Steam & Excursion > German Narrow Gauge Steam

In deference to Greg Scholl's excellent series on regular German steam, here is today's offering.  While regular main line steam ended in Germany well before I made my first visit, there remain several narrow gauge lines in the former DDR (East Germany) to this day. Here we see the famous double departure out of Alexisbad. Well not really. The train on the right is the service train going up the branch to Harzgerode. Our charter photo train is on the left.  This is the Harzer Schmalspurbahnen or HSB, a surviving meter gauge system in the Harz Mountains. It was privatized from the former DR in 1993. The HSB consists of three individual but connected railways and run close to the former border with West Germany. Traffic is now 100% passenger with ridership a combination of tourists and locals. The most popular route is the  Brockenbahn which as the name suggests runs to the top of the Broken mountain. That trip was forbidden in Soviet times as it was a government listening post expanded on from what the Nazi's started during WWII. Only government officials and work trains could use the route. Our second charter on the HSB was in a snowless February, 2008 organized by Steam Loco Safaris (David Rodgers). As mentioned, several other narrow gauge lines survive, three of which are in the area near Dresden...all in daily service and steam worked. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/19 03:20 by andersonb109.

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Beautiful creative image.
Bob

Excellent photo and great good fortune to have such a great sun angle.  Thanks for sharing.