Selketalbahn

Quedlinburg – Hasselfelde

The Selketalbahn in red
as part of the HSB network

Route number (DB) :

9703

Course book section (DB) :

333

Route length:

43.3 km

Gauge :

1000 mm ( meter gauge )

Maximum slope :

40 ‰

Minimum radius :

60 m

Top speed:

50 km / h

Legend

	Standard gauge line from Magdeburg
0.26	Quedlinburg (beginning of meter gauge )	122 m
	Standard gauge line to Blankenburg
	Standard gauge line to Thale
4.88	Quedlinburg-Quarmbeck	152 m
7.39	Bad Suderode	187 m
	Standard gauge line to Frose
8.95 0.00	Gernrode	204 m
1.46	Easter pond
	Holy pond , Wellbach
5.71	Sternhaus - Haferfeld
	Wellbach
6.91	Sternhaus- Ramberg
	B 185
	B 185
10.17	Maiden jump	295 m
	Krebsbach
11.61	Wire drawing
	Friedenstalbach
13.50	Klostermühle (1888-1892)	327 m
	B 185
14.55	Alexisbad	325 m
	to Harzgerode
	Schwefelbach
	B 242
	Connection Rinkemühle II
17.70	Silberhütte / Anhalt	335 m
	On the heating plant
	Uhlenbach
18.41	Connection to Rinkemühle
21.30	Straßberg (Harz) -Glasebach	363 m
21.81	Straßberg (Harz)	363 m
	Connection to Herzogschacht
	End of the route 1946–1983
	Selke
27.03	Güntersberge	420 m
30.52	Friedrichshöhe
31.32	Albrechtshaus
	from Eisfelder Talmühle
35.71	Stairs	485 m
	Turning loop

40.38	Hasselfelde	452 m
	Connection sawmill

Alexisbad – Harzgerode

Route number (DB) :

9704

Course book section (DB) :

333

Route length:

2.9 km

Gauge :

1000 mm ( meter gauge )

Top speed:

20 km / h

Legend

	from Gernrode
0.00	Alexisbad	325 m
	to Straßberg (Harz)
	Selke
2.60	Connection brick factory
2.93	Harzgerode	400 m

Stairs – Eisfelder Talmühle

Route number (DB) :

9702

Course book section (DB) :

333

Route length:

8.6 km

Gauge :

1000 mm ( meter gauge )

Top speed:

25 km / h

Legend

	from Hasselfelde
0.00	Stairs	486 m
	to Gernrode
2.90	Birch bog	532 m
	Mosebach
6.83	Unterberg Gbf (Pauer Quarry)	385 m
7.30	Unterberg (until 1978)	382 m
	Bere , Saxony-Anhalt / Thuringia
	Harzquerbahn from Wernigerode
8.55	Eisfelder Talmühle	352 m
	Harzquerbahn to Nordhausen

Selketalbahn , Gernroder-Harzgeroder Eisenbahn and Anhaltische Harzbahn were different names for the meter- gauge narrow - gauge lines in the Lower Harz , which originally belonged to the Gernrode-Harzgeroder Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (GHE).

Today only the name Selketalbahn is used. These include the Quedlinburg - Gernrode line (since 2006) and on via Alexisbad to Hasselfelde , the Alexisbad - Harzgerode line and the Stiege - Eisfelder Talmühle connection . All of these are now owned by the Harz narrow-gauge railways . The Selke follows the route between Mägdesprung and Albrechtshaus .

history

Opening and early years

On August 7, 1887, the Gernrode – Mägdesprung line of the Gernrode-Harzgeroder Railway Company (GHE) opened after a construction period of 316 days. This makes the Selketalbahn the oldest narrow-gauge railway in the Harz. Because of the terrain and for reasons of cost, the Localbahn-Bau und Betriebs-Gesellschaft Wilhelm Hostmann & Co. from Hanover chose the track width of 1000 mm. Operation was initially started with three powerful steam locomotives, which were christened GERNRODE , HARZGERODE and SELKE . Until 1892, the route network was gradually extended to Hasselfelde. After the construction of the Stiege-Eisfelder Talmühle line, there was a connection to the Harzquerbahn of the Nordhausen-Wernigeroder Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (NWE) from July 15, 1905 . Due to the increased demand for both passenger and freight traffic, three more steam locomotives were put into service before the turn of the century, the GÜNTERSBERGE , the ALEXISBAD and the HASSELFELDE .

Development after the Second World War

Locomotive 99 6001 in Hasselfelde in front of the opening Stiege – Straßberg train on June 3, 1984

In the spring of 1946, the Selketalbahn was dismantled except for the Eisfelder Talmühle – Hasselfelde and Herzogschacht – Lindenberg sections, and almost all of the vehicle and track material was brought to the former Soviet Union as reparations . The management between Eisfelder Talmühle and Hasselfelde was transferred to the NWE on April 15, 1946.

Because of its importance for the transport of fluorspar , the reconstruction between Gernrode and Lindenberg (today Straßberg ) began in the autumn of 1946 , which dragged on until 1950 due to a lack of material. The Lindenberg – Stiege section was initially not rebuilt. In 1946 the GHE was expropriated and taken over by the Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR) on April 1, 1949 .

In 1983, the Straßberg – Stiege section was rebuilt, primarily to ensure that the new Silberhütte thermal power station was supplied with lignite from Nordhausen . On June 3, 1984, scheduled travel between Hasselfelde and Gernrode was resumed. Since then, the three Harz narrow-gauge lines (Selketalbahn, Harzquerbahn and Brockenbahn ) have once again been connected to form a network that is now 140 kilometers long. On February 1, 1993, the Harzer Schmalspurbahnen GmbH (HSB) took over the Selketalbahn from the DR in addition to the Harzquerbahn and Brockenbahn.

The route extension to Quedlinburg

On the standard-gauge railway line Quedlinburg-Gernrode-Ballenstedt-Frose , after a signal box fire in Ballenstedt, train traffic ended in Gernrode. As a result, Deutsche Bahn AG no longer saw itself in a position to operate the line economically, and a closure procedure and the closure of the Gernrode – Frose section took place . The Harz Narrow Gauge Railways took over the Quedlinburg – Gernrode section and began on April 18, 2005 at Gernrode station with the construction of the approximately 8.5 kilometers long extension of the Selketalbahn to Quedlinburg by changing the gauge to meter gauge . The route approved by the Saxony-Anhalt railway supervisory authority on February 17, 2006 was opened on March 4 with a festive event and special trains. Since at the beginning of the summer timetable on April 29, 2006, various work still had to be carried out, initially only several special trains drove. The regular passenger train service was only started on June 26, 2006. Since then, six trains have been running between Gernrode and Quedlinburg every day, two of which are steam-covered.

Route

Alexisbad station with new railcars

Steam train in Harzgerode station

Historic locomotive shed Hasselfelde with old vehicles

From Quedlinburg, the Selketalbahn track runs parallel to the standard-gauge line to Thale for a few kilometers before the newly laid narrow-gauge track turns south. This is followed by the Quedlinburg- Quarmbeck and Bad Suderode stops, which were reactivated in 2006 , before reaching Gernrode station . Now the old route of the Magdeburg-Halberstädter railway company is left in the direction of Frose and the train continues on the original Selketalbahn. Past the Osterteich stop, next to the standing water of the same name , the journey leads through the Ostergrund. Past the Heiligen Teich , the route climbs sharply via the Sternhaus-Haferfeld station and on to the Sternhaus-Ramberg station. Like the previous one, this one is located in the middle of the forest. Behind the Sternhaus-Ramberg station, the route descends into the Selke valley. This section of the route is the steepest in the entire network of the Harz narrow-gauge railways. When the station Mägdesprung the narrow valley of the Selke is achieved. The train now follows the course of the river to Alexisbad. Numerous rock breakthroughs that the railway has to pass testify to the complex construction of the route. Passing the small wire train stop , you will reach the village of Alexisbad. The train station of the same name , which is also the starting point of the section to Harzgerode, is only at the end of the small town. In the following route, the narrow-gauge railway squeezes out of the narrow Selke valley onto the Harzgerode plateau. This is where the first line of the Selketalbahn ended at the Harzgerode station .

From the Alexisbad train station, which is known for its double exit of two steam locomotives, the second line of the Selketalbahn continues through the Selketal towards Stiege, first to Silberhütte. Past smaller industrial companies, the train continues its journey via Straßberg, which has a stop in addition to the train station, to Güntersberge . Behind Güntersberge, the railway continues to gain height until the Stiege station is reached via the Friedrichshöhe and Albrechtshaus stations . The connection to the Harzquerbahn has been branching off here since 1905 . After a short journey, the train ends in Hasselfelde, which is also located on a plateau, the end point of the second GHE route.

The connecting line to the Harzquerbahn leads from Stiege station up to the highest point at 523 meters above sea level near the Birkenmoor stop and then down through the Beretal . In the Beretal, which is surrounded by high mountain walls, the railway crosses two side valleys on two large bridges before reaching the Harzquerbahn and Eisfelder Talmühle station.

Train operation

passenger traffic

The route is used daily by a steam train and railcar. According to the summer and winter timetable, there are five daily connections on the entire route in both directions, some with changes in Alexisbad and stairs as well as driving on the side branches to Harzgerode and Hasselfelde (status: timetable 2016/2017). Other trains run between Quedlinburg or Gernrode and Alexisbad. The majority of the train services are provided by railcars. While the Selketalbahn on the Quedlinburg – Gernrode section has some significance in regional traffic, the passengers on the other sections are mostly tourists, day trippers and hikers.

Since April 2010, steam trains have been running regularly on the connecting line (Stiege – Eisfelder Talmühle), after only railcars operated there from 1999 onwards. Depending on the timetable, there may be double exits in Eisfelder Talmühle and Alexisbad.

Freight transport

Today, scheduled freight trains only run on the Selketalbahn on the short section from Hartsteinwerk Unterberg to Eisfelder Talmühle station : Normal-gauge ballast wagons are regularly transported from Hartsteinwerk Unterberg to the transfer station in Nordhausen ( Harzquerbahn ). Two converted diesel locomotives of the 199.8 series are available for this, which have pulling and pushing devices for the standard-gauge freight cars at the appropriate height.

Operating facilities

The locomotive deployment points for the Selketalbahn are located in Gernrode and Nordhausen Nord. The Selketalbahn diesel multiple units are used in Nordhausen Nord. In both locomotive stations , the locomotives and railcars are serviced and the steam locomotives are heated and purged.

The vehicles of the Selketalbahn are repaired and mended like all the others of the HSB in Wernigerode-Westerntor. The central HSB depot is located there . This is where the complete examinations and all repair work - except for the main inspections - are carried out on all vehicles. For the main inspections, however, the locomotives are brought to special repair shops.

particularities

Compared to the Harzquer and Brocken Railway, the Selketalbahn has some special features:

The route leads from the northern edge of the Harz through a very varied landscape up to the plateau of the middle Harz.
The steepest sections of the Harz narrow-gauge railways are present on the Selketalbahn with an incline ratio of 1:25 (40 ‰). The Brockenbahn has the greater difference in altitude, but at 1:30 it is flatter.
While on the route Wernigerode - Brocken mainly steam locomotives of the DR standard series 99.23-24 are used, on the Selketalbahn mostly other steam locomotives are used, which today are all individual pieces ( 99 6101 and 6102 , 99 6001 and 99 5906 ). A complete list of vehicles can be found under Harz Narrow Gauge Railways .

literature

Manfred Bornemann : The Anhalt Harz Railway. History of the Gernrode - Harzgeroder Railway. Verlag H. Greinert, Clausthal-Zellerfeld 1981.
Dirk Endisch : From GHE to HSB - tradition and innovation on meter gauge tracks in the Harz Mountains. Volume 1: The Selke Valley Railway. Verlag Dirk Endisch, Stendal 2011, ISBN 978-3-936893-70-0 .

Gerhard Zieglgänsberger , Hans Röper : The Harz narrow-gauge railways. transpress Verlag , Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-613-71103-6 .

Picture gallery

Rollbock freight train in stairs (1990)

Double exit Alexisbad in the 90s

Silberhütte station

Train crossing in Friedrichshöhe

Historic GHE T 1 railcar

Web links

Commons : Selketalbahn - collection of pictures, videos and audio files