Steam Whistle Music Tracks Ahead Brought to you by: Rancho de Tia Rosa, three unique Mexican restaurants serving culinary delights since 1990.

Hi, I'm Spencer Christian.

On this episode of Tracks Ahead, we'll ride a historic German mountain line that wasn't reopened until after the cold war.

We'll visit a man who has realized his childhood dream, ride a narrow gauge line at a place where the geese wear pants, and meet a steel making man who also has a passion for railroading.

Let's combine yesterday and today as we visit rural Germany.

Our next visit takes us to some wildly romantic countryside, filled with mountains, hardwood and evergreen forests, quaint villages, impressive castles, and an amazing steam railroad.

Annc: Just outside a national park in north central Germany, visitors will find the lively, bustling town of Wernigerode.

With a history that goes back to the 11th century, this town was built on trade, but now welcomes large numbers of tourists.

Visitors will find the Wernigerode Castle, looking down over the village.

They will see a thriving downtown, with colorful, period shops, and an historic town hall.

But the big attraction here is a narrow gauge railway, one of the largest operating steam railway lines in Europe.

This is the home of the Harzer Schmalspurbahnen, or the Harz Narrow Gauge Railway.

There are three rail lines that make up the 140 kilometer Harz system.

Started in 1887, the Selke Valley Line is the oldest.

Running to Quedlinburg, passengers follow the Selke river, and are treated to a combination of rolling fields, hardwood forests, and rushing waters.

Next is the Trans Harz, built in 1897, and running from Wernigerode south to Nordhausen, the largest city in the region.

The final section is the Brocken railway, and as the name suggests, this line winds through the dark pine forests of the Harzer National Park, traveling to the summit of the Brocken, the highest mountain in Germany.

The narrow gauge approach in building this line helps to add to the charm of these hard working little trains.

Tobias: They decided in history to build a narrow gauge railway line because of the gradients to go uphill, and the other reason was to save money and material of course.

It was originally built to have a contact to the Harz Mountain and to the forest to get the goods out of the forest and connect it to the economy of Germany, maybe transporting goods like wood or stones or something in the ground.

The primary mission today is to transport people to the Brocken and maybe to all the other railway lines to show them how nice is the countryside.

To have a nice day for families, and to visit the Brocken.

When they go to the top of the Brocken they see a very nice countryside.

They go into the forest and have a fantastic view sometimes on the left and on the right.

And when they are on the top of the Brocken, the top of the Brocken there is no tree on top of the Brocken, they have, when the weather is good of course, they have a good view over the Harz Mountains and to the cities of the Harz.

Annc: The Brocken mountain has a very special meaning to the people of Germany.

Tobias: Because the Brocken is the highest mountain in the north of Germany.

This is very special.

And what is historically part is very special because when the two parts of Germany were departed, the wall was going through the Harz, through the Harz Mountains.

The wall was coming directly through.

And so it is a historical point.

Because also Goethe went three times to the top of the Brocken and was inspired by it's mystical character, maybe for his famous work Faust.

And so it is very famous.

And also it is very famous for its weather, for its strong weather, strong winds and a lot of snow.

Annc: While there are a few diesel electric locomotives, the main attraction here is steam.

Olaf: The railroad today owns 25team locomotives.

Seventeen of them are built in the 1950s, from 1954 to 1956.

These seventeen engines, locomotives.

Seventeen of them are built in the 1950s, from 1954 to 1956.

These seventeen engines, are about, they have about 700 horsepower, which make them the strongest European meter gauge engines.

And ten of them are still running today.

They haul all the regular passenger trains to the top of the Brocken and all over the Harzfahrbahn, which is the line from Nordhausen to Wernigerode.

And additionally to these 17 engines, the railroad owns eight historic engines.

Four are mallet engines which were part of the first equipment the railroad had in the 19th century.

Two are from 1897.

They are still running today and they are mostly used to haul special trains.

These locomotives are built as tank engines because the line is not that long that you need a extra tender to have more water and coal in.

So the coal and the water is enough to run all over the line.

And the character of the line is mostly in one direction.

It goes uphill to the top of the Brocken and then it comes down all the way.

So its very easy to run a tank engine here.

Of course it takes a lot of effort to keep these historic engines still running.

A steam locomotive mostly is a mechanical engine.

It needs only water and coal to run, but it also needs repair.

They do normal repairs every some weeks.

They have to clean out the tubes and everything.

And every four years a big overhaul has to be.

And they can do this here in workshops.

The railroad has its own workshop.

It was built in 1926 and its still in full operating condition.

It's probably the biggest narrow gauge workshop all over Germany.

The railroad owns many passenger coaches.

Its enough passenger coaches to build about ten or twelve trains of them.

And the railroad also owns a complete historic train built from ten green historic passenger coaches.

Annc: The line was closed to the public during the Cold War.

However, it was still in use during that time to carry supplies to the mountain top.

Olaf: After World War 2 the Russians were sitting on top of the Brocken.

They built a listening post because it was the highest peak on this border, in East Germany.

And so they could easily listen to all the radio traffic in western Germany.

And they were still on top of the Brocken until the Berlin Wall came down, until 1989.

Annc: Today the line is open and thriving.

Carrying over a million passengers a year, the Harz Railway is a big draw for the scenery, the mountain, and of course, the steam locomotives.

Olaf: The railroad is very unique and will probably will be very soon be the biggest steam railroad in the world.

Because today we have still many steam locomotives running in China, on industrial railroads.

But when this is finished, there is only this railroad which runs every day with this amount of steam locomotives running at the same time on such a big line like here.

Tobias: I think you have to visit us or you should visit us because we have so much different things here, what you can do.

Its not only going on trains or riding trains.

You can go on a cab, on a steam locomotives and make a cab ride.

And also you can do an education for a few days on a steam locomotive if you want to make a dream come true.

That's all what you can do here, it is all possible.

The Harz Brocken Railway line runs all year and offers many special excursions around Christmas, Easter and especially around the spring Saint Walpurgis night festival.

Little did our next man dream that when Santa brought his first train, the result would be a lifelong passion for collecting and operating.

His career as a city planner added to his love of layout design.

Annc: The word "Enthusiast" doesn't even begin to describe Peter Atonna's passion for trains - for model trains, real trains, pictures of trains - every era, every size, every facet of trains.

Peter was 9 years old when Santa brought him his first Lionel train set.

Peter: Well, my first set came in the Christmas of 1948.

It was the basic 2026 steam engine, and I ran it until I ran the wheels off of it.

I managed to repaint every single piece of Lionel I had in those days, which of course, destroyed any collector value, but who knew about collecting Lionel in 1948, 49, 50.

But actually over the years I got put back together that original set, so I have a recreation of that good 'ol Lionel 2026 set.

Annc: To Peter, taking an idea and making it real in three dimensions is thrilling.

Peter: Basically, I am trying to model a "my vision" of an Arizona type of setting, and try to create towns thematic of what a railroad in Arizona would be Annc: That takes a lot of creativity, given that Peter has five layouts!

Peter: The one that you see right behind me now is a post war layout, and it is really a small layout trying to use classic Lionel track "O" 22 switches with control panels all from the '50's.

But the big one that surrounds me is what I call my "High Rail Line," and that is the Seligman Caldwell Lines which is an imaginary railroad which runs from Seligman, Arizona diagonally through the State of Arizona to my home town of Douglas, Arizona.

Then straight behind me you will see a pre-war layout which is "O" gauge and standard gauge, and everything on that layout was made before World War II.

Basically from the middle '20's, the classic Lionel era up to the 2nd World War.

And what I have now done is started to build little diorama type layouts, so I have one of Lionel Double "O" gauge 3 rail Double "O" gauge a small little layout with pre-war houses, and a little Lionel Hudson set running.

And then, I am in the process of building a new diorama using Lionel's recently produced Best Friend of Charleston train which inspired me to do a diorama of like an 1840's, 1850's South Carolina town Annc: That's a lot of different layouts.

Why so many?

Peter: Maybe it is my background as a city planner, and a civil engineer.

I like conceptualizing layouts.

It is fun for me, and they have seemed to turned out OK Annc: Everything in his layout has turned out better than OK because of his attention to detail - not just in designing the layouts, but take close look at his buildings... Peter: I can't take a structure, and leave it as is.

The structures that are on the layouts are either scratch built, you know I take pieces and parts and put them together, or they are kit bashed where I take sections of a kit and add them to another section to make something that is unique.

Or if it is a standard basically built building then I will have to repaint it because plastic always looks like plastic, so to me the building always to have some uniqueness for the layout.

They will have to have interiors so you will notice that most of the buildings actually have interiors added to them.

Because again, I am trying to create a little world in miniature, and so it is easier to take stuff and re-do it to make it fit my vision.

Annc: When a model train enthusiasts have this much passion and interest in the hobby, they generally have way more than what comes to rest in the train room.

But thanks to his wife Mary Jane, Peter doesn't have that problem.

Peter: When we moved here and built this house Mary Jane and I had this agreement, well Mary Jane had the agreement, and I agreed to it.

And that is that you could only keep things that you could display on the shelves, or put on the layout.

So that means that even though I have added shelf or two here and there whenever I buy something new I almost have to sell something old.

So over the years I probably sold twice of what I have shown on the shelves here just to make room for the new wonderful things that I would like to have now.

Annc: Peter's love for trains dovetails with another hobby of his very beautifully: Photography.

Peter: I have always enjoyed photography, I don't know what it is, but since I even before I got my first train set I had my box camera down at the train station.

Since then I have become a typical rail fan photographer.

Where ever I travel I take my camera riding tourist railroads, and just enjoy the merging of the two hobbies.

Annc: Between the rail clubs, the train collecting, layout building and design, and rail fanning, you'd think that Peter has pretty much run this hobby dry.

But that's the beauty of "train guys".

They never run out of steam.

Like most model railroaders, Peter's layouts are undergoing constant change.

In a moment we'll meet a man whose career involves buying and operating steel mills.

But his passion for railroading goes beyond the traditional basement layout.

Before we do that, lets go to a place that was named for a German fairy tale in which geese wear pants.

It's a two foot gauge line in Pennsylvania that all started with a European connection.

Annc: When you first hear it chugging along the track, your anticipation builds as the approaching locomotive bursts into view - a five ton steam powered Shay in all its glory.

Bill: It didn't look anything like it looks now.

It took us ten years to rebuild it.

Tore it apart.

Changed the boiler, changed the cab, changed everything.

It's typical of the locomotives that we used in the lumber industry.

If you notice it has a vertical steam engine on it and a line shaft with ring and pinion gears.

This allowed it to climb steep grades and go around sharp curves.

Annc: This relic of a bygone era is enjoyed by modern day visitors because the Bauer Family painstakingly rebuilt and restored it.

And also devoted years to creating the Bucksgahuda and Western Railroad Museum.

Located in St. Mary's, Pennsylvania, this two foot gauge railroad museum preserves and operates industrial railroad equipment.

But the Shay isn't their only steam locomotive.

To get the whole picture, we go back to the beginning and meet Otto, who came all the way from Europe.

Bill: Otto is a Henschel locomotive that we bought in 1966 for $2,999 dollars.

Annc: The people who owned it wanted it preserved, and worked to make sure it got out of Germany before it was scrapped.

Bill: We brought it to the United States on the deck of a ship, went down to Philadelphia and picked it up, brought it here to St. Mary's, set it on a piece of track, and built an engine house around it.

Mike: I started taking it apart, all the running gear came off.

We had to be careful and mark where it was.

We had some pictures so we could put it back together.

We took one side off at a time, took the rods off, the side rods off to be sure that the bearings were OK and everything was clean.

And then we put it back together in the same way.

Then we had it painted and everything else and then we started to extend our track.

Bill: So one thing has lead to another.

We have about a mile and three quarters of track, we have two steam locomotives, two diesels, two gasoline engines.

So in the beginning there was Otto and it all started back in 1966.

Annc: Today the Bauer brothers are joined on the railroad by their children.

Mary Pat is a hostler for the Bucksgahuda & Western.

Mary Pat: Hostling is what you do when you fire up the steam engine and maintain them and get the fire going and take the engine up to pressure so it can run.

Ambient Sound Mary Pat: Both of my daughters and nieces and nephews, they all enjoy coming out here and working.

And as they grow older they are able to help us maintain and then add on to our railroad.

Thomas: Most people today wouldn't know how a steam engine runs and we have some ten year olds here that have run a steam engine.

The knowledge that's passed from the people that's here to the different generations, it's just amazing.

Annc: Otto has acquired some American made friends through the years.

There's Norman, named for his cantankerous behavior who was built in 1924.

Speeder, a one lung gasoline engine powered by a belt.

To change direction, the engine has to be stopped and cranked in reverse.

Joe, built in 1965, came out of a dynamite factory.

And Henry, a ten ton diesel hydraulic locomotive, is every bit as powerful as Otto.

Chugging sound.

Naming the locomotives celebrated each one's unique character.

And speaking of uniqueness, what's the origin of the railroad named Bucksgahuda and Western?

Tom: When we were growing up we'd go out to our grandmothers house, and we'd ask and aunt or an uncle, Where you going today, Uncle Jim?"

And he'd say, "I'm going to Bucksgahuda, where the geese wear pants."

And to us, that was kind of a Shangri-La, someplace special.

Western came when we first set the first steam engine out, it was facing west.

So we have the Bucksgahuda and Western Railroad.

Annc: Carrying on this proud family tradition brings out special feelings in those preserving the important part of our nation's heritage.

Mary Pat: The railroad is a change to participate and be involved with my family, to preserve history and to bring the joy of railroading to other people.

It's something that I really am pleased to be able to do.

Tom: It's a nice feeling, it's a comfort feeling that all this will be continued down to them for the future.

Music Annc: John Mellowes has liked model railroading since he was a little kid.

His layouts grew along with his interest in the hobby.

He always puts in the time to make sure things are done right, and he does most of it himself.

His current layout, the Rio Grande Summit Line is his freelance portrayal of the Denver and Rio Grande narrow gauge lines of southwest Colorado from about 1940.

It's giant, running through several rooms in the basement of his Wisconsin home.

He's almost done, but every year there's a few things he has to tweak here and there.

He began this layout when he moved into the house.

Oh, did I mention that was more than thirty years ago?

John: The mainline run is 420 feet and I have a branch line that is about 60 feet.

There are 15 locomotives on the railroad and 200 cars.

Annc: So how else could you relax when your hobby consumes so many of the waking hours you don't devote to your real job?

Well, you become a part of your own life-sized real railroad set.

Mellowes, who oversees a very successful fourth-generation private family-owned company called Charter Manufacturing really does live his dream.

Over the years, he has acquired four private rail cars, and fixed them up from top to bottom.

He uses them for pleasure, and he uses them for business.

They are the definition of elegance and class.

John: We run these cars four or five months a year and we take them to cities where we have customer concentrations.

Our plan is, pulled by Amtrak, parked in a station which they manage.

And then our sales people conduct is, pulled by Amtrak, parked in a station which they manage.

And then our sales people conduct lunches and dinners for customers in that area.

We generally limit our entertaining to eight people that we can seat at the dining room table.

These cars are all self-contained.

There are four cars, they're run in two car sets.

They have their own electric power generation system if needed.

They have their own water system, their own heating system.

It's like a complicated house, except that its operated on the railroads at up to 80 miles an hour and the vibrations tend to cause things to malfunction sometimes.

So the installation has to be very strong and very robust and our crew has to be able to make road repairs.

Annc: And the crew of two has an amazing skill set.

Not only can they repair the cars, they're also incredible chefs who prepare the meals.

Jerry: It's a unique experience.

It's very limited in the number of people across the country that have a job like this, that work on a private railcar.

Yea, we feel very fortunate.

We love it.

Annc: Is it fun?

Jeff: At times it can be.

At times it can be very stressful.

When you're going across country, not only are we doing the cooking and entertaining, we're also doing the mechanical part of it.

And we can do rolling repairs as we're going, to keep the train going across the country say if we're going out to the west coast or something.

We carry everything on board possible to keep, say our broilers working, anything mechanical with the AC systems and so, not only, that's part of our job too.

So it's unique.

Annc: Mellowes says his guests are always blown away, and he knows full well it's an experience they will never forget.

And he tries to make it as authentic as possible.

Which explains why there are no TV's or elaborate sound systems on board.

He wants the entertainment to be these cars and the countryside passing by outside the window.

He wants everyone to pay attention to the sound of the steel wheels and the quiet conversation.

They are things that have brought him joy for years, and it's a feeling he wants to share.

If you wish to follow John's example, private cars are available through a number of dealers.

That's it for this episode.

Thanks for being with us.

And please join us next time for more, Tracks Ahead.

Tracks Ahead Brought to you by Rancho de Tia Rosa, three unique Mexican restaurants serving culinary delights since 1990.

Walthers, manufacturer and supplier of model railroading products; serving the hobby since 1932.

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