Well filmed: from Australia, I went to Brocken 15 years ago, but not at the peak of winter. Enjoyable any time of year, although station staff rarely speak any English.
Why do all German non-standard gauge steam locos have the class number 99, no matter how they look, how many driving wheels they have, no matter which gauge it is? The simple answer: all other numbers had been used for standard gauge classes when that system got introduced in the 1920s. Not only were a large number of newly designed locos on the rails after the First World War, the new Weimar Constitution had made rail and navigation a subject for central legislation and administration. The former German state railways in Bavaria, Saxony, Prussia ...got merged into the Deutsche Reichsbahn. Their rolling stock and locos was analysed and compared to the new classes of locos so that it would be unproblematic to use the older ones along with the new designs for the same purpose. E.g. the famous all-purpose Prussian "P8" was now class 38... The system started with the powerful "pacifics" of class 01, then came the lighter version 03, (02 remained a project), the freight locos got the numbers between 40 and 59, there was a tender loco class 78 and so on. The great variety of so-called "Lokalbahnen" on standard gauge were then the 98s. And that was it.
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
Looks like you had a great time, definately one for the bucket list!
Just got back from the Harz. Your winter shots are great! Thanks for posting!
A most enjoyable video seeing the steam trains in some spectacular scenery and also in the suburbs.
Well filmed: from Australia, I went to Brocken 15 years ago, but not at the peak of winter. Enjoyable any time of year, although station staff rarely speak any English.
Why do all German non-standard gauge steam locos have the class number 99, no matter how they look, how many driving wheels they have, no matter which gauge it is? The simple answer: all other numbers had been used for standard gauge classes when that system got introduced in the 1920s. Not only were a large number of newly designed locos on the rails after the First World War, the new Weimar Constitution had made rail and navigation a subject for central legislation and administration. The former German state railways in Bavaria, Saxony, Prussia ...got merged into the Deutsche Reichsbahn. Their rolling stock and locos was analysed and compared to the new classes of locos so that it would be unproblematic to use the older ones along with the new designs for the same purpose. E.g. the famous all-purpose Prussian "P8" was now class 38... The system started with the powerful "pacifics" of class 01, then came the lighter version 03, (02 remained a project), the freight locos got the numbers between 40 and 59, there was a tender loco class 78 and so on. The great variety of so-called "Lokalbahnen" on standard gauge were then the 98s. And that was it.