Photo: Harz_map.png: Bamse derivative work: Liesel (talk) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The Harz Narrow Gauge Railways (German: Harzer Schmalspurbahnen or HSB) is a railway company that operates a 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge network in the Harz mountains, in central Germany (formerly East Germany). The company was formed after the fall of the Berlin Wall when the network, operated then by the Deutsche Reichsbahn, was privatised. It owns about 140 kilometres (87 miles)) of track, connecting the principal towns of Wernigerode, Nordhausen and Quedlinburg and several smaller settlements in the area. Much of the network is steeply graded and picturesque, but its most popular destination is the Brocken, the highest mountain in the region. The company runs a significant number of its trains with steam haulage, mostly employing 1950s vintage 2-10-2 tank locomotives, hauling traditional open-platform bogie carriages. The company is mainly owned by the various local authorities whose territories it serves.
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