[HN Gopher] The Many Faces of Berlin U-Bahn Line U7
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The Many Faces of Berlin U-Bahn Line U7
Author : Clewza313
Score : 136 points
Date : 2021-04-17 04:02 UTC (18 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (berlintypography.wordpress.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (berlintypography.wordpress.com)
| javajosh wrote:
| 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.
| pimeys wrote:
| 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...
| marton78 wrote:
| The first thing I looked for was whether they mention the
| horrible kerning at Mehringdamm. Was not disappointed.
| IAmEveryone wrote:
| 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.
| Gravityloss wrote:
| Thank you for your comment. It is like a fine New Yorker
| article in very short form.
| ido wrote:
| I too was surprised by how much I enjoyed an article about
| such a niche yet mundane subject.
| damau wrote:
| 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.
| bobthepanda wrote:
| 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.
| ddenisen wrote:
| 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.
| odiroot wrote:
| 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.
| philplckthun wrote:
| For what it's worth, I believe there are plans to reactivate
| the Siemensbahn tracks for a new line by 2025... or so I've
| read? Can't quite remember.
| ahartmetz wrote:
| Quite appropriately, there are plans to reactivate it to
| serve the new Siemens research campus that is currently under
| construction.
| dkarp wrote:
| Which airport was that? Tempelhof?
| mpweiher wrote:
| Tegel.
|
| Tempelhof has a subway station right in front of it.
|
| _Crying emoji_
| f6v wrote:
| My favorite station in Berlin is where they don't shoot drugs
| or smoke. Not that many, actually.
| odiroot wrote:
| Try looking around Friedenau, one of the most peaceful and
| posh parts of the inner city.
| fleaaaa wrote:
| Welcome to U8 Schoenleinstr! Believe or not it was used to be
| okay for me just 4~5 years ago.. now it's almost same as
| cesspit.
| hacliff wrote:
| I lived off Schonleinstrasse and can attest to this. I
| heard it was due to a crackdown in Hermanplatz pushing
| people one stop over?
| odiroot wrote:
| Also crackdown and constant police presence on Kotti.
| KingOfCoders wrote:
| As a kid of the 70s personally I like the 70s colors.
|
| 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.
| [deleted]
| Clewza313 wrote:
| A sort of spiritual counterpart (capitalist/communist, yin/yang,
| Luke/Vader, take your pick) to U7 is U5, the only line built by
| East Germany:
|
| 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.
| ido wrote:
| And these days it goes all the way to Hauptbahnhof!
| coldcode wrote:
| As an artist I actually like the crazy colorful tiles signs.
| gigatexal wrote:
| I take this line every day! I live off of the Konstanzer Strase
| stop. I never thought I'd see this on HN!
| chiph wrote:
| The sign for Richard-Wagner-Platz needs a clean background. It
| fades into the stormy seas [0] of the tiles.
|
| [0] Mit Gewitter und Sturm aus fernem Meer
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(page generated 2021-04-17 23:02 UTC)