Back in the DDR - Day 3

Yesterday saw us looking for a pub in the picturesque Harz town of Wernigerode after a hard day's travelling...

Sunday 14th April 1985

I don't recall very much about our Saturday night out in Wernigerode. DDR citizens were very careful about speaking to foreigners: they had to report all such contacts to the authorities, but sometimes, late at night, some of the younger ones were keen to talk. I thought that Wernigerode, had it been in the west, would have been a very desireable place to live, with house prices to match. Not knowing anything about housing provision in the DDR I do remember saying that back home, the demand for housing (or second-housing) in a place like Wernigerode would be astronomical and I wondered whether the same demand existed in the DDR and, if so, how it was managed, but I don't think the person I was speaking to even understood the question.

On the way to Drei Annen Höhe on the Har z Railway

The following morning we took a short trip on the narrow-guage steam railway as far as Drei Annen Höhe and back. Mark and I had done the whole of the Harz system in 1984 and we would be returning to this area at the end of the week, so we were just filling in time before the main event of the day.

The DDR had a number of narrow-guage railways that were once part of a much wider system of such lines, many of which were to be found to the south and east of Leipzig. Some that we wanted to visit carried only freight trains, which presented obvious difficulties of access. The remaining lines were also widely spread and in rural areas and Mark realised at an early stage in the planning process that it would be very difficult to visit them all if we relied on public transport.

He then had the brainwave of hiring a car, which proved to be much easier than expected being arranged through the DDR Travel Centre in London. Even more surprisingly he was able to arrange for all of us to drive it even though I have no recollection of anyone asking me to produce a driving licence or any details  for insurance!  Of course, we really wanted a Trabant - the iconic people's car of East Germany - but none were available and we had to settle for a Lada, which did at least come in a gratifying shade of 1970s Orange.

So, after our trip on the Harz line we caught a main line train to Leipzig and made our way to the Interhotel Merkur to pick up the car.  The Merkur turned out to be a 5-Star Hotel with a uniformed doorman who offered to call a porter to help with our luggage until we told him we were only there for the car. He then suggested we wait in the hotel bar while someone brought us the keys, which we did - noticing at once the very glamorous, but rather tarty, young lady eyeing us up from her bar stool.  Interhotels catered exclusively for foreign visitors and five-star hotels were intended for westerners. The Stasi - secret police - used them as a means of monitoring tourist activities and any doubts I had about the young lady's rôle vanished when I read this Wikipedia article:

The Interhotel hotels were under the control of the East German state security service, the Stasi, under the Tourist Department. The Stasi tried to monitor the activities of international tourists, by sending prostitutes to audio- and video-controlled hotel rooms

We did have a spare seat in the Lada but the Stasi didn't seem bothered about monitoring car-hiring transport enthusiasts!

Rob volunteered to drive and we set off through the streets of the city, realising after a short while that we were completely ignorant of things such as speed limits, traffic signs or the rules of the road! Nevertheless we made it to Mügeln, our first port of call on the freight-only branch from Oschatz.

Shunting at Mügeln

Although also designated "Class-99" the steam locos here were much smaller than those on the Harz. The main depot for the line was at Mügeln, but the facilities were somewhat primitive.

Re-fuelling a Class 99 at Mügeln.

We had one more line to visit that day, the line from Radebuel, in the suburbs of Dresden, to Radeburg. Mark and I had visited it in 1984 but didn't have time to ride it. In fact, given that we had the car I'm not sure we rode on it this time either but contented ourselves with a few photos from the lineside.

Linesiding at Radeburg. (I was frequently out of focus on this trip!)

As we would be visiting Dresden later in the week we spent the night in the nearby town of Meiẞen, stopping at the Goldener Lőwe.  The Golden Lion was not an Interhotel and had none of that chain's facilities (ahem!) but it did have a very nice pint of Radeburger Pils, one of the few eastern beers that came up to West German standards (and a brew that has survived to this day). The staff were also very friendly and when "last orders" was called (at about 21.30hrs) our waitress hesitated only momentarily before giving us a wink and an "oh, alright then" when we asked to double up on our last beers.

To be continued....