But Can I Spend A WHOLE DAY There? Welcome to My German Railway Station Challenge!
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- Опубліковано 26 вер 2024
- It's challenge time again and this one is sure to be painful right? Can I spend a full day (8 hours) in the biggest station in Europe? Or would that make me go mad? Well there's only one way to find out eh? Enjoy the video...
Filmed on Friday 20th October 2023 in Leipzig, Germany
Music courtesy of epidemicsound.com
'Air on the G string' (Bach) performed by Johannes Bornlöf
Thumbnail designed using Canva
This video is not sponsored and all opinions are my own
I don’t pretend to be a travel expert, but I love what I do and would be honoured if you came along with me. My channel focusses on the wide-eyed wonder and excitement of finding somewhere new, and my genuine reaction to it. You might not get a history lesson in my videos, but who knows, you might pick up some useful travel tips along the way, add a few destinations to your bucket list and hopefully be entertained by what you see. Thanks for watching, it means a lot to me :)
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#SteveMarsh #Germany #BiggestStation
There is a reason why it is so large. It was build as a joint project between Prussian State Railways and Royal Saxon State Railways, which were fighting in the first decade of the 20th century for the train services around Leipzig (Saxony) and Halle (Prussia), because this was the main railway hub for Central Germany. When they finally decided to build Leipzig Hauptbahnhof together, no side wanted to look meager or weak or frugal, and so, the project grew and grew and finally arrived at the state it is today. It is also the reason why it has two entrance halls, one Saxon (Osthalle) and one Prussian (Westhalle). My parents by the way have some of the door handles from the old station doors in their garden, and two of my cousins used the old train split-flap displays for several art projects.
At the time, it was also planned to built a railway tunnel under downtown Leipzig to connect to the Bavarian State Railway, which was started, but never completed. In World War II, it was used as an air raid shelter though. Only in 1990ies, the idea of completing the tunnel got steam again, and construction started in 2003, to be completed in 2013, nearly 100 years after the construction of the train station.
Thanks, I did wonder why it was so large compared to Hamburg Hbf, for example. It has always been my first step into Leipzig every time for the 15 years I have been going there.
Also it was the second largest dead end station in Europe by counting the platforms (26) before they demolished some of them to make room for the underground connection and parking space.
One of my favorite places was any train station in Germany.
Home sweet home! Leipzig native here, born and raised. So I have spent A LOT of time in that station. Since they turned it into a "shoppingcenter with a rail connection" it feels like most people who go there don't do so to catch a train. And - sadly - for the rail traffic it sees today it is massively oversized. The two undergground platforms handle much of the local and regional traffic, that leaves the upstairs platforms with only a few regional (mostly the diesel ones, they're banned from the tunnel) and the long distance trains.
Fun facts about the station:
It was built as a joint venture between the old Prussian and Saxonian railway companies. That's why it is completely symmetrical. Everything was built twice, once for the Prussians, once for the Saxonians. Tracks 1-13 were for the Prussian, tracks 14-26 for the Saxonian railway.
Many of these tracks and platforms have been removed, the easternmost ones are now a parking lot, the westernmost ones were removed when the tunnel underneath was built. The numbering remained the same though, which is why today some numbers are simply missing.
Do I love that station? Hell yeah!
Is it the best? Doubtful... 🤷♂️
It has won some awards though I believe...
Hey thanks so much for your comment, super-appreciated! I will be having a look around the city in next week's video, and while it doesn't end well, nothing will put me off your great city!
@@steve-marsh doesn't end well?? What happened???
Well, guess I'll have to wait and see. Subscribed so I won't miss it. 😊
Shopping Center with a Rail Connection.... I liked that.!! 😂😂
I had German relatives who lived in Eisenberg South of Leipzig and we’ve been in Leipzig many times after the wall came down. I have particular interest in Colditz castle near Leipzig.
@@steve-marshhey Steve you should visit heidelberg in Germany. Go up to the castle on the funicular
Structurally, it is the largest terminal station in Europe. Judging by passenger numbers, Paris North Station is the largest terminal station in Europe. There are many large terminal stations in Europe that have more passengers or more train movements as Leipzig.
The main station consists of two stations, a Prussian and a Saxon station. You can still see this today at the two main entrances.
However, due to 40 years of German division, Leipzig Hbf has lost its importance. Leipzig used to be the most important publishing city and the most important fur trading city and also an industrial and traffic center for traffic to East Germany (today Poland) to the Czech Republic and beyond to Hungary and Austria. These connections were severed after 1945 and have only slowly been growing again since 1989. During Advent, the main station is beautifully decorated and has its own Christmas market.
I Heard that Nuernberg is also the biggest Drive through, Railway Station by Plattforms in Western Europe. It has a Small hall though.
Also has a pretty big railway Museum.
So yeah greets from Nürnberg to Leipzig.
And all the other railway town
afaik munich central (hbf) is the staion with the most platforms in europe. second in the world only to ny grand central
As far as I know Leipzig used to the largest terminus station in Europe by the number of railway tracks ... though this not true anymore: during the renovation in the 1990's track no 25 and 26 were turn into car parking.
yep. hamburg has the most passenger numbers in germany. but it was still impressive and nice to get a tour of leipzig station.
@@zoolkhan the overcrowded and chaotic Hamburg Main Station is rather impressive in a negative sense.
You never fail to impress Steve 👌 What a beautiful station. Great wee video. You'll soon be hitting the 100K and well deserved too 💙🏴
Thanks so much Wendy! I can't even comprehend a number that big!
I did a railroadtrip through Germany last summer and while the reputation of DB not being punctual isn't exactly ungrounded, I do have to admit the Hauftbanhoven are in fact all great. Basically every main station in Germany is effectively a mall with train platforms.
Interesting spelling ("Hauftbanhoven") you've got there, looks more Dutch than German to me. 😉
*Hauptbahnhof; plural -höfe, abbreviated Hbf (from "Haupt" = head or main + "Bahnhof" = train station, lit. "rail yard")
Duisburg and Dortmund Hbf would like to have a word 🙃
@@itmkoeln wanne-eickel 🤢
No@@itmkoeln
Love Germany. Nice folk and immaculate stations. Trains tend to be very busy thanks to well priced fares. It's a big old country and the train is the way to go. Leipzig is on the list of places to visit and the train would be the way to go. It's a great station by the looks of things. Definitely a contrast to the ultra modern Berlin station which is also amazing.
Plenty of older stations in Berlin, just all usurped by the current Hbf
Yeah I have a real soft spot for Germany too. Shame it was slightly tarnished by something that happened in Leipzig but that's for next weeks' video :D
@@erik_griswold loved going to the different Ubahn stations. As a U2 fan walking around op station was interesting.
Love Germany too for many reasons, a well run country with social policies, and their trains are excellent though not without their problems at the moment I admit. Affordable as you say, which is not something you can say about British trains alas. So want to get back to Germany, still so much to explore.
Great video, Steve.
I stopped at Leipzig a few years ago and was impressed by the reconstruction of much of the city, while keeping the old world flavour.
Good touch at the end, Steve, with JS Bach quietly drifting through like the spire of St Thomas's rising above the town.
Well spotted thank you :) I really liked the city, I had a bit of a dodgy end to my time there though (all the be revealed next week)
That is a gorgeous building! And they blended the classic style with modern amenities so well! Thanks for the vid Steve!
Lived in Leipzig for a month in 1988 studying German. The station was then a very dreary place. Massive, draughty and austere. How it's changed. Would never imagine then that wall would fall within the year. Leipzig is a massive success story post unification. Make sure you visit the Auerbachs Keller and the Grassi museum.
Well, GDR is no more. Your story fits any city in the former GDR
I’ve been binge watching your videos since I discovered your channel a couple of days ago. This on had me laughing out loud, LOL. Thanks for brightening up my bleak midwinter day Steve!
I love your wit and humor sprinkled throughout the video, Steve. I absolutely love the architecture of the building and the comprehensive tour you gave us. You explained everything simply, and the shots of the trains, scenery, etc are very well done. Thank you so much from across the pond.
What a trainspotter's paradise that was Steve! Such a stunning building and a real engineering marvel. Great stuff 👍
Cheers pal! Aye, it was a fun day in the end, I genuinely thought it would be tougher than it was!
Hello Steve, regarding the little railway museum. The Steam locomotive was a Class 52 (Baureihe 52), as mentioned by others it is as "Kriegslok" War locomotive. It is based on the Class 50 which was built before the war. You could compare them with the Stanier 8F build in the 1930s and the War Department 8F build during the second world war. The first electric locomotive is an Class E04 (E stands for electric locomotive), it was build in the early 1930s and used for Express Passenger trains, The second electric loco is a class E44, which was build in the 1930s. It was build as an universal locomotive, so that it could be used in passenger and freighttrains. The last locomotive is an E94. These was build as an heavy freight locomotive. In western Germany these locomotives were called "Deutsches Krokodil" (german crocodile), in eastern Germany they called the "Eisenschwein" (Ironpig)
Thank you so much for this info!!!! I love this comments section :)
@@steve-marsh The DMU you wondered about at 10:30 is a so called "Fliegender Hamburger" (flying Hamburger - not food related as you may´ve guessed ...)
It was the first kind of high speed trains that went into regular service in the late 1930´s. Max speed was 160kph/100mph and it operated on various routes but the most well known was between Berlin and Hamburg. It covered the distance in about 2 hrs which was incredible at the time.
The museum trains were all
Deutsche Reichsbahn (East Germany) They merged with The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB (German Federal Railway) in 1994, I travelled on DR Shortly after the Berlin wall came down in November 1989 Berlin to Warsaw, There was a noticeable difference in the condition of the trains and sleeper cabins, Worn seats and carpets, The attendant I remember had was still wearing his DR uniform apart from the DR Badges and insignia Polyester trousers causing him to sweat and change into shorts once we entered Poland.
Class 52 is also one of the most produced steam locomotives in history with more than 7000 built (at its peak in 1943 production reacȟed up to 51 locomotives per day). After the war many of them were distributed all over Europe, and quite a few are preserved in running conditions and are the main workhorse of many heritage railways and museums. Five of them are even in commercial service still in two coal mines in Bosnia and Herzegovina. And in Marl (in the Ruhr Area) you can see one upside down on display in front of the city theatre (it was put upside down as part of an art festival in Berlin in 1987 at the former Anhalter Bahnhof, but was moved to Marl in 1991 as after reunification Berlin's new main railway station was built on the area of the Anhalter Bahnhof).
Glasgow central you can walk the platforms there my favourite place to go we stay at central hotel just love the place were from perth so we kinda get lost after the street lights stop !!!!!!
The Germans do train stations very well. That station is a destination in itself. Looks beautiful, especially with the added bonus of the museum exhibits. Now that is indeed an inspired idea. 👏👏👍😎
The wee extras in there certainly helped me get through a long day!
I wouldn't, however, recommend Augsburg Hbf. Beautiful city, but the station is a dump with few facilities; an unpleasant place to wait for a much-delayed Nightjet last October! I'd give it a miss if I were you...
That was a very well deserved beer! "Hello again Otto" shouldn't have made me laugh as much as it did😂
This was absolutely one of my most favorite videos. Since I could teach a cat how to relax doing nothing all day would not be a problem for me. I can always find something to entertain myself. And as for eating, the food looked delicious! . I can't wait for you to take a trip on that double decker bus. Want to see that. Not bus, train! I actually got to keep my feet on the floor all of the time this time. No looking over rails or down gullies or anything. Just on the ground. Thank you so much for the work that you do and for the fact that you get bored easily. Say hi to Alicja for me. Be well, stay safe, love from Texas.
Aww thanks Kate! STILL my ambition to ride one of those trains, sad but true :D I've been back over that was since and still didn't do it yet!
You'll make it! I will be looking forward to it!
Nice one Steve! German main line stations are great, you should try Dresden & Chemnitz as well. My first visit to east Germany was 9 months after the fall of the Berlin wall. You will really enjoy touring around Leipzig, so much to see - enjoy!
Oh cheers for the other tips!
I am stuck at home recovering from cancer , so I love travelling vicariously through your videos. One small correction- in a railway station, the "hall" is the main passenger area, and the area where the trains operate is called the shed" Keep the good work!
Get well soon. Also had cancer when I was younger. I really thougt that that would be it.
I'm very familiar with Leipzig Hbf, having lived nearby for a little while and visiting the area on-and-off for the past three years. It's funny when you use the station as a commuter, the sheer vastness is lost on you in the rush to catch a train. When I clicked on the video, it made me think, I've never been to the platforms on the eastern side of the station as they were never on my route. Can't believe I've missed out on that little museum this whole time! Will pay it a visit when I'm back next week :)
Nice! It took me half the day to find the museum, just when I thought I'd seen everything I was like 'what is THAT!?' :)
The steam loco is a war time built Kriegsdampflokomotive 1 (KDL1) (DRB class 52 which was used until 1986 by East Germany's Deutsche Reichsbahn).
The train behind that is called SVT137nd is one of the last remaining Diesel traction rail cars called "Bauart Hamburg" based on the Fliegender Hamburger concept built in 1935. it was used by East Germany's transport authority after the war.
E04 was built as one of 23 electric locos from 1932 onwards
E44 was the first electric loco that was built in Germany and of which there were built more than 100 hundred (they were built between 1932 and 45. And after world war 2 in 1950-1 and in 55
E94 is called Eisenschwein (Iron Pig) or Deutsches Krokodil (German Krokodil)
I’ve been to a good handful of stations (Prague, Vienna, Paddington, Venice, Rome, plus LA, Seattle, and DC in the States.) my favorite up till now has been DC, but Leipzig blows them all out of the water. What a magnificent place. So impressed that you could stroll along the platforms. (Thank goodness for you, huh?), and so great that they had a rolling stock museum! Thanks for a truly different video. Cheers and ATB!
How about Grand Central Terminal New York?
That was one amazing station, thank you for sharing.
I stumbled across your Video by accident. So glad I did! As an Aussie living in Bali I travel to Europe every October. I love European train travel. Last month I trained through Northern Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia (Plus a tourist cog railway in Peloponnese, Greece!). Impressive stations were Milan especially. I love the way they retained the building history with modern add ons (Malls, and subways). We just don't have this in Australia. Ps. The beautiful Antwerp Central station comes to mind from years back...looking forward to the Leipzig videos!
Another enjoyable video well done & good luck on the next one 👍👍👍
As soon as I hear Steve say “I have an idea…” I know this is going to be a fun video!
Haha thanks so much!
No, it is not heated in the winter, it's cold as h*ll in there. Some of the shops are heated though, and Saturn keeps their doors wide open and is heated, so you can stand near the doors and feel all the heat pouring out and you can warm up a bit.
The Leipziger Lerche (German for Lark) pastry is usually made with Marzipan. It was originally made with actual Larks in the 1700s and 1800s and was so popular it decimated the Lark population, and was finally banned in 1876. Now it's a sweet pastry usually made with a Shortcrust and filled with a Marzipan. Sometimes a little cherry or apricot filling is added to the bottom of the crust under the Marzipan.
Leipzig is indeed a beautiful and impressive station. And your humour never fails. Always a pleasure to watch your videos. Greetings to you and Otto the pigeon from Denmark. 😃👍
Hi Steve, we had platform barriers in the past, but they got removed in the 1950s and 1960s (if I am not mistaken, in the West at least) due to high number of passengers on commuter trains and then stopped using them all together. Instead we switched to conductors on the train and later to random controls to ensure the people by tickets.
Ahhh cheers for this!
They still have them in dresden 😊
Actual staff on trains and presumably no plans to make them redundant or close the ticket offices....
@@phillylarkin.s1930at which station exactly? Never seen a single ticket barrier here
Also plain clothes ticket inspectors!
Thanks for sharing your journey, Steve. Greetings from Australia.
Thanks Richard! It was a fun experiment
My Wife -"What are you watching?" Me- a man spending 8 hrs walking around Liepzig Railway Station.
My Wife- 🤨
Well I enjoyed it, lol. Thanks Steve.
Leipzig has been my home for a long time, I think it's nice that you also report about such stations. I am interested in various railroads, whether in England, Scotland, Ireland, Japan or anywhere else in the world. Thank you for your contribution
Keep up the good work Uwe
as one who is too old to be traveling anymore I really appreciate what you are doing here
Hi Steve, re the loks - the first steam engine was a Class 52 'Kriegslok' of which almost 8,000 of which were built during the war for operating freight trains. The violet/elfenbein 3-car DMU was built pre-war to provide first class express services between the major cities in Germany - the 3-car sets being known as 'Fliegende (Flying) Frankfurter' and the 2-car sets known as 'Fliegende Hamburger'. That particular set after the war was used by the East German president as his personal train.
Superb! Thanks so much for the info!
Good info, Keith. I would like to add that the concept of "Fliegender XYZ" (where XYZ is a major city) was started with the connection from Hamburg to Berlin with an early morning departure, and a return after 5pm, to give business people a full working day in the capital. The top speed was (a then very respectable) 160km/h (100mph), and the service (always non-stop) was later expanded to Leipzig, Frankfurt, Cologne and still later even to Stuttgart and Munich. The drive train was always diesel-hydraulic, as opposed to the approach in the US (diesel-electric) and Italy (DC-electric from the catenary). The service came to a halt shortly after commencement of World War II.
If that was a Scottish station the sign would have read "Mehr delays, mehr cancellations, mehr excuses.."
Looks a fantastic place, Leipzig vill also go on ze liszt!
Only Steve Marsh could make a video of this kind very entertaining! I'm surprised they allow direct access to the trains without a ticket.
Haha thanks I was a bit worried about this one!
True; free access to platforms is becoming rarer everywhere. For example, when I was a kid and even beyond, you could wander around the platform on large stations in the Netherlands (Utrecht, Amsterdam or Rotterdam for example). Now you need a ticket to get anywhere near a train. While I can understand why, it is still a pity. Incidentally, I was in St Petersburg Russia a few years ago and wanted to get a picture of the new high speed trains to Moscow, the Sapsan. Although you needed to pass a security check to get on to that platform, the official there said it was fine for me to go on the platform without a ticket and take my picture; which was nice really... Thanks for the video Steve. Don't think I would have had the patience to stay all day!
There are ticket inspectors on the trains and you don’t want to be caught without a ticket!
@@pamelagartner3759 well, it depends. i witnissed multiple ocations were the staff was pretty nice about someone not having a ticket or not the correct one. On time there was an asian lady in berlin without a ticket and a big language barrier. So the conductor asked a guy with a ticket with a +1 option, if he could just say that she was officially travelling with him. so all good. But yeah, I also was treated pretty badly even with a ticket. Normally I got the feeling that the service gets better and friendlier in the better trains like EC or ICE.
When the station was build, the german railway companies were not yet merged.
The east half of the station was used by the state railway of saxony, while the west side by the state railway of prussia.
Most things were mirrored and existed twice.
You can still see this by the two main entrance halls.
Interesting! Thanks :)
Wow! That's an impressive railway station. You certainly did well to survive that challenge. I'm really impressed by the cleanliness of the area. Looking forward to the next leg of your adventure.
Cheers Bryce! A proper look around town next week!
Great video Steve from the Faroe Isles to Liepzig what a blogger keep on travlin' .
Thanks for the great tour of this German train station. This place is huge but does have plenty of places to shop and eat. It must be very hard to heat a building this large with so many open areas for trains to come and go from. Thanks again for a great video!
Good point! Glad the really cold temps hadn't quite hit yet!
I would wonder the same about how cold does it get say, in a winter blizzard? The snow at times must blow into the main part of the station. Was that little waiting room the only heated place in the station? What about the stores and restaurants, were they heated?
I know, I have a lot of questions.
Dave from Massachusetts.
@@scottie2636 hey there, maybe I can help. Leipzig native here, born and raised. 😊
We don't really get Blizzards here. Yes, there may be snow and it can get cold but winters without any snow and temperatures only around freezing are not unheard of either.
Still the main concourse and train shed are heated ... somehow, no idea how they actually do it. But it's usually somehwere between outside and room temperature. The two shopping levels are fully heated if course. So are the restaurants.
That little waiting room actually used to house an information/exhibition on rail construction projects in the area. Now that construction is finnished they apparently turned it into a little waiting room rather then removing it again. There are other much nicer and bigger waiting areas.
We also have the prettiest Starbucks I have ever seen in that station! It has actually been built into one of the old giant waiting rooms but somehow manages to keep the style and atmosphere of old alive, despite being a Starbucks. A great place to sit and wait and have an overexpensive beverage! 😅
@@michaausleipzig Thanks for the information. Good to know
I have been to several stations in Germany, but this station is simply mind-boggling. It's an excellent video showing the colorful trains, amazing architecture, and witty comments. Enjoyed it thoroughly.
Love your videos as usual and your video of Leipzig.
We as a family have racked up over the years many German City based holidays and you’ve got to me add Leipzig to my list
Some place! I had a small incident there (you'll see in next weeks' video) but it hasn't dampened my enthusiasm for Germany!
Well.done Steve. Not boring at all. Enjoyed thst😊
This is great, my favourite Scottish UA-cam chap doing a German railway station. Leipzig seems much nicer than my own local station of Cologne, which is so stuffy and hectic in comparison ... btw I saw those "This is Food" bottles in a supermarket a few months ago when they were new, but at a hefty 3.99 Euros I think most "normal" folk would think twice/thrice before shelling out that amount of dosh ...
Very wise - I only had a sip to try them, but I wouldn't consider it a meal that's for sure! I transferred through Hamburg station on this trip and found that way too busy, this was a lovely change
@@steve-marsh Hamburg is the most overstrained station in the whole country, with Cologne likely following as close second. It is utterly undersized for the amount of trains and passengers it handles today.
It's funny I live in Leipzig, I'm not even from Leipzig but you get so used to the place living here, that it takes a visitor to remind you what am amazing building it is (I did know it is a nice station to spend time though. As a resident you sooner or later rack up time there with delays and cancelations and it's one of the most pleasant stations to be stuck in )🤗
Hi Steve. A good way to get you daily steps in , that's for sure.😂
It's amazing how different, yet the same large train stations are !
Although I think I am more amazed that the stations security cameras weren't "red flagging" you for staff to track you down, and ask why you were hanging around so long !!!😂
Haha I was so imagining getting questioned at some point! I certainly would have in UK!
@@steve-marsh 😂😂😂
This put a smile on my face. Really, the amount of times that I rushed through these halls either up the stairs to where the departures are, or down the halls towards the tram station... somehow it never seemed like a big station to me! (Guess, I haven't had breakfast, lunch and dinner in there, even though I do remember the display of stunning amounts of red meat in the stores!)
Don't know, if you done that during your trip, but a great place to go on a dull day (or during the freezing winter time!) is the Leipzig Zoo, as they have a big dome with tropical climate, plants and birds in it.
Another unexpected video ( I could say odd but I'm not like that )
I would never imagine that there was such a variety of features for you to explore - and that only the railway station.
Can hardly wait for the city itself
FAB 10/10 VG
Haha I was worried this might be a boring day and video, but it was actually a fun experience!
A german travel tip: If you can hold it through the stations, the WC on the trains are always free.
Well done Steve.
I’d have been in the pub a bit earlier than you!
But what a place!
So many different designs of trains 🤔
They look a lot better than the old tat we see here in the uk…
How very interesting 🧐 👍
The variety of trains certainly kept me amused for the day!
As a German I like your Order at 12:44 😀.
And yes, at 16:30 you're right. Platform 1 to 4 were one on the surface in the West wing of the station, but a few years ago they built a tunnel for the S-Bahn to connect the south-direction. So these are the under-surface Platforms 1 and 2 which are only used by S-Bahn.
And one last tip: the Train at 17:28 on the left side (Platform 23) to Chemnitz is only a diesel-powered train, but it still has these old, comfortable compartment cars that are rarely used these days. I really liked feeling like Harry Potter and taking my school express to the (vocational) school. 😉
The historic train you like is the express motorcar from ore-war Germany. They used to run on certain routes, the Flying Silesian, Fliegender Schlesier was the most famous one. It used to run between Berlin and Bytom in what is today Polish Silesia before the war.
It had average speed of 128km/h on this route and it took just under 4,5 hours to cover the journey.
Fun fact: the same route in a train today would take you 6.5 hours and, surprisingly, mostly due to bad condition of the tracks on the German side, as while Poles are upgrading their routes towards Germany, for Germany tracks leading to Poland are of lower priority
Hey thanks so much for this interesting comment!
I really enjoyed this - thanks!
I find it amazing how similar the architectural styles of stations around Europe are. When I first saw the front page of this vid my thought was “Gare du Nord”. But there are many - all of them somewhere between gothic revival and brutalist with victorian ironwork halls for the trains. It has to be related to when the rail networks developed. On another note, may I suggest a long term challenge .. all the great stations of the world - including the biggest in the world, Shinjuku in Tokyo - you could spend a week in there ;-). But then there are all the great stations in the US as well. Lovely interesting video. You could do worse than spend the rest of your travel life making videos on all of the great railways of the world - some vloggers do, but there are many more needed. Have a good week :-).
Wow Tokyo would be a dream! And I'd love to visit some of the old historic US stations!
@@steve-marsh if you can afford the flight - go for it. There are youth hostels you can stay in. I’ve been at least six or 7 times, maybe more, each time on a shoestring - I only once for one night stayed in a ryokan (japanese Inn) - had to do it for my work (but with meagre funding - still I count myself very lucky to have visted these places). There were not cheap video cameras then so I only have photos. It will blow your mind Steve. Shinjuku station has to be seen to be believed. You have the wanderlust - this wish to wander will be with you all your life. I love your videos because I can no longer travel as much and they are great for people who cant travel to see a place. Your narrative is so down to earth and honest - free of all pretension (pretention?).
16:29 it's not a subway!
The S-Bahn is a commuter train which only goes into a tunnel in the City center, like the Elisabeth Line in London.
It's part of the national rail network.
The last time I arrived, the train entered the station too fast and ended up hitting the buffer stop. Everyone who was already standing fell over.
I still remember looking out of the door window and saying to myself loudly, "Oops, we're too fast."
Oh that sounds a bit dangerous! Never seen it!
A train into Largs station went through the buffers and out onto the pavement under the entrance!
In Gothenburg, a new train station at Korsvägen is set to open in 2026, and there's a plan to hire someone to do, well, exactly what you did in this video! It's an art project where someone is set to be paid for clocking in and out of the station during normal working hours, without being given any tasks at all. Who knows if they'll actually go through with it, though... But if they do, you are probably more qualified than most!
Maybe you should contact Michael Portillo about the station or ask him to compare in his Bradshaws book.
The Bradshaw Michael Portillo uses for his European programmes is a 1913 edition so it probably says something like "Leipzig Hbf is currently a building site but it'll be very impressive when it's finished in a couple of years time".
Ohhhh! Has he been there?!
@@steve-marsh I seem to recall that he did indeed visit Leipzig.
Awesome vlog as steve
The Friedrich List, whose bust we see early in the video, was a 19th century German promotor of Railways. In particular, he believed that building railways would promote the cause of German unity. List organised the buliding of the line from Leipzig to Dresden. That was the first intercity line in Germany.
Ahh cool! Thanks for sharing that!
Hello Steve,
I haven't travelled by train in Europe since my student days (late 70s), but your grand tour of Leipzig has got me thinking that way again. Train travel is the best, and a huge part of that is the departure and the arrival. Leipzig looks like a great station either way! Thank you!
One thing Germans got right is they invested heavily on transport for the public
As a Yorkshireman who’s used to sparse, underfunded, unreliable public transport I was amazed by the connectivity and the choices of public transport there was when I visited Germany earlier in the year
At what cost to taxpayers?
Ah yes the old British “I’m alright Jack” mentality, the “why should I pay towards making life better for society” trait, it was refreshing to travel to Europe for the first time and seeing how when society collectively agrees that better public amenities are what makes a country great to live in people are happier. Problem with UK folk is their selfish needs get in the way of a happy, healthy and properly developed nation. In terms of funding maybe if folk stopped voting in successive Tory govts who waste obscene amounts of public money on their mates and dodgy private companies under the guise of “privatisation” we’d be able to have a better developed country like those in Europe are lucky to live in. If I had the opportunity to move to a western European country away from the backward cesspit the UK has become I would!
@@pawelpap9But surely the taxpayer benefits from better travel infrastructure.
@@pawelpap9 at what benefits you mean ... great transit options for people without cars (people dont have to drive their young and old everywhere, boosts tourism, etc), far less congestion, less casualties in transit as public transport simply is safer then cars, less waste of land for superwide roads able to compensate for the lack of public transport (especially in cities where such land would generate tax income otherwise), cleaner environment ... and so on and on and on.
Road infrastructure does not scale well, the heavier the dependency on cars the deeper it cuts into a taxpayers pockets. The cash invested into public transport practicly always comes back with profit overall for a city/nation, if its done without silly gaps people cant handle without a car.
This video reminds me of why I could never be a UA-camr. So original, innovative and downright hilarious!! Recording the minor highlights and boredom of such a ridiculous challenge makes it compelling viewing. Not quite Coppola..but definitely better than Godfather III anyday!!!
That is very poetic - “watching every tick tock of the clock “. Enjoyed the video. Glad I didn’t have to spend eight hours there.
Haha thanks :)
It was so nice to see the station I go through all the time with new eyes! And in such a lovely accent. I guess I’ll just have to subscribe so I see what you experienced in our city next week!
I always look forward to your videos Steve
Just FYI the Leipzig Hauptbahnhof are basically two stations. Originally there were the stations of the Prussian Railway with the lines to Berlin and other parts of the Kingdom of Prussia as well as the Royal Saxon Railway station on the easter side with the line to Dresden (A third "Bavarian" station is in the southern part of the city, linked by the regional and S-Bahn train you saw at the platform in the basement). The little statue pay homage to Georg Friedrich List (1789 - 1846) a German-American economist and political theorist who advocated a national German railway network before the first steam locomotive ran between Nuremberg and Fürth and way before the German unification of 1871. He suggested construction of a railway between Leipzig and Dresden which would become Germany's first long distance railway in 1839.
You do make me laugh 😊 Another wonderful and informative video 👍
Thanks so much :)
Steve! I don't think basing the whole video around this station was so good, seems a shame to go all the way over there just to be bored sat at a station. But please keep up the good work!
Top class video again !!!
Lovely station chap….love Germany 🇩🇪 👍
The two biggest differences between this station and Grand Central is the extent of shopping and the station having it's own footprint. Grand Central feeds straight into several office towers and a hotel, with lots of buildings across the street. Grand Central has a food court and some shops, but it's not a mall and the new section, Grand Central Madison/East Side Access for trains to Long Island only has a few stands with the storefronts being pictures of hypathical stores.
Also the historic section of Grand Central the platform area is pretty dingy, the new section is very well light and it's at London Underground's supposed universal depth.
amplemann on the traffic lights, old East Germany. thats a big station, great vid as always Steve 🙂
Love and Peace from Germany ✌️😉
Have I missed noticing....you have 100k subscribers now Steve! Well done!
Thanks so much!!! :)
I'm thouroughly impressed with your German Steve and I guess so were the service staff at Leipzig HBF. Thanks for the video!
Great video Steve. Amazing Building!
Cheers Gavin! A fun wee bad-weather experiment :)
That's true dedication!
Loving your videos Steve. I must admit, when leaving Leipzig HBF I was expecting a Scottish roar of “FREEDOM” haha.
You made a very nice video. Thank you for uploading.
An absolute pleasure, glad you enjoyed it!
Loved the video,really enjoyable,big difference from Glasgow central.🏴
I don't think you cheated on your dinner. In Germany they say ''Bier is fluessiges Brot'' meaning ''beer is liquid bread'' and furthermore the evening meal is called Abendbrot i.e. evening bread and is based around bread, when the main hot meal has been taken at midday.
When I'm traveling by train in Germany and there's any disruptions to my planned schedule, I always go to the yellow timetable posters to figure out my next steps.
When I know my last switch before getting home has to be in Hamburg, I just look up the current time on the sheet and browse down the column to the next tree that goes to or through Hamburg. It tells me the departure time and the platform, and while it might not necessarily by the fastest connection it only takes a minute or two and with luck I might be on my next train in just five minutes. It's so much faster than potentially walking a long way to an information counter and then maybe standing in line for a while to ask about the best alternative connection to my end destination.
Hi Steve, only recently found one of your videos and subscribed after watching. Been watching some of your older videos aswell. Really enjoying the channel.
That is hugely appreciated, thank you! Welcome aboard!
As someone who spent a lot of hours there, I'm sure it is hard for so long time without anything to do. But for a few hours, it is one of the best places in public to stay. Maybe next time you just buy or bring a book or a magazine with you to have something to chill on a bench at the platform. Sadly you were too early to see the station with christmas decoration which is made up currently. Furthermore, sometimes there is an exhibition or they show movies or play live concerts in the eastern hall for free. You also forgot to show there are parking lots and even a whole bus station inside the station. Next time, check out the upper deck of McDonalds, where you have a nice view over the western part of the main hall. The so called subway area isn't a subway. It is the "city tunnel" and part of the electric local train network. Before WWII, Leipzig had barriers on the platforms. But in the GDR they were no more necessary, because train tickets were also available on trains and get controlled there. Today only a few subway stations (e. g. Hamburg, Dortmund) are only accessible with a ticket, but also without barriers.
You are my Sunday Morning (Perth, Australia) Ritual. Congrats. on being such a legend.
Thanks so much! An honour to be in your schedule!
A great video from a GREAT Trainstation 😎🇸🇪
I was there a few months back… beautiful station and I recognise the areas that I was in from your video… I love watching your videos… keep going 👍
Thanks so much!
It's a wonderful building: far bigger and grander than anything in the US.
I came to this station once in DDR times, and with all of those platforms, there were only two trains in the whole place: the one I came in on, and an old one being swabbed down by a babushka lady with a wet mop.
No offense intended to working women!
The blue-ivory rail car is a DRG Class SVT 137. A pretty famous pre-WW2 train known as Fliegender Hamburger back then.
What a beautiful station! I liked that there was so much to do there! ❤
35 years too late. Today Leipzig Central Station is just a shopping center with a railway connection.
The focus used to be on the railways and the theme “travel”.
Agreed, it's a wonderful station, even if the facade is a bit too severe to my taste. And I absolutely love how they put some unnecessary platforms to good use as a railway museum.
I would probably have spent more time in that bar at the end if I did your challenge, and for food, while I love a good Currywurst, Pommes or not, it's more a snack, I'd probably crack for one of the many excellent sandwiches from a bakery, or some baked fish, or... That's probably my main problem with the food, too much choice.
It's been a few years, but I remember I bought a small camera in there (which I later lost in an Austrian train...), as well as some colourful socks. You truly can find almost anything there.
Yes, they do a cracking sandwich, but I just love currywurst so much I can't say no :)
One of the German airports has a converted tram café which sells Currywurst; my daughter's favourite stop-over on the way from Athens to London 😂
The new futuristic Berlin Hauptbbahnhof is also very impressive. The Hamburg Hauptbahnhof is getting a 5 Bilillion upgrade and it is much needed as its a beautiful mess.
10:30 looks like a DRG class 52 design, which was produced in wide numbers during the war and was a simplified design over pre-war units. The art deco unit is a class SVT 137, which is diesel-electric.
A great station and so interesting to get interesting as so many venues from restaurants, shops, and fascinating trains. I don’t live in Europe and had no idea of how many different trains there are. You did it again, interesting all the way. BC 🇨🇦
I live in Leipzig and find it very interesting to see how you perceive the train station and how you are happy about everyday things, like the museum track and the printed timetables.
But Leipzig Central Station is really a beautiful station. You especially notice this when you come from Frankfurt or Munich and then walk outside through the large halls in Leipzig.
Since the City Tunnel was built, it is no longer the largest train station in Europe because there are now 3 fewer platforms. There used to be tracks 1-5 and now there are only tracks 1 and 2.
Plans had already been made to build a tunnel in 1915. You can still see the entrance when you take the train towards Chemnitz. Now the old tunnel is no longer accessible.
Greetings from Leipzig
in a german railway station the bookstores usually also feature an english book section so you can read & understand quite a bit I'm certain. and on the other hand - you can read german, even if you don't understand what you are reading. :D
There's also an Atlas at the Frankfurt Hbf in addition to Leipzig and Hamburg. The symbolism is generally Atlas personifying industry that holds up the modern world. In the case of Frankfurt it's even explicitly part of the sculpture with personifications of steam and electricity aiding Atlas in carrying the world.
I've been to Leipzig twice and this station is truly amazing. You can do your grocery shopping at that station and just about anything else. It's a wonderful city and hope to get back there again. I would personally recommend the Stasi museum for those who would love a good dose of Cold War craziness.
Great Video As Always Steve
Cheers Paul!
As usual very informative, I will not forget Lipsig, if I do I will think of lipstick. What an amazing station, there is so much pride, from the German people in that station. What is realy amazing is the trains run on time. Here they can't get a rickshaw to run at all. Keep up the good work. Look after yourself and Alisje, God Bless.