UA along the tracks - Rotterdam Prague trip

UA along the tracks - May 2003

In May I took a short holiday with the family and I took the train to Prague. I have travelled this route several times before, and always admired the explorable objects along the tracks. This time I had my video camera.

It is frustrating to film from a train window. Objects flash by before you can catch them. Other travellers get in your view. But most frustrating of all : you see a wonderful object and you are not able to stop and explore it in detail ...

I hope you enjoy these fleeting impressions. And I hope someone will take the car and follow these tracks and bring us a detailed field report sometimes.

What you see here is a mix of two journeys (there & back). I've sorted the pictures in one direction : Netherlands - Czech Republic. The best objects are found between Pirna and Dresden.


The route of our first train. We were 30 minutes late at departure. We were afraid we would miss our connection in Berlin.	Dutch tracks near Hengelo. Approaching the border with (West) Germany.

Inside (former) East Germany.	Unfortunately I don't know which station this is. It went by too fast. These trains go 150 km/h.


Stendal (?) water tower and deserted warehouse.	This is the area between Wolfsburg and Berlin.


Decaying houses and factories along the tracks. The train doesn't stop here anymore.	Or maybe this area went downhill after the fall of the communist regime.


Somewhere before Berlin	Another cool water tower.


We left on May the 1st. There were some leftist protests all over Europe, but the were not so aggressive as the anti-globalist protests.	Entering Berlin from the West.

Berlin Zoo. Entering East Berlin. I think the East-West border ran here somewhere.	A lot of deserted looking - graffiti covered - factories all through this area.

Another cool water tower. This one looked deserted and trashed. Graffiti writers had been on the ladder at the top.

Below the rail infrastructure. These bricks could well be older than WW II. They remind me of the Victorian rail-infrastructure of London.

Next time I have to buy maps before I leave.


Powerstation and ICE high speed train.	Turbulence - chaos in the sun. Cloudmakers.

A lot of deserted mini-buildings along the tracks.

I think these are still the outskirts of Berlin. Between Berlin Ostbahnhof and Schönefeld Flughafen. I didn't have a map with me - will have one next time!

There must be a lot of (potential) Urban Explorers in Berlin. Could they go out and bring us a detailed expedition report ?


We had changed trains at Berlin Ostbahnhof. I have no pictures - we were in a big hurry.	Fortunately the train from Hamburg waited for us. This is a Czech train.



Mysterious factories.	The empty beer-glass is mine. Pilsner Urquell.


I have no idea what this was. It looked like a border camp or a prison terrain. I don't know where it is. Something like "Cohen Oldenbusch". It's all fuzzy on the video tape. It's before "Elsterwerda".	More cool water towers. Typical Eastern Block landscape. Mass produced housing and a factory. Before Grosenstein Berf Elf.



This is what you get when you try to catch a place name on video. Below: After "Pumpspeicherwerk Niederwartha". Approaching Dresden. Here is the biggest concentration of deserted objects.	An anonymous warehouse. Below: an (active) brewery. Notice the nice 19th century architecture.


	The famous skyline of Dresden. It was 100% restored afted the war. Nothing was left after the Allied forces bombarded the city. These were not intelligent bombs. Talking about war crimes ... Below is not a mosque, but a cigarette factory. And a lot of deserted warehouses.





Look at all those goodies ...	... how I wish I could get out of this train !



	Dresden Haputbahnhof. During the floods in 2002 the trains stood up to their roofs in the water. A self portrait - to kill the waiting time. There was a group of Japanese tourists in the next compartment. But I was taking more pictures than they. Right after the station there's a huge ruined factory. I'm glad they didn't demolish it yet.



And then a lot of deserted villa's.	And even deserted train stations.



Dresden Strehlen.	And then a very Lovecraftian deserted church. You must read his story about " ".


Sun going down.	What's this wonderful thingy ?

Yet another cool, mysterious building. A prison?	To be or not to be ?


Pirna - From here the tracks follow the Elbe.	Small towns, no big factories from here.

This is still in Germany. The German objects are in much worse shape than the Czech objects.
I have no pictures of the border corossing. It is not so interesting. The Czech border guards are unfriendly and they made racist remarks about the Japanese tourists. They didn't know I speak Czech.	Yet another cool water tower. Ústí nad Labem - Czech Republic. This is Sudetenland. This part of the Czech Republic was betrayed by the allies and handed to Hitler without protest.



	Gus Mc'Pherson wanted to enjoy a quiet retirement in Paris. Instead he discovered a bloody conspiracy full of ancient rituals.


A huge factory in the middle of nowhere.	Praha Holesovice - Destination. The TV tower and the statue of Zizka.

Deserted Buildings
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