A Very European Christmas
With the Christmas festive season well and truly on our doorstep, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you all for subscribing to A Railway Life, and starting this journey with me.
Way back in April 2009, friends from the UK were back in Melbourne for their wedding. At one of the pre, or post wedding catch-ups, the idea of German Christmas the following year was discussed over a few drinks, as there was a couple of notable birthdays coming up.
Despite these sort of enthusiastic discussions usually ending in little more than conversation, as a group of three couples (plus our then 13 year old), some effort was put in, and we actually made it happen!
The location chosen was the Harz Mountains in Central Germany, an area with a rich history of folklore and fairytales.
With Silver mines that had been in production for over a thousand years, and a fantastic metre gauge steam operated railway in regular service, what more could you ask for?
We ended up staying in the Unesco heritage listed town of Goslar, in one of the towers that once formed part of the town’s defensive walls.
Goslar town square and its wonderful Christmas Market.
It had been snowing heavily for the weeks leading up to Christmas, so the half timber, half slate clad houses were certainly something out of a fairytale, and the Christmas market was fantastic!
The Harz Mountain Railways
The Harzer Schmalspurbahnen, or HSB, is the grouping of interconnected metre gauge railways forming a 140km network. The line features regular steam hauled trains on most sections, with the exception of the line between Eisfelder Talmühle and Stiege, which is operated by railmotors. With 25 steam locomotives, the HSB is no tourist railway, it’s the real deal in the 21st century!
We travelled twice, firstly as a whole group we had an outing to The Brocken, and a day or two later, we left the ladies and our son to explore Goslar, while three of us headed to Eisfelder Talmühle for a day on the trains. Both journeys commenced from Wernigerode, where there are major locomotive facilities, and an interchange with the DB main line, an easy connection from Goslar.
The Brocken
In Goethe’s ‘Faust’, and other popular literary references, the peak of The Brocken is the site of revelry for witches on Walpurgisnacht (Walpurgis eve, April 30).
The Brockenbahn was constructed south west into the mountains as far as Drei Annen Hohne, before heading for the highest peak in this, Germany’s northernmost mountain range. Popular with hikers, even in the 1890s when the line was built, the main reason for its existence was for tourism.
Post world war II, the mountaintop was the site of GDR and Stasi radio surveillance facilities until reunification in 1989.
The day of our trip, it wasn’t snowing, but as is often the case, the mountain (and much of the surrounding country) was shrouded in thick cloud.
Fortunately, the trains are all steam heated, so cosy and warm, but with end platforms on the carriages offering a great viewing platform, a fair bit of time was spent braving the cold.
Drei Annen Hohne is a major junction station on the line, with the Trans Harz line continuing south to another junction at Eisfelder Talmühle, and onto Nordhausen.
After the steep climb from Wernigerode, our train stopped to take on water, before branching off to Schierke, and the climb to the Brocken.
Arriving at Schierke, we had a pleasant surprise, with Santa joining the train! For our mostly Aussie group, it was something to behold, and changed Christmas for us forever. Shopping centre Santas on a blistering summers day just don’t seem right anymore.
Santa in an appropriate Christmas Card setting at Schierke
Continuing on, we were passing through pine covered hillsides, the trees heavy with snow giving the impression of witches hunched over against the cold, to my imagination anyway.
After we arrived at the peak, we didn’t wander very far, the snow was as high as the train, and with virtually no visibility, we caught the returning train to Wernigerode, and visited the Christmas market.
Eisfelder Talmühle
Oiling round one of the locomotives in steam ready for its day’s work
This was more of a boys day out, we arrived in Wernigerode in plenty of time to wander around the loco depot and get some photos, before boarding our 11:55 train to Eisfelder.
Our train also required servicing before continuing its journey, which gave time to photograph a Brocken service departing in fine style, before rejoining our train.
A train bound for the Brocken departs, as our Eisfelder train takes on water.
With only a handful of passengers aside from ourselves, we had our choice of windows and end platforms to enjoy the ride. The Conductor occasionally passed through the train with snacks and drinks for sale, the local Schnapps was well appreciated!
Eisfelder has a fairly large station building including a bar / cafe as is common in parts of Germany, and is the junction with the line to Stiege, which has a regular rail motor service to Nordhausen. The south bound rail motor was at the station when we arrived, and shortly after, the Stiege service arrived, giving the opportunity to capture the three services in photos.
Three trains at Eisfelder.
Once the Nordhausen train left, our steam loco ran around the other end of the train, ready for the return to Wernigerode.
This meant that the funnel of the loco, and warm smokebox was up against the front of the first carriage, so guess where we set up!
The two lines are parallel for some distance leaving the station, and with both services timetabled to leave at the same time, it was great to be passed by, and then repass the rail motor a couple of times before both trains swung of on their separate ways. Arriving back in Drei Annen Hohne, we left the train and had a couple of beers in the station bar and watched trains arrive and depart, before catching one back to Wernigerode, and then Goslar.
Two Wernigerode trains sitting at Drei Annen Hohne, the one on the left is our train from Eisfelder.
It was an amazing trip, one I’d love to do again in winter!
Thanks again for subscribing, I hope you and your loved ones have a merry Christmas, and a safe and Happy New Year!
Regards,
Scott
How I shot Falcons Lookout
While it’s sometimes possible to just arrive beside the track, wait for a train, and off you go, I more often than not put a fair bit of planning into my photographs. (I have also stood in snow in Canada at -6 Celsius waiting and hoping for hours for little reward)!
For a few years, I’d looked across at the Melbourne to Ballarat railway line through this section near a rock face known as Falcons Lookout, wondering if brief glimpse of the Ironbark Gully Bridge might be worth trying to do something about, but wasn’t sure if it was even feasible.
After helping friends move house last year, returning from Ballarat I had the good fortune to spot a train travelling through this section, and thought yes, I’m going to be able to do something.
Planning the shot
A bit of Google Earth research showed it was just over 4km from the freeway to the railway, and digging deeper, looking at lens sizes, a 400mm zoom (which I didn’t have) was effectively the same as a 8x pair of binoculars (which I did have)!
Dragging out the binoculars, and having a practice locally as we were back in lockdown showed it was a reasonable option. All I had to do was wait for Covid restrictions to lift, an interesting train, hire a lens, and hope the weather was ok. It was a long term plan, I’d waited a couple of years already, so no rush.
Restrictions lifted, and with a few steam loco driver training runs to Ballarat planned, I looked at the train times, and where the light would be coming from to see if it was a suitable time of year for the shot using an App called PhotoPils.
A great little App, it allows you to drop a pin where you want to shoot from, and see where the light will land - it also gives sun and moon rise and set, and altitudes.
A Photopils screen shot, the arrow pointing from where I was shooting, to the bridge itself.
Next was the lens.
I started looking at lens hire. The cost of the lens I wanted to hire for a few days (and had always wanted to add to my collection) wasn’t too bad, but after a little shopping around I went and actually bought it outright the afternoon before the trip was going to run!
My lens of choice was a Canon 100-400 F4.5-5.6 IS II. It certainly gave the reach I needed, plus the flexibility of overlapping with my 24-105mm lens.
It’s a very nice piece of gear, super sharp, the only drawback being it’s rather heavy!
Shot time!
We headed out leaving plenty of time to scope out exactly where I wanted to get the best angle, and were lucky enough to have a couple of Vline passenger trains to practice on.
There was a northerly wind blowing, so pushing the smoke away from the train, but also making it a little difficult to hold everything steady.
It’s not a problem from a shake perspective, the lens and camera have fantastic image stabilisation, it was holding my composition where I wanted it - I had decided against using a tripod so I wasn’t locked into one position.
Right on time, the train appeared climbing into the flatter section of Bank Box Loop, where trains can pass, so I took a couple of shots, one of which is below.
Leaving Bank Box, the train then enters into a bushland section, before with only a little notice, crossing the bridge.
I ended up taking five photos as the train approached, crossed, and headed back into the bush, but as usual, there’s one that stands out from the others.
The Image has ended up in two magazines, Railway Digest, and as a centre spread in Newsrail.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about how I took the photo, and it’s given you some appreciation to some of the effort that goes into getting them.
Regards,
Scott
A taste of high speed travel
High speed rail lines. They’re one of the many ways that Europe differs from Australia (and there are many)! These lines link the larger cities within countries, and work is progressing on faster links between European destinations.
Prior to our first trip to Europe in 2008, the fastest I’d travelled in a train was in NSW on the XPT service from Melbourne to Sydney. And the 160kmh milestone was only for a very short portion of the journey.
After spending time in Paris, we headed south to Avignon, some 650 km away, which by the legendary TGV (Train Grande Vitesse), was covered in less than three hours!
France’s first high speed rail line, the route still uses some sections of steam era routes, obviously much improved, but the high speed sections allowed for running at up to 300kmh.
For some Australian context, Melbourne to Goulburn is 680 km, and takes almost nine hours, on the very same XPT I mentioned earlier.
To say that the trip from Paris to Avignon was enjoyable is an understatement! Aside from those brief moments when a plane takes off and lands, I’d never been so fast on the ground! And it was super smooth.
Since then, we’ve travelled on the high speed rail lines in the UK, Germany and Italy, I think the German ICE trains are the pick of the bunch, but would happily climb aboard any of them!
Not all TGV journeys are high speed for their entirety. Some routes, such as across to the Alps at Annecy use a portion of high speed line, then take to slower, more winding traditional lines.
Similarly, the line towards Strasbourg, and beyond into Germany, has some amazing 320kmh running out through the Champagne region. It then follows a river and canal twisting and turning for a portion of the journey - the next stage is being constructed to bypass this scenic section.
One of the highlights of the latest generation trains on this route is an in-carriage speedometer, where you can keep and eye on just how fast the countryside out the window is flashing past you.
Or, you can track your progress on the on train wi-fi - also great fun!
Scott.
What interests you about Railways?
Welcome to A Railway Life, a space to admire, and if you like it, chose some of my railway photography to take home with you, or gift to someone you know will enjoy it. I think most of us would have grown up with model railways as kids, and for those fortunate enough, had steam trains visit your home town.
I was lucky growing up, my home town of Bendigo was a railway hub, had frequent train services, and, during the grain season, lots of long, heavy trains heading south to ports of Melbourne and Geelong with a steep climb ahead of them.
I still have fond memories of having my bedroom windows wide open in the night, despite the mosquitos, listening to the trains climbing up to the Big Hill tunnel, the noise fading in and out, and the scent of the diesel exhaust in the air until it was quiet again.
What draws you to trains and railways?
