Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
The Berlin pneumatic tube network was once the second largest in the world.
It was London where Latimer Clark installed the first pneumatic tube system in the London Telegraph Office in 1853.
Today almost nothing reminds of this technological marvel. Since the end of the Franco-German War (1870/71) the population of the city of Berlin had increased significantly. The expansion of the city also made it necessary to realize the goal set in a memorandum of the telegraph administration for the year 1874.
MAP OF BERLIN 1873
The unification of the administration of post and telegraphy was addressed. In 1865 the Prussian Chief Post Councilor Heinrich von Stephan obtained the establishment of a first test route of the pneumatic post from the former Berlin main telegraph office in Jägerstrasse to the stock exchange (distance 2.1 km). The test setup went so smoothly that it convinced investors in the following years implement expansion of the inner-city pneumatic tube network.
Already in 1876 the route length was approx. 26 km and 1.3 million mail items were sent. The pneumatic tube soon became a popular, much-used and, because it was very reliable, valued means of communication within Berlin. Hidden under the pavement at a depth of approx. 60 cm, the secret messages raced towards their destination at up to 30 kilometers per hour. A pneumatic tube officer loaded, directed and unloaded the so-called "Bömbchen" and made sure that the shipments arrived on time. In this way, information could safely change hands within just an hour - in the above-ground traffic chaos of the time, a speed that could not be achieved.
In 1881 expansions to Charlottenburg, Schöneberg and Kreuzberg followed, then the districts of Tiergarten, Wedding and Prenzlauer Berg were added. Wilmersdorf, Neukölln and Lichtenberg followed in 1908. Friedenau and Steglitz in 1913, Bornholmer Straße and Pankow in 1914. In the booming capital, water, sewage and gas pipes were laid in large numbers and the infrastructure was constantly expanded.
MAP OF BERLIN 1945
During the Third Reich, all Nazi ministries were connected to the local pneumatic tube network. Discreet and reliable communication of information and documents was promised.
Field post letters and death reports also came by pneumatic tube At its heyday in the 1940s, the pneumatic tube system was 297 kilometers long and comprised 99 stations. There were 24 pneumatic tube lines on which pneumatic tube boxes, if possible put together to form trains, whizzed through the tubes according to a fixed timetable. From 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. you could post pneumatic letters, telegrams and pneumatic postcards. There was a common saying about the speed of letter delivery, which can never be regained even by drones: "Tell him through the pipe, otherwise his love letter will be too late". In 1940 there were around 100 pneumatic post offices in Berlin for the cans popularly known as “pneumatic tube bombs”. Within an hour at the most, you could be holding a telegram that had just been posted anywhere in town. Soldiers' mothers received letters from the field post and death reports by pneumatic tube. Every year around 40 million cans chased through what was then the most modern delivery system in the world.
Pneumatic post after the Second World War
Large parts of the city tube post were damaged by the Second World War. As early as 1947, the Russian occupying powers put the old systems back into operation in the eastern part of the city. The West followed a little later. In 1953 there was finally a strategic separation into a West Berlin and an East Berlin network. In the seventies, the old pneumatic tube system was buried in both parts of the city. It was finally replaced by the much more efficient motor vehicle, where upon the pneumatic post unfortunately increasingly lost its importance and was more and more forgotten.
MAP BERLIN TUBE MAIL BLOCKADE 1949
Stickers and markings from the Berlin pneumatic tube station
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And of course, some samples.
Rohrpost Karte RP 8 Adler 25 von BERLIN N.W. 6 (7.10.1893) nach BERLIN P 46(R 18)(7.10.1893)
Notice the blue 46 of the tube mail postoffice
Rohrpost-Karte RP 8 Adler 25 von BERLIN P9(R 6)(18.10.1899) nach BERLIN N.W. (18.10.1899)
Notice the red 6 of the tube mail postoffice
Rohrpostkarte RP 8 Adler von BERLIN SW P61(R 31)(31.10.1893) nach BERLIN P12(R 16) (31.10.1893)
Notice the blue 12 of the tube mail postoffice
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Rohrpost-Karte RP 13 Germania 25 BERLIN W.9 (9.8.1905) nach BERLIN W.50 (9.8.1905)
Rohrpostkarte RP 13 Germania 25 Pfennig ohne Wz. BERLIN W P10 (R17) (5.2.1906)
Rohrpost-Schnelldienst_Ortsganzsachenpostkarte_Bauten_I_mit_72_Pf_Zusatzfrankatur
Rohrpost-Luftpost-Brief BERLIN-SPANDAU 28.7.37 nach Samland Ostpreussen
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Rohrpost_Berlin_Dresden_1952
Rohrpost Berlin 1962
Rohrpost Berlin 1962
ganzsache-p-96-rohrpost-berlin 1912
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And this is how the tube looked like :
And in the roaring 20's the high society who came in the Residenz Casino of Berlin had their own table Tube Mail.
The Berlin Residenz Casino Der erste Rohrpost am tisch
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Frei durch Ablösung Reichsverkehrsministerium Rohrpostumschlag BERLIN 31.3.1933
Frei durch Ablösung Reichsministerium des Innern Rohrpost POTSDAM 23.5.44
Internationale Automobiel und Motorrad Ausstellung Berlin 1939
Internationale Automobiel und Motorrad Ausstellung Berlin 1939
27-03-1956 from PRESTO-CHEMIE Berlin
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Berlin (pneumatic) tube-mail
The Berlin pneumatic tube network was once the second largest in the world.
It was London where Latimer Clark installed the first pneumatic tube system in the London Telegraph Office in 1853.
Today almost nothing reminds of this technological marvel. Since the end of the Franco-German War (1870/71) the population of the city of Berlin had increased significantly. The expansion of the city also made it necessary to realize the goal set in a memorandum of the telegraph administration for the year 1874.
MAP OF BERLIN 1873
The unification of the administration of post and telegraphy was addressed. In 1865 the Prussian Chief Post Councilor Heinrich von Stephan obtained the establishment of a first test route of the pneumatic post from the former Berlin main telegraph office in Jägerstrasse to the stock exchange (distance 2.1 km). The test setup went so smoothly that it convinced investors in the following years implement expansion of the inner-city pneumatic tube network.
Already in 1876 the route length was approx. 26 km and 1.3 million mail items were sent. The pneumatic tube soon became a popular, much-used and, because it was very reliable, valued means of communication within Berlin. Hidden under the pavement at a depth of approx. 60 cm, the secret messages raced towards their destination at up to 30 kilometers per hour. A pneumatic tube officer loaded, directed and unloaded the so-called "Bömbchen" and made sure that the shipments arrived on time. In this way, information could safely change hands within just an hour - in the above-ground traffic chaos of the time, a speed that could not be achieved.
In 1881 expansions to Charlottenburg, Schöneberg and Kreuzberg followed, then the districts of Tiergarten, Wedding and Prenzlauer Berg were added. Wilmersdorf, Neukölln and Lichtenberg followed in 1908. Friedenau and Steglitz in 1913, Bornholmer Straße and Pankow in 1914. In the booming capital, water, sewage and gas pipes were laid in large numbers and the infrastructure was constantly expanded.
MAP OF BERLIN 1945
During the Third Reich, all Nazi ministries were connected to the local pneumatic tube network. Discreet and reliable communication of information and documents was promised.
Field post letters and death reports also came by pneumatic tube At its heyday in the 1940s, the pneumatic tube system was 297 kilometers long and comprised 99 stations. There were 24 pneumatic tube lines on which pneumatic tube boxes, if possible put together to form trains, whizzed through the tubes according to a fixed timetable. From 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. you could post pneumatic letters, telegrams and pneumatic postcards. There was a common saying about the speed of letter delivery, which can never be regained even by drones: "Tell him through the pipe, otherwise his love letter will be too late". In 1940 there were around 100 pneumatic post offices in Berlin for the cans popularly known as “pneumatic tube bombs”. Within an hour at the most, you could be holding a telegram that had just been posted anywhere in town. Soldiers' mothers received letters from the field post and death reports by pneumatic tube. Every year around 40 million cans chased through what was then the most modern delivery system in the world.
Pneumatic post after the Second World War
Large parts of the city tube post were damaged by the Second World War. As early as 1947, the Russian occupying powers put the old systems back into operation in the eastern part of the city. The West followed a little later. In 1953 there was finally a strategic separation into a West Berlin and an East Berlin network. In the seventies, the old pneumatic tube system was buried in both parts of the city. It was finally replaced by the much more efficient motor vehicle, where upon the pneumatic post unfortunately increasingly lost its importance and was more and more forgotten.
MAP BERLIN TUBE MAIL BLOCKADE 1949
Stickers and markings from the Berlin pneumatic tube station
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re: Rohr Post in Berlin / Tube Mail in Berlin
And of course, some samples.
Rohrpost Karte RP 8 Adler 25 von BERLIN N.W. 6 (7.10.1893) nach BERLIN P 46(R 18)(7.10.1893)
Notice the blue 46 of the tube mail postoffice
Rohrpost-Karte RP 8 Adler 25 von BERLIN P9(R 6)(18.10.1899) nach BERLIN N.W. (18.10.1899)
Notice the red 6 of the tube mail postoffice
Rohrpostkarte RP 8 Adler von BERLIN SW P61(R 31)(31.10.1893) nach BERLIN P12(R 16) (31.10.1893)
Notice the blue 12 of the tube mail postoffice
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re: Rohr Post in Berlin / Tube Mail in Berlin
Rohrpost-Karte RP 13 Germania 25 BERLIN W.9 (9.8.1905) nach BERLIN W.50 (9.8.1905)
Rohrpostkarte RP 13 Germania 25 Pfennig ohne Wz. BERLIN W P10 (R17) (5.2.1906)
Rohrpost-Schnelldienst_Ortsganzsachenpostkarte_Bauten_I_mit_72_Pf_Zusatzfrankatur
Rohrpost-Luftpost-Brief BERLIN-SPANDAU 28.7.37 nach Samland Ostpreussen
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re: Rohr Post in Berlin / Tube Mail in Berlin
Rohrpost_Berlin_Dresden_1952
Rohrpost Berlin 1962
Rohrpost Berlin 1962
ganzsache-p-96-rohrpost-berlin 1912
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re: Rohr Post in Berlin / Tube Mail in Berlin
And this is how the tube looked like :
And in the roaring 20's the high society who came in the Residenz Casino of Berlin had their own table Tube Mail.
The Berlin Residenz Casino Der erste Rohrpost am tisch
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re: Rohr Post in Berlin / Tube Mail in Berlin
Frei durch Ablösung Reichsverkehrsministerium Rohrpostumschlag BERLIN 31.3.1933
Frei durch Ablösung Reichsministerium des Innern Rohrpost POTSDAM 23.5.44
Internationale Automobiel und Motorrad Ausstellung Berlin 1939
Internationale Automobiel und Motorrad Ausstellung Berlin 1939
27-03-1956 from PRESTO-CHEMIE Berlin
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