The Slow Way From Wuppertal To Brussels
I had intended to get some food in Wuppertal after riding the Schwebebahn, but the town centre wasn’t very visitor friendly, due to the massive building works between the two railways. So after the Schwebebahn, I decided to get the first train to Cologne, which just happened to be an ICE.
At Cologne, I decidd it would be a good idea to take a series of slow regional trains to Brussels.
I went via Aachen and Liege, taking pictures along the way. Some like
A Station With An Attached Chapel And Hotel
The station at Liège-Guillemins
have their own posts, but others are in this gallery.
Note.
- For most of the journey, I was sitting in the top deck of the trains.
- There was nearly a serious incident in the ICE. The lobby has no grab handles and a guy about my age fell over as the train lurched. Even a much younger man didn’t like it. Health and Safety would have changed the design in the UK.
- I particularly liked the toilet lock at Aachen. You just put fifty cents in the slot and opened the door in the normal way. It wouldn’t have hindered anybody, who could walk through a normal door.
- Except for the Wuppertal to Cologne section on the ICE, it wasn’t crowded.It was a journey I’d recommend, if you have plenty of time to catch a Eurostar out of Brussels.
It was a journey I’d recommend, if you have plenty of time to catch a Eurostar out of Brussels, as Colgne, Aachen and Liege are all places to get a drink and a snack.
The Wuppertal Schwebebahn
The Schwebebahn is a unique railway in Wuppertal and is a real tribute to early twentieth century engineering. There are few railways built at that time, except ones that have been converted to modern standards, that survive. In the UK, the only thing we have in the UK is the Volk’s Electric Railway in Brighton, which is tiny and small by compsrison to the Schwebebahn. Sadly, our main entry into this group of quirky railways, the Liverpool Overhead Railway, closed in 1955.
This was my second visit. The last time in 2009, I took a video and the line has been upgraded since.
This Google Map shows how the line curves through the city above the River Wupper.
Wuppertal Stations
The Schwebebahn supports indicate where it runs and the main railway line between Cologne and Dortmund at the bottom.
Don’t go past Wuppertal, without investigating. Incidentally, it cost me €14.00 for my ticket from Wuppertal to Cologne.
At the moment though because of all the development around the station, it is not the easiest place to visit, but when it is finished Wuppertal might become a place worth visiting to ride on its unique railway, which is not a fairground ride, but a real commuter railway used by the inhabitants of Wuppertal and the surrounding area.
Long may it continue to serve Wuppertal! I shall return in 2017 or so, when the town centre is finished.
From Braunschweig To Osnabruck
This was a leg taken on the top deck of a double-deck Regional train going to a place called Rheine, that I’d never heard of.
These shorter legs on Regional trains can be interesting, as you really see the country well.
What surprised me was the generally simple stations. If there was a means of crossing the tracks, it was never a bridge.
Disabled activists would have had a field day.
What
Would I Go Back To Dresden, Chemnitz And Leipzig?
I enjoyed my two days spent exploring these three cities in the former East Germany. On a properly planned trip, there is a lot to see to satisfy any particular taste.
I would probably choose Dresden or Leipzig as a base, depending on which was the easiest for you to get to.
An interesting trip would be to perhaps fly to Prague and spend time there, before taking the train to Dresden up the Elbe. After Dresden you could go on to Berlin, from where you could fly home.
Typical journey times are as follows.
Prague to Dresden – 2 hr. 15 min.
Dresden to Chemnitz – 1 hr. 30 min.
Dresden to Leipzig – 1 hr. 30 min.
Dresden to Berlin – 2 hr.
The two shortest routes are double-deck regional trains, so you can relax upstairs and enjoy the countryside. Comfort on these double-deck trains is about the same on say any of the Class 379 trains or similar, that are fairly numerous in the UK. But the on-board train information is generally of a much lower quality than we would accept in the UK.
From Leipzig To Braunschweig
This was the longest leg of my journey from Krakow.
Most of the journey was across the former East Germany, with the old border at Helmstedt, which is on the Magdeburg to Braunschweig Line.
Magdeburg and its Hauptbahnhof seem to be definitely worth a visit. Wikipedia says this about reconstruction of the station after 1945.
At the end of March 1946, the restoration of the electrification was completed on the rail networks in the Soviet occupation zone. The Soviet military authorities then demanded the removal of the overhead line equipment and the transfer of the electrical rolling stock as reparations to the Soviet Union, which was partly returned in the early 1950s in need of repair. The rail network was then electrified for the third time, and electric train operation resumed in 1956. Reconstructed of the main station started in 1946, but without the roof of the historical station was omitted.
In 1974 the Magdeburg S-Bahn was established. More extensive alterations were made in 1984. In 1992, platforms were altered to allow Intercity-Express operation. In 2003, the pedestrian tunnel was extended to connect the various platforms to an entrance on the western side of the station. The station is being modernised again between 2008 and 2015 at a cost of about €300 million.
What a way to manage a railway!
This Google Map shows Magdeburg and its location with respect to the railway and the River Elbe.
Magdeburg
Magdeburg would be another place for a stopover. It’s probably a city on a par with somewhere like Stoke or Middlesbrough.
From Dresden To Leipzig
This was not the most stimulating of journeys, as there was nothing worth photographing.
The train was fairly full.
There was also a bit of a problem at Leipzig, where the passengers had to manhandle and womanhandle a guy in an electric wheelchair out of the train. Obviously, Deutsche Bahn have a different attitude to wheelchair passengers compared to most UK rail companies.
An Excursion From Dresden To Chemnitz
I started early and caught an early train to Chemnitz or Karl Marx Stadt as was.
These pictures tell the story of the journey.
Note the following.
1. I took a break on the way out at Freiberg. It looked a pleasant small town in Germany and there’s the Alekto hotel by the station, that is on the Internet. Wikipedia says this about the town.
Its historic town centre has been placed under heritage conservation and is a chosen site for the proposed UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the Ore Mountain Mining Region. Until 1969, the town was dominated for around 800 years by the mining and smelting industries. In recent decades it has restructured into a high technology site in the fields of semiconductor manufacture and solar technology, part of Silicon Saxony.
So things are looking up for Freiberg and perhaps in a few years time, it will be a good base from which to explore.
2. The quaintly named Frankenstein Station.
3. It is quite a scenic line and is much more so than the line from Dresden to Leipzip, that I rode the next day.
4. It is undergoing a lot of refurbishment, which judging by the wooden sleepers and some of the other things I saw, hasn’t been done for years.
5. As it’s Germany, all the clocks seem to be working. Network Rail take note!
From Prague To Dresden
I went First Class between Prague and Dresden, as it only cost an extra fifty percent and a total of 43€. I also had a compartment to myself, all the way.
The journey is mainly along the River Elbe and its tributary, the Vitava river.
I suspect that you can use a ferry part or all of the way according to this review in Trip Advisor.
From The Charles Bridge To The Station
To get out of Prague, I needed to catch the 14:30 train to Dresden. I left it a bit tight and in the end I had to walk across a lot of the city, whilst trying to find a Metro station. I took these pictures as I walked.
What complicated matters was that when I changed from Line B to Line C at Florenc, there was a power cut. Luckily, I used another escalator to get to the surface and then entered gain through another entrance direct to the other line.
Add to this these features of Prague’s transport system.
1. There are no maps of either the trams or the metro on the surface that are readable.
2. Each separate Metro line has a different colour of signs and not all entrances to the Metro are signed.
3. There are no walking maps, even at important places, unlike in Krakow, Dresden and Leipzig
4.Prague is not in Poland, where the locals have good English and don’t have to be asked before they offer help.
5. Prague has too many visitors for its transport system.
I also had to get to the station in good time, as I’d left my bag in the Left Luggage Office and as it was lunch time, it might be closed whilst the guys had their lunch. But once I got to the main station all went well. Even if I was a bit early!
After I’d left Prague, it all reminded me of Vaclav Havel‘s play; The Memorandum, which I heard on Radio 4, probably over thirty years ago.
From Katowice To Prague
There was only one direct train I could catch from Katowice to Prague and that left at 12:22. So after my short tram trip around Katowice, I gave myself plenty of time to have salad before I got the train to Prague.
The journey went smoothly, if not at a great speed and with a half hour changeover between the Polish and Czech crews.
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The Anonymous Widower 