"Western-Kurier" to the Westerntage in Haselbach

26th Westerntage in Haselbach/Thuringia - Westerntage Haselbach: idea, vision, experience

Shortly after the Kohlebahn narrow-gauge railway opened in 1996, a few members of the Kohlebahnen e.V. association started looking for ways to put the line on the map. The railway runs through a coal-mining industrial region that nobody associated with tourism. After much deliberation, a spectacular train robbery seemed like the idea that could draw visitors beyond the usual museum crowd. Train robberies are rare in Europe - but on the Wild West frontier they were a regular occurrence. The question was how to package the concept.

The idea grew into a vision. To stage a proper Wild West train heist, you need the right setting. That was the birth of the western town in Haselbach and a day dedicated entirely to the theme of the Wild West.

28 August 1999 marked the launch of what has become an ongoing annual event. One train, three fully booked runs, a single Saturday - everything bare-bones and largely improvised, but with visitors for whom a Wild West outfit was practically mandatory. The first step had been taken. After that successful start, the question was never whether to continue, but how.

Something new was added every year. The western town in Haselbach expanded, the programme along the route grew richer, more train runs were added, additional locomotives were brought in, and the event stretched from two days (Saturday and Sunday) to three, with a Friday evening opening. Growth always brings setbacks, of course. But the organizers around Kohlebahnen e.V. never gave up.

Today, around 180 volunteers from the region - all unpaid - run an event with a remarkably broad programme, and they are proud of it.