Once upon a time, the Betriebswerkstatt Grunewald hummed with the energy of West Berlin’s railways. The Betriebswerkstatt Grunewald was more than just a workshop. It was the heart of locomotive maintenance after the Second World War. It stood proudly near the Berlin-Grunewald station.
Initially a humble workshop for the Berlin-Wetzlar Railway in the 1880s, the Betriebswerkstatt Grunewald steadily grew. Various factory buildings and locomotive sheds sprung up around it. By the 1930s, the Betriebswerkstatt Grunewald became responsible for passenger and express train locomotives. In 1931, it housed notable locomotives including seven Prussian S 101s, twelve Prussian P 8s, and twenty-two Class 74 engines.
The Betriebswerkstatt Grunewald also housed new standard steam locomotives. Grunewald’s express train locomotives served routes to East Prussia, Neu Bentschen, and Breslau. Four Leipzig-type fast railcars served the Berlin to Beuthen O.S. route via Breslau from 1936. After the start of the war in 1939, the express steam locomotive 61 001 became a heating system in the Betriebswerkstatt Grunewald.
After World War II, the Betriebswerkstatt Grunewald had fifty-two locomotives. Its focus shifted to freight transport. Only twenty-one locomotives served German needs. The other thirty-one belonged to Column 16 for reparations to the Soviet Union. These were primarily Class 52 and 41 locomotives. By July 1952, the Betriebswerkstatt Grunewald had only a few steam locomotives.
The number of locomotives grew again during the 1950s. By 1960, the Betriebswerkstatt Grunewald included eight Class 52 war locomotives, six Class 74 engines, fourteen Class 93 engines, and two diesel locomotives. In the early 1960s, diesel locomotives began to arrive. By 1965, Classes 93 and 74 were completely gone. The last steam locomotive, 52 2523, retired in December 1966.
From 1967, the Betriebswerkstatt Grunewald housed only Classes V15, V60, and V180 diesel locomotives, along with heating and small locomotives. In 1978, it housed fifty-six diesel locomotives. The V15 diesel locomotive 101 109-7 stood ready for emergencies. It could pull S-Bahn trains from the North-South S-Bahn tunnel during power failures.
From the 1950s, the Betriebswerkstatt Grunewald was West Berlin’s only locomotive depot. Other West Berlin depots handled only S-Bahn trains. In 1994, staff and locomotives moved to the Wustermark depot. In 1996, Wustermark closed. Grunewald became a Berlin Central Station service point now Berlin Ostbahnhof. Finally, only a reporting point for drivers remained.
In 1964, after the death of Otto Grotewohl, East German flags appeared at West Berlin train stations. The West Berlin police did not remove these flags from the Betriebswerkstatt Grunewald. Today, the Betriebswerkstatt Grunewald stands as a reminder of Berlin’s complex railway history and political past.