – eine Region und ihre Eisenbahn.'' Papierflieger Druck und Verlag, Clausthal-Zellerfeld 2007,
External links
*
Information about the South Harz Railway Company and the present-day cycleway1944 timetable
{{Authority control
Defunct railway companies of Germany
Railway lines in Lower Saxony
Railway lines in Saxony-Anhalt
Transport in the Harz
Goslar (district)
Metre gauge railways in Germany
Cycleways in Germany