Main Train Station

Eberswalde got its first railway connection in 1842 and was one of the first towns in Germany to do, seven years after Germany’s first railway line opened from Nuremberg to Fürth. But the Eberswalde councilmen almost prevented the town from being connected to the railway network:

For months, they could not decide whether to participate in its construction or not. In 1839, the Mayor of Stettin appealed to the magistrate of Eberswalde to participate in the development of the railway route. It was eventually approved. There was one important condition: The train could not come too pass too close by to the town. So the train station was built outside the town centre. In summer 1842, the stretch of railway from Berlin to Neustadt/Eberswalde went into service, a good year after the whole Berlin-Stettin route. The new possibilities for goods transport brought enormous incentive to develop industry in the Fintowtal valley.

Many companies were connected by a branch line. Put passenger transport quickly increased to and Eberswalde became a popular destination for a days out from Berlin. In 1842, the arrivals building and separate restaurant were built by legendary Berlin restaurateur C. L. Heinzelmann. The train station restaurant with its beautiful garden was in high demand as a meeting place and became quite famous beyond the town limits because of the garden concerts that took place there. Initially, passengers were transported from the town centre to the train station by horse-drawn carriage and stagecoach along a dirt road. The railway administration had this paved at its own expense in 1860, which allowed horse-drawn omnibuses to be introduced in 1865. In 1901, an electric trolleybus line introduced on a trial basis but had to be taken out of service after only three months because of how expensive it was to operate and due to technical defects. In the meantime, the insufficient horse-drawn omnibus was replaced by a tram in 1910 but this had reached its capacity limits by the 1930s.

In 1940, the trams were replaced by a more cost-effective trolleybus line. This has since been further developed and could in part use the existing tram resources. What was special about it compared to the tram was that the bus was connected to the overhead line by its contact line but is not steered by this connection.