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I must confess I was a bit fed up with trains on our sixth day, so I was quite happy when we arrived to Essen. I did not know much about this city and the surrounding area, but Mr. Stefan Baguette has helped us by compiling a route plan for us. All we did was following his schedule...

Essen

Our starting point was the central station (Hauptbahnhof) and the multi-track, multi-gauge Stadtbahn/tram stop beneath. We've seen a number of such underground stations in Germany, but none of them was floodlighted so neatly, as this one, with blue neons! The vehicle to the right is a meter-gauge  DUEWAG M8C, the other is an ex-Docklands Light Railway normal-gauge P89 car.

M8D-NF low-floor tramcar from Bombardier. I think they also gave a new name for this type not long ago: "Felixity Classic", although I've also heard it being called an LF2000...

Another car of the same type, with all-over ad.

And another M8C.

In the background: a Stadtbahnwagen B with its classic red-white color scheme.

First we headed for the Messe Süd, with an ex-DLR car. At the terminus the U11 Stadtbahn service comes to the surface, you can take pictures of it from a pedestrian overfly.

These cars were built in the eighties for the DLR by LHB, and then they were sold by DLR because they were unsuitable fior the usage in the tunnel section. EVAG then bought these cars, and fitted them with a driver's cab and overhead current collector (and probably a couple of other things too:-).

This is a type P86 ex-DLR set in the underground stop Saalbau.

M8C in the same station.

Another M8C at Holsterhauser Platz, wearing an all-over ad.

This car is ten years older then the one on the previous photo, but the livery makes it look younger, I think!

I was surprised to see these "boxy" cars with the round articulation tunnel of the classic DÜWAG cars! Normally they have an angular interior...

Retractable lower step of an M8C.

At the said Holsterhauser Platz, tram and Stadtbahn cross each other on the surface. On the picture: a Stadtbahnwagen B (B80C series), typical vehicle of the Stadtbahn systems around here.

Another ex-DLR P89 double-set.

There's an unused turning loop for the tram which runs in the middle of the Stadtbahn track for a while!

Helenenstrasse. From here we've continued our way with a low-floor tram on route 105 until its terminus, and then took a bus to Oberhausen.

Next page: back to Essen via Oberhausen and Mülheim