Route
The South Harz line runs roughly east–west, with Northeim lying further north than Nordhausen. It runs from the Leine valley along the Rhume and the Oder (Harz) rivers with normal grades through Katlenburg-Lindau to Herzberg am Harz. From there it rises on a grade of up to 1.06% through Scharzfeld and Barbis to the former station of Osterhagen, the highest point of the line. The line falls gently and runs south of Bad Sachsa to Walkenried. To the east is the only tunnel on the line, connecting to the valley of the Zorge. Shortly after the tunnel is the border of Lower Saxony and Thuringia, the former Inner German border. From Ellrich the line follows the Zorge to Nordhausen. The Harz Railway (Harzquerbahn) runs parallel from Niedersachswerfen.
From Herzberg to Niedersachswerfen the South Harz line crosses the South Harz gypsum karst. Near Tettenborn, at Sachsenstein near Walkenried and near Woffleben there are problems with subsidence: the load-carrying capacity of the soil must be regularly controlled. During the building of the Walkenried Tunnel in 1868, the miners discovered the unstable Himmelreich cave, which made construction difficult. Three workers died during the tunnel construction, when the tunnel fell several metres.
The distance markers begin in Northeim at 88.6 km (55.1 mi) (measured from Hannover Hbf) and end in Nordhausen at 157.5 km (97.9 mi).
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“A Route of Evanescence
With a revolving Wheel—”
—Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)
“A route differs from a road not only because it is solely intended for vehicles, but also because it is merely a line that connects one point with another. A route has no meaning in itself; its meaning derives entirely from the two points that it connects. A road is a tribute to space. Every stretch of road has meaning in itself and invites us to stop. A route is the triumphant devaluation of space, which thanks to it has been reduced to a mere obstacle to human movement and a waste of time.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)
“The route through childhood is shaped by many forces, and it differs for each of us. Our biological inheritance, the temperament with which we are born, the care we receive, our family relationships, the place where we grow up, the schools we attend, the culture in which we participate, and the historical period in which we live—all these affect the paths we take through childhood and condition the remainder of our lives.”
—Robert H. Wozniak (20th century)