HSB is quite well, but dieselisation is growing, most suburb trains from Nordhausen to Ilfeld are
railcars also some in the Selke Valley. Steam domain it Wernigerode - Brocken and Alexisbad- Gernrode (with 0-4-4-0 Mallet) Had the last ride 3 weeks ago with 4 ft of snow on the Brocken and about -35 degrees Fahrenheit. Was real nice but I needed a lot of "antifreezer"
" />). As I travel by train no problem.
I did not think they will not operate the Selke and Gernrode branch within 10 years because traffic is very poor. The only chance is a "living museum". The communities, hotels and restaurants will support this with donations to the RR since most of the tourists will visit this region only for the steam trains.
Steffen