my grandma, she came to wuppertal the first time in 1953.u come into the schwebebahn?" laughs because she couldn't see that there was the platform? yes. what do you think it represents to the people here? i think they like it because it's the only in the world, but i think they like to go from one place to the other in a short time. i think about 85,000 people a day, they take it. oh, thank you! given all that history, it's a bit of a surprise there's been no proper museum to the schwebebahn. but, just as i arrive, all that's about to change. tomorrow, the schwebodrom opens, and i'm here to meet its managing director thomas helbig as he makes the final few preparations. come in. hello, tom! how are you doing? fine. woo! it's great that you're coming here. thank you, i'm excited! it's looking good. do you have anything left that you need to do today before tomorrow? well, we have to clean up a little bit but we are, to 95%—98%, we are ready. and it's great that you're coming here to our schwebebahn experience. emeline, please enter the first

so this is wuppertal — it's sandwiched between the two powerhouses of cologne and dortmund.it does have one thing going for it that's made it world—famous — and it's right there! the schwebebahn is a suspended monorail. the carriages hang from a track about 12 metres above the streets and rivers of wuppertal. 0h, hello! hello! nice to meet you. i'm meeting inga canters, who grew up riding the schwebebahn, and even got married on it back in 2006. it was built in 1893—11, but only in 1901, it was ready. and then you could go from one town to the other. that's over 120 years that this has been standing here. yes. what do you think was the impression of the residents when they first saw this? they were impressed, ithink, said... "what is this? " yes! yeah! excited. yeah. they feared it, because they thought that satan could come and take them away, or something like that. they didn't want the schwebebahn. ok, it's coming — we're getting on? yes, 0k. 0h, where shall we sit? shall we stand? i kind of want to feel it... yes, yeah. . . move. hold on. 0h, hold on? yes! it's going to

my grandma, she came to wuppertal the first time in 1953.one place to the other in a short time. i think about 85,000 people a day, they take it. oh, thank you! given all that history, it's a bit of a surprise there's been no proper museum to the schwebebahn. but, just as i arrive, all that's about to change. tomorrow, the schwebodrom opens, and i'm here to meet its managing director thomas helbig as he makes the final few preparations. come in. hello, tom! how are you doing? fine. woo! it's great that you're coming here. thank you, i'm excited! it's looking good. do you have anything left that you need to do today before tomorrow? well, we have to clean up a little bit but we are, to 95%—98%, we are ready. and it's great that you're coming here to our schwebebahn experience. emeline, please enter the first room. ooh! it's our projection world. and here, we tell the story of mobility — why it was necessary to build the schwebebahn. because population increased massively in the middle of the 19th century and industrialisation came. as well as