Achtermann

Goslar was a very important medieval city, and as a result of that, it had huge walls with lots of towers. Most of that is gone now, but some remain, like the tower "Achtermann". Partly in this tower but mostly next to it is the hotel "Der Achtermann", the largest hotel and the only good venue for larger events. Still, one could say that it could be better…

Right next to the hotel is the railway line (technically Goslar-Vienenburg). A Regional Express train from Bad Harzburg to Hannover is entering Goslar station here, with classic 1970s material: Type n carriages (commonly known as "Silberlinge") with a cab car type "Karlsruhe", pushed by a class 218 (not visible). Horribly loud, doors that are difficult to open, no air conditioning (you can open the windows, but that only makes the trains louder), no accessibility, their only saving grace is… well, to be frank, I can't think of any.

Their days are finally officially numbered, though: This line is part of the "Dieselnetz Niedersachsen Süd-Ost" (diesel network lower saxony south-east) or DINSO for short, part 2 (of 2), and the franchise agreement for this part has just been tendered, with the new (or possibly old) operator to start running trains in december 2014. The old trains will be inadmissible then; instead, the operator will use new Alstom LINT 54 DMUs in multiple (I hope they use three instead of just two), which have already been ordered and will be provided to the operator by the lower-saxon regional traffic authority LNVG.