<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>Herb und Alles….</div><div><br></div><div>Thanks Herb.</div><div><br></div><div>But I'll have you know you punched my buttons.</div><div><br></div><div>Berlin (they pronounce the i like it was our long e … Bear-leen) was, before the war, Germany's most populous city. They after the war, because it was split in two haves, Hamburg had the most people in the federal Republic. I'm not sure which had the most in the east. Since reunification, Berlin again has the most people … about 3.520 million. That is slightly fewer than Los Angeles and considerably more than Chicago. </div><div><br></div><div>Now a bit of tramway history Herb. The division of the city made it impractical to maintain and operate a lot of the trolley lines. East Berlin kept theirs but every single line in West Berlin was converted to bus in the 1960s. </div><div><br></div><div>So you are looking at what had been East Berlin until 1989. </div><div><br></div><div>As I am typing, I am also watching the video. The car was passing a Shell gasoline station in the film. Well, back in the era of the communist government, there were no Shell stations … only the home grown product. All the cars (Wartburgs and Trabants) had two cycle engines. The gas stations served up a mix of gas-oil for them and the gas stations were a swamp of spilled product. Benzin (gasoline) evaporates but the oil does not. They all had a stick residue which you tracked into your car. (What did they guys from the west use? They sold Bleifrei ((lead free) for tourists and the party officials who had imported Volvos. Don't all politicians screw the public?</div><div><br></div><div>Hey, they had removed the word banana from their dictionary because there was no hard currency to import the fruit for the masses but the politicians could import fancy schmancy cars from Sweden. </div><div><br></div><div>Do I like what I am seeing in the video? It's hard to believe how much the "Ost" (East) has changed in the last 25 years. It is also difficult to believe that people living there probably have to be almost 40 years old to have any memories of the past. Yet we could point to some of the Tatra PCCs that were delivered in 1988 that are still on the street and say, they represent that era. </div><div><br></div><div>Those watching may observe the green circled H in a yellow field. It is the universal German sign for a streetcar stop or "Haltstelle." </div><div><br></div><div>What this fails to disclose is Berlin also has a huge subway (U-bahn or Untergrundbahn or underground railway) system, a mammoth electrified commuter railroad network (the expression S-Bahn for Schnellbahn or fast railway) is universally used for commuter trains in Germany, two other streetcar companies on the east side of Berlin that connect to the S-Bahn, and the large streetcar network in Pottsdam (west of Berlin that also connects to Berlin's S-Bahn). </div><div><br></div><div>Here is the U-bahn:</div><div><br></div><div> <a href="s://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwFxVMX5fqw">s://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwFxVMX5fqw</a></div><div><br></div><div> Then you see Olympia Stadion -- think of the Olympic games where Hitler had the embarrassment of a black man winning.</div><div> The Kein Durchgang sign in the subway station is equivalent to "Don't Pass." </div><div> Until 1989, the entire U-Bahn network, both East and West, was run by the East. </div><div><br></div><div>And here is the old junk that was running on the S-Bahn when I first visited in 1989. Made all the right sounds.</div><div><br></div><div> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKYtlSLr7w0">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKYtlSLr7w0</a></div><div><br></div><div>And Now let's go to Pottsdam on the S-Bahn:</div><div><br></div><div> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dA02amn108">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dA02amn108</a> </div><div><br></div><div>And the Trams of Pottsdam:</div><div><br></div><div> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LurxTLm2rXM">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LurxTLm2rXM</a></div><div><br></div><div>Would I recommend a vacation in Germany? Absolutely. But then I was there in the army for two years and I've had enough vacations back there to aggregate another six months. To me it all feels like home. While most young Germans will speak some English and you will always find hotel clerks and restaurant people and train conductors and information clerks who do, it pays off in spades if you learn some German before you go. You might just want to be able to read the instructions on the trolley ticket vending machines. :<) </div><div><br></div><div>How much time could you spend just in the Pottsdam-Berlin area? Well, think how much time you could spend visiting Chicago or Los Angeles and seeing both the railroads and the general sights. If you spent a two or three days there every year for five years, you still would not run out of things to do.</div><div><br></div><div>Auf wieder hören.</div><div><br></div><div>fws</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><br><div><div>On Dec 4, 2014, at 6:10 PM, Herb Brannon via Pittsburgh-railways wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div>If you like German tram/trolley systems then take a look at this video. It<br>is best viewed in "full screen" mode.<br><br>I was not aware that Berlin had such an extensive tram system. There are<br>several different types of trams in operation. The system seems extremely<br>well maintained.<br><br>Take note of the tram signal system and watch how it is coordinated with<br>the motor vehicle traffic signals. The tram signals are very easy to figure<br>out just by watching what happens at car stops and intersections. Note also<br>the very fast, very smooth and very quiet operation of the system. This<br>video is of Line 63. Check out some of the other lines on the YouTube page.<br><br>Berlin Tram Line 63 <<a href="http://youtu.be/pRJ4-4Lvpag">http://youtu.be/pRJ4-4Lvpag</a>><br><br>-- <br>*Herb Brannon*<br><br>*In Pittsburgh...........A City and*<br><br><br>*..........................A State of Mind *<br><br>*Let's Go Steelers*<br><br>*Let's Go Pens *<br><br><br><br>-------------- next part --------------<br>An HTML attachment was scrubbed...<br>URL: <<a href="http://mailman.dementix.org/pipermail/pittsburgh-railways/attachments/20141204/36d6b0e8/attachment.html">http://mailman.dementix.org/pipermail/pittsburgh-railways/attachments/20141204/36d6b0e8/attachment.html</a>><br>_______________________________________________<br>Pittsburgh-railways mailing list<br><a href="mailto:Pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org">Pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org</a><br>https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways<br></div></blockquote></div><br>
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