Restoring Halbe’s Kaiserbahnhof

Andre Gifkins cycles to the Spreewald to witness a one-of-a-kind royal train restoration…  

I‘m a big fan of the fact Berlin has so many old buildings that have been left to rack and ruin. They look cool and suggest a history far, far beyond my personal experience.

Most decay slowly, before escalating land prices eventually entice developers into buying the property the building is on. The structure itself, perhaps an old wood mill or a water processing facility, is then promptly knocked to the earth.

The alternative—restoration and repurposing—is much harder work. So it was with surprise that I heard that one of my compatriots from New Zealand was doing exactly this in the small town of Halbe, about 60km to the south of Berlin. When I was further informed that he was restoring an entire railway station, I had to go and visit.

Realising that Halbe was within cycling distance of Berlin, I arranged to visit the owner, Peter Macky, and started planning the route.

Kaiserbahnhof Halbe in 2010. Image by Peter Macky.

Macky is a commercial lawyer from Auckland. Taking advantage of the hemispheres, he avoids the cold altogether with an annual migration to the welcoming warmth of the Berlin summer. Quickly developing an affinity both with Berlin’s architectural history and its way of life, he has been coming for several years now.

Cycling here was another revelation for Macky: Berlin’s flatness and generous cycling lanes are a positive epiphany for someone from New Zealand, or specifically Auckland, where cycling anywhere essentially means traversing the extinct volcanos upon which the city is built.

Relishing the freedom of the bicycle, Macky, with entrepreneurial gusto, set up a cycle tour business, which he operates largely for New Zealand tourists. It was on one of these trips that he came upon an abandoned railway station that was for sale. Curiosity bit and soon he found himself in a negotiation process that would, I suspect even to his own surprise, end up with him owning his very own piece of German rail history.

Our ride to Halbe was very pleasant, with country roads, lakes, forest and quiet towns colouring our route from Königs Wusterhausen southwards. The area feels very much a summer retreat for Berliners, with holiday homes and camping sites dotted around the lakes.

En route to Halbe. Photo by Andre Gifkins.

We rolled into town just after lunch and quickly found our destination: the great thing about train station is, of course, that you just follow the tracks. Peter was to be found in the woodshed, which serves as the project management office. He was busy discussing details with architect …

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