Selketalbahn

Selketalbahn is the name given to the RailGauge|1 gauge narrow gauge railway in the lower Harz mountains that originally belonged to the Gernrode-Harzgeroder-Eisenbahn AG (GHE). The Selketalbahn track passes through:

*Quedlinburg - Gernrode - Alexisbad - Harzgerode
*Alexisbad - Stiege - Hasselfelde
*Stiege - Eisfelde Talmüle. (connection to Harzquerbahn)

The track and the river Selke share a valley between Mägdesprung and Albrechtshaus, and hence the name was given to the track.

In Spring 1946, all but a small section of the Selketalbahn was dismantled and the resources were recycled and carried off to the Soviet Union. In Fall 1946, out of a need for a way to transport fluorospar, the track was rebuilt and ran until there was a short supply of fluorospar in 1950. In 1946, the GHE was expropriated and was taken over by the Deutsche Reichsbahn of the GDR in 1949. The section Lindenberg (present-day Strassberg) - Stiege was not rebuilt until 1983.

On February 1, 1993, the "Harzer Schmalspurbahnen GmbH (HSB)", which had already acquired the Harzquerbahn and the Brockenbahn, took over the Selketalbahn from the DR.

In 2006 the Selketalbahn was extended to Quedlinburg by regauging the abandoned standard gauge DB line between Gernrode and Quedlinburg. This may make the Selketalbahn more popular with tourists visiting the World Heritage Site of Quedlinburg.

The Selketalbahn is today part of the Harzer Schmalspurbahnen but is relatively unknown. It is a well-kept secret among railway enthusiasts for the following reasons:

* The stretch out of the Harznordrand is a very varied landscape up to the high levels of the middle Harz mountains.
* On the track between Wernigerode and Brocken, one-of-a-kind steam engines are used on the Selketalbahn, of which there are only 17 built.
*The Selketalbahn traverses a slope of 1:25 (4%), which is the steepest track used in the Harz mountains. The Brockenbahn traverses more elevation but does so at a shallower gradient of 1:30 (roughly 3%).
*The Stiege Station has the smallest terminal loop of any public railway. This is a balloon loop which was constructed specifically to allow heavy trains to the power station at Silberhutte from Nordhausen to continue in the direction of Silberhutte without reversing.

External links

(in German)
* [http://www.selketalbahn.de/ Freundeskreis Selketalbahn e.V.]
* [http://www.hsb-wr.de/hsb-frame-portraet.htm Portraits of the side of "Harzer Schmalspurbahnen"] or [http://www.hsb-wr.de/]
* [http://www.hsb-wr.de/graphic/stbprofi.gifProfile of the Selketalbahn]