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To have been to the Brocken once in a lifetime is a dream for many people. ‘With the puffing Brocken railway, that would be it’ - we hear this sentence from guests time and time again.

However, the Brocken railway is just one part of the extensive network of the Harz narrow-gauge railway (HSB). With over 140 kilometres, the HSB has the longest narrow-gauge railway network in Germany. On their routes, the steam locomotives cross the Harz Mountains from Wernigerode to Nordhausen (Harzquerbahn) and from Drei Annen Hohne to the Brocken (Brockenbahn), as well as from Quedlinburg through the Selketal valley to Eisfelder Talmühle in the Harz Mountains (Selketalbahn).

The steam locomotives run daily through the Harz Mountains according to a timetable. They call at over 40 railway stations and stops in the Harz Mountains and on the Brocken.

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Admission without guided tour:
Opening hours: Tuesday & Saturday 10.30 - 16.00 hrs
Admission prices: 
Adults: €5.00,
Children (6 - 14 years): € 3.00
No pre-booking required

Guided tour of the new steam locomotive workshop 
Tuesday & Saturday: 2.00 pm (except public holidays)
Price for guided tours: 
Adults: €12.00,
Children (6 - 14 years): € 7.00
Max. Number of participants: 25

Pre-registration required at: www.hsb-wr.de or purchase in the locomotive shop on site
or order under: Tel. 03943/558 151

 

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  • Travelling on the Harz narrow-gauge railways is possible for people with limited mobility. However, it should be noted that due to the historic vehicles and carriages, aids are sometimes required for boarding and alighting.

  • Lifting devices as boarding aids are available at the following railway stations:
    - Nordhausen-North
    - Wernigerode main station
    - Drei Annen Hohne
    - Brocken station

  • Registration required
    The lifting devices are available in the summer months from May to October.
    If you would like to use them, please book at least three days in advance.
    Tel. 03943 - 55 80

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Special trips on the narrow-gauge railway are a pleasure. The HSB trains are not only on regular services but also travel through the Harz forests on a wide variety of themes.

 

It promises to be an exciting evening.

A ride on the narrow-gauge railway to the Brocken and back
Performance of ‘Faust’ in the Brocken Hall on the Brocken
A ‘Mephisto meal’ at the Brockenwirt during the interval
 

 

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The Brocken railway line has been in operation in the summer months since 1898. Due to destruction during the Second World War and the division of Germany, operation of the Brocken railway was repeatedly discontinued in whole or in part. Since 1991, the steam locomotive has once again regularly travelled to the highest peak in the Harz Mountains, the Brocken. The Harz narrow-gauge railway maintains a scheduled train service that runs daily between over 40 stations and stops. The narrow-gauge railway has 25 steam locomotives at its disposal for train services on the tourist routes through the Harz Mountains and up the Brocken.

The oldest, a Mallet locomotive from 1897, is used for special public train journeys, which are also offered by the company. Special trips with the steam locomotives are also available for groups on request.

 

With the video drone from Wernigerode & Schierke to the Brocken. Experience a flight that starts in the mayor's office of the town of Wernigerode and accompanies the Harz narrow-gauge railway on its journey to the Brocken. Along the way, you will gain insights into otherwise hidden places such as the backyard of Jüttner's bookshop. Get up close to the rehearsals of the Wernigerode Radio Youth Choir or a rapid descent on the ski jump in the Zwölfmorgental valley. Just past Wernigerode Castle and the Stone Race in the ‘Kleiner Harz’ miniature park and you are already on the Brocken plateau in the centre of the Harz National Park.

A warm invitation to a 17-minute flight that will inspire you with our Harz region.

 

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100 years of Bauhaus

In 2019, Germany celebrated 100 years of Bauhaus. The artists at the School of Design, which was founded in Weimar in 1919 and moved to Dessau in 1925, also had an influence on architecture in Wernigerode. Various institutions dedicated special events to the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus.

The Wernigerode Westerntor station of Harzer Schmalspurbahnen GmbH was opened on 1 July 1936.

Since the opening of the railway in 1899, the station was originally located at the Westerntorkreuzung crossing in front of the Eselskrug restaurant. The plans for the new station building were drawn up by the Hamburg architect and master builder Fritz Höger (1877 - 1949), who is regarded as one of the leading representatives of North German brick expressionism (for example the Chilehaus in Hamburg or the Anzeige - Hochhaus in Hanover).

The reception building is a single-storey solid plastered building with a flat clinker brick base. The attic storey is extended and has a flat dormer with a pitched roof. The boarded gable ends protrude widely and are each supported by 4 angular wooden columns. Gable windows are framed by deep niches created by a row of planks.

Above the entrance is a wide plank with the inscription ‘May trade and traffic flourish to Germany's glory, to Germany's honour Harzquer- und Brockenbahn’. The interior of the station concourse is characterised by board cladding with coloured trim and galleries on the gable ends.

The striking vehicle workshop in the immediate neighbourhood was completed as early as 1926. Today, Wernigerode Westerntor station is a highly frequented tourist boarding and alighting point for the Harz narrow-gauge railway right on the edge of the historic half-timbered old town.