Berlin

[charley_17/7]

Visiting here next week - will visit the Hauptbahnhof as it is always somewhere I've wanted to visit. Can anyone make any other recommendations on bits of interesting/unusual railway, please?

Many thanks

 

[TheEscapist_]

Sort of railway related.... The Palace of Tears at Friedrichstraße. An old border crossing between East and West Berlin, very interesting. (Free)

Anhalter Bahnhof, station is mostly gone just a small bit remains. There's an s-bahn stop with the same name. Near that you can walk to the Topography of Terror (free) and Checkpoint Charlie.

 

[30907]

The overground section of the U1 from Warschauer Straße over the Oberbaumbrücke.

The semi rural tram routes from Rahnsdorf-Woltersdorf (East end of S3) and at Strausberg (S5).

Also on my to-do list Schöneiche-Rudersdorf and the 68 from Köpenick to Alt-Schmöckwitz.

And the Parkeisenbahn, if it's operating (Google should help).

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Where do you start ? - was here briefly last week - get a day pass for about ^ euro and ride the S45 circle round the city - go to Wansee / the Technology Museum at Gleisedreck (excellent) - hit the east German trams (the one from Warschauer Strasse to HBF is a good one and some has only recently been re-opened.

If you fancy a bit of grunge Berlin - the old wagon works (now an alternative place) down by Revelar Strasse is worth a look - disused works taken over by "squatters" ....

 

[Minilad]

A little trip along S-Bahn line S7 to Grunewald station and visit the Gleis 17 memorial.

This used to be a goods station which was one of the major sites for the deportation of Berlin Jews to Ghettos and later directly to Auschwitz and other camps.

It's a very moving experience to see the sheer numbers of people who left Berlin via this platform. Each days tally of deportees is shown on metal plates on the platform edge

 

[theageofthetra]

Please avoid the fake Checkpoint Charlie. Its the worst kind of tourist trap and infested with Roma pick pockets. I would try and see the fascinating GDR museum and the remaining parts of the wall. If you have plenty of time try and visit the amazing Tropical Islands- housed in a former airship hanger and the Spreewald area.

 

[Minilad]

Some of the Underground tours are fascinating too

http://berliner-unterwelten.de/guided-tours.3.1.html

They mainly start at Gesundbrunnen close to the station. With the added bonus of frequent loco hauled trains to there from Hauptbahnhof

 

[Senex]

I'd echo ChiefPlanner and recommend a trip round the Ring, which will let you see not only a huge amount of stuff of current and historic railway interest but also a great deal of urban and social interest about this fascinating city itself. And the Technology Museum is really worth a visit. If you want to get an impression of the scale of the railway works that have been undertaken in recent years, get off the S-Bahn at Westhafen, walk around a bit, and see the civil engineering involved in joining the new tunnel main lines and S-Bahn lines to the Ring in both directions. If you have the time, take a trip around the Außenring and see what the East German state did to avoid its trains having to come into West Berlin. There really is so much to see -- and that's before you even start on the marvellous museums and galleries or take a trip on the waterways. Oh, and do take a look at Goering's Luftfahrtministerium which survived the war pretty well and has been used by every government since to house various departments of state, and also at the massively ostentatious Russian Embassy, built very soon after the war.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Still a bit of semaphore signalling on the diesel tracks around the Ring - but about
to go soon by the looks of things. Sudkreuz is worth a visit (a mini HBF !)

 

[317666]

Although not railway-related, the Stasi Museum (East German secret police, nearest U-Bahn Magdalenenstraße) is well worth a visit.

If you want to travel on the U-Bahn lines which passed through the east without stopping (ghost stations), it's the U6 and U8, as well as the S-Bahn tunnel housing the S1, S2 and S25, although I can't remember the exact sections off the top of my head.

I'd strongly recommend a visit to Köpenick as well, lovely green part of the city with an 'old town' feel and plenty of tram lines, some of them still using old Soviet-era (Tatra) trams: https://www.flickr.com/photos/max_rail_photos_ii/15611270198

It's a shame you're visiting this time of the year, as the mock beach bar along the river near Hackescher Markt is great fun!

 

[Gordon]

some of them still using old Soviet (Tatra) trams: https://www.flickr.com/photos/max_rail_photos_ii/15611270198

Possibly a typo or missing word, but for the sake of accuracy should clarify that Tatra trams were built in the Czech Republic not the Soviet Union.

I do agree that the Kopenick area and its 'subset' of routes are great . I camped nearby in the mid-1990s and the routes were operated by the old DDR 4-axle trams which were a rarity elsewhere in the former DDR . At that time the Tatra KT4s were the 'horrible new stuff'!

I If you have the time, take a trip around the Außenring and see what the East German state did to avoid its trains having to come into West Berlin.

+1 for that, especially if you are into heavy freight trains.

the south side of the Aussenring carries frequent and varied heavy freight trains with a superb variety of wagons and locos



.

 

[Groningen]

Just like the Circle Line in London Berlin has the S 41 (clockwise) and S 42 (anticlockwise).

 

[gordonthemoron]

Take the s-bahn to Betriebsbahnhof Rummelsburg which has a huge depot
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
U-Pankstrasse & I think U-Siemensdamm are the two u-bahn stations built as nuclear fallout shelters

 

[317666]

Possibly a typo or missing word, but for the sake of accuracy should clarify that Tatra trams were built in the Czech Republic not the Soviet Union.

Oops, meant to say Soviet-era

On the subject of that, the U2 still has some trains of former DDR rolling stock running, and it's one of the more interesting U-Bahn lines in Berlin in any case.

 

[fandroid]

Or you can go to Wittenbergplatz U-Bahn station and be uncannily reminded of London!

 

[Gordon]

Further to the comments about the Aussenring, it's well worth taking advantage of the delayed opening of the new Brandenburg airport to spend a while on the DDR-era Schönefeld Airport station. Because it was all due for replacement the facilities and platform architecture still evokes pre-1989. Huge wide platforms, now underused, which were designed to cater for large organised holiday groups all going the same way at the same time. The advantage now being that you can use them as a place to phot the freight traffic (and various other things such as PW and ECS traffic) as well as passenger and S-Bahn stuff.





.

 

[theageofthetra]

Has it still got that old S Bahn coach bar and the burger place? How much has the airport disaster cost now? The BBC rarely mention it.

 

[Bletchleyite]

A most un-German mess-up. Amazed me it happened.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Has it still got that old S Bahn coach bar and the burger place? How much has the airport disaster cost now? The BBC rarely mention it.

The old S-Bahn snack car has dissapeared.

Or it had last week when I passed through. The airport struggles a bit to say the least - but quite well managed. Bleak station though. Poor ticket vending facilities with long waiting times unless you buy ahead / or on the airport concourse.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The station is an absolute unsafe-feeling, dirty, tumbledown disgrace. Sure, it shouldn't be in use for the airport by now, but AIUI it is remaining as a local station so is direly in need of work. The only airport station I've come across anywhere near as bad as that is Barcelona's old terminal one.

Mind you, much of the Berlin S-Bahn is in poor condition, most unlike e.g. Hamburg.

 

[theageofthetra]

Can you still get a train from the airport south to the Tropical Islands?

 

[317666]

Can you still get a train from the airport south to the Tropical Islands?

Not directly I don't think, you have to change at Königs Wusterhausen.

 

[Groningen]

Every hour:
Berlin-Schönefeld Flughafen 13:41 - Königs Wusterhausen 13:56
Königs Wusterhausen 14:11 - Brand Tropical Islands 14:26

 

[theageofthetra]

Thanks- one advantage of the old airport being open!

 

[johnnychips]

And I have to say, if rail experiences aren't the only purpose, go to Potsdam and see the Sans Souci palace and gardens. Never realised this was so close to Berlin and it's stunning. You can get a direct DB train, but the S7 S-Bahn has some interesting single track working, which you wouldn't expect on such a busy line.

 

[30907]

And I have to say, if rail experiences aren't the only purpose, go to Potsdam and see the Sans Souci palace and gardens. Never realised this was so close to Berlin and it's stunning. You can get a direct DB train, but the S7 S-Bahn has some interesting single track working, which you wouldn't expect on such a busy line.

Entirely agree. And there's the Kaiser's station at Potsdam Park Sanssouci, which is close to the Neues Palais. You need a Zones ABC ticket though.

 

[gordonthemoron]

Or you can go to Wittenbergplatz U-Bahn station and be uncannily reminded of London!

You sure can

 

[Goldfish62]

The old S-Bahn snack car has dissapeared.

Or it had last week when I passed through. The airport struggles a bit to say the least - but quite well managed. Bleak station though. Poor ticket vending facilities with long waiting times unless you buy ahead / or on the airport concourse.

Best to buy your ticket from a vending machine in Arrivals, as you say.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Hackerscher Markt S-Bahn and Alexanderplatz U-Bahn stations are fine examples of restored infrastructure.

Nordbahnhof also has interesting historical posters/freezes.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Best to buy your ticket from a vending machine in Arrivals, as you say.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Hackerscher Markt S-Bahn and Alexanderplatz U-Bahn stations are fine examples of restored infrastructure.

Nordbahnhof also has interesting historical posters/freezes.

Agree with all that ....great to see some ex DDR stock on the U-Bahn is still running around.

My first DDR day out in 1984 was memorable - not just for getting turned over by the Stassi for having a book on the S- Bahn in my bag (which they seemed to be worried about - but not as much as me !) , but for the 20 Pf fare on the system.