It's been soon a year since I've been in that U-bahn line. I live close to the Karl-Marx-Straße station and before the pandemic I definitely visited every station of that line as weekend activity throughout the years I've been in Berlin.
An old colleague of mine told me his father used to travel that line from Rudow to Spandau every morning to work, and in the evening back home again. That trip is almost two hours completely underground.
Lucky we are, working from home and not needing to commute anymore...
This line, which far too long for its own good and sort-of meanders through space, is quite the example of “political geography”.
The typography this article focuses on is a microcosm of how the place reminds you of its history, including both the beauty and whimsical, as well as the crimes against kerning and/or humanity.
May Berlin forever resist uniforms and uniformity.
This thread made me read this article. I think if I had visited without I wouldn't have got past the first paragraph. Really glad I read it. Strangely joyful.
To elaborate on the "political geography", the U7 and the U9 were the only lines of substantial length that for the most part opened after the division of Berlin and are centered on West Berlin's center around Charlottenburg, rather than the prewar/modern center of Mitte.
Here's an interesting BVG map from 1977, showing the divided network and U7 under construction: https://transitmap.net/west-berlin-1977/ Note that pretty much every major line other than U7 and U9 has an abandoned or pass-through segment due to the division.
My favourite thing about U7 is the Jungfernheide station. It sort of quite bland and even neglected but... it hides an extra platform that was supposed to connect centre of the city with Berlin Airport (now sadly closed).
The station also used to connect to Siemensbahn which is a totally dilapidated and forgotten train line with a huge historical significance for the city.
Oh wow, they closed it last November? I hadn’t realised. I flew through there the last time I was in Berlin, January of last year (was supposed to go again during the summer but then covid prevented that)
Colored what a friend of mine calls scheisse brown, it sprouts out of central East Berlin (Alexanderplatz) far out into the countryside, with forests, fields and dense clusters of commieblocks tightly packed around stations.
The correct way to photograph the U7 station markers is through the 20 commuters pressed together and around you. For a paper photograph, I'd suggest adding old cigarette smoke with a subtle bouquet of urine.
If anybody is interested in exploring this line in a virtual 3D environment, there is a standalone simulator game for the U7 line that was released by TML-Studios 10-ish years ago, and it's available on steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/283600/World_of_Subways_2...
You can drive the entire line in the game and get out and walk around each station in a first person view. IIRC the individual architectural details of each stop are pretty well modelled, and keeping the train on schedule and stopping at the right stop at each platform is a fun challenge.
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[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 83.9 ms ] threadAn old colleague of mine told me his father used to travel that line from Rudow to Spandau every morning to work, and in the evening back home again. That trip is almost two hours completely underground.
Lucky we are, working from home and not needing to commute anymore...
The typography this article focuses on is a microcosm of how the place reminds you of its history, including both the beauty and whimsical, as well as the crimes against kerning and/or humanity.
May Berlin forever resist uniforms and uniformity.
Here's an interesting BVG map from 1977, showing the divided network and U7 under construction: https://transitmap.net/west-berlin-1977/ Note that pretty much every major line other than U7 and U9 has an abandoned or pass-through segment due to the division.
The station also used to connect to Siemensbahn which is a totally dilapidated and forgotten train line with a huge historical significance for the city.
Tempelhof has a subway station right in front of it.
Crying emoji
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U5_(Berlin_U-Bahn)
Colored what a friend of mine calls scheisse brown, it sprouts out of central East Berlin (Alexanderplatz) far out into the countryside, with forests, fields and dense clusters of commieblocks tightly packed around stations.
I also like when you get out in Spandau, you leave a big city underground station and enter a small village. Surreal to me everytime.
"The name of the station is written across five separate tiles, making it easier to replace in the event of damage."
Berlin in one sentence.
And because Gneisenaustrasse is mentioned, stumbled into a drug deal there last weekend, awkward moment.
[0] Mit Gewitter und Sturm aus fernem Meer
You can drive the entire line in the game and get out and walk around each station in a first person view. IIRC the individual architectural details of each stop are pretty well modelled, and keeping the train on schedule and stopping at the right stop at each platform is a fun challenge.