Lines
The network can be divided into three principal railways, which are interconnected:
- the Trans-Harz Railway, the interconnecting railway in the network, runs from Wernigerode (the network's headquarters) south to Nordhausen, the largest city in the region,
- the Brocken Railway branches off the Trans-Harz Railway at Drei Annen Hohne and runs to the top of the Brocken, and
- the Selke Valley Railway branches off the Trans-Harz Railway at Eisfelder Talmühle, and runs to Quedlinburg, with branch lines to serve Hasselfelde and Harzgerode.
The Trans-Harz Railway serves as an important link between the two main towns of Wernigerode and Nordhausen. At Nordhausen, facilities exist to mount standard gauge goods wagons on narrow gauge transporter bogies so that goods wagons from the DB network as a whole can access the HSB. At the southern end of this line, south from Ilfeld Neanderklinik, Combino dual mode electric and diesel trams on Nordhausen's line 10 make use of the line as far as the tram stop in Bahnhofplatz. A journey between Nordhausen and Wernigerode requires (in the summer 2007 timetable) a change at either Eisfelder Talmühle or Drei Annen Hohne; one trip each way per day can be made entirely by steam, a second partly by steam, while the remaining two workings are diesel railcars. There is only one steam working per day from Nordhausen.
The Brocken Railway served the Soviet listening post at the summit of the Brocken during the cold war, and for this reason it was not generally open to the public. Since the end of the cold war, this has no longer been the case. Because of the relatively short journey time from Drei Annen Hohne, and more generally from Wernigerode, as well as the steep gradients which tax the locomotive fleet and the fine views from the summit, this is the most popular route with tourists, and the service on this line is the most frequent on the network, with exclusive steam haulage.
The Selke Valley Railway has the least traffic on the network, although both of the active goods sidings on the network are on this line. The most important of these is a quarry near Eisfelder Talmühle, but there is also a link to a mill near Silberhütte with signs of recent use (as of summer 2007). This line features two branches: from Stiege to Hasselfelde, and from Alexisbad to Harzgerode. The main line reverses at Stiege, and a loop is provided so that locomotive hauled trains can reverse without having to run the locomotive round the train. Steam passenger trains over this line are more restricted (one diagram on weekdays, two at weekends in the summer 2007 timetable), working from Quedlinburg via Gernrode to Alexisbad and sometimes on to Harzgerode (one visit per day on weekdays, two at weekends) or Stiege and Hasselfelde (one visit per day). There is no scheduled steam between Stiege and Eisfelder Talmühle (summer 2007).
Read more about this topic: Harz Narrow Gauge Railways
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