Why the Harz Narrow-Gauge Railways are not a light railway
network!
A closely interlinked railway network sprang up in
large parts of Germany around 1890. However, there was considerable backlog
demand in rural (non-industrial) areas, and in Prussia in particular. Seeing as
it was difficult to achieve a return on the capital invested in those regions,
simplified conditions were approved for the construction and subsequent
operation of railways in order to keep investment and running cost requirements
down.
Therefore, the Prussian state issued a law on
28th July 1892 concerning light railways and private connection
railways which was known as the "Light Railways Act". According
to this law, the "State Ministry for Public Works of the Kingdom of Prussia"
could decide which railways could be built and run as light railways. It did
not matter if the railways had standard gauges or narrow gauges.
Subsequently, both standard and narrow-gauge
railways were built. What is more, narrow-gauge railways were built both as
conventional railways and as light railways.
The three narrow-gauge railways in the Harz
region (the Gernrode - Harzgerode railway; the Nordhausen - Wernigerode
railway and the Southern Harz railway, which is no longer in operation) were
licensed to be conventional railways, in other words they
were not light railways!
Licences under the Light Railways Act were accorded
to Rügen Narrow-Gauge Railway, for example, which still operate the
Puttbus - Göhren line to this
day.
The three narrow-gauge railways in the Harz
region (the Gernrode - Harzgerode railway; the Nordhausen - Wernigerode
railway and the Southern Harz railway, which is no longer in operation) were
licensed to be conventional railways, in other words they
were not light railways!