The Eurofurence Forum

Off Topic => Everything Else => Topic started by: SouthPaw on 03.08.2007, 00:27:03

Title: Travelling in UK vs. Germany
Post by: SouthPaw on 03.08.2007, 00:27:03
If you're flying into Nuremberg, however, there are NO SparPreis tickets available, so you'd have to pay full fare.

Thanks, looks like I'll be having fun with my non-existant German then :P

Unlike the UK, the Ticket Machines in Germany are multilingual, and the vast majority of the staff speak at least German and English. In fact, the first EF I went to we went by train all the way (and I'm doing so again this year), and went into the Ticket Office in Cologne and the clerk was from Newhaven (near Brighton and Eastbourne, fsvo "near")  ;)

Cheers,

Southie
Title: Travelling in UK vs. Germany
Post by: MrPaddy on 03.08.2007, 20:23:19
*mutter* ...spoil my fun...  :(
Title: Travelling in UK vs. Germany
Post by: CJ on 04.08.2007, 11:43:54
*mutter* ...spoil my fun...  :(

Well, you're free to ask them just to reply in German and pretend they don't understand your English *G*

CU
CJ
Title: Travelling in UK vs. Germany
Post by: SouthPaw on 04.08.2007, 18:05:12
Well, you're free to ask them just to reply in German and pretend they don't understand your English *G*

Ich möchte zu "Eurofurence" gehen...Wo ist der Zug? ;)

And there endeth the (deliberately) bad German.

Top Tip: In general, departure boards at German railway stations ONLY show the Train Number, Destination and Platform. Fortunately, the online journey planner shows train numbers so you know what you're looking for, and there are departure sheets at the stations which show them as well.

Cheers,

Southie
Title: Travelling in UK vs. Germany
Post by: Wawik on 04.08.2007, 18:52:44
Top Tip: In general, departure boards at German railway stations ONLY show the Train Number, Destination and Platform.

¿Que?  ::)

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/de/0/08/Abfahrtstafel_01_KMJ.jpg)

Of course they also show the departure time and the type of train. In fact, most on-platform departure boards, especially the older split-flaps, don't show train numbers _at all_.
Title: Travelling in UK vs. Germany
Post by: SouthPaw on 05.08.2007, 01:05:26
My apologies...I got confused. And here's a shot of the departure board at Nuernberg for good measure.

(http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/de/station/Nuernberg/Nuernberg_Hbf_departures_23_06_2006.jpg)

However, it's still a big difference from departure boards in the UK, which show ALL of the intermediate stations, but don't show Train Numbers, as they're: a) not published in public timetables and b) duplicated all over the place (e.g. 2B20 on Saturday referred to no less than 12 different trains, with departure times between 08:37 and 21:07, all over the country).

And here we have a picture of a typical UK board, this particular example being from Glasgow Central in Scotland.

(http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/gb/station/Glasgow/GLC-boards-2.jpg)

Erm...I'm rambling now aren't I? I'll get me coat...

Cheers,

Southie
Title: Travelling in UK vs. Germany
Post by: Alexfox on 05.08.2007, 22:45:59
WOW! British rail* has something over Die Bahn? Better thought out departure boards (though equally militant staff).

Being fair though the only thing with the departure boards is knowing what stations a train is calling at, which is sort of important (the DB ones don't cover this in much detail).

*Not that its really BR any more.
Title: Travelling in UK vs. Germany
Post by: Wawik on 06.08.2007, 00:33:36
However, it's still a big difference from departure boards in the UK, which show ALL of the intermediate stations, but don't show Train Numbers, as they're: a) not published in public timetables and b) duplicated all over the place (e.g. 2B20 on Saturday referred to no less than 12 different trains, with departure times between 08:37 and 21:07, all over the country).

To get at least mildly on-topic again, one concept you'll see in Germany an awful lot is the concept of hub cities. It's a good idea to know the larger waypoints on your route, no matter whether you're travelling by car or rail. Whilst some countries (like the US and the UK) are more adhering to the idea of directional location (i.e. Interstate 6 West and M1 (The North)), in the German system the waypoints, not the general directions are given. Observe the following motorway butterfly:

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Autobahn_Overhead_Sign.jpg)

Let's say you're travelling from Bremen to Cologne, which is roughly in north-south direction, with a slight slant to the west. You'll notice that there are no signs pointing to Cologne. Yet the A1 sign does point to Osnabrück, which, as it is on top of the sign, is the most distant waypoint on the road. Therefore, going from Bremen to Cologne, you'd need to memorize that you get past Osnabrück, then Münster, then Dortmund.... you get the idea. Likewise, the next exit ahead past the current one will be Groß Ippener, but it won't tell you three interchanges ahead.

The railway system works likewise. Let's say you have a long-distance service calling at Munich, Ingolstadt, Nuremberg, Würzburg, Fulda, Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe, Göttingen, Hanover, Hamburg-Harburg, Hamburg Hbf and terminating at Hamburg-Altona. Most likely, were you to depart at Munich, it'd read "Ingolstadt-Nuremberg-Kassel-Hanover-HH Altona" on the station indicator. Stations considered unimportant from your point of view will be omitted, so Göttingen isn't shown in Munich, but of course it'll be shown when the train is announced at Kassel.

Another good advice is to familiarise yourself with at least the basic combinations for car number plates (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_Kfz-Kennzeichen_in_Deutschland). They're used in many cases, and knowing at least the shorthands for the larger cities facilitates things a bit for the experienced travellers.

Erm...I'm rambling now aren't I? I'll get me coat...

Cheers,

Southie
There's many things to be said about the UK announcement boards. Most don't belong into this forum, but buy me a beer at EF and I'll ramble mindlessly.  ::)
Title: Travelling in UK vs. Germany
Post by: MOW on 06.08.2007, 19:18:31
However, it's still a big difference from departure boards in the UK, which show ALL of the intermediate stations,

There are no connections with more than 15 intermediate stations?
Title: Re: Travelling in UK vs. Germany
Post by: SouthPaw on 06.08.2007, 21:24:36
There are no connections with more than 15 intermediate stations?

Plenty...In which case it shows more than one "Page", and tells you what page it's currently showing. Though newer installs tend to have horizontal scrolling displays rather than the full size "boards".

Cheers,

Southie
Title: Re: Travelling in UK vs. Germany
Post by: MOW on 07.08.2007, 05:13:30
Top Tip: In general, departure boards at German railway stations ONLY show the Train Number, Destination and Platform. Fortunately, the online journey planner shows train numbers so you know what you're looking for, and there are departure sheets at the stations which show them as well.

By the way, the departure sheets and the online timetables, e.g. http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/bhftafel.exe/en?seqnr=5&ident=1k.028879203.1186455825& also don't usually show all intermediate stations. Only up to the symbol http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/img/sq_sep.gif every station is listed, after that only those considered important. For example:

05:40       EC 7    Chur
Bremen Hbf 05:40 - Diepholz 06:07 - Osnabrück Hbf 06:35 - Münster(Westf)Hbf 07:01 (http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/img/sq_sep.gif)Dortmund Hbf 07:33 - Duisburg Hbf 08:11 - Düsseldorf Hbf 08:24 - Köln Hbf 08:50 - Mannheim Hbf 11:21 - Chur 16:43
Title: Re: Travelling in UK vs. Germany
Post by: Avalanche on 24.08.2007, 12:57:40

To get at least mildly on-topic again, one concept you'll see in Germany an awful lot is the concept of hub cities. It's a good idea to know the larger waypoints on your route, no matter whether you're travelling by car or rail. Whilst some countries (like the US and the UK) are more adhering to the idea of directional location (i.e. Interstate 6 West and M1 (The North)), in the German system the waypoints, not the general directions are given. Observe the following motorway butterfly:

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Autobahn_Overhead_Sign.jpg)

Let's say you're travelling from Bremen to Cologne, which is roughly in north-south direction, with a slight slant to the west. You'll notice that there are no signs pointing to Cologne. Yet the A1 sign does point to Osnabrück, which, as it is on top of the sign, is the most distant waypoint on the road. Therefore, going from Bremen to Cologne, you'd need to memorize that you get past Osnabrück, then Münster, then Dortmund.... you get the idea. Likewise, the next exit ahead past the current one will be Groß Ippener, but it won't tell you three interchanges ahead.

Another good advice is to familiarise yourself with at least the basic combinations for car number plates (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_Kfz-Kennzeichen_in_Deutschland). They're used in many cases, and knowing at least the shorthands for the larger cities facilitates things a bit for the experienced travellers.

I have a question regarding the roads in Germany. I'm looking at multimap and a road map and the roads have numbers like the A2, A3 and A4, but also have numbers like the E40 etc... on the same road. Am i right in thinking that in the above the picture, the [1] (im guessing that means the road is the A1) and [E37] on the road is the same road? So if i use the A numbers i just look at the blue road number instead of the green or orange road numbers?

But the entire route, all the way from Calais to just north of Suhl at Erfurt has the name E40. So will we be able to just follow signs for the E40 all the way from Calais, via Brussels, Liege, Koln, all the way to Erfurt?, then to Suhl.

Thanks
Avalanche
Title: Re: Travelling in UK vs. Germany
Post by: Runo on 24.08.2007, 14:08:08
AFAIK you're right. The E-Numbers are "European route XY", see here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_E-road_network). But still the German "Autobahnen" all get their (national) A-Number. So yes - they just have two names (at least while they go through Germany).

Jojo
Title: Re: Travelling in UK vs. Germany
Post by: Avalanche on 24.08.2007, 16:26:09
Thank you :D

Makes my job of getting us there by car a whole lot easier :D