Back in the DDR Day 2

Yesterday saw us travelling through the night on the Ost West Express towards the East German border...

Saturday 13th April 1985
Despite the obvious drama of arriving at the "Iron Curtain" by train in the early hours of the morning I have no recollection whatsoever of entering the DDR. I have an almost photographic memory of the same process  twelve months earlier at the same staton, but perhaps because it was no longer "novel" I've put our experience on this trip out of my mind.

The railway timetable suggests that we would have arrived at Marienborn at 04.23. We certainly would have left the train there, because after crossing the frontier all international trains ran non-stop to West Berlin. Even important places such as Magdeburg were not served, to prevent the possibility of anyone boarding the train there to travel illegally to the West. We did go to Magbeburg, because Bob has in his possession a train ticket from there to the town of Thale, but we must have changed at Marienborn and, after completing immigration, customs and the compulsory money-exchange, continued on a local train.

I've wondered since why we went to Thale, as it had no obvious "railway" interest. But Mark, who as a London-based British Rail employee was in the best position to make the arrangements, felt that he ought to include a few items on the itinerary that were of wider interest than just old railway engines!

Thale is situated in the Bode Gorge and overlooked by the Harz Mountains including a hilltop plateau known locally as the Hexentanzplatz, or "Witches' Dancefloor". There is a cable car from the town that rises by 183m to the summit, which we decided to sample. Once aboard however we started to have second thoughts, brought about by the flimsy construction of the ride and the rather strong crosswind that was blowing.  We asked the only other passenger, a young schoolboy, how long the journey lasted and he replied with Teutonic precision "Four Minutes and Twelve Seconds!"

A view from our rather hairy cable car ride. Note how close the cables are to the pylons!

We survived the ascent, but elected to walk back down into the valley, passing on the way the Walpurgishalle, which we found rather sinister, although Wikipedia confirms it contains nothing more than a museum with paintings of scenes from Goethe's Faust.

The rather sinister "Walpurgishalle"

Thale, however, wasn't completely devoid of transport interest and the bus station contained a few examples of these marvellous Hungarian-built "Ikarus" buses.

One of the wonderful Ikarus buses used on rural and interurban services in the DDR. (This is a rear view, by the way)

From Thale we must have made our way to Wernigerode. Quite how we got there and what we did on the way is lost in the mists of time, but the following photo shows we must have been there by 19.06hrs.

The digital clock looking out-of-place in Wernigerode.

The DDR authorities were conscious of the contrast between the DDR and the richer and more technologically advanced Federal Republic next door. They made every effort to show that they too could do "progress", but often lacked the finesse of their neighbour. Digital clocks and watches were all the rage in the West in 1985 but this example in Wernigerode seemed embarassingly out of place amidst the mediaeval architecture of the town.

By 19.06 on a Saturday evening we were no doubt on our way to find a pub....

Mark and Bob on their way to the pub, with me not far behind.

to be continued...