19 September 2013 - Wuppertal, Germany - Vohwinkel: Under the massive Schwebebahn structure at Kaiserplatz in Central Vohwinkel, car #24 is just leaving on a trip to Oberbarmen. Drivers of other vehicles are totally unaware of what is happening just above their heads, which is one of the major advantages of the Schwebebahn - nothing holds up the service.
19 September 2013 - Wuppertal, Germany - Sonnborner Strasse: Car #9 of the Schwebebahn just hanging around over one of the main streets in the Wupper valley. These vehicles have now nearly all been replaced by a brand new design. Note the massive support beams and overhead tracks needed to carry the line above the other traffic.
19 September 2013 - Wuppertal, Germany - Westende: One of the iconic Schwebebahn monorail cars on its journey to Vohwinkel, along its track spanning the River Wupper. When the line was proposed, this was the only place left in this narrow valley, already filled with railways, roads and industry, for the line to be built, so it was suspended over the water for most of the route. Wuppertal also had trams of two gauges and a funicular, but these have all gone now - you can still see trolleybuses at Vohwinkel, however.
20 September 2013 - Wuppertal, Germany - Kaiserstrasse Vohwinkel: Back in Wuppertal, we see one of the buses of the vast Rheinbahn system on Line 784, which runs for a short distance underneath the famous Schwebebahn suspended monorail.
20 September 2013 - Wuppertal, Germany - Kohlfurther Brucke: This tram at the Bergische museum started life in 1960 with the local Remscheid tramways and moved to HEAG at Darmstadt as their #106 when the Remscheid system closed. It was built by the firm of Westwaggon. It ran in service on a line very close to the museum.
20 September 2013 - Wuppertal, Germany - Kohlfurther Brucke: Back at the Bergische Museum tramway, this arbeitswagen or general works car #406 stands in the back of the shed. It was built by Rastatt in 1953 for the Freiburg tramways.
20 September 2013 - Germany, Wuppertal - Greuel: Two trams of the Bergische Museumsbahn stand in the woods at the country end of this museum line, taking on passengers for the return journey. Car #337 is a genuine Duewag tram of 1954 ex-Hagen tramways, whereas Talbot #105 is much older, built for the Wuppertal metre-gauge lines in 1927.
22 September 2013 - Wuppertal, Germany - Greuel: The Bergische Museumsbahnen is a nice tram museum in the Wupper valley, once a country tramway through the forests to Eberfeld and Solingen. The metre gauge track runs for several km up a steep gradient and once connected with the celebrated Barmer Bergbahn, a rack tramway - laid partly in the street - to a station in the surrounding hills where you could change to this line. This is an original Barmer Bergbahn tram of 1928, built by Schondorff of Dusseldorf, standing at the current terminus of the line within the forest. The museum track continues unused to the village of Moschenborn and it is hoped eventually to reopen it further.