The railway from Fairytales
 In 1941, Adolf Hitler issues an order to Nazi Germany’s railway officials to develop a new
type of railway. The plan was for it to be far bigger than any other railway to have ever
existed, with trains the height of a suburban home and the length of the Empire State
Building. The luxurious trains would travel across the Greater German Reich, however, they
were never built. Hitler was never short on ideas on how to rebuild Germany in more high-
tech and modern ways. Berlin was to have monuments to Nazi victories. There was truly no
stopping Hitler’s creative ideas. If Germany ever needed more land for food, they would’ve
resettled the Steppes and drain the Mediterranean.
 
Could this be the railway our great-great grandkids will be using?
The super railway was to connect all of Europe, which meant having to double the size of the
train tracks to fit the seven-metre trains, which were planned to be as long as half a
kilometre long and go as fast as 200km/h. In the early 80s, Anton Joachimsthaler revealed
the plans for the huge railway that have been stored away in the German archives. Those
plans weren’t just a rough idea sketch, but rather very detailed plans which stretched on for
pages upon pages, which included technical specifications. Those specifications covered
every detail one could think of, such as the tracks, locomotives, passenger carriages, and
train station designs. In one of the passenger carriage concepts, there were two by two
metre rooms which were designed for up to four first-class passengers to sit in. To compare,
modern European trains cram roughly twelve passengers in the same space. Second-class
passengers were to have slightly less space; six people were to fit into similar sized
compartments.
 
No more boring train rides, thanks to these activities
What really made the Breitspurbahnen one of a kind were the many attractions for the
passengers to enjoy, such as the bar, reading rooms, a cinema, and socialising rooms,
which is a lot more than what first class passengers get today. The sketches even featured a
restaurant design, which featured expensive wood panelling, big windows, and tables
covered with white cloths. This design allowed for up to 130 diners to enjoy the food at any
given moment. The restaurant was to take up a whole car, with a chandelier hanging almost
5m above the customer’s heads. This room would’ve perfectly demonstrated the size of this
railway project, measuring 6m across and 27m in length. The trains were also going to
feature kennels for the travellers’ dogs to rest in, a large non-smoking area, an observation
deck, a hot buffet, and a refreshment room.
 
The problem with Hitler’s ambition
The Breitspurbahnen was also to transport raw materials and manufactured goods to help
the Nazi empire grow. Some of the sketches of the cargo cars depicted our modern cargo
trains, with trucks loading and unloading the materials. Those big trains would need even
bigger stations, and even those had majestic designs. Those included the passengers being
able to get off the train and look at the city they had arrived at almost instantly. Hitler’s
intense attachment to the project was caused by his belief that it was a sure way to create
solidarity in his empire, which would only allow it to grow stronger. However, like many more
of Hitler’s ideas and dreams, it is most likely we’ll never be able to build trains and stations
as big and sophisticated as this. For example, the carriage windows were too big to be safe,
the cars themselves were too big to actually hold together as the train was speeding, and
wheels would be very likely to crush under all the weight being put on them.