European Railroad Discussion > Hamburg Hauptbahnhof, yes it is a cool railway station Apr 28 16

In a previous thread Anderson109 mentioned that the Hamburg Hauptbahnhof was one of the coolest stations in the World. I would have to agree with him. It is over one hundred years old but still very functional, perhaps more so than many more modern facilities. It is busiest station in Germany and second busiest in Europe but somehow handles all those trains on just 14 platforms. It is constant activity during the daytime and is a great place to watch trains and do some people watching as well.
1) This is the West side of the station looking south.
2) Looking South through the main part.
3) Looking southeast as an Intercity train pulls in with the DVT end.

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Bill and I arrived around 3:20 pm. Bill had a screw fall out of his glasses which he was able to get repaired across the street.
4) The structural engineering is not just amazing, it is also quite beautiful.
5-6) Nordbahn EMU. I could not find this EMU in my spotter book.

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7) I took a picture of the identification numbers, if anyone wanted to look this one up. The Nordbahn operates once an hour to Itezhoe.
8) Wandelhalle this is the northwest entrance. There were shops and stuff across the street including an eyeglass place for Bill.
9) the clocktowers are a big part of what makes this station. Also looking at the northwest side.

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Perhaps one of the most amazing things about the station is that it survived WWII so well. There are parts of Hamburg that were reduced to gravel only a couple kilometers away. How this station was not a target I do not know.
10-11) Panning toward the northeast side.
12) The trains get out into the sun quickly some the long ones stick out even allowing for good photos from above.

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13) Northeast corner 
14-15) BahnTouristikExpress I missed the locomotive but I think it was a modern electric and not one of the historic diesels like on their site.

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16) Entering from the Northwest entrance.
17) Small tote-board.
18) Looking west.

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19) Looking east
20) Looking down the middle
21) Class 218s that stopped at the far south end and didn't come up to where we were.

Thank You For Looking!!

Jim

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Thanks for your prolific postings! What is the the BahnTouristikExpress - a charter train?

King_Coal Wrote:
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> Thanks for your prolific postings! What is the the
> BahnTouristikExpress - a charter train?

Yes a charter train. However in this case these cars are leased to Hamburg-Köln- eXpress (HKX) which operates a regularly scheduled passenger service between Hamburg and Köln. HKX leases a modern Taurus (ES64U2) locomotive from MRCE to power the train, which is why Jim didn't see one of BahnTouristik's locomotives on the train.

Thanks for the response. Looking at the photos on the web site, it looks like older equipment but a fun place to be.

tq-07fan Wrote:
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> 7) I took a picture of the identification numbers,
> if anyone wanted to look this one up. The Nordbahn
> operates once an hour to Itezhoe.

It is a Stadler built Flirt 3, six car trainset. One of 8 owned by Nordbahn and used for services to Itzehoe and to Wrist

Excellent coverage of a beautiful station. I had the opportunity to visit that statiopn in 2002 on my trip to Germany. I also spent a little layover in their city platz between trains and thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere and beautiful architecture. Can you just imagine strings of passenger cars in the station being pulled be steam locomotives? What it must have been like back then.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

tq-07fan Wrote:
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> Perhaps one of the most amazing things about the
> station is that it survived WWII so well. There
> are parts of Hamburg that were reduced to gravel
> only a couple kilometers away. How this station
> was not a target I do not know.
> 10-11) Panning toward the northeast side.
> 12) The trains get out into the sun quickly some
> the long ones stick out even allowing for good
> photos from above.

The bombers were probably aiming for it, such was the accuracy of the RAF and Army Air Corps. Beautuful station and you have to love Germany and its trains!

lee45174 Wrote:
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> tq-07fan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Perhaps one of the most amazing things about
> the
> > station is that it survived WWII so well. There
> > are parts of Hamburg that were reduced to
> gravel
> > only a couple kilometers away. How this station
> > was not a target I do not know.

> The bombers were probably aiming for it, such was
> the accuracy of the RAF and Army Air Corps.
> Beautuful station and you have to love Germany and
> its trains!

Er, I don't want to open old wounds and controversies, and my personal knowledge is slight, but it was famously believed in the UK that the RAF was much more accurate than the USAF who triumphed by sheer weight of numbers. Equally of course the firebombs used against Hamburg may have been more damaging against wood and brick domestic structures which may anyhow have been the principal targets. Remember that the  only purpose of bombing cities was to terrorise the civilian population.

My sister-in-law's father was a timber merchant who made a fortune in Hamburg after the war!


PS  The pictures themselves are just wonderful, as is the station, which probably is the greatest in Germany. Many thanks.

PPS Did you visit Hamburg Altona Hbf? I only ask because I never have done, and yet it always seemed to be the terminal destination of many IC and ICE trains coming from the south. I wondered if it was worth a detour.
 



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/16 04:09 by spflow.

Altona doesn't have the overall roof or atmosphere of the Hbf. Think Bournemouth West.

Thanks - I just have! What a shame!