There's actually a (maybe not so) funny story about the Schwebebahn: Back in 1950 a little circus named "Zirkus Althoff" pitched up its tent in Wuppertal. The owner, Franz Althoff, had been a circus man all his life an he came up with a rather spectacular idea to get some publicity: he took the circuses elephant lady Tuffi for a ride on the Schwebebahn. Along with a bunch of journalists and Franz Althoff's son Harry, they squeezed Tuffi in the cabin and actually took off. It didn't long though for Tuffi to get increasingly uncomfortable. In a rather panicky attempt to break free, Tuffi went into beast mode and basically crashed the side of the cabin, leading to her falling out of the window and into the river Wupper, which was like 10 Meters below. Luckily she landed in a muddy spot and wasn't hurt except for some minor bruises. Franz Althoff was fined and to this day, there are no elephants allowed. There is however a dairy factory that named its milk "Tuffy" after the elephant :)

The Schwebebahn is brilliant and I'm so happy to see it here! I've visited it twice already (once we rented a car almost only for this purpose when we went on holiday to Amsterdam and drove to Wuppertal to ride it) and hope to do so again. It's enormous fun to ride it and it's also fascinating to look at. A brilliant piece of engineering and problem solving because the railway was originally built as a solution to a quickly growing industrial city (back then two who later became one). Suddenly they needed public transport but had nowhere (but the Wupper river) to put it. Anyway, I hope I haven't made it too obvious how much of a nerd I am when it comes to public transport...

It’s like a window in time. And the weirdest thing to remember is that they are all lived their lives and have passed now. Even the youngest child you see.

Currently the Schebebahn is under construction and rides only on weekends. There is also a historical waggon called the "Kaiserwagen", it is the one that Kaiser Wilhelm II. and his wife Auguste Viktoria rode on October 24. 1900 for a test ride from Döppersberg to Vohwinkel. You can now book rides and even be wed on that waggon.

I've travelled on the Schwebebahn, it's really amazing on every level, in fact it was one of the main highlights of all my trips to Germany during the 1990's.

1902?!! This is one of the single most interesting things I"ve seen on the internet.

Already stated, hauntingly beautiful. Thank you for bringing this to life.

Awesome 👏

I went on this train in Wuppertal back in1966 on a school trip. Memories!

The original footage is absolutely astounding even without being compared to typical for the time film. Also have to say that this is the way to public transit. Makes so much more sense than lightrail at ground level. Both require tremendous amounts of work to build the infrastructure, ground level is less flexible and much more expensive to alter when inevitable changes will be made. Not to mention lightrail and such lead to massive upheavels to businesses and residents when it's built. Witnessed that when Phoenix installed it's white elephant lightrail.

This is extraordinary! What I love most about these restored and enhanced films, is how they transport me back to another time and place. What makes me especially wistful is seeing momentary glimpses of all those people, now long gone, just going about their day and living life in the moment. It's a poignant reminder that at some point all of our now moments will just be distant yesterdays, like the ones in this film.

Cool. I had no idea this existed. What's the advantage of a suspended train over a plain old elevated train though? Wouldn't the same structure hold either one? Not being critical just curious.

Is this Thorpe Park?

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

it's a beautiful idea but ugly as hell executed, that beautiful town suddenly "invaded" by that cold and industrial-looking iron structure