back to Crich

Berlin 3006 and Southampton 45 at Town End just before the service started.

Blackpool & Fleetwood 2 was the other service tram.
I had arranged to meet Laura Waters in the exhibition hall to discuss the Sheffield 264 documentation project. We had a very positive discussion and each now has some homework to do.

Berlin yesterday, Crich tomorrow

These are the last of my Berlin pictures taken in 1983.
Kath trying to persuade a machine to sell her a ticket for the S Bahn at Alexander Platz.
There was some quite nice and cheap beer in the DDR - it was just that it was difficult to find.

Berlin 1983

These pictures were taken on a visit to Berlin at Easter 1983.
Bernauer Strasse in West Berlin looking towards the east.
The remaining pictures were taken from the viewing platform in the west where the wall crossed the street.

Bonn Friday

The Cologne and Bonn tramways are linked by the former KBE interurban lines now integrated into the networks at both ends and operated as services 16 and 18 with high floor cars.
All the tram sets except one on service 66 to Siegburg carried advertising liveries for 'Telekom Express'. This is in effect route branding paid for by a commercial sponsor.

All except three local services are operated by high floor cars.

Cologne Thursday

Cologne tramways are a bit of a muddle with some routes having high floor cars and others low floor. Most of the city centre stops are now underground with endless flights of steps and escalators going in the opposite direction.
Both low floor and high floor cars usually run in coupled sets of two.
 The high floor trams are fine when running in subways or on railways but look out of place on suburban streets. Many of the stops have low hight platforms so the trams have folding steps. I also saw street stops with either a very short platform or no platform at all.

A coupled set of low floor cars is quite long.

Berlin Tuesday (2)

Modernised Tatra T4Ds crossing a typical east Berlin tramway junction. The busiest bus and tram routes have the prefix letter M for 'Metro'.

Low floor car
A four track layout at Hackescher Markt - the main terminus near Alexander Platz.

Finally some of the low floor trams are double ended.

Berlin Tuesday (1)

Sorry I took this picture a fraction of a second too late.
Rosenthal Nord terminus. I think the last time I was here was in 1990 when the service was operated by three-car sets of Rekos and the wall could still be seen in the distance.
Looking southwards towards Rosenthal Nord tram terminus. The line of two cobble stones in the foreground marks the location of the wall.

This bridge on Bornholmer Strasse was also on the east/west boundary. The tram is travelling from west to east.
We are now in Cologne staying in a cheaper hotel in a Turkish district which has free wifi in public areas. I would be able to see the trams from the window if they hadn't been upgraded to underground running.

Potsdam 21st June

Siemans Combino low floor tram.


Twenty years since the Wall and(west)  Berlin buses still meet Potsdam trams at Glienicke Brucke.

These pictures come to you courtesy of 'Starbucks Coffee Deutschland GmbH'.

I see from the official blog that the exhibition has opened. It is a shame we missed it because Kath has been on the television 'Flog it' programme and she would have been delighted to have been invited.......

Brandenburg 21st June

There are just 3 tram routes in Brandenburg.

Most of the trams are these modernised Tatras with additional low floor centre sections. They work well in a city with no hills.

Finally is this art of graffiti?

Berlin Sunday (3)

There was a market with beer and sausage stalls at Koepenick.

The terminus at Adlershof is now a reversing triangle in a busy road although a planned extension is shown on the tramways route map.

Berlin Sunday (2)

The Schoeneiche tramway only runs every 30 mins on Saturdays and Sundays with just two trams and 29 mins running time!
On weekdays there is a 20 minute headway and a slightly longer running time.