Last updated Emblem of the HarzquerbahnShare of the Nordhausen-Wernigeroder Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, issued January 1925Nordhausen Nord station
The Nordhausen-Wernigerode Railway Company (Nordhausen-Wernigeroder Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft) or NWE was the second railway company to be founded in the Harz mountains in Germany, after the Gernrode-Harzgerode Railway Company (Gernroder-Harzgeroder Eisenbahn). On 15 June 1896 the NWE was formed by the Vereinigten Eisenbahnbau- und Betriebs-Gesellschaft in Berlin, who also ran its operations. As early as 1896 the first section of this narrow gaugeHarz Railway ('Harzquerbahn') was opened, followed in 1898 by the Brocken Railway (Brockenbahn), which was also narrow gauge. On 1 April 1908, the NWE took over operations from the Vereinigten Eisenbahnbau- und Betriebsgesellschaft.
Around 1925 the NWE had about 250 employees and about 100 seasonal workers. From 1926 the NWE also ran bus routes (known as the Harzer Roller or 'Harz rollers'). Its workshop and management was located in Wernigerode.
The NWE was expropriated by a 'people's decision' and went into the Saxony-Anhalt state railways in 1948. The two routes were run by the DR from 1949. Since 1993 the Harz Narrow Gauge Railways (Harzer Schmalspurbahnen) has been the owner and operator of the Harz Railway, Brocken Railway and Selke Valley Railway.
Gerhard Zieglgänsberger, Hans Röper: Die Harzer Schmalspurbahnen: Die Selketalbahn; Die Harzquer- und Brockenbahn; Die Südharzeisenbahn. transpress Verlag, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN3-613-71103-6
Jörg Bauer: 100 Jahre Harzquer- und Brockenbahn. EK-Verlag GmbH, Freiburg 1999, ISBN3-88255-685-4
The Harz is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name Harz derives from the Middle High German word Hardt or Hart. The name Hercynia derives from a Celtic name and could refer to other mountain forests, but has also been applied to the geology of the Harz. The Brocken is the highest summit in the Harz with an elevation of 1,141.1 metres (3,744 ft) above sea level. The Wurmberg is the highest peak located entirely within the state of Lower Saxony.
The Selke Valley Railway (Selketalbahn), Gernrode-Harzgerode Railway and the Anhalt Harz Railway were different names for the metre gauge railway in the Lower Harz, Germany, originally owned by the Gernrode-Harzgerode Railway Company.
The Harz Narrow Gauge Railways is a railway company that operates a 1,000 mmmetre gauge network in the Harz mountains, in central Germany. The company was formed after the Second World War as a merger of two earlier companies. It owns about 140 kilometres of track, connecting the principal towns of Wernigerode, Nordhausen and Quedlinburg and several smaller settlements in the area. Much of the network is steeply graded and picturesque, but its most popular destination is the Brocken, the highest mountain in the region. The company runs a significant number of its trains with steam haulage, mostly employing 1950s vintage 2-10-2 tank locomotives, hauling traditional open-platform bogie carriages. The company is mainly owned by the various local authorities whose territories it serves.
The Harz Railway or Trans-Harz Railway was formerly the main line of the Harz Narrow Gauge Railways and runs north to south right across the Harz Mountains from Wernigerode to Nordhausen. However, the tourist attraction of the Brocken, the highest mountain in the Harz, is so great that the Brocken Railway is effectively the main line today. The Trans-Harz Railway joins up with the Selke Valley Railway to Quedlinburg at Eisfelder Talmühle where all trains are organised to make good connections.
The Brocken Railway is one of three tourist metre gauge railways which together with the Harz Railway and Selke Valley Railway form the Harz Narrow Gauge Railways railway network in the Harz mountain range of Germany.
The three engines of DRG Class 99.22 were standard, narrow gauge locomotives (Einheitsloks) in service with the German Reichsbahn. They had operating numbers 99 221 to 99 223.
In 1933 the Gernrode-Harzgerode Railway Company (GHE) bought this twin-axled, narrow gauge railbus from Waggonfabrik Dessau and classified it as GHE T 1 within its vehicle fleet. The vehicle remained a one-off; bus services were more important to the GHE. After the Second World War the railbus remained at Eisfelder Talmühle station and as a result evaded Russian reparation measures. In the time that followed, it was redesignated as VT 133 522, and took over the traffic on the remaining section of the Selke Valley Railway between Eisfelder Talmühle and Hasselfelde. Later it returned to duties on its home line between Gernrode and Straßberg (Harz), but was only used as a tool wagon. With its 34 seats and 10 standing places it was just too small. In 1972 it was given its present-day computerised number of 187 001 by the Deutsche Reichsbahn (GDR) in East Germany. Today the Harz Narrow Gauge Railways uses it exclusively for railway specials.
The four-axled, driving railcars NWE T 1 to 3 were intended to provide more cost-effective railway services for the Nordhausen-Wernigeroder Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft during times of low traffic demand. Only the T 1 had seats, the other two only a luggage compartment.
Harzbahn includes:
The South Harz Railway Company or SHE was founded in 1897 and, on 15 August 1899, opened a 24 km long, winding and hilly, metre gauge railway from Walkenried via Wieda and Brunnenbachsmühle to Braunlage in the Harz Mountains of central Germany. On 1 November 1899 a 3 km extension for goods trains was opened to the Wurmberg mountain.
Drei Annen Hohne is the name of a small settlement within the municipal area of Wernigerode in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.
Mägdesprung is a village in the municipality of Harzgerode in the district of Harz. It nestles in the Harz Mountains at a height of 295 m.
NWE Nos. 6 and 7, later Class 99.610, are narrow gauge tank locomotives with a C axle arrangement that belonged to the Nordhausen-Wernigerode Railway.
The Gernrode-Harzgerode Railway Company or GHE was a private railway company in Germany that operated the Selke Valley Railway. It had a junction with the network of the Nordhausen-Wernigerode Railway Company (NWE) at Eisfelder Talmühle station.
The Frose–Quedlinburg railway, also called the Balkan ("Balkans") locally, was a standard gauge branch line on the northern rim of the Harz Mountains in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. The line runs from Frose via Gernrode to Quedlinburg. It was closed in 2004. The Gernrode–Quedlinburg section was subsequently converted by the Harz Narrow Gauge Railway Company to metre gauge. Since 26 June 2006 the line has been re-opened as part of the Selke Valley Railway.
The Nordhausen-Wernigerode Railway Company incorporated twelve Mallet locomotives into its fleet as Numbers 11 to 22. In 1950 the remaining locomotives were renumbered as Class 99.590 by the Deutsche Reichsbahn.
The HK 94–100 is a series of four-axled, German Mallet locomotives with a 1,000 mm track gauge.
The NWE No. 21II, later DR 99 6001 is a narrow gauge steam locomotive that was built in 1939 for a track gauge of one metre and is still on duty with the Harz Narrow Gauge Railways (HSB) today.
Quedlinburg station is a station on the Magdeburg–Thale railway in Quedlinburg in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It was built in 1862 as a through station on the southern edge of the town. The Gothic Revival entrance building of 1862, together with the other parts of the nearly complete Gründerzeit ensemble, is heritage-protected.
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