City with a Steampunk Spirit

The city I’m talking about is Wuppertal in western Germany. It’s home to Schwebebahn or suspended monorail which was opened in 1901. Its full name is the “Eugen Langen Monorail Suspension Railway” (Einschienige Hängebahn System Eugen Langen). Of course the city doesn’t have a steampunk look now. However, the old pictures of the town tell us a different story.

Here are some numbers and details about the monorail.

The route is 13.3 kilometers (about 8 miles) long, about 12 meters (36 feet) above the surface of the river Wupper between Oberbarmen and Sonnborner Strasse and 8 meters (24 feet) above the streets.

The train consist of 2 cars like trams in Eastern Europe. The cars are 24 meters long and have 4 doors. One carriage can seat 48 and stand approximately 130 passengers. The top speed of the monorail train is 60 km/h (40 mph).

The last 2 photos are of modern Wuppertal.

23 comments December 11th, 2008