Steam train arriving at Schierke station

This steam train line has existed for 121 years. The trains still take tourists up to the top of Brocken mountain ,with 1148 m the highest elevation of the Harz mountains. The Brocken mountain has been very important and popular since the beginning of tourism in this area. The only time when it was impossible to go there was the time after the end of World War II and 1990 when the mountain was occupied by Russian and East German military. They operated radio and radar units there to spy on the west.