This month’s entertainment will be a 35mm slide presentation by former Division chairman and vice-chairman Ray Berger on electric traction in Germany. This show will examine a variety of electric railway operations in all parts of Germany in the last 40 years, including some that were motorized or abandoned. Comparisons between older equipment and current fleets will give the viewer a deeper sense of the growth and development that surpasses that which we’ve experienced in the United States.
Of special interest to New York City rapid transit enthusiast is the discussion of the work of Paul Dittmann. His study of the BMT in 1925, how it emerged from a suburban steam rail network to the rapid transit configuration that exists even today, was the basis of a similar transformation which he orchestrated and this similarity also is in existence today in his country.
The purpose of this intense presentation is to enhance the awareness of the similarity and differences between these operations. Everyone who attends and concentrates on what will be related will increase their own personal knowledge of electric railroading. Certainly, it will not be just another slideshow.