Throughout Germany, trains play a vital role in the movement and transportation of people and goods, intricately holding towns and cities together. But gone are the days of luxury rides on steam engine trains as they have been replaced by more high speed, modern trains… or so I thought. 

Located in the Harz Mountains in northern Germany, historic steam trains dating back to 1898 are alive and well. Considered to be Germany’s largest network of narrow-gauge railways, the principal towns of Wernigerode, Quedlinburg, as well as Nordhausen are all linked together via the Harzer Schmalspurbahnen (HSB), criss-crossing through the states of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia.