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The city's Hauptbahnhof (Fig 12) would have been of mind-boggling dimensions, a domed structure 285 metres
(935 ft) in diameter and over 100 metres in height (Hitler was still signing off revised plans as late as
March 1945). Within, from an all-encircling balcony, steps would have led down to both 3 metre and standard
gauge platforms. The balcony, for reasons which are difficult to understand, was set too low to allow
overhead wires to pass through the station, which is why electrically powered trains were to be brought in
and taken out by battery locomotives like this Diagram 36 Bo-Bo. The young woman seated in the foreground one imagines is less likely to have been overwhelmed by the gigantic trains than by the vivid little scenario being enacted beside her. Is the husband receiving last-minute instructions concerning the luggage, or has he allowed his gaze to wander where it is not permitted? We shall never know. As for the girl, she has concluded the poster behind her carries another piece of thoroughly misleading NSDAP propaganda. It reads, Der schönste Nam' im Erdenrund ist Mutter, which translates as 'The most beautiful name in all the world is Mother'. The foregoing has not done justice to a most remarkable story, and I commend the visitor who wishes to learn more to Anton Joachimsthaler's outstanding 392 page 1985 volume, Die Breitspurbahn (F A Herbig; ISBN 3-7766-1352-1), which covers thoroughly every aspect of the project. Although out of print currently, it can sometimes still be obtained at second hand, as can my own 'compacted' 1998 outline, Broader Than Broad (Locomotives International; ISBN 1-900340-07-0), which although running to only 34 pages, hopefully does provide a respectable English-language starter. |
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