The 1948 Show - To the Harz

Memories of travels in the Eastern bloc, where it was always 1948

Back to Quedlinburg 

Day 3  Saturday, 21st April 1984

After a journey that started in London at 19.30 on Thursday Jim and Mark arrived in Quedlinburg at 21.30 on Friday night.

Despite the long journey, we were keen to get going and made an early start, on the 07.39 train back to Halberstadt, where we saw a class 50 steam loco on a freight.

(If you are wondering why we went to Quedlinburg in the first place, western visitors were only allowed to stay in approved accommodation. Quedlinburg had an approved hotel, which Halberstadt did not).

Wernigerode - train for Nordhausen through the Harz mountains

Then it was on to Wernigerode, starting point for the extensive narrow-guage system running through the Harz mountains. The system still operates today and carries many thousands of tourists and railway enthusiasts, but in 1984 it was largely unknown in the west and functioned mainly as a local transport system, which only added to its charm.
Our destination was Nordhausen - a three-hour ride away through superb scenery, which my diary describes as "very memorable" (!)

Through the Harz mountains en-route to Nordhausen

First stop was Drei Annen Hohe. Today this is probably the busiest station on the system, with a huge park and ride site catering for passengers keen to ride to the summit of the Brocken mountain on the branch line.  In 1984 there was no passenger service to the summit, although the line was used to supply a Russian military intelligence listening post. Passengers could only travel as far as the village of Schierke, although as this was in a sensitive area the trains could only be used by local residents and others in possession of a pass, which we didn't have.  I did manage to get to the summit after re-unification in the early 1990s when the passenger service to the top re-started.

Our train at Drei Annen Hohe. Junction for Stiege and the Brocken

The diary doesn't record a stop at Eisfelde Talmuhle, but given the number of photos I took there we must have been there some time. It was the junction for another long stretch of narrow-guage track that eventually led back to Quedlinburg. The rest of the photos of the Harz system can be seen via this link.

Approaching Eisfelde Talmuhle

After a three-hour journey we had a four-minute connection at Nordhausen, which we made, although our 8 minute connection at Halle was missed, due to the 14.15 express to Leipzig having been retimed to 14.10!  Here, Mark's "Kursbuch" (timetable) came in handy and we followed on the 14.34 stopper. We can't have been able to get much to eat or drink during the day as the diary records "a distinct lack of 'schnell imbiss' facilities" at DR stations (compared to the west).

Neither were station restuarants renowned for quick service, although we did manage to get a drink and a meal in two separate restaurants at Leipzig during our 35-minute stop there. 

The DDR authorities were reasonably relaxed about railway photography (unlike the Poles) but Mark did get "shouted at" (by whom?) for taking this photo at Leipzig station. (Note the lack of retail outlets and advertising hoardings that even in those days would have been present in a station in western Europe.

Leipzig Hauptbahnhof. The largest in Europe.

One memory recorded in the diary on the 16.05 train to Dresden was of a bride-and-groom obviously travelling from their wedding and presumably on their honeymoon with the bride still wearing her full wedding dress. (I didn't dare request a photo).
After checking in at our hotel we caught a tram out to the suburb of Weisses Ross to a spot where the steam railway line crossed the electrified tram line on the level. If I did get a photo it hasn't yet come to light but I do recall a policeman. He wasn't interested in us but he stopped everyone riding a moped or motor-bike and checked their papers. One of Mark's photos does, however, capture the scene.

Tram/train crossing at Weisses Ross in the Dresden suburbs. (c) Mark Doran

Apparently, we "managed to have an evening out (i.e. find some pubs) in Dresden, but only just"