Harzer Schmalspurbahnen GmbH (HSB)

Time for one of the big events of my trip - a visit to the Harz Mountains railway. 

Home to several honking great big 2-10-2 tank engines, this is one of those lines that railway enthusiasts are required to have on their bucket lists. I won't disagree, but it's worth doing a lot more research than I managed before a visit. 

Arriving in the late afternoon, I enjoyed watching the locos being put to bed. They are the size of a British express engine, but running on metre gauge track. Seeing a couple of vintage (I think) diesels was a bit of a surprise, but that makes sense. This railway has to run day in and day out. I'm told by people who know more than I, that it's very much part of the public transport infrastructure as well as a tourist line. 

Anyway, my trip included 114 Euros worth of three-day pass that covered two of the three lines that make up the system. A supplement is payable for the Brocken branch, which is the exciting bit up the mountain that tourists love. 

Of course, because my train was late, the HSB office had closed for the day, and I couldn't swap the travel company note for the pass. But then I wanted to get to my hotel anyway, so I satisfied myself with a few photos.  

Day two dawned, and I headed back to the office. Now, the timetable is confusing for a stupid person like me. I would assume that as the locos work out of Wernigerode, all trains would start there. But no, the Selketaltbahn line, is treated separately and I couldn't work out how it appeared on the timetable. 

No problem. Modern technology to the rescue. I simply asked ChatGPT. It advised me that I could go to the office and ask, they would be used to helping enthusiasts with just this sort of question. Logically, this makes sense. 

At the office, when it opened, the first problem was that no one behind the counter spoke any English. The second was that the queue of around ten people displeased them. The two ladies were well grumpy, so a monolingual tourist proffering a letter, in English, from a tour company, didn't go down well. After being ordered to sign a couple of times, I got my pass, but it was pretty obvious that timetable equiries were out of the question. 

Fine, I decided to grab the first train out. This was for Brocken, but I could change at Drei Annen Hohne station for a trip to Nordhausen Nord. A long run, and I like travelling by train. What could go wrong? 

The train was advertised as steam-hauled, but as it was we had the diesel. It produced plenty of clag, which makes the idea of "decarbonising" with them seem a bit odd. 

At Drei Annen Hohne, I changed for a railcar. Now, I like railcars, and these are a bit different from UK trains, so I looked forward to enjoying the scenery. 

 

Sadly, the scenery isn't that exciting. Yes, it's hilly, but either covered in pines, or pines that have fallen over. After an hour, I was getting bored. Careful examination of the timetable made me realise that I could hop off the railcar, and catch a steam-hauled train back to Wernigerode. 

Bouncing around on the open platform at the end of the train allowed me to smell the steam, and take a few photos as we rounded the bends. This was good fun, and returned me to the station in early afternoon. A little unexcited, I took a trip to the Miniature Park "Little Harz" for the rest of the day - a visit well worth the 1.2km hike to get there. 

Day three. The plan was to grab a bus to Quedlingburg, and take the train back to Wernigerode. According to ChatGPT, I could taken the 8:57 bus, and meet the train with half an hour to spare. 

Except that on Saturday, there is a 7:57 bus (too early when breakfast starts at 7:30) and a 9:57 bus, which gets you to the station in time to miss the train by 20 minues.

"Good spot" says ChatGPT when I find this out - at the bus station. My response is not suitable for a family blog...

So, another plan. Since the weather was a bit drizzly, I started with a stroll to the workshop. I thought this was a railway museum, it isn't, it's just the chance to spend 7 Euros to go up to a viewing gallery over the cleanest workshop you have ever seen. 

 

Interesting, and along the way, I did take the chance to join the other middle-aged men with cameras and photograph trains from an overbridge just outside of the station. 

And this is the essential truth - steam railways like this are more fun to watch, and photograph than ride on. 

Workshop visited, it was back to the station for a steam-hauled trip to Drei Annen Hohne. On arrival, it turned out there were two locos waiting in the loops, so I jumped off and took photos in the drizzle. 

 

This was all very exciting, except that it meant I'd be trapped on the station for around 90 minutes, with only the gift shop/ticket office and cafe to entertain me. There's pretty much nothing there apart from a outdoor BBQ stand a few minutes walk away. 

No problem, it was lunchtime, and this being Germany, some sausage bap was on offer from the cafe. I ordered a small beer at the same time, and then nearly came unstuck. Cash is king in parts of the country, including this one. I had enough for the sausage, but the beer? There was an uncomfortable moment as I scrabbled around in my pockets for enough coins to cover the bill, as the lady glared at me as she'd uncapped the beer. I had enough, just, but was a little annoyed, as I could see a card reader on the counter behind her. If they took cards, I'd have had some cake too...

Eventually, the wait was over, and this time I decided that it would be more exciting to travel on the open balcony of the coach next to the steam engine. 

This is something I've not really had the chance to do before. Sadly, most of the route is downhill, so the loco wasn't working hard, but it was still a bit special, and worth being out in the wet for. 

My final destination was to be Wernigerode Westerntor station, on the edge of town. There's a sort of railway museum there, although all the rolling stock is behind stern signs telling you not to go near it!

Another souvenir shop too, where I picked up some beer for the evening. 

Finally, as I caught the train to my next stop the following day, I was able to watch the locos being prepared, well worth a look as there is a handy viewing platform to provide a good vantage point, and to corral enthusiasts and stop them wandering all over the place. 

So, what did I learn? 

• The HSB is worth a visit, but perhaps not as essential as I thought. I enjoyed it, and I'm glad I went, but wished for a lot more research before heading off. An organised tour would be a better bet I suspect as you'd have the services of an expert guide. At the very least, get your head around the timetables for both buses and trains. The staff can't help you, unless your German is very good. 
• ChatGPT is rubbish. What's the point of something providing advice when you have to double-check every single fact it spews out? Sorry James, I'm not impressed with the whole AI thing. 
• My Pixel 9 phone takes really good photos, often better than my Canon 100D DSLR. 
• Take plenty of cash. There were many occasions when cards weren't accepted, including when buying stamps!

Still, I have been, and I have done it, and it was time to move on to the next stop, Wuppertal...

You can see more of my HSB photos over on Flickr.