The Steinbergkopf provides a good viewpoint for watching and photographing trains climbing out of Wernigerode but it’s a long hard slog up from the town, particularly on the first morning of the trip.
99.7235 had just emerged from the Thumkuhlenkopf Tunnel with HSB 8931, the first steam working of the day, on 16 February 2017. Despite the slippery rails, a gradient of 33‰ (1 in 30) and a full load of eight vehicles behind the bunker, the loco made it all look easy.
We got a second view of the same train just over an hour later as it approached the summit of the Brocken, just out of shot, top right.