Expedition East

[Oldddudders]

The title, Expedition East, is unashamedly stolen from an article in European Railways magazine, circa 1963. It was by A E Durrant, I think, and told, with pictures, a tale of some risky gricing on the other side of the Iron Curtain, where steam was still thriving.

 

In the same issue was a selection of pics of narrow-gauge steam, also on the other side of that Curtain - in East Germany. In those days, for a 14-year-old, this was only slightly closer than the Moon in accessibility terms - and Man hadn’t even been there then! But I pored over these pics, and one in particular by D Trevor Rowe left an impression. It showed a mallet tank engine in front of a most impressive viaduct.The gauge was 750 mm, and the location was Hetzdorf.

 

Fast forward through leaving skool at 17, a career in British Railways, retiring to France in 2004, and being widowed in 2012. By 2015 I had another victim in my sights, and Sherry and I were married almost three years ago. Mature people tend to be slightly set in their ways, and a choice of honeymoon was by no means simple. In fact it was early last year before a chance advert in a newspaper got us thinking, then agreeing. Great Rail Journeys advertised a train ride to the former East Germany, with rides on the Harz metre gauge system, followed by a few days by the Rhein, including a cruise. It all sounded good and Sherry paid up pronto. The honeymoon proved to be both good and very bad. Not the partners - we were still speaking afterwards! - but the whole package tour ambience, which I had never previously sampled, simply wasn’t me. I am not really a people person, and being herded around with 36 others was tedious at best. There was too much willingness to take us everywhere by road coach, too, typically dumping us in some Disney-esque town for a few hours. And we didn’t get nearly as much time on those narrow-gauge trains as I had hoped. But what we did get, and a day to ourselves just reinforced it, was a real taste for the Harz system. 90 route-miles, with steam over every mile at least once a day, and over some of it very frequently. A return seemed inevitable. Encouragement from one or two knowledgeable RMwebbers helped!

 

So on a Monday morning this September we loaded the car and set off for Wernigerode. It’s about 800 miles, so we broke the journey half way, but by Tuesday afternoon we were checked in to a hotel, with views from the restaurant of the loco depot just across the road. I wandered over there that evening and took a few pics.

 

 

Here a couple of the Harz 2-10-2s sit in the evening sun. There are nearly 20 of these tiny-wheeled locos, mostly built in the '50s, but with one dating back to 1931. They are very high-performers. 

 

 

And here a sister propels ECS out of the terminus at Wernigerode. Our hotel was the building on the far left, although the fine room we had did not face the railway. 

 

 

The same propelling move heads out of town. On the far right horizon, where there are pointy things, is the reason why these locos need a bit of oomph - that is the terminus at Brocken, 1141 metres above sea level. 

 

More anon. 

 

 

[Oldddudders]

The evening meal was a farce. We booked a table for 8 p.m., but there was no wine list. Loads of other drinks, particularly beer, and perhaps wine by the glass - but no bottles listed. So we enquired, made it clear we wanted a bottle of dry white. Now the restaurant has made a feature of its railway location by having an LGB running round the room well above head height, which is nice - but also has LGB track running round two sides of the room bringing your drinks! Cool, eh? Yeah, well. So we heard the sound-equipped loco setting off, and sure enough it stopped automatically by our table. I took the nice glasses off the flat wagon, then the bottle, which felt a bit light. On inspection it was a screw-topped bottle less than a quarter full - of red wine! Unimpressed we indicated the error, and soon another bottle of wine appeared - unopened but still red! It took us two more attempts, with me going to the bar, to get a freshly opened bottle of white wine. The food was pretty good, which kinda helped.

 

Next morning we were bright and early at the station, and booked tickets to the Brocken. This is the jewel in the Harz system’s crown. As I noted in the previous picture caption, at 1141 metres ASL it is really quite high, and a major tourist attraction in good weather Within the constraints of a single-line railway the service is positively frequent, and despite 8-coach trains, they are frequently what my supervisor at Dartford used to call “bums out windows”. It hasn’t always been so. In the Cold War era, this was regarded as a high security location - no access to the public - and was clearly a listening and watching post for the military, so the present business has only really been going since the early ‘90s.

 

 

Here our loco is backing onto the train. All locos point uphill going to the Brocken, no doubt making life easier for water levels in boilers etc. 

 

 

The countryside is spectacular, very steep and largely pine-clad. Narrow-gauge railways invite sharper curvature, and the Harz does not miss out. 

 

 

Views from the top are roof-of-the-world stuff, of course. Most of this would have been West Germany in times past, so the military importance is obvious. 

 

The following day we elected to tour by car, enabling us to inspect places on the railway not so easy to reach by train. This picture is important to me. I had read about the relationship between the railways in the area and the partitioning of Germany, and what that caused. Elsewhere on RMweb, Paul RHB has an excellent model of the Süd Harz system, a railway that suffered.

 

 

In this picture my car is parked exactly where the dividing fence between the two parts of the country was erected. 20 feet to the right is the Harz railway. Bridges were demolished where the Süd Harz crossed the Harz, and that was that. Sorge station is a couple of km to the East, i.e. right, of this shot.

 

Having explored the former trackbed and snapped the bridge abutments, pics I have posted on Paul RHB's thread, we then visited one or two other locations, including Drei Anne Hohne. The name seems to come from some chap who had three Annes in his life. 

 

 

We found the buffet open at Drei Annen Hohne, so a coffee and a cake were enjoyed. Sherry looks suitably pleased!

 

To be continued.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PaulRhB]

Now the slippery slope Books, models . . . and more trips

[Oldddudders]

Now the slippery slope Books, models . . . and more trips

 

You forgot the fridge magnets!

 

[Oldddudders]

Drei Annen Hohne is a great place to watch trains at certain times, with three loaded passenger trains, all steam hauled, variously sitting taking water, running round, swapping locos and waiting the single line sections.

 

 

In times past it was also an interchange with the Rübeland Bahn, a private standard-gauge railway cutting across the Harz forest. The same railway lost out when the Süd Harz was lopped off near Sorge, as described earlier. As it was a dreary, drizzly afternoon, it seemed almost suitable weather to seek out the Rübeland station.

 

 

The evening meal was in a sumptuous hotel in the main square in Wernigerode. Hardly overloaded for custom, we benefitted from a charming waitress - and they had a wine list! If we were feeling flush on a future visit, they could be our stay for a few days.

The next day the weather had cheered up again and we set off early for Quedlinburg. The Harz NG network, this part is properly called the Selketalbahn, only arrived in recent years, in unusual circumstances. There had formerly been a standard gauge line from Quedlinburg to Frose, via Gernrode. Since reunification this had been lifted and the narrow-gauge simply replaced it on the 9 km to Gernrode. While there are plenty of examples elsewhere of standard gauge taking over former NG lines, there are rather fewer like this. Anyway, we parked the car and boarded the train after it had run round.

 

 

The Selketalbahn winds down the Selke valley, and somehow has a different character to the other parts of the Harz network, but certainly no less charming.

 

 

It took us to Alexisbad, junction for Harzgerode, where it terminated, and we had an hour to await an onward train to the junction with the line from Wernigerode at Eisfelder Talmühle. This next leg was the first ride we had had on a Harz railcar, and as I’ve always liked such vehicles it was quite enjoyable. Our vehicle is on the left. Nordhausen Nord is the southern terminus of the Harz system. 

 

 

At Stiege, where the countryside is quite open, despite being at 485 m ASL, the train reversed, although some trains go on to the terminus at Hasselfelde.

 

 

The unique feature of Stiege is a balloon loop of 60m radius, which enables trains to turn. This was installed in the DDR era, to enable freight trains from the Eisfelder Talmühle direction to an industrial siding back towards Alexisbad to run through without reversing.  I think I’d have simply put a leg across the Y junction to make it a triangle, but no doubt they had their reasons. On arrival at ET (!) we had only a few minutes to grab a coffee and pick up a northbound train back to Alexisbad. I just had time to snap the arrival of the 11.55 from Wernigerode, which was running round before making its 14.00 start back. Sherry and I had caught this service one day last year. 

 

 

 

 

Arriving back at Stiege, we chose to spend some time there, while our railcar ran to Hasselfelde and back. We rejoined and the day continued to be fun. 

Edited October 15, 2018 by Oldddudders

[Ashcombe]

 

 

 “.........The evening meal was in a sumptuous hotel in the main square in Wernigerode. Hardly overloaded for custom, we benefitted from a charming waitress - and they had a wine list! If we were feeling flush on a future visit, they could be our stay for a few days......”

 

Just for the record: the meal was my treat! But, in fairness, Ian had planned, booked and paid for the rest of the holiday!

[PaulRhB]

Ah we looked at that restaurant but the menu defeated my Driver colleague We stopped at the simpler but rather fun Italian a couple of doors down where the waiter took sympathy on my mate Alan, who was being good by not ordering a pizza, and brought him a third of theirs that they were sharing for their dinner   Rather ruined his diet!

Food was good at all the establishments we tried including one late night stop at the takeaway just by the big town wall tower by Westerntor station.

We had a very relaxing time riding trains but like you I'd like to have a few more days, plus probably a car, to allow time to be spent at stations and other locations just to watch trains go by.

[Allegheny1600]

Hello Sherry, Ian and Paul,

Fascinating pics of a simply marvellous railway, thank you.

My two German outline modelling mates have been trying to strong-arm me into going but I am fearful that I may fall too deeply in love with this line and start modelling it, at the expense of other projects of course.

Nevertheless, I am still fascinated!

[olivegreen]

Wonderful story and photos - thank you for sharing them.

 

As for the 'package tour' element, with all its herded nastiness...I shudder at the thought!

 

Mike

[PaulRhB]

I concur with Ian, tours are ok to get special trains but you tend to be herded around. We just worked out an itinerary and looked for food wherever we were. We had sausage and chips up the Brocken, takeaway and a couple of evening meals in Wernigerode, lunch at Drei Annen Hohne and raided the supermarket at Gernrode.

Doing your own thing also means you don’t rely on a guide and spend more time talking to people. My schoolboy German is 30 years ago but as long as I said English and asked them to talk slow we managed fine. I only spoke to one person in English. Basic numbers and phrases for food, beer and a smile work wonders

[Oldddudders]

Hello Sherry, Ian and Paul,

Fascinating pics of a simply marvellous railway, thank you.

My two German outline modelling mates have been trying to strong-arm me into going but I am fearful that I may fall too deeply in love with this line and start modelling it, at the expense of other projects of course.

Nevertheless, I am still fascinated!

 

There will be a little more Harz, but then I move on further east. If you aren't already a regular visitor, do try Paul's Süd Harz thread. It centres on his excellent model, but is also awash with pics and vids of the present day Harz, from several contributors. An inspiring place to while away some time!

 

My saga segments take some time to prepare, because my ADSL is glacially slow at uploading pics. 

[eastwestdivide]

Oh no, somewhere else for the long list of destinations.

 

On the package tour thing - if you book a package, it takes hardly any time and effort, whereas rolling your own holiday is a very pleasant way to spend long winter evenings. All that "research", endless hours looking at photos, flicking through maps, trying to hold six different pages open in the European timetable book... Also means you can build in a bit of flexibility for dodgy weather/lazy day/delhi belly*/whatever.

 

The only package tour I've ever done was a boat+bike tour of Holland, and with a flexible bike itinerary in the day, plus a lightly-loaded barge of captain plus mate, six Germans and me, it didn't feel like we were being herded round at all. Even with a case of all the towns being equally picturesque - "if it's Thursday this must be Delft".

 

 

 

*not sure what the German equivalent to delhi belly would be - taking a turn for the wurst?

Come to think of it, I've never had a bad meal in Germany, apart from losing a filling to a baked potato, but that was more down to the dodgy filling than the food.

[Oldddudders]

We arrived at Straßberg, and as expected crossed a steam train from Gernrode, a service I think Paul and his chums had used a few days earlier. 

 

 

Behind the lamp-post you can just make out the figure of a boy, about 12/13 years, I suppose. The guy in the light blue was our driver, but when we set off again, it was the boy who was driving. Ok, so the trains don't run fast, and the pukka driver was at his shoulder, but the line descends 100 m in the 13 km to Alexisbad, so keeping the railcar "in hand" needed some care, I would have thought. As my old boss, the Director, Financial Planning, BRB, used to say "Come the enquiry.....".

 

I had hope to add a bit more, but the uploader has gone into a loop now. Sigh. 

 

 

 

 

[PaulRhB]

We took the steam service from the Brocken to Nordhausen and returned by Railcar. At a Wernigerode Hochschule we picked up the drivers girlfriend and dog, and they all got in the cab

Mind you it used to happen over here

[roundhouse]

My other half wants to go back to the Harz particularly in the snow. Maybe winter 2019 / 20.

 

I have an invite for my Harz layout for 2020 so need to get more protype inspiration and start building it.

 

Excellent photos Ian, keep them coming

[Oldddudders]

We changed again at Alexisbad, for our next railcar back to Quedlinburg. The layout here permits simultaneous departures to the diverging routes - as it does at Eisfelder Talmühle - but neither station is as busy as Drei Annen Hohne, where the layout does not! In this pic the left line goes the few km to Harzgerode, the right hand takes you south to ET and Nordhausen.

 

 

And that was the end of our second experience of the Harz network. 

 

I have found this website invaluable in providing details and data : http://www.dampfromantik-harz.de/index.html On it you will find many track plans, gradient profiles, station pics and a map of the network of course. Not every British preserved line has admirers put so much together, I suspect. 

 

The following morning we moved on into the Erzgebirge "Iron Mountains" heading for a hotel in Marienberg, but I wanted to see a few things on the way. In my preamble to this thread I mentioned Hetzdorf and its viaduct, and by dint of some hard navigation we arrived here. 

 

 

Now I do not pretend this is the world's greatest viaduct, but it carried the main line from Leipzig to Chemnitz, and crossed over a local railway with both standard gauge and 750 mm gauge tracks, the latter running from Hetzdorf to Eppendorf. Here is the NG train awaiting departure. https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiAh-XV2IjeAhURsKQKHVumAm0QjRx6BAgBEAU&url=http%3A%2F%2F69.16.194.131%2Fprod%2FMTYzMzU0NTIz%2F17214-Ak-Bahnhof-Hetzdorf-Fl%25C3%25B6hatal-Eppendorf-Eisenbahn&psig=AOvVaw0jrlJJhD3lcT23V-5GnGE0&ust=1539701298987403

 

There was a comprehensive set of sidings, with the two gauges crossing and recrossing each other. Sadly the NG line closed in 1968, but you might like to compare that link to this shot.

 

 

The viaduct is now a walking route, the line having been diverted via a much straighter and uglier new bridge a couple of km away.

 

Google Hetzdorfer Viadukt to see more images.

 

 

 

 

[PaulRhB]

I do find it a bit strange that they’ve not used the space at the Brocken end of Drei Annen Hohne to double it for dual departures. With all the other schemes they have done its well within their capability and really only means a slight alteration to the position of a couple of points to give access to two platforms for each line.

[Welchester]

Now I do not pretend this is the world's greatest viaduct, but it carried the main line from Leipzig to Chemnitz, and crossed over a local railway with both standard gauge and 750 mm gauge tracks, the latter running from Hetzdorf to Eppendorf. Here is the NG train awaiting departure.

 

Chemnitz - a place I remember vividly from the map in my school German text book. It was known in those days as Karl-Marx-Stadt.

[olivegreen]

 

 

My saga segments take some time to prepare, because my ADSL is glacially slow at uploading pics. 

You have my deepest sympathy.  

When I moved from rural Maine-et-Loire (commune of about 400 inhabitants) to what is in broad terms 'suburban' St Malo (general area well over 50,000 inhabitants) I expected to catapult into the modern age and have an ADSL that was actually worthy of the name.

Wrong. 

The ping test shows that a carrier pigeon would probably be faster for much of the day. Uploading anything bigger than about a megawhatnot?  I set it going and take the dogs for a walk.

Mike

[Oldddudders]

I was a bit rushed finishing that last segment, and wanted to mention that as we stood on the present DB platform there was a chap watching us. He was what amounted to the signalman and we had a sort of chat. I have a few words of German, and understand a little bit. Here was his signalling panel. 

 

 

Anyway, we thanked him for his kindness and set off. When I was 14 the expression Bucket List wasn't in use, but I certainly felt I'd knocked off a key, lifelong item.

 

But I still hadn't seen the loco in the picture, which some recent research had revealed to be a Saxon IVk 0-4-4-0 mallet, and my next goal was to find one. There were 96 of them, built between 1892 and 1921, and of the dozen or more still extant I thought I knew where I'd find one at work. So we set off, initially for Eppendorf, the other end of the narrow gauge branch, where we managed to find the wherewithal for a lunch - but only in a cheap supermarket. Then we headed for Steinbach, on the preserved Preßnitztalbahn. Only a small portion of this line remains, having been rebuilt from the ground up by volunteers. The original line ran from Wolkenstein, on the standard gauge network, to Jöhstadt, close to the border with the Czech republic. Passenger services died in the mid-80s, and the freight perished soon after. So reclaiming the few kms now in use was in itself an achievement. Arriving at Steinbach we found we were well between trains, so after a bit of a mooch around we gave up and headed for the hotel, but not before snapping this iconic water tower. It is the standard backdrop to any photo taken there, because the little loco is always having a drink! 

 

 

Our hotel proved to be quite some way from the town, which we hardly saw, but was set deep in the forest, and quite delightful. We had a bit of a rest and got changed, sauntering down to the bar about 7.30, and suggested we'd like a table for 8, which was misinterpreted as being for 8 people! No, no, just 8 p.m., really - but we were told that was a bit late as the kitchen would close at 8.30! But wine they had, the food was quite good, even if the menu felt a little restricted, and we retired happy. 

 

Next day it was back to Steinbach, knowing times and deals. we hadn't been there very long before the train came in from Jöhstadt. 

 

 

At last, a Saxon IVk! This particular example was built by Richard Hartmann in 1910, being the 55th example. She ran round before sidling up to the water tower. Note how the front engine is reversed, with the cylinders to the rear, while the rear engine is conventional. And that sort of pulley on the front of the chimney? Ah, that is for the Heberlein brake, a continuous cable brake still legal on such lines, although not in common use! Google it for more.

 

 

I'd always been intrigued by the DR NG coaches, which seemed old designs, and I suspect they were. Those on the Harz are all modernised versions, with bigger windows etc., but here we had older fittings like a stove on board, beautifully restored. Gorgeous! (At this point Sherry will ask if I mean her?)

 

 

And here is our train ready to leave. 

 

 

There was quite a good load on board, and some were using the train for a day out, alighting for some sort of group social at one of the intermediate stations. Good to see such trains used by other than gricers and parents trying to entertain the bambini!

 

We didn't have long at the other end, Jöhstadt, and the facilities were a bit limited. I had, some time ago, identified online a book about the line that they apparently offered, but I never did see a shop selling such things. So on the return trip we opted for seats in the buffet car, where a very polite young man served us two sausages each and a bread roll for €2! That and a coffee left us feeling we could cope! 

 

And, lest anyone feel deprived, back at Steinbach here is the standard shot of the loco being watered prior to setting off on the next trip.

 

 

With that, we set off back to find Wolkenstein. We made it and had a bit of an afternoon tea in a cafe opposite the station. This is a most interesting place. As I said earlier, it was formerly the starting point of the Preßnitztalbahn, and the little line shared a mixed-gauge bridge over the river to gain access. Once again, much intermingling of gauges was visible in the station yards, enabling standard-gauge wagons to be loaded on narrow-gauge wheelsets and taken over the 750 mm route. Indeed, the NG passenger facility was tucked right over to one side, hard against the river, while across that water was a sheer precipice with Schloss Wolkenstein at the top. Nowadays there is a sort of railway restaurant in part of the former SG yard, formed of multiple old DB coaches. it was thriving while we were there, or at least the takeaway bit was, with many bikers parked there. But what was this we found? 

 

 

Zounds - a cardboard replica loco! Yes, really, albeit not actually cardboard. The real 1542 was built in 1899, but oddly it doesn't seem ever to have worked this line, so I'm not sure why they chose that number. Under DDR auspices, and probably DR before it, these locos were overhauled at central engineering workshops and re-allocated as necessary afterwards to whichever line need a loco. Once again, the data available about these locos is stunning. 

 

Our final excursion of the day was a disappointment. I wanted to see Niederschmiedeberg, a key location on the branch, about which I'd read much, but where what was on the ground simply failed to fit what I knew. I now know that we should have gone up over the hill to find the spot where the railway crossed the river and emerged onto a level crossing by a factory, but I missed it and that's that. 

 

 

 

[Oldddudders]

We took the steam service from the Brocken to Nordhausen and returned by Railcar. At a Wernigerode Hochschule we picked up the drivers girlfriend and dog, and they all got in the cab

Mind you it used to happen over here

 

Regrettably the Cowden tragedy a couple of decades ago was due to an unauthorised person driving a train on a single line. And of course I had written the Investment Submission for the singling of the line. The system was safe, met all the signalling principles of the time, but was not prat-proof, evidently. Hard to not feel involved. 

[PaulRhB]

but I missed it and that's that.

This time The Meyers were my first introduction to the German NG back in 1998 and I was lucky enough to get a cab ride at Zittau on 99 584 https://flickr.com/photos/25956481@N05/sets/72157607177835760

[46444]

Thanks for sharing your wonderful photos both of you. You look like your having a great time.

 

There'll be a BEMO catalogue finding its way into to your hand luggage if your not careful Ian..

[Oldddudders]

This time The Meyers were my first introduction to the German NG back in 1998 and I was lucky enough to get a cab ride at Zittau on 99 584 https://flickr.com/photos/25956481@N05/sets/72157607177835760

 

Oddly enough, 584 never saw Zittau in DDR days, but was on the Preßnitztalbahn for 5 months in 1968. 

[Oldddudders]

Thanks for sharing your wonderful photos both of you. You look like your having a great time.

 

There'll be a BEMO catalogue finding its way into to your hand luggage if your not careful Ian..

Jest not, Mark! I have already succumbed to a large pile of Tillig Harz kit, was building another baseboard yesterday. It was RMwebber Burgundy who pointed out that for the price of a Bemo mallet I could almost afford to go and see the real thing. He was kinda right, but no-one said it was either/or. Sherry reads this thread, sadly, although it will be 6th November before she can actually slap my wrist. And I did see a Bemo IVk in a showcase at the Exeter show in the Summer. Delish or what?  .