Breitspurbahn: Nazi's Germany's Incredible Global Rail Plans

Got a beard? Good. I've got something for you: beardblaze.com
Simon's Social Media:
Twitter: / simonwhistler
Instagram: / simonwhistler
Love content? Check out Simon's other KZbin Channels:
Biographics: / @biographics
Geographics: / @geographicstravel
Warographics: / @warographics643
SideProjects: / @sideprojects
Into The Shadows: / intotheshadows
TopTenz: / toptenznet
Today I Found Out: / todayifoundout
Highlight History: / @highlighthistory
Business Blaze: / @brainblaze6526
Casual Criminalist: / thecasualcriminalist
Decoding the Unknown: / @decodingtheunknown2373

[@h.w.6563]

"Deutsche Reichsbahn didn't have the funds to maintain the tracks or expand service" As a German I can tell you, that's a tradition they have kept alive and well into the modern day.

[@phantomechelon3628]

If its any consolation its probably still better than the UK's rail service. 😉

[@iainballas]

@@phantomechelon3628 Me, a US Citizen: "You guys are getting rail service?" Lol our passenger rails are so bad. AmTrak is the worst, except for all the other options.

[@viewer-of-content]

As an American I can say that once we had more miles of rail than all of Europe. Then the Bubble popped and we built the Interstate Highway system. We let all of our Rail and Canals fall apart after that, and haven't built more than a couple railroads since. America has Half or less of the milage of tracks it had in its peak.

[@h.w.6563]

@Coder's Corner I don't know how it is in Czechia, but in Germany "overpriced and unreliable" is pretty spot on. I can't remember the last time a train I used was actually on time, they are always at least 20 minutes late. More than that in most cases. And price wise it's often cheaper to go by car, which is absurd in my opinion.

[@paulceglinski3087]

I was posted to your country in the mid-80s and the rail system was the best thing about all of Europe. Cheap and went everywhere this side of the "Curtain". Magnificent! Instead of the scientists, we should have snagged the rail system engineers. LOL. Just joking! No, really, the Continental railroad was absolutely amazing. Cheers.

[@lesliereissner4711]

I first came across this idea when visiting the German rail museum in Nuremberg, where the models shown in the video are located. Its inherent craziness fascinated me--the idea of giant trains with ballrooms and swimming pools on board. Consideration was given to using giant steam engines but this idea lost out when it was realized bringing one into a station would asphyxiate everyone there. The Nazis liked megalomaniac projects (see: Atlantic Wall, Germania etc) and even though the wheels fell off the whole world conquest thing, there was still a design office working on the Breitspurbahn plans as the Soviets took over Berlin.

[@williamzk9083]

-The nazis may have entertained and dreamed of "megalomaniac projects" but they did not build them unless practical. In most cases the technology of the "megalomaniac projects" are misrepresented and sensationalized in the media. After all its "nazi". The Giant "Schwerer Gustav" Railway guns did have the ability to smash the Maginot Line down to 100m into the ground at a time bombers to lift bombs as large were years away. The Ratte "Tank" was certainly not built and was not a tank but was a armored self propelled gun rather than a tank only 1/6tth the size of modern mining equipment. After assembly at a railway it could transport itself the final few kilometers to the required firing point. Again as technology changed the idea was abandoned. Jet fighters, TSA 2D toss bombing sights, missiles took over. The giant H class battleships were also sensibly abandoned till after the war. -The giant 3m gauge would probably have been extremely practical and allowed railways to compete with the largest freight ships and oil tankers as well cruise ships.

[@enisra_bowman]

@@williamzk9083 well, yes, but no the thing is that while many of these gaga projects got axed by Speer, they still where planned and also many other projects where build before, like the Karl Gerät that was slow AF and like many other "super" Guns, might performed well, but only on Paper. The Schwerer Gustav might have destroyed one Bunker in shoot, except to set that thing up, other smaller could have done the same feat

[@DarthPhallix]

They had no designs for world conquest, but they certainly had some ambitious engineering ideas.

[@West_Coast_Mainline]

@@williamzk9083 self propelled gun? Mate its a battleship cannon

[@CameronM47]

Simon has more channels than my fucking tv.

[@straightupanarg6226]

Mine too

[@jetsons101]

Simon, this made me think of the Los Angeles "Pacific Electric Red Cars." It was once the biggest interurban rail system. Might be a good video. Thanks for your time and work....

[@FatManWalking18]

until Cloverleaf Industries came along......

[@jtheglin1640]

I would love a video on this as well

[@jetsons101]

@@jtheglin1640 My grandmother told me stories about how she ride from San Pedro to down town LA, Westwood Village, Santa Monca Beach, Burbank or even out to Riverside. She said it went everywhere.

[@angrydoggy9170]

The difference in railway gauges used in Germany and the USSR did pose a serious problem for the German invasion. German trains couldn’t run in Russia so everything needed to be transferred or railways has to be altered.

[@williamzk9083]

The transfer of goods from the Standard Gauge to Russian Gauge was a big operation. I've heard up to 1 million men. This is what the Germans did with Russian POW that had been captured/surrendered. The USSR Government had not signed the Hague Conventions on the Conduct of Warfare nor the Geneva Conventions. (Which is why they thought nothing of executing 17,000 Polish Officer POW at Katyn Massacre AFTER Poland had been defeated so as to remove leaders from Polish Society). Allied POW, 95% of who survived, were covered and were used in agriculture and forestry. Railway is essential in Russia because of the (rasputitsa) (Spring thaw mud season) turning unsealed roads into quagmire and even sealed roads collapse as permafrost melts.

[@TalesOfWar]

The Russian gauge was designed specifically with that in mind. So as to make invading the place more difficult with logistics.

[@williamzk9083]

@@TalesOfWar The claim that the Rusian gauge was chosen to impede the logistics of potential invaders is a myth but it certainly worked out that way.

[@LawtonDigital]

When I see the size of cruise ships today, I think: this Breitspurbahn concept isn't all that crazy - especially an electric train with regenerative braking. Combine this with modern shipping containers two high and two wide...

[@route2070]

Thank you Simon and writer Christian for calling it the Sears Tower.

[@kevinsmart2165]

That was my favorite part. 😊

[@ignitionfrn2223]

1:40 - Chapter 1 - An expanding empire 5:30 - Chapter 2 - Luxury for some , horrors for others 7:55 - Chapter 3 - The broadest gauge

[@williamzk9083]

I read "Hitlers Table Talk" by Hugh Trevor Roper which pruports to be the minutes Martin Bormann kept of late night conversations. There were no plans to exterminate any populations. Hitler just thought that there was so much land in the east that German colonies could be set up without significant interference with the locals. He was more obsessed with the idea that the populations be kept separate so they had their own culture and character but interacting through some trading etc. Their purpose was to ensure a generous food supply to Germany. Germany had suffered famine in 1919/20 due to the British Naval Blockade (used as Leverage) and inability to trade which killed about 1 million Germans by slow malnutrition so this was a big issue. There were extremists ideologues within the Nazi Regime (and they get emphasized by the History Channel Types) but Germans were highly educated and many multilingual and more practical. When they entered these countries they just ignored the supposed rules and started working with local anti Soviet partisans and populations.

[@ultragoji3358]

This probably was one of the Inspirations for "Snowpiercer"

[@magnificus8581]

You had me at 'trains'

[@franzzrilich9041]

Several Chicago-based GATX officials saw the Nazi mock-ups at end of WWII, and by 1963c proposed we build a monster railroad system with an 18-foot track gauge. It was called "RRailway," and bits and pieces popped up in POPULAR SCIENCE, and other 1960-era publications, and was mentioned in a book by Senator Claibourne Pell. The first section of track was to run from Hobart, near Chicago, to my backyard in Medina Township. Speed 125mph, no grade crossings, double-decker boxcars. Congress killed the project in 1967. The system survived in fiction as SUPERTRAIN. You should call GATX to see if they remember ever proposing this. They told me, some five years ago that I might be on drugs. Click!

[@ajkleipass]

I shan't accuse you of drugged delusions, but I don't recall any super-broad gauge US rail proposals. I'll have to look up Senator Pell's book. As I recall, he was a mass transit / rail transit advocate - something America could use more like minded people in Washington for.

[@franzzrilich9041]

@@ajkleipass UNBOUND MEGALOPOSIS, and it is called RRollway. Note the two capital "R"'s. There are Images about some photos and official documents, under RRollway. It was covered by a number of illustrated popular magazines in the mid 'Sixties. Feel free to call GATX Corporation of Chicago and see if they have any records.

[@williamzk9083]

-The German ultra broad gauge was 3000mm or 9.84 feet which is much more than the 1425mm 4'8'' standard gauge. I can't conceive of why an 18ft gauge was chosen? Duel lane roadways? -Had the Germans or US started building these ultra broad gauge trains one can imagine the incredible economy they would have in transporting containers, oil and bulk goods almost as good as or better than ships. Nuclear reactors could be built in factories and transported to site. Whole petrochemical plants transported. It certainly would have lead to big GDP increases.

[@franzzrilich9041]

@@williamzk9083 I fell in with the GATX proposal when it came to my mind that we needed either extra-wide expressways or extra-wide railways. My original idea was continuous production of two-story houses, year round--and chemical plants. I was at that time working at a chemical plant, and they were using pre-manufactured process units, but the units were restrained in size by railroad and highway loading gauges. The thing is that refineries normally blow up during maintenance season. I had been hired after a plant blew up, several years before. The Feds wanted operating manuals made, which was my job. I discovered that a number of experts wanted chemical plants built indoors and with better quality-control technologies at hand. Both the GATX and SUPERTRAIN proposals called for dual tracks. SUPERTRAIN varied from dual to single sets of tracks, depending upon which episode you saw. There were several later responses to the GATX RRollway proposal. These usually entailed heavy and continuous concrete slabs with a twenty-foot space between the centers of each trackway, so as to also permit standard trains going on both trackways. Effective track gauge would then be twenty-five feet.

[@williamzk9083]

@@franzzrilich9041 The Rolling stock is usually about 2.2 times wider than the track gauge so the German 3m gauge leads to 6.6m (about 22ft wide) carriages. 18ft gauge means about 40ft wide carriages and 25ft means 55 feet wide. The bigger you go the less you can afford though.

[@Mr.E723]

I’m from the Chicago suburbs. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! For calling it the Sears Tower.

[@gasmonkey1000]

Take away the genocide and the Nazis and that just sounds awesome. Massive trains, massive rails, massive passenger cabins and complementary cabins? That sounds like it would have been amazing to see just one of.

[@REDnBLACKnRED]

Honestly, if it wasn't for their weird obsession with Aryan race bullshit and a murderous rampage on Jewish and minority populations, Nazi Germany probably would have been remembered as one of the most technologically advanced and ingenious nations in history. Feels weird saying that given the reality of what happened but its not untrue. But it is still very much true of Germany today as well. The way Germany has rebuilt itself again and again and come back stronger each time is just astounding. There must be something about German culture that makes them so good at building stuff!

[@jupiterman2021]

@@REDnBLACKnRED Germany would’ve been so advanced even all other countries would be struggling to keep up with them such as China

[@jupiterman2021]

@@REDnBLACKnRED The space race wouldn’t have happened because Germany would’ve been the first country to land on the moon

[@QBCPerdition]

I would imagine it wouldn't be too difficult to have multiple gauges on a single line. A wider train wouldn't care if there were rails closer together under it, and narrower trains would obviously not care if there were rails further outside. Maybe this is already done.

[@nos9784]

It is, "dual gauge" is the keyword to search here.

[@AbiGail-ok7fc]

That's not as easy as it seems. Sure, dual gauge exist, but there is more to consider. There is also the loading gauge to deal with. You cannot just add an additional rail, and fit your wider train -- it'll get stuck in tunnels, under bridges, and it'll run into platforms at stations. Heck, even if two countries use track gauge, different loading gauges can still prevent rolling stock from one country to operate in the other.

[@andrewkruszka1674]

It seems as though recently you've made more railway videos, and I think that Milwaukee Road's F7 class 4-6-4 would make a nice video. While the A4 is the fasted (verified) steam locomotive, the F7s were the fastest steam locomotives in daily operation, toping over 100 mph daily. They possibly are the fastest locomotives with one non-verified run (in regular service) reaching a top speed of 125 mph.

[@hermanessences]

This would actually be pretty cool. Especially for us who love trains, and who have a slight fear of flying. ^^ Imagine being able to just take a train to anywhere in the world!

[@angrydoggy9170]

It’s basically a rather good idea. Even totalitarian regimes can come up with useful stuff.

[@williamzk9083]

-The impulse to build these railways was very "German" in nature due to the need for Germany to trade across land and the progressive nature of its people and likely would have happened had Germany won World War 1 or WW2 or peace just continued and evolved into an EU type relationship. When Germany forced an Armistice on Russia in 1917 the Traty of Brest Litrovesk required that Tsarist Russia release all those nations it had locked up into its empire: Latvia, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Belarus, Finland, Eastern Poland. They were all free. Unfortunately the US entered the war and this allowed the Russians(Soviets) by then to recapture them. The "Orient Express" also known as the Berlin Baghdad Railway was built by German interests (Werner von Siemens) to connect Berlin to Kuwait Port via Hungary, Turkey and Iraq etc. The idea was to connect Germany to the Persian Gulf (bypassing the Suez Canal) and allow Germany to trade with the middle east (Ottoman Empire for raw materials, food in return for technology etc. It was part of Kaiser Wilhelm II "Peaceful Imperialism" and "Drang Nach Osten policy". (Push to the East) -The French and British were upset because it threatened the Suez Canal Interests and they imagined millions of German troops pouring into the Gulf. It upset the Russians who feared it would help modernize Turkey and allow it to mobilize Troops faster. One result was after a British soft coup in Kuwait to separate it from the Ottoman that the Terminus had to be built in Basra instead of Kuwait. -These tensions actually were one of the major causes of WW1. To that we can add the Boer war in which the British Army interned Dutch families (women, children, grand parents) of those farmers it though were Boer fighters. It lead to many deaths by Typhus and outraged the German population. To that we can add the Anglo-French Naval treaty of 1904. -Irrespective the idea of an ultra broad gauge would have allowed the kind of economies container ships now have.

[@koharumi1]

Video link for more information about this train: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sJzYdoNrnrKFn68

[@matsv201]

Im currently working on sonething simular to be relized. Having a few engineering plans of expanding an existing system to a loading gauge of 5x6, just sligthly smaler than breitspurbahn. The expansion is purley of ecoonical reason. A 5 meter wide waggon can fit two bed head to head, and 6 meter high can fit two full length floors, unlike most system of twoday that is sort of 1.5 floor versions. The gauge will not be change but remain 2.8meter (and yes, there exist 2.8meter gauge train today)

[@thomasdevine867]

There are practical plans for making Chunnel-like tunnels between Alaska and far Eastern Russia. If you connect the tunnels to the two islands in the Bering Straits none of the tunnels need to be as long as the Chunnel.

[@ginnyjollykidd]

Thank you for calling it the Sears Tower! I don't care who owns it, it will always be the Sears Tower to me.

[@frankmueller2781]

I always find it ironic that the Nazi munitions minister's name was basically "Death."

[@thistledownsname]

Since you mentioned it a few times... maybe a full video on the BART system?

[@Alejandro-vn2si]

We definitely need a video about BART!

[@donovandelaney3171]

You should travel by car or train or a cruise ship and never by a large plane. There's a vast train system across the whole United States.

[@crhu319]

9:15 a wider gauge could work but not if it was so wide that it didn't fit in the same space as two narrow gauge rail tracks so as to at least re use some station and bridge and tunnel infrastructure that had double tracks.

[@williamzk9083]

I think they just would have built wider bridges or added a bridge. This would have allowed Railways full competition with container ships and oil tankers.

[@luvtruckin]

Simon I just wanted to thank you for helping me gain knowledge in an enjoyable way since I subscribed to your channel I’ve learned a lot so good job an thank you.

[@TheAmishEngineer]

This is the earliest I have ever been

[@nicholascorbett1256]

Consider that a good thing. Because you were probably busy with your life, and not just sitting on YT.

[@ShivamSingh-yu5tt]

The sun never sets on Simon's you tube empire

[@carinamchugh4436]

Thank you calling is Sears tower.

[@Adiscretefirm]

I think it's cute the way Simon always pronounces Bering as Bay-ring.

[@evanswinford7165]

I grew up in Oakland and have been on BART trains hundreds of times. Recently it has become a rolling homeless shelter and common criminals see it as a place to find captive victims. Anyway, few people that live here know it is not standard railroad gage. My dad was civil engineer for CalTrans and knew a lot of the contractors building BART because many were involved in building the freeways around here. He got to drive his CalTrans truck into the trans bay tube during construction. He asked some of his contractor friends why wide gage was being used and never got much more than silence. He called himself a 'voice in the woods' about that issue.

[@andycampbell2787]

Thank you. yes, it is still called the "Sears Tower"

[@EAcapuccino]

I especially love trains and Love it! The Megaprojects presentation that is 😁🤣

[@MsZeeZed]

I see his mainline from Berlin-Vladivostok heads through Stalingrad a city that famously had no bridges, the Volga being so massive, brilliant!

[@GoodVideos4]

One of those lesser known projects of WW2, much like with Mark Felton ones.

[@TheEvilCommenter]

Good video 👍

[@alexinnewwest1860]

Video suggestion How about the Canadian Pacific Railroad It was more challenging then the American transcontinental railroad and it brought the colonies together to build Canada

[@michaelf.2449]

I'm mean you're comparing the conditions of living hell to living hell. Lol they both were fucking awful and horrible projects when you look at the workers experience

[@alexinnewwest1860]

@@michaelf.2449 This was just a video suggestion, wasn’t making any comparison

[@michaelf.2449]

@@alexinnewwest1860 yeah I know I was just saying both were absolutely horrible

[@crhu319]

People surprised that China could build HSR countrywide in ten years seemingly don't realize Chinese workers built both the US and Canadian Pacific railways.

[@alexinnewwest1860]

@@crhu319 ditto, with very primitive technology

[@Davigaming049]

Lebensraum! Liebensraum means "loving room"!

[@Little_Sams_Top_Guy]

Honestly though if they doubled the length like that it would greatly increase the length restrictions on what can be transported on rail

[@matsv201]

The normal maximum length of a rigit railcar currently is about 28meters for most european systems, so 42 meters would be pretty far from a doubeling

[@salinium]

Did this train idea get adapted for the Snowpiercer book/ movie? Sure sounds familiar with the luxury cars having barbershops and theaters, while the destitute are just a few cars away 🤔

[@StoneInMySandal]

Nothing proposed here is especially challenging, assuming you’ve got a unified and homogenous government. The reason there’s no single rail system in Europe is due to all the mini governments that all want to pillage their own rail systems.

[@upintheairstudio]

Simon do a video on the 2017 Siege of Marawi.

[@History_Buff]

I appreciate you using the correct name of the Chicago skyscraper.

[@jimtalbott9535]

Still think you gotta do the CANOL Project - a big enough project to begin with, but it was also built during wartime, in a seriously inhospitable area.

[@hankadelicflash]

That reminds me, I need to get a new couch for my Lebensraum. Thx

[@abrahamedelstein4806]

Well, if one only focuses on the bad parts then nothing good has ever been built, I think this would have been a great idea, especially the bridging of the Bering straight that seems to need an idealistic Empire that says "Because we can do it!" when asked "Why?" instead the shallow waters of the Bering Straight that could connect Eurasia with America stands divided between Russia and the United States that can't get anything done unless it's to thumb the other one's nose.

[@Blackadderthefourth]

Every time I finish a vid like the hydra 2 more videos have popped up.

[@mcinkyt]

From what I gather that plan is still on the books but no one can get get their Berings Straight to build the Chennel and to date the Darian Gap has never been Concorde.

[@helpmereach45ksubswithoutvideo]

These videos makes our days better

[@Saffi____]

Personally I would've loved to see this project come to fruition and have a successful career. Perhaps if we relied more on trains instead of trucks and planes it could've come to.

[@matevasas]

wait, this is what Snowpiercer is about. It's the same layout and idea :O

[@bthsr7113]

4:26 So we're sniffing all the inks, glues and powders.

[@AllDayBikes]

Simon's gunna be the video equivalent to Wikipedia, channels and videos for everything haha.

[@KneeDeepInTheDead81]

I've been neglecting it lately but... Whistley boi!!!!!

[@Gabriel-tv3fg]

At this point i'm just waiting for the gastronomic channel, and for sure i'll watch

[@TheKalaxis]

So Hitler was imagining the world's biggest multi-board game of 'Ticket to ride' in 40's? 😯

[@BBulletin]

I saw another video referring to it as "Hitler's Snowpiercer". (A world spanning railroad with a large train strictly divided between "haves" and "have nots"? Yep.)

[@donovandelaney3171]

This train was one of their good ideas. Hashtag: Build the Breitspurbahn Train!

[@PitboyHarmony1]

I caught myself oohing and ahhing about a massive 1,600 foot long train in Germany ... then I remembered that todays cargo trains in Canada average ... repeat ... average, 10,000 foot long. May have had it in height and width, but a mouse in the realm of length.

[@matsv201]

It would be pretty long for a passanger train. The european max length is 400meter, about 1200 feet. In China they have some that is 450 meters. There are specialist trains, like charter trains that is longer, but as far as I know, not in normal traffic service. There is actually a need for it. For example in the chanel tunnel is absolutly full to the brim with trains. One sugestion was to pair up two 400 meter train from London to calais the split them up for going to Belgium and paris. Of cause, this would not be simple, because they would need to be paired up after they leave the plattform.

[@ayooooo7118]

Railway through the Bering sea?

[@deltacx1059]

Reminds me of snowpeircer.

[@FatManWalking18]

the basis behind the "snow piercer" train?

[@richierich1835]

Simon should be called the channel maker dude has more channels than sky TV

[@geralddegraaf6148]

Sounds like Snowpiercer

[@TalesOfWar]

This thing along with many of the other post-war plans the Nazi's had for when they won (obviously, this didn't happen) show up in the newer Wolfenstein games.

[@Wustenfuchs109]

It was a good project, but only possible if one nation controlled all the territory through which the tracks would need to pass. But dedicated high capacity and high speed lines connecting the biggest cities in Europe would be quite practical and would in large part hamper the development of airliners. Yes, trains are slower on longer routes, but offer much greater luxury and cargo capacity. So unless you absolutely need to be in some other major city in a very short time, you'd take that train. Takes a bit longer, but it actually acts as a small village on its own. You in fact don't waste time in transit - it is not as if you are sitting in one place with nothing to do but wait for the ride to be over. Also, it is not that revolutionary. We have double deck trains now. This was just a bigger version that would connect the biggest population centers in Europe. So you get a few lines connecting them, from where regular gauge trains would take over in sort of a capillary function. In similar way that we use airliners today - you have those monstrously big airplanes, packing people on several decks, several classes, that operate between the biggest hubs, and then you take smaller ones for local flights. There are two reasons why Europe didn't go for this plan after the war: 1. Nazis proposed it. 2. It required dozens of nations agreeing on something. And that last part is the huge spike in the wheels of many projects and initiatives. Even when they benefit everyone involved, countries tend not to agree if it benefits someone else more than them. So projects like these die out.

[@Sandhoeflyerhome]

Was this brought to me Square Space ?

[@rayceeya8659]

I thought the "widest gauge" was the transporter at Bikaner in Kazakhstan.

[@matsv201]

The five widest is all hold by ship lifts. The widest being 9 meters

[@yltope]

I've got Simonella, so many channels, so much iinteresting stuff

[@ThomasGanterPrien]

Just as a sidenote on your map: I know Fraktur letters (old English typeface) are stereotypical for all things Nazi in pop culture, but in fact Nazis banned these typefaces for being „too Jewish “ ...

[@crhu319]

They used a lot of gothic typefaces.

[@ThomasGanterPrien]

@@crhu319 you are wrong. Hitler hated Fraktur and had it banned in 1941. Check out the "normalschrifterlass" (see Wikipedia: Nonetheless, Fraktur typefaces were particularly heavily used during the early years of the Nazi era, when they were initially represented as true German script. In fact, the press was scolded for its frequent use of "Roman characters" under "Jewish influence", and German émigrés were urged to use only "German script".[7] However Hitler's distaste for the script saw it officially discontinued in 1941 in a Schrifterlass ("edict on script") signed by Martin Bormann.[8])

[@lesliereissner4711]

@@ThomasGanterPrien Really fascinating stuff. The forms of German used for handwriting were strange as well--Suetterlin (which appears designed to be unreadable) and which replaced the latin script and was even taught alongside latin forms postwar.

[@ThomasGanterPrien]

@@lesliereissner4711 yep. I spent a lot of time transcribing Sütterlin from my grandparents' letters. "Designed to be unreadable" puts it nicely.

[@KarolisValickas]

As this was one of projects I was passionet about I remmeber reading in different sources that cruising speed was 250 km/h. And that there were test tracks built with moving prototypes. But that social aspect is crazy.. about ostarbeiter... Eww... If I am wrong - don't mind me. But as far as I've read Schickelgruber's rail had been built in limited testing capacity.

[@billbaker3565]

Perhaps Into the Shadows could do a video on the Ostarbeitar. I was not familiar with that particular system of Nazi horror.

[@williamzk9083]

I think Simon did not describe a complex system well. Basically the workers, most of them, signed indentured contracts, they often had little choice due to the conditions in their countries and the need to escape war, get food and escape from the Soviets who were just as bad if not worse. You could call it forced labor but in general not slave labor as the workers were to be released after a time. There was conscripted labor as well that came into occupied territories. In some cases a Duch youth might end up as an apprentice baker to replace a German one sent to the front. Many of these workers could walk around German towns, cities or villages within a certain distance, some learned valuable skills. It all depended on the company, the smaller the better. There were prisoners that were in some cases more like true slave workers ie Partisans etc or those arrested due to racial policies. No poster will get anywhere trying to explain the nuances. You had Rubber workers in South and Central America similarly indentured to supply American Rubber with possibly worse conditions.

[@qaz120120]

Say all you want, but I wish we had it.

[@davidleach7291]

How many channels you have m8!?

[@oddjob1795]

I get the feeling this was the inspiration for SnowPiercer.

[@twocvbloke]

Another example of a small man compensating for his inadequacies, everything had to be massive in his mind, even if it was utterly ridiculously impractical or just simply impossible, but hey, he was nuts... :P

[@franzzrilich9041]

Actually, it was not original to Hitler. Super-gauge rail systems were proposed back in the 1850s, and then off-and-on again into future generations. In the Depression, a para-Fascist group in the United States, the Technocrats, proposed a twelve-foot track gauge passenger rail system with super-fast railsets of aluminum. A railset was two endcars with streamlined ends, with up to ten other railcars being permanently linked together. They were a fad between the World Wars. They were lower in height than typical passenger cars. Anyways, Hitler read the publications of the Technocrats, and Albert Speer had to use a lot of influence to reduce the gauge to ten feet from twelve. I presume that variations of this scheme were pushed by Stalin's henchmen, as well. There is nebulous evidence that this may have been so. For one, proposals were floated several times to build a world-girdling super-train starting at Terra de Fuego (sp?), running through the Darien Gap, crossing the Bering Straits, and terminating in Capetown and at Land's End. The Soviet leadership was warm towards these largely Western proposals. For another, at the end of WWII the Soviets designed a serious heavy tank called the IS-7, which was somewhat too large for the Soviet railway system. The Seven was a seriously designed penultimat tank Had the Russians built Sevens instead of cheap export-grade tanks after the Soviet Union collapsed, there could not have been a war in Ukraine. The efforts put into the Seven suggest to me that there would have been proposals to build a skeletal super-train network to move the Sevens to various border regions. However, Stalin died, after being cursed by His Most Reverend Bishop Fulton Sheen on national TV, dying exactly as Sheen had described. My parents were impressed by this, and stayed with the Roman Catholic Church. Krushev took over after Stalin, and did not rebuild the Soviet railnet. The Seven now sits in a Russian tank museum, near the nuclear bomb proof tank, sighing over "what could have been." Stupid humans. No foresight.

[@alexsteck10]

he wasnt small , taller than world average even today ,but not for germany

[@liamwinter4512]

I wish the Thousand-Year Reich wasn't that bats*** insane. It had some decent infrastructure ideas.

[@sebastianriemer1777]

Hitler was completely nuts. He wanted to ban smoking, cutting down the alcohol consumption of the population, enforce one vegetarian day per week and other completely outlandish ideas. I'm glad that we lost the war, sausages and beer whole week long. 🍺🍆

[@stefanschleps8758]

Yeah....crystal meth, cocaine and percocet will give you ideas alright. Delusional ideas.

[@Harry-yz2jv]

So Hitler tried to make Snow Piercer

[@duncancurtis1758]

Dolfy would want a super duper Reich coach for himself one for Hermann Tubby one for Blondy one for Eva and one for his vegetables ie the army staff.

[@shaneeslick]

🤔So how long would you have to wait for the next service if you just missed the train? I'm guessing it would not be 10-20min 🤨

[@wolfganghaemmer]

Hi, not spoer .... Spur !

[@top6ear]

It's why they used to say Hitler liked it in the caboose. Because he was into trains right?

[@justandy333]

Hitler was just obsessed with bigger is better. Take the Maus and the Ratte tanks for example and the Insane 'H class' battleships with 20inch guns! apposed to the already enormous Bismarck and Turpitz with their 15inch guns. The Volkshalle building was another ridiculous plan with its sheer size being its primary feature.

[@carlosybarra4841]

Simon is taking the “Chemical Guys” route for KZbin.

[@johnlshilling1446]

Aaannnddd... "...his advisors told him that the project was impractical... whichhe ignored.." Sounds exactly like all of the proposed "solutions" to the "Climate Apocalypse".

[@cyrilio]

My current apartment isn’t even as large as these luxury trains.

[@adk6362]

I think the train name should be "big alice"

[@highlandoutsider8148]

Id like a new channel covering important moments in the history of statistics and analysis, not because I've a huge passion for these things, just that Graphographics makes me chuckle 😅🤷🏻‍♂️ thank you 👍

[@oPlazmaMC]

i dont understand the use of letting slaves starve

[@liamwinter4512]

Think of the logistics

[@Panzerairlines]

The German Snowpiercer :Y

[@vustvaleo8068]

meanwhile in an alternate time line we have a Nazi version of the Thomas the Tank Engine show.

[@jamesfracasse8178]

😮? how so🧐🤔?

[@apokalipsx25]

480 seats and a 3rd class service to deliver slaves from point A to point B Hmmmm i think the *747* meets this criteria just perfect.

[@danielch6662]

5'6" happens to be exactly my height. Next time I see a form asking for my height, I will write _Indian gauge_

[@KiDCRuDi_]

4:00 geez, even the Nazis had designs on Ukraine. They can't catch a break!

[@valleynick3344]

You should do Video rods from god

[@nikolaikostka7632]

Snow piercer origin story

[@fearandloathingmedia2051]

BTC&ETH

[@whiteandnerdytuba]

You say that’s expensive but America has already sent more than that to Ukraine

[@Twitch760]

So you're saying if the Nazis won I'd have a global high speed rail system where I could travel around the world in hours instead of days? Sign me up.

[@stefanschleps8758]

Move to Beijing and join the CCP.

[@nyxknight7555]

Among other things

[@nickthesoldier7260]

High speed later in the future if they won, but yes you could travel around the world.

[@crhu319]

China has entered the chat.

[@nickthesoldier7260]

@@crhu319 when i meant future i meant it was not possible after 1945 or 47 to develop so fasc such a technology.

[@RoliceOfficial]

bro they just opened The Elizabeth line

[@reho7387]

Hate the larger beard.

[@bthsr7113]

Another case of counting chickens before they hatched while being pecked to death for breaking into the hen house.

[@alexanderc9462]

probably wanted to run track to the moon too

[@arcdecibel9986]

That gauge would have been totally unworkable with heavy freight trains (And possibly some of those passenger designs) if they planned on using ANY sidings, switches, turns of any degree, or gone up any hills. The problem is that where rail curves, you're putting a disproportionate amount of the total force behind the train DIRECTLY on the arc, via the wheel flanges, when the train enters a turn. Steel and timber can flex when that happens, with the idea being that they go back to their original shape shortly, but even steel and concrete will bend and fracture. Where a train hits rail with too much force, it create undulations that magnify the effect and you'll get integrity failures. Rail THAT wide would be transferring exponentially more force than wide gauge we use today, due to the Square-Cube Law and how rigid the trucks would have to be. I don't think steel would have the tensile strength. Graphene would, but it wasn't invented then and it's still very expensive today. The only way to make such a rail system work with the technology back then would be to have multiple lines spreading the train's weight, using a system of independently and horizontally articulated trucks so the trailing edges in a turn could drag behind the leading wheels, like an ice-skater turning. That's horrifically expensive and complicated for something as simple as a railcar, to say nothing of the fact that ANY switch would need multiple moving-point frogs to account for wheel lag. It's a lot easier any more efficient to just use two or three trains on normal lines than that.