I have indeed Grahame, many times over the years.
My first visit was July 1991 when the Harz system, including freight, was still run by DR (Deutsche Reichsbahn) as part of the local public transport network.
The Brocken had not yet re-opened following re-unification and there was still a Russian outpost at the summit.
Steam still reigned supreme and regular parallel departures from Eisfelder Talmühle and Alexisbad were a sight to behold and clearly a source of pride amongst the loco crews!
Gernerode to Quendlingburg was still standard gauge and had a passenger service. The connection with the Nordhausen tram network probably hadn't even reached the drawing board stage
A major part of the Harz network ran in "green tunnels" through dense coniferous forest well before the beetle struck leading to the present almost post-apocalyptic landscape - but much better distant views!
Dave
Fascinating insight Dave, thank you. This was my third visit - on my first I did the main tourist thing to The Brocken from Wernigerode - no stop overnight in the town, rather part of a day as I passed through. My second I passed though from Quedlinburg to Nordhausen, taking a railbus to Alexisbad, a steam train to Eisfelder Talmühle and another railbus to Nordhausen. And on the third trip - this one - I "almost completed" the network by taking the train from Wernigerode to Eisfelder Talmühle, and on the following day revisited The Brocken with Lisa. We also had a chance to look around the town centre and found much, much more there than a mere interchange.
The regrettably very lightly used branches to Hasselfelde and Harzgerode are also worth a visit although the current timetable now means that a visit to either is almost a day's excursion in its own right.
The """Restaurant 1835"/Hotel Altora dining room, Wernigerode. Drinks and desserts delivered by train!"" was chosen as a must-do-once experience and we are glad we did it, but like Stonehenge it's a one off bucket list thing and not something we would repeat. The room was lovely, although a couple of aspects suggested that the architect who put it together hadn't actually stayed there. The staff, sadly, confirmed a previous Trip Advisor reviewer's feedback that priority was given to German guests and British visitors were offered only a lower and slower standard of table and service.
Undoubtedly the Altora's key selling point is its proximity to the railway and its railway theme. When we stayed there in 2024 the staff were fine and while I wouldn't say that the customer service was exceptional they were perfectly hospitable and generaly efficient. The only favouritism that we observed, and worked in our favour, was that in the dining room hotel guests were given priority for the window tables served by the model railway. Non-hotel residents were almost invariably ushered towards the other tables!
From Eisfelder Talmühle ... parallel trains departed towards Alexisbad and Wernigerode at 13:47, but the Alexisbad service this year is a railbus ... which drew up and waited so that it could leave in parallel. The line onward from there towards Nordhausen is rail replacement buses as present as far as Ifield, where you transfer to the tram that shares the same line.
Probably easier on a map ... taken from the table in the trains
The section from Drei Annen Hohne to Eisfelder Talmühle is very much the lesser for me to suggest to others - yes, the forests are gone and at this time of year it's a sea of purple willow herbs and skeletons of trees
I do agree with you about this section these days. Whilst the former green tunnel has largely disappeared opening up some excellent views of the Brocken it has become generally fairly featureless. On my earlier visits it was the main backbone of the network with all the stations staffed and a fairly intensive, mainly steam worked through passenger service. At least it has survived and there has been local investment in the providing the railbuses to try and maintain a public transport service of sorts. All the same one has to wonder how long it can survive.
On our last visit though the morning first morning departure from Wernigerode to Nordhausen was being bustituted due lack of train crew. This service is now normally operated by a railcar which crosses with the corresponding departure from Nordhausen at Benneckenstein where the crews swap over. The substitute from Wernigerode was a 14 seater minibus. On one day we were the only passengers however a couple of days there were two other fellow travellers. On that occasion, on reaching Benneckenstein the railcar from Nordhausen arrived with a full complement of 30 or so passengers. We didn't stop round long enough to see how they were going to manage the rest of their journey to Wernigerode with just a 14 seater minibus!
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