Take the U Train: The Story of Berlin's Oldest Elevated Railway Line Part I
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About the Tour
About the Tour
Welcome to the tour of Berlin's Stammstrecke. Berlin's U-Bahn (Unterpflasterbahn) is the fifth oldest underground railway network worldwide. And like in many other places around the world, some of its eldest sections are not subterranean – as the name would suggest – but elevated.
This tour is the first of two journeys telling the story of Berlin’s first “elevated U-Bahn line” known as Hochbahn Stammstrecke and built by Siemens & Halske at the end of the 19th century. It opened for public service on February 18, 1902.
The tour tells the story of the oldest section of that line, the Östliche Stammstrecke (the Eastern Stem Line) built between 1896 and 1902 as both a new public traffic service and a test of the project’s viability.
It begins at the station “Warschauer Straße” in Friedrichshain and continues down Oberbaumbrücke, an 1896 bridge connecting Friedrichshain with Berlin-Kreuzberg and spanning the River Spree. Then it continues along the beautiful steel viaduct down Skalitzer Straße, Gitschiner Straße, Hallesches Ufer and Tempelhofer Ufer towards today's U-Bahnhof “Gleisdreick” where the eastern branch of the original elevated line ended. On the way, we will be visiting historic stations as well as learning more about the fascinating origins and the past of the line as well as the area it was built in.
Because you will be walking along very busy streets (unless it is Sunday when even Kreuzberg comes to rest), expect a lot of background noise. Unfortunately there is no way of eliminating it but good headphones will definitely help alleviate the problem.
The second tour (to be launched in summer 2018) following not so much the original Stammstrecke as the line's 1920s extension, will continue the story from Gleisdreieck to Uhlandstraße where U1 ends its run. In the meantime, you might enjoy reading the tour author's book, Notmsparker's Berlin Companion: I Didn't Know That about Berlin
available via berlinarium.bigcartel.com as well as Amazon.co.uk. The second book Notmsparker's Berlin Companion: Everything You Never Knew You Wanted to Know About Berlin
will be published as an e-book in March 2018.
Tour Producer
Tour Producer
Beata Gontarczyk-Krampe
I am a Berlin historian, book author, researcher, urban history fan and genealogist whose fascination with Berlin's past inspired her to overcome her fear of speaking German: how else can you ask anyone at the state archive to lend you a hand in your search for a long-dead villa owner from 1869?
Once curiosity prevailed over inhibitions, I could not stop asking new questions and have been doing my best to answer each and every one of them ever since.
This is how my blog, "The Berlin Companion" (formerly known as "Kreuzberged"), was born. And what began as a quirky little project soon became the main thing on my schedule: "The Berlin Companion" is not only a blog, a podcast and several books, but it also includes a popular Berlin history column in one of the city's most renowned newspapers, "Der Tagesspiegel" (in German, mind you, so linguistically there has been quite a progress, too).
I specialize in lesser-known facts and stories from Berlin's past and present - trivia delight me but what delights me even more, is finding the stories usually hidden behind a simple fact. Like that of a famous engineer buried in the wall of a building he designed - already exciting enough - which led me to a never-realized massive construction project which would have changed Europe and the world for ever. In Berlin you just to need to pull that thread and brilliant tales will come a-tumbling.
In my audio-walks I try to mix the informative, the educating with the entertaining - the way I myself love audio-walks to be. And always make sure to include places off the beaten track, places which you might not have discovered otherwise. Because anyone can waltz down Unter den Linden or Kudamm but how many people can say they walked the length of Berlin's oldest U-Bahn line?
So join me, your Berlin Companion, and discover the city you might not see otherwise.
You can download any of my other Berlin audio-tours available at VoiceMap. New tours will be coming soon.
Preview Location
Preview Location
Location 1
Welcome to the tour of U1
You should be standing in front of the U-Bahn station called "Warschauer Straße". Turn so that the bridge over the railway tracks is on your left-hand side. Do you see a red-... Read More
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Major Landmarks
Major Landmarks
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Oberbaum Bridge
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German Museum of Technology
Getting There
Getting There
Route Overview
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Start locationB96a, 10243 Berlin, Germany
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Total distance6km
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Final location10963 Berlin, Germany
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Distance back to start location5km
Directions to Starting Point
We will begin the U-Bahnhof "Warschauer Straße" in front of the station. The best place to stand is slightly to the left of the entrance next to the bridge railing - depending on the time of the day and day of the week, the station might be crowded.
Show Directions
Tips
Tips
Places to stop along the way
Bürgermeister Burger Bar (former public toilets, now an extremely popular burger bar under the viaduct in Oberbaumstraße right before U-Bhf Schlesisches Tor
)
Görlitzer Park (Skalitzer Straße/Görlitzer Straße/Wiener Straße)
Bars and restaurants along Oranienstraße
Local Kreuzberg Museum (Adalbertstraße 95a)
In summer: Prinzenbad (public baths in Gitschiner Str./Prinzenstr.)
American Memorial Library (Blücherplatz)
Berlin Museum of Technology (Trebbiner Straße)
Gleisdreieckpark (behind U-Bhf Gleisdreieck
)
Gleisdreieckpark (right behind the U-Bhf Gleisdreieck
)
Potsdamer Platz (you can reach it either with U2 direction Pankow
or by walking north along the Hochbahn line from Gleisdreieckpark).
Best time of day
Weekends, especially mornings and early afternoons, are perfect. Otherwise any time outside the rush hours (the trains tend to be packed then) and the street traffic might be quite noisy. That's why, if possible, it is advisable to use good quality headphones
Precautions
You will need a valid BVG Day-Ticket (if planning to use more trains, trams or buses that day, this would be the best deal) or a single ticket (Einzelfahrschein) valid for 2 hours along a single route. Validate it before boarding the train and keep it on you for the whole tour, please. Do not throw the ticket away!
When walking, constantly keep an eye on the traffic as well as cyclists: under no circumstances should you walk along any of the (mostly red or otherwise clearly marked) bike roads. When on the train, keep your belongings close to your body and safely packed - like all other big metropolitan centres, Berlin has a pickpocket problem on busy lines.
Last but not least, when on the platform, do keep a safe distance to its edge by not crossing the white line.
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