It Haas a name, Haas Reisedienst of Aachen

 In Britain bus and transport enthusiasts have fairly catholic tastes liking a bit of this and a bit of that and knowing a good thing where I see it. My feeling is abroad there are less of us and perhaps they specialise. That's a shame as had I been growing up in Germany in the Eighties I might have gone potty to see such wonderful coach of that period like this wonderful split level creation with Reisedienst Haas of Aachen in Berlin. No doubt based on a Mercedes-Benz it was marketed as something else it would seem, apart from taking lots of pictures I never got too much into German coaches as there is little to read up.

Top Tour Berlin

 BVG the Berlin bus operator was running a small fleet of coaches plus a few sightseeing buses in that lucrative market. This Mercedes 0407 had been cut down and de-roofed to make an attractive chara for it's Top Tour. Personally I would much have preferred  to ride on the MAN double-decker with Stadtrunfarht Berlin, another former BVG bus.

A Is For Augsburg

The letter 'A' in the German registration codes is for Augsburg as carried on this rather overpowering red and black Neoplan coach of Reim.  WIS carried by the by then quite elderly Setra might be a lot more difficult to guess but it's for Wismar, formerly part of the DDR and situated on the coast half way between Rostock and Lubeck. I've learnt something today as I had to look that one up and even though I've been to Lubeck I've never heard of Wismar before.

BVG Berlin 3534 at Reinickendorf

 Looking at the photos I took in Berlin and elsewhere I'm glad I used to get off the beaten track, but a consequence of that is I often can't consciously remember where they were taken it has gone fuzzy. This is a good example but the route displayed as 72 means it was taken before Reunification and indeed the still new looking MAN 3534 dated from 1986. I expect this is the opposite terminus of the 57 min 16 Km trip to Gartenfeld and was taken at Reinickendorf

Berlin BVG MAN Wagon-Union 3375 at Zoo Bahnhof

As in London one doesn't need to empty their wallet to see the city on enthusiastically touted sightseeing tours as the less pampered and more outgoing tourists who don't mind crowding in alongside the locals can see it all on the local buses paying normal fares and routes like the 100 will always have double-deckers and must be a thorn in the side. I might be wrong but if I remember rightly before Reunification there used to be far more sightseeing buses in West Berlin doing the sights and going over into the East than when I was last there about eight years ago.

Berlin BVG MAN SD 84 3403

How the years fly by, I used to regularly go to Berlin at this time of year but a lot has changed since the early Nineties and even though these far too ubiquitous MAN Wagon-Union double-deck buses weren't liked at the time by enthusiasts as in Britain I'm sure they are now in favour as 'real buses' and more importantly real Berlin buses.  3403 was one of the last of this generation and built in 1985.

OVG MAN in Oranienburg

From Tomorrow it's harder to Walk to Berlin

Today officially Britain leaves the EU and not only do I have misgivings it makes me sad as it is such a more colourful place and that influence has spread to these shores as well.  The Germans are not noted for their sense of humour so maybe they have learnt something from us too judging from this fetishistic poster on the Ku-damm in Berlin.

ORG Ikarus in Oranienburg

One of the nice things about being interested in transport is it takes us where the tourists don't go. I think with this shot taken in Oranienburg it is somewhere even bus enthusiasts rarely venture. Soon after Reunification in the former East Berlin this scruffy housing estate is not so different to those we find in many British cities.

BVG Usedomerstr Garage in Wedding

In Berlin as in Britain bus services have been rationalised greatly since the city was reunified and an improved tram and u-bahn network cut back a lot of bus routes. There are far fewer garages too including this small one with just shy of one-hundred buses at Usedomerstr in Wedding close to The Wall. Of interest are route boards hanging up and in the background probably living accommodation for the staff.

MAN SD B.V.1940 at Berlin Zoo

Berlin is a bit of a grey city or rather more of a sandy grey but there is always plenty going on and the area around the Zoo and the railway station are always busy.

The 804 to Dameswalde

That destination on this Mercedes-Benz 0405 in Orianienburg looks rather inviting lol, but I think those Wild Dames don't seem quite so exciting when one looks at the glum and grumpy looking  ladies boarding the bus at the bus station in what had been a part of East Berlin..

Hurrying Over The Tram Tracks in Leipzig

It is always annoying when people step out in front of us when we are about to take a photo and especially when they just don't care! But not only was this guy just blinkered running for a train it turned a rather predictable LVB tram photo in Leipzig into a little gem. One more step and he would blocked out all the detail of the tram but as it is it robs us of nothing. This of course was in the days before we all had digital cameras and photography was still an expensive hobby.

Beautiful Bodies at The Zoo

As you can see I couldn't get a perfect result as I was trying to kill two birds with one stone here. However I rather liked those stylish Italian Padane coach bodies. It's on a Magirus Deutz chassis, a firm which I expect was absorbed by Mercedes or the like for as elsewhere in Europe smaller manufacturers found it harder to compete. But it is not forgotten as it built distinctive fire engines, water cannons etc. and has a following of fans. Every German town has it's own registration letters but I don't recognise this one so you will have to guess, as you will have to as well as to where the young lady visitor to Berlin was from. I would say Japan.

Springtime in Dresden

Following German Reunification the former East was getting a makeover and western modernity was springing up all around as can be witnessed by the three-axle Neoplan Syliner coach just visible. But like the eco-unfriendly brown coal blackened cathedral the old trams were badly in need of a spring clean.

Der Blaufelder Reisen Bussing Coach

I obviously created some interest when I stopped to take a photo of this Bussing coach from Western Germany visiting Berlin and it looked very smart in the type of  attractive script signwriting they used back in 1982. This guy was a salesman and he tried to chat me up as I might buy some life insurance. I don't think so somehow it's a nightmare in English just imagine trying to understand all that small print that goes with it in German.

Leipzip MAN on the 52 to Plagwitz

As the former East Germany slowly gets modernised both a new MAN bus and a tram steal the limelight with tired looking Communist era trams outside the Bahnhof in Leipzig.

Berlin a special day a new bus

In Berlin on special days of the year and holidays the city buses used to be bestowed with flags. That of course wouldn't happen here as whenever there's the slightest hint of it Arriva just take off the service to save money despite some people still needing to get to work. Someone should pay for the buses and I'm sorry to say perhaps it should be the urban motorist who has choice. Also worth celebrating in this view was the fact that the flags were on a brand new bus a MAN Wagon-Union No.1893 and an addition to that feeling of newness even the girl walking passed looks like a new doll removed from it's box. Yes even the everyday Berlin in those days was a bit like something out of a generic movie or just a bit surreal.

Setra at Oranianburg

Once situated just over the Berlin Wall in the East is the pleasant town on Oranianburg but like many others it's bus station was hardly well appointed or inspiring.

Berlin in the Early Eighties: BVG MAN-BUSSING 2628

Before the Berlin Wall came down this is how I like to remember it by the Ku'damm. Dating from 1974 this was one of the very first of these MAN double-deckers to enter service here and early examples also carried the Bussing symbol on the grill. They had two things in common with some British buses, I'm sure many will disagree but  firstly they sounded a little bit like a Metrobus but with my second observation I'm sure many will agree for sitting upstairs the seats were quite low and one could only just peer out of windows if they were small very much like on a MCW Orion body.