Full Steam on the Brocken

The Brockenbahn is a 19 km long narrow gauge line in the Harz and part of the netw work of the Harzer Schmalspurbahnen (HSB). The route runs from Drei Annen Hohne to 543 meters, via Schierke to the top of Germany's highest mountain, the Brocken (1141 m). After the Second World War the line came just over the border in East Germany. From 1961 onwards the mountain was a military area and there were only freight trains for supplying the East German and Soviet troops. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, the line was opened again in 1991 for passenger traffic, with steam locomotives taking care of the traction as usual.