Greetings all,

I'm afraid that there's still no modelling to report on, but by way of an update, here are some images taken on the Harz narrow gauge system last weekend, on the occasion of a holiday in that part of Germany. We had a trip on the section of line on the Brocken (the highest mountain in northern Germany). The whole narrow gauge scene there in the Harz Mountains is quite superb.

Waiting departure from Drei Annen Hohne:

Old fashioned railcar forming a regular service train, waiting to cross a steam service at Drei Annen Hohne:

Our loco running round at Drei Annen Hohne:

Watering activity:

On the way up the Brocken. These 2-10-2Ts are superb locos. The gradient is unremitting and it coped with the load of 8 coaches effortlessly:

There's a conventionally laid-out crossing loop at Schierke, about 1/3 of the way up the line, but the next crossing place further up consists of a refuge siding, controlled by a manned ground frame (the line is also signalled with colour lights). The method of working here is for the train running down the mountain to run straight into the refuge siding and wait the passage of the up train, which runs by non-stop. Once the up train has cleared a certain point, the ground frame operator/signalman changes the points and authorises the down train to reverse out of the refuge siding, and proceed on down the mountain. Here we are on the up journey, passing a down train waiting in the refuge siding:

By the time we had got to the top of the mountain, the weather was very different. It was very cold with a lot of snow still lying on the ground:

Back down at Drei Annen Hohne, I found a vintage train in the bay platform, with this rather nice Mallett loco at the head of it:

All in all, a very interesting time. The whole network is operated as a commercial operation by the company HSB (Harz Schmalspur Bahnen - Harz Narrow Gauge Railways - http://www.hsb-wr.de/startseite/ ), and the total network (consisting of three separate, but connected lines) is 140 km in length. It certainly merits a return visit!

On a different note, I retire today from Network Rail.