Steaming down the Main Street

Being the proud holder of a Deutschland Ticket (D-ticket) for the month of June 2026 (€63.00) I am tempted to follow-up my highly enjoyable visit to the Harz Mountains with a visit to another of the splendid steam-worked narrow gauge systems in eastern Germany, and spend a couple of nights at Bad Doberan, near the Baltic Coast.

Returning for the first time in seven years (Baltic beauties-October 2019) and once again staying in the hotel with a railway station on its doorstep (Bad Doberan Stadtmitte) I am back to savour the charming 15.4km (9.6-mile) 900mm-gauge Mecklenburgische Bäderbahn, better known as the Molli (Mollibahn).

Having flexed my D-ticket to travel by S-Bahn then regional trains from Hamburg Airport, I have to pay a modest D-ticket supplement of €12.00 (£10.45) for the freedom to spend a full day travelling on the hourly services which run to the Baltic coast at Kühlungsborn West, and are powered by fleet of three 2-8-2T locos built by Orenstein & Koppel for Deutsche Reichsbahn and delivered in 1932.

This powerful trio of locos (99-2321/2/3) haul lengthy eight or nine-coach trains that appear deceptively empty in the early and latter parts of the day, but are hugely popular and well-filled for most of the day, with coach parties and school groups adding to the numbers.

In addition to this trio the Molli has two other steam locomotives, with 99-2331 being the last working example of three 0-8-0T locos acquired by the Molli from an industrial railway in 1961, and 99-2324 being the newest steam loco in Germany, having been built at Meiningen Works in 2009 as an exact replica of its 1932-built classmates.

Molli trains depart from an interchange station with DB Regional services on the southern edge of Bad Doberan before beginning their journey to the coast with the famous run through its town centre streets, then head north-west to the coast at Kühlungsborn, a place with no less than three stations on the line.

Once out of Bad Doberan the line heads through large areas of woodland and some open countryside, passing through a station called Rennbahn shortly before reaching Heiligendamm that is only open for special events taking place in nearby fields, then a stop called Steilküste west of Heiligendamm serving a caravan park and only a request stop outside of the peak summer period.

Working locos during my two days on the Molli were 99-2322 from the original 1932 trio and 99-2324, Germany’s newest steam loco, as borne out by the oval brass builder’s plate it carries that confirms it was built a remarkable 77 years after its identical-looking classmates.

This is a delightful railway to photograph, and apart from the street scenes in Bad Doberan I found a great vantage point from a foot/cycle path south-east of Heiligendamm station and another fine spot just to the west of Steilküste where it was also possible to get a panoramic shot of a distant train approaching from Kühlungsborn Ost.

For places to rest and rehydrate during a day travelling and photographing the Molli, I enjoyed a beer in the restaurant on Heiligendamm station and also spent time in an Indian restaurant called “Mantra” on the station at Kühlungsborn Mitte, where I enjoyed another dark beer called Köstritzer Schwarzbier (4.8% / €5.50).

During the summer season the hourly services will cross at an intermediate station called Heiligendamm, where the only mechanical signalling on the Molli is a pair of home semaphore signals, with the station here being one of four along the line – the others being Kühlungsborn Ost, Mitte and West – too offer a pleasant bar and restaurant.

Like the much larger Harz system, the Molli is a delightful railway to travel that is easily reached from either Berlin, or from Hamburg, as I did on my 22-24 June 2026 visit, with cheap Ryanair flights from Stansted, then travel to Bad Doberan effectively at no cost, having more than recouped the cost of my D-ticket with the time I spent travelling to and on the Harz Mountain network.

My four-hour journey from Hamburg Airport to Bad Doberan comprised a 25 minute trip aboard a S1 train to Hamburg’s very busy Hauptbahnhof (main station) then two and a half hours on an over-crowded RE1 service to Rostock and finally 20 minutes on a local RB service for Wismar as far as Bad Doberan.

For those not possessing a D-ticket, the cheapest option from Hamburg is a Mecklenburg-Vorpommern day ticket costing €25 (reductions for more than one person) then on the Molli a full-line (3-zone) return costs €19.00. This is not a day rover, but does allow breaks of journey, and for anyone contemplating multiple journeys the best deal is a weekly pass costing €35.50.

I once again stayed in the excellent Hotel Doberaner Hof, immediately adjacent to the Molli’s Stadtmitte (town centre) stop, where I paid €89.00 (£77.40) a night for bed and breakfast. Highly recommended