Old and new in the Harz

Newly manufactured standard gauge Alstom electric multiple units destined for Holland tested alongside heritage steam locomotives in East Germany.

THE only railway line electrified at 25kV AC in Germany – the isolated Rübelandbahn in the Harz mountains – has been used by Alstom during 2021 to test new trains destined for the Netherlands.

The 99 ICNG (Intercity Nieuwe Generatie) EMUs being built for Dutch Railways (NS) are mostly dual voltage 1.5kV DC and

25kV AC enabling them to use the HSL-Zuid high speed line between Schiphol and Breda; 20 later trains will also have 3kV DC capability to allow operation in Belgium. Alstom is building the trains in Poland at its Katowice factory but undertaking testing in Germany.

The standard gauge Rübelandbahn line was electrified at 25kV AC by East German rail operator Deutsche Reichsbahn in 1965, as an experiment to assess the use of 25kV AC rather than 15kV AC, and for many years was solely operated by Class 251 (later DB Class 171) electric locos. The line was never connected to any other electrified line and this remains the case today.

In 2006 DB decided it no longer wanted to operate the line at all (passenger services ended in 2005) and it was leased to lime producer FelsWerke which uses the route to transport lime and limestone. Freight operator HVLE runs the freight trains. After a period of diesel operation, the line’s electrification was refurbished and since 2009 freight has been electrically hauled again.

Steam returns

Prior to electrification, the Rübelandbahn had been home to some of the largest tank engines in Germany and one, 2-10-2T No. 95 027, one of 45 built in 1922-24 for the prewar Deutsche Reichsbahn and nicknamed the ‘Bergkönigin’ or Mountain Queen on the Rübelandbahn in the 1950s/60s, has been restored and pre-pandemic regularly operated heritage trains on the Blankenburg (Harz) – Rübeland part of the route. These services resumed this summer after being interrupted by Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions.

In early October, No. 95 1027 was in action and a special photo opportunity was arranged for it to pose alongside another now unique 2-10-2T, No. 99

6676, built in 1919 by Borsig for the line’s original owners the Halberstadt-Blankenburger Eisenbahn (HBE). The four Borsig‘Animal’ class 2-10-2Ts, two of which were rack fitted, were all named after large animals but numbered in the Class 95 series after nationalisation by the postwar communist government in East Germany.

‘Bergkönigin’ No. 95 1027 (right) stands next to former HBE ‘animal’ 2-10-2T, No. 99 6676, originally simply ‘Mammut’ (= Mammoth) at Rübeland on October 2, 2021. No. 99 6676 was withdrawn on June 30, 1968 but has been preserved ever since as part of the Dresden Verkehrs Museum collection. The loco has been back on the Rübelandbahn in Saxony-Anhalt since 1997.

KEVIN HOGGETT New ICNG EMU No. 3202 for Dutch state rail operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen is seen between test runs in the yard at Blankenburg (Harz) on October 2, 2021.

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