
Ride through Wuppertal on ‘the flying train’ in clear footage from 1902 - gmays
https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2020/08/the-flying-train-moma/
======
canada_dry
A side-by-side view of 1902 vs current:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TqqdOcX4dc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TqqdOcX4dc)

As an aside, I find it interesting that this steel wasn't reclaimed sometime
during WWII when the industrial machine was desperate for iron/metal.

~~~
mbajkowski
Thanks for sharing, this brought back some great memories. I grew up in
Wuppertal and took the Schwebebahn all the time, fantastic ride to avoid
traffic. You can still book the classical Kaiserwagen I believe for special
occasions, although I think it may not be possible now during COVID.

[https://www.wuppertal.de/kaiserwagen](https://www.wuppertal.de/kaiserwagen)

~~~
froh
covid or other reasons - it will be available again presumably in autumn 2021.

> Der Betrieb des Kaiserwagens ist derzeit nicht möglich. Wir gehen davon aus,
> dass der Kaiserwagen im Herbst 2021 wieder fährt.

------
pkos98
Born and bred Wuppertaler here! The so called "Schwebebahn" is not only a
tourist attraction but really a ubiquitous means of transport - my mother used
it for commuting on a daily basis.

However, from what I heard they introduced some new trains which have severe
issues (heavy attrition, scratching noises etc) so that currently, the
Schwebebahn is actually "closed" for a whole year! (Having never experienced
this in my 19 years living there, I assume it's a very rare and unfortunate
situation)

~~~
bdamm
What a neat system it is; I traveled there in 2015 specifically to ride the
Schwebebahn, and I was absolutely astounded by this system. What a pleasant
presence, so graceful. It really opened my eyes to what was possible at the
turn of the 20th century.

------
_Microft
In 1999 the Schwebebahn had the first fatal accident when a train ran into a
claw that was fixed to the rail by a repair crew and was forgotten to be
removed again.

It was considered to be so safe that when someone reported the accident, the
personnel at the emergency central didn't take them seriously first.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Wuppertal_Schwebebahn_acc...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Wuppertal_Schwebebahn_accident)

~~~
detaro
The most famous incident on the other hand is probably the one where a circus
elephant was taken on the train as a publicity stunt in the 1950s, got
understandably unhappy and bounced around enough that it and some people fell
out of the train into the river.

~~~
Matthias247
I got curious about this one and read about it on the wikipedia page:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuppertal_Schwebebahn#Incident...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuppertal_Schwebebahn#Incidents)

[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuffi](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuffi)

Those only do only mention the elephant jumping out, but nobody else.

~~~
detaro
indeed, seems I misremembered.

------
skrause
Here are two fairly recent YouTube videos in English about the Wuppertaler
Schwebebahn:

* Tom Scott ("Why Wuppertal's Suspended Monorail Wasn't The Future Of Travel"): [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4KZLcvMQWg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4KZLcvMQWg)

* The Tim Traveller ("Schwebebahn: Why Wuppertal's Trains Are Much Cooler Than Yours"): [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IFh6wFTJiQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IFh6wFTJiQ)

------
sc11
If you want to compare it throughout the years, here's a video of it in 1993:
[https://youtu.be/4_8u7t5q3m4](https://youtu.be/4_8u7t5q3m4)

And in 2015:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgfRq4kEFro](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgfRq4kEFro)

------
Animats
The 4K upgraded version, with good speed correction and somewhat lame
colorization.[1]

Here's a cab ride today, from the back end.[2]

[1] [https://youtu.be/EQs5VxNPhzk?t=17](https://youtu.be/EQs5VxNPhzk?t=17)

[2] [https://youtu.be/uPj0CDfpEm0](https://youtu.be/uPj0CDfpEm0)

~~~
jiofih
Somehow the original in B&W seems more lifelike.

~~~
dylan604
Yeah, unless you're on LSD, colors don't change on objects like that. The
steel legs couldn't decide if they were baby blue or pink or rusty orange.

------
cycomanic
There is a famous story about an elefant (named Tuffi) riding in the
Schwebebahn in the 50s for some sort of promotional stunt[1]. We'll the
elefant got scared leading to this [2] awesome somewhat surreal picture.
Supposedly (and surprisingly) the elefant was not injured.

[1]
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuffi](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuffi)
[2]
[https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/e5041ec1-0001-0004-00...](https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/e5041ec1-0001-0004-0000-000001025133_w1280_r1.77_fpx50_fpy40.jpg)

~~~
ac42
According to WP, what led to this picture is photo editing.

------
hibbelig
The article says this style of railway is unique to Germany. I'd say it is
also unique _in_ Germany -- as far as I know, there is no other place that has
it.

~~~
sixothree
Well. There is this.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hshgs3-oRQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hshgs3-oRQ)

~~~
hibbelig
Oh yes, and this one:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv8MTufKRQQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv8MTufKRQQ)

It is less than 100km from Wuppertal...

~~~
LargoLasskhyfv
And you can use it with the _same_ ticket, because VRR.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verkehrsverbund_Rhein-
Ruhr](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verkehrsverbund_Rhein-Ruhr)

------
natcombs
The colorized video at the bottom has a steampunk appeal to it. I'm surprised
this track is still operating today!

------
mturmon
Great 1900s truss construction. But what a visual blight on the riverfront and
the city streets.

I wonder what the town meetings looked like? Did they have NIMBYs? Did Chicago
have NIMBYs when the ell was being built?

~~~
distances
Do you mean the train is a visual blight? I have to disagree, it's
magnificent.

The buildings too when compared to modern-day Wuppertal. I wonder how we
allowed the postwar construction to be so damned ugly _everywhere_. What would
a beautiful building with a proper decorated facade cost these days? Would it
really be prohibitively expensive?

~~~
bboygravity
My main thoughts exactly.

Every city in Europe (that wasn't completely bombed) has a an "old town" or
"old city center" where all the tourists stay. The tourists stay there,
because the old part is the only part that's considered pretty. It's usually a
relatively small part of the city where most buildings are in the same old
consistent style with generally lots of details on buildings.

Then there's the rest of the city with post-war/modern absolutely soulless
ugly buildings that have been optimized to be built as fast as possible, as
cheap as possible and as large as allowed. Just plain depressing minimalist
squares with no details. Esthetics are not a relevant part of modern building
(engineering) goals in Europe now it seems. To me it is close to "Soviet
building style". The only modern exception I can think of in the entire world
would be Singapore.

Seeing that German village from the flying train I can't help but think that
quality of public life was better than it is now in Europe. I'm referring to:
way way way less traffic, almost no combustion engine driven traffic, cleaner
air and water (possibly?), larger homes, no AirBNB in the city centers, all
buildings look as new, all buildings look super well maintained, tons of space
for traffic, green/trees everywhere and most importantly: addictive/toxic
constant distractions such as smartphones had yet to be invented. Look at all
those people walking around and DOING things without staring at screens! wow!
And kids still played outside? woah

Conclusion: definitely not all aspects of life improved with time.

PS: yes, I realize some aspects of life back then where way worse than they
are now for the average person.

~~~
rhn_mk1
The thing that struck me was the lack of traffic jams on the section over the
street, compared to today's Wuppertal.

What happened to all the traffic? Okay, that's easy: population increased.

But before I accept that as an answer, I want to know how a city with
population low enough to have essenstially no traffic managed to have enough
ability to construct and run such a difficult traffic project? Whereas today,
given a town with the same size and amount of trafic as 1902 Wuppertal, the
towns I know tend to close bus lines instead of maintaining regular ones.

I have a sad hunch this has something to do with cars and no one caring, but
can't really come up with anything real.

~~~
db48x
It's less about the number of people and more about the percentage of them
that can afford a vehicle. Horses are expensive (lots of upkeep). Cars are
expensive too, but not as expensive as a pair of horses. Society is today
quite a lot wealthier than it was a hundred years ago partly because cars are
so inexpensive, but it does mean that the roads are more crowded.

~~~
rhn_mk1
Now that I think about it, I don't quite remember the number of pedestrians on
the streets this century. I _think_ it is slightly higher now compared to
then, but the total number of people outside is definitely higher.

Reading the sibling comment, with constant population, this probably boils
down to lifestyle choices. Do people live farther away from workplaces now?
Are businesses more centralized/spread out? What would have to change to
recover the lost freedom from traffic while keeping the population content?

------
seanlaff
Cities look so much more fun to explore when pedestrian-focused

------
coldcode
I wonder what the double wheel the kids were pushing was for.

~~~
ss2003
My guess is they went to the wheel shop with their dad's to pick a couple of
new wheels for the cart. If you get 2 you can just tie them together and roll
them home.

~~~
crispyporkbites
Ah yes the wheel shop, of course

------
Gravityloss
Frame rate was slow when filmed. Looks about right if you slow it down to 50%
in youtube. Maybe somebody could run it through some interpolation software...

~~~
gattilorenz
upscaled, interpolated and colorized by AI:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQs5VxNPhzk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQs5VxNPhzk)

~~~
fock
look, how every house is beige and changes color. I sincerely enjoy the bw-
version much more.

~~~
gattilorenz
Colorization is far from perfect indeed. I'm not sure how they model the
temporal dimension (recognizing the same object in the prev/next frame and
painting it of the same color - unless it has to be different because of
shadows, lighting change, etc.) in these neural nets, does anyone know?

------
11thEarlOfMar
Even with 100,000+ inhabitants at the time of construction, it seems to be
tremendously expensive to build. At the same time, impressive engineering. For
some reason, I imagine maritime design engineers could achieve this most
readily, given that it appears to be a 'first article'.

~~~
Retric
The practically non existent land use is a massive savings. It runs down a
long valley which is extremely space constrained and mostly sits over the
river. By comparison the largest cost of road networks in cities is
opportunity cost. Something like 20% of the surface of NYC is roads, that’s
hundreds of billions of dollars worth of land and massive amount of lost
property taxes.

~~~
m4rtink
IIRC the current form of Grand Central station in New York was built when they
buried all the tracks leading to it underground, to free up for building what
is now some of the most expensive real estate in the world.

~~~
TylerE
You're thinking of Penn Station, not Grand Central. Grand Central was always
that way.

Penn Station was originally above ground, and then rebuilt underground in the
60s, beneath Madison Square Garden, built at the same time.

Grand Central has a fairly large and very ornate above-ground structure taking
up half a city block.

~~~
m4rtink
I mean the tracks leading to Grand Central, that were buried and built over:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Central_Terminal#Termi...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Central_Terminal#Terminal_City)

(And it's all Internet knowledge, I've never been there.)

------
mmmrk
And just 20 years or so later, many of the kids in the video would probably be
dead :(

~~~
082349872349872
Stefan Zweig's _World of Yesterday_ captures how much of a shock it was to
move from the progress-and-civilisation of his corner of the nineteenth
century to the fake-news[1]-and-senseless-violence[2] of the twentieth (Zweig
hung on after the first barbaric shock, but gave up after the second. I think
_Schachnovelle_ pretty much captures the mood he must've been in.)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23777984](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23777984)

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23895444](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23895444)

[2] we're all familiar with this; I had had better hopes for the twenty-
first...

------
TaylorAlexander
Would be great to see someone run this through some photogrammetry software.
Meshroom is free and open source and would do it. I am pretty busy lately but
if anyone wants the glory... download the video with youtube-dl, extract
frames with ffmpeg, and pull out frames from one contiguous section (the
footage jumps), then run it through meshroom. If anyone does it please share!

[https://alicevision.org/](https://alicevision.org/)

------
supernova87a
A hanging rail train sounds much more complicated than a train running on top
of tracks. I wonder why they chose that configuration? Or maybe a 1 rail
hanging configuration takes much less material than 2 rails?

edit: sounds like there's some confusion in replies. What I mean is even if
elevated, why not elevate traditional 2-rail train tracks, instead of a
hanging train?

~~~
detaro
Apparently some local industrialist had an experimental one in his factory,
and the proposal won out against competing designs which put a more "normal"
rail pair elevated over the river. And back when it was planned any elevated
train system was a big new thing, and the difficult bit either way was
building over the river.

------
y2kenny
More footage about the line:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2roHdZ9UB9Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2roHdZ9UB9Y)

I don't speak the language but the auto transcribe and auto translate seems to
work ok.

------
alltakendamned
Beautiful. I love how few cars there are.

~~~
Pfhreak
I was coming to post this exact sentiment. The city and its people really
shine when the roads are used by people, there are many pedestrian bridges,
etc. I love seeing spaces used by humans, not by cars.

------
WalterBright
Best "cab ride" video ever!

------
azepoi
This is the infamous Wuppertaler Schwebebahn. What's with people calling
cities and towns in foreign countries villages? Being unbeknownst to you
doesn't mean it's a village. Wuppertal is home to 350 thousands inhabitants an
counting. Wuppertal is the result of th fusion of several existing cities
including Ebersfeld which had over 100 thousand people in 1895 and considered
then a Großstadt.

~~~
donkeyd
Often people who are non-native speakers of English don't know the difference
between town and village. I hear plenty Dutch people say that they're from a
village, while town would probably be a better word.

~~~
ghaff
I doubt town and village are used consistently in the Anglosphere either. They
tend to be used fairly consistently in New England (though I can think of
exceptions) where it's not so much about absolute size but whether they have a
town government or are part of a larger entity.

~~~
kevin_thibedeau
Townships in New York are county subdivisions that are large enough to
encompass multiple villages. Not what is conventionally considered a town.

~~~
ghaff
I think it's similar in Pennsylvania where I grew up. The small groupings
within a township (or that can straddle townships) are apparently officially
census designated places according to Wikipedia. But the same articles seem to
refer to them colloquially as towns or villages interchangeably. I'm pretty
sure we called them towns when I was growing up.

There is quite a variation of governmental divisions within the US and what's
important or even what exists in one state or region may not be so in another
state or region. And informal nomenclature varies as well.

------
brummm
Calling it a Village is not really correct. Wuppertal had 100's of thousands
of inhabitants at that point.

~~~
dang
Fixed above.

------
thepangolino
This is a terrible article. As far as I’m the first in line to bitch about
small places calling themselves cities or towns, Wuppertal is far from being a
village by any standard.

------
WarOnPrivacy
At the beginning there's more people walking and hanging out, than I'm used to
seeing (in a sparsely developed area). If it were post WWII US, I wouldn't
expect to see anyone outside all day.

~~~
dhosek
Post WWII US covers 75 years. As a kid in the 70s I remember there being lots
of people outside during the day in suburban Chicago: kids playing, moms
walking to or from the store, there was still a guy on a bicycle cart who
drove around offering knife sharpening.

