NWE Nos. 11 to 22

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NWE Nos. 11 to 22: Mallet locomotives on the Nordhausen-Wernigerode Railway

The Nordhausen-Wernigerode Railway Company (NWE) built twelve Mallet steam locomotives for its metre-gauge line between 1897 and 1901. They were 0-4-4-0T engines, built by Arnold Jung in Jungenthal and by Mecklenburgische Maschinen- und Waggonbau AG (MWG) in Güstrow. The front two axles were in an inside frame and the rear two in an outside frame.

During World War I several of the Mallets were taken for use by military railways in France. Three of the engines built in Güstrow were among those handed over and did not return. The six remaining locomotives received new, larger boilers to boost performance.

In 1927, NWE 12 II suffered a derailment at Thumkuhlenthal and was dismantled after the wreck. In the mid-1950s, newer Neubauloks arrived on the Harz Railway, and the five Mallets on the Nordhausen–Wernigerode line were moved to the Selke Valley Railway to help with power shortages. Two of them, 99 5905 and 99 5904, were scrapped in 1975 and 1990, respectively, while the remaining three stayed in service for a time.

One of these three, 99 5903, passed inspection in 1991 but could only be used as a helper engine on the Brocken line. In 1992, two engines were fitted with suitable compressed-air braking equipment: 99 5903 first, followed by 99 5901 in 1993. They were repainted in a historic green livery with yellow decoration and returned to their former numbers as NWE 11 and NWE 13 II. 99 5901 was repainted black in 1998, and 99 5902 was converted to compressed-air brakes in 2000 and is now NWE 12 III, still in green.

Today, Harz Narrow Gauge Railways operate the three surviving Mallets—99 5901, 99 5902, and 99 5903—but none are routinely used for passenger service, and 99 5903’s certificates have expired. A closely related locomotive, 99 5906, has its rear axles mounted in an inside frame rather than the outside-frame arrangement of the NWE group.

Summary
NWE Nos. 11–22 were a dozen German Mallet locomotives built for narrow-gauge service. After wartime losses and postwar changes, only three remained in the fleet, and while they were partially restored for limited helper duties, they no longer carry regular service.