On Sunday 9 August I had the pleasure of the monthly theme trip on part of the Berlin tramway organised by Denkmalpflege-Verin Nahverkehr Berlinhttp://www.dvn-berlin.de/index.htm
Initially part of the 50 years of the Reko, the plan was to use 5984 (a TW24) with trailer 339 (BW24) both of 1925 and 217055 (1961) with trailer 267006 (1960). However the Reko was replaced by Tatra T4 219482-1 which dates from 1986 and must be one of the youngest preserved trams around. A second trailer was added to the TW24/BW24 set. I joined the second of two tours at 1405 from near Kopenpick S-bahn station (most convenient for a morning at Schoeniche and Woltersdorf). The first tour arrived back around 1335 and the crews had their break. We boarded and headed round the large loop where the 63 and 68 turn but headed north along route 62 to Mahlsdorf Sud and along the single line and loop section to S-bahnhof Mahlsdorf for a photo stop. Due off there at 1447 we retraced our steps but carried on past Kopenpick onto route 63 to Johannisthal arriving there at 1540, a near hour long ride on this wonderful four wheeler.
After the photo stop I changed onto the KT4 which is about as big a contrast as you can get! We ran back to Kopenpick with a detour to Alt Kopenpick for a 1640 finish.After a break the Tatra was to head back to the massive museum depot at Niederschonhausen where it was due at 1825. I believe it took a combination of the 27, 12, 50 and M1 routes. I worked out that the S-bahn and U-bahn would be quicker though but nearly fell foul of bus replacement between Schonhauser Allee and Pankow. Fortunately the bus was ahead of the Tatra - just - and the truncated M1 got me to the museum depot just in time.
This allowed some timewarp photos as the car undertook an elaborate shunt to get into track 8 all observed from the public highway as the depot is only open on certain occasions (22/08 and 24/10 are the last two for 2009). It says it houses 50 trams and about 15 buses - one or two yellow liveried cars were noted through the doors, which may be preserved, or perhaps stored by BVG. The TW24 didn't come back so perhaps lives elsewhere. I understand there is also a non rail connected tram museum collection as part of the Technikmuseum but in an offsite store open on Sundays in September only.All in all an excellent afternoon - for 6 Euros a 2.5 hour trip on immaculately restored trams with commentary from the guards which I'm sure better German speakers than me would verify as informative.
We all got a souvenir leaflet which DVN have uploaded onto their website.http://www.dvn-berlin.de/dl/ag-strab/tf_2009_5.pdfIf you get the chance to participate I can well recommended it and would like to thank DVN and its crews for an excellent trip.My photos here:
