I promise this is on topic.
This is the station of Wendlingen-am-Neckar, on the main line between Plochingen and Tübingen. It’s also the beginning of a branch line to Kirchheim and Oberlenningen, which has a rather eccentric way of leaving the bay platform and lurching across the adjacent road right in front of the station forecourt, rather than taking the proper route from the other side of the station. I have no idea why it so urgently needed to turn here (it’s a more direct route to Kirchheim, but not much) but I do think it’s rather wonderful that it does so. It’s very similar to how I imagine the mythical narrow/standard gauge interchange in Wildberg to look, with the Narrow gauge line appearing in front of the street side of the station.
I was actually cycling through on one of my ‘explore before the sun disappears’ adventures, which is why the first pictures look a bit dark and cold- it was before sensible people were up. I think I was half asleep as well because I totally missed the significance of the overhead wires that were over some sections but still being built at the station, and all the new stabling sidings being built in Kirchheim. It was only on the return (which was on the train) that I noticed the huge great sign which announces the S-bahn will soon be running through here instead of stopping in Pforzheim: an excellent idea as Kirchheim is a fairly important town in the area and deserves a direct link to Stuttgart. I’m intrigued as to how they’ll fit them in though as there is a scrap metal yard and a and a paper factory which between them apparently generate almost daily freight trains, of which more next time I’m out there.
And I will be out there again: It’s worth it just to see a freight train squeezing through the houses and over the crossing, but it will also be interesting to see how the station is developed now for the S-Bahn.
An S-bahn coming down a single track branch line onto a station forecourt: that gives me an idea…
That rather reminds me of a line in Austria. Years ago on holiday my Dad and I decided to take the train from the village (Mutters and Natters as I recall!) into Innsbruck. It was about metre gauge, electric, and had low-floor cars (not unusual for the area). According to the timetable it terminated at the Bahnhoff (central station) – of course it did.
We were a little surprised when the train got to the edge of the city and went down the streets, and while it did indeed terminate at the station it did so in the road outside, rather than a platform inside!
A couple of years later the Metrolink opened in Manchester and we took that to the MMRS exhibition, but at the time trams were unheard of in the UK (Blackpool aside!)
Thanks for the thoughts Michael. As you’ve noticed railways in Europe don’t have the clear boundaries, fences and other things they do in the UK. I had a look at Innsbruck on Google Earth and it seems there is fairly extensive trackage on the station forecourt. Whare did your train come from? It would be interesting to check the route and see what there is today.
Low floor trams are pretty commen here now- Stuttgart’s high floor system is pretty unusual.
Having three small boys makes me realise how ‘Tram rides with dad’ are a precious thing…
[...] 20, 2009 by Andy in Germany Construction work continues at Wendlingen in preparation for extending the S-Bahn system to Kirchheim. This is part of a major package of [...]