New: West Berlin in the 1980s, Marco
Criscoulo's Photographs of City Life, Gatow Airfield and the
Wall. [Link »]
Welcome on VSWB.de - Disused Rails &
Lanes in Berlin
This is the first version for an English Site about historic Railways,
Autobahns and Airports in Southwestern Berlin. Why only Southwestern
Berlin? In the Southwestern of Berlin you can find the most relics of
historical traffic of the town.
There are f.e. the oldest Railway in Prussia (the Stammbahn/Root Rail),
the oldest Autobahn of the World (the "A.V.U.S.", build in
1921), the disused R.A.F. Airport Gatow and the first tramway of the
World, build by Werner von Siemens was also driving here.
What's
the reason , there are only disused places on this site? Informations
about existing Railroads, Autobahns and Airport you can find a lot in
the internet (f.e. by Berlin Subway Site: www.bvg.de) and you can come
to Berlin and see ist. But magnificant disused Railroads are hidden
and not simple to find for not-Berliners) or - even - forbidden to visit.
So you can take a look on this site for seeing behind the curtain in
Berlin Traffic history.
What
I have to know about Berlin Traffic ?
There
are three Subway Systems in Berlin:
1. The wide profile Subway, called "Großprofil-U-Bahn",
drives on Subway lines U5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 55, mostly under ground.
2. The small profile Subway, called "Kleinprofil-U-Bahn",
drives on Subway lines U1-4 and is the older Subway in Berlin (since
1902), under and upper streets.
3. The Suburban Rails, called "S-Bahn", drives to the Suburbs
on Suburban Rail lines S1 - 5, 7 - 9, 25, 41 - 42, 45 - 47, 75, 85 and
86, mostly upper ground.
Berlin have several "Autobahn"-routes:
1. The "AVUS" (Autobahn 115) from Southwest to City West
2. The "Stadtautobahn 100", that makes a half circle round
about the City West
3. The "Autobahn 111" from City West to Airport Tegel an to
the Northwest.
4. The "Autobahn 113", a new route from Neukoelln to Airport
Schoenefeld
5. The "Autobahn 114", the only route in Eastern Berlin to
the Northeast.
6. The "Osttangente" (Autobahn 102), a little part of a planned
east tangential freeway straigt throuht City East, and fortunately never
build.
7. The "Westtangente" (Autobahns 103 and 105), ditto a little
part of a planned west tangential freeway straigt throught the government
district. And the Tiergarten-tunnel is a part of planned A 103.
8. The "Schildhornstrasse" (Autobahn 104), an ugly part freeway
stilted through Southwestern Berlin, with tenements build over it.
Berlin had six airports in nearer urban area:
1. The Airport "Tegel", in Northwestern town, the biggest
Airport in Berlin, former French Air Force base.
2. The Airport "Tempelhof", in Southern City, the former "Central
Airport" under controlled by the US Air Force, will be closed in
2007.
3. The Airport "Schoenefeld", on the Southeastern outskirts,
the "Holiday" and "Lowcostairline"-Airport, former
Soviet Army Airport.
4. The disused Airport "Gatow", on the Southwestern outskirts,
the former base of the British Royal Air Force, closed in 1995.
5. The former Airport "Johannisthal", the former Soviet Army
Airport before "Schoenefeld" was build in the 60s.
6. The disused Airport "Staaken" on the Western outskirts
is closed after WW2 because the wall was build in the middle of the
airfield.
Berlin have a lot of ferry lines, too. Please look to the Site "Berlin
Ferry Lines" at the menu.
For historical consideration of disused travelways, you have to know
which districts are controlled by following occupying powers:
Northwestern Berlin
District Reinickendorf: French Zone
Former District Wedding: French Zone (nowadays District of Mitte)
Western Berlin
District Spandau: British Zone
District Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf: British Zone
Former District Tiergarten: British Zone (nowadays District of Mitte)
Southern Berlin
District Steglitz-Zehlendorf: American Zone
District Schoeneberg-Tempelhof: American Zone
District Neukoelln: American Zone
Former District Kreuzberg: American Zone (nowadays to District of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg)
Eastern Districts to Soviet Zone
The here discussed travelways are laying in former American, British
and French Zone and in the borderland to Soviet Zone.
On the German sites you can not alone read about disused places in Berlin,
bur rather about historical plannings, see historical maps, chronicals
about bus- and tramway-lines and my planning-ideas for traffic in Berlin.
I hope i manage it to translate it in a few weeks.
Enjoy VSWB.de!