The history of double-decker buses in the 50s and 60s in Berlin
On Sunday, March 23, the first special trip of the year 2025 took place with a historic double-decker. Every year, the “ Association for Traditional Buses Berlin” organizes various trips through Berlin, because “transport history doesn't belong in a museum, but on the road”, according to the association's motto. The trip started at 10:00 a.m. at Jungfernheide subway and S-train station and then continued for two and a half hours along the former BVG line 25 to Britz. We took this special trip as an opportunity to take a look at the Berlin double-deckers of the post-war period, because even though truckinfocus.com is actually dedicated to trucks, a detour into the world of buses should be allowed.
One hundred years ago, the first double-deckers with an upper deck integrated into the bodywork were put into service by the Allgemeine Berliner Omnibus Aktien-Gesellschaft (ABOAG). Before that, Berlin city buses had roof seats that could be reached via a staircase attached to the rear. In order to increase passenger capacity, benches were bolted onto the often curved roof of the single-deckers, which was fitted with a railing. However, the safety of the passengers sitting on top left much to be desired.
Even before the actual double-deckers, ABOAG passengers could sit on top. A spiral staircase was used to climb to the roof and take a seat on a bench. However, the surrounding railing could not provide the necessary safety against falling. The photo comes from the Ralf Weinreich collection.
In 1925, ABOAG purchased one double-decker each from London and Chicago. The third was built in-house on a chassis from N.A.G. (Nationale Automobil Gesellschaft). In 1927, the same Berlin based company received a large order for bus chassis, which were fitted with double-decker bodies at Orenstein & Koppel in Berlin according to an ABOAG concept. 175 buses of the D2 series were built by the end of 1928. Some of these vintage buses were in service until the 1950s, and two are still in existence today.
ABOAG purchased the first Berlin double-deckers with a closed upper deck from the Berlin based company Orenstein & Koppel. From 1925, the chassis of the National Automobile Company (N.A.G.) were fitted with double-decker superstructures there.
The development took its course, the ABOAG became the Berliner Verkehrs Gesellschaft (BVG) in 1929 and in 1952 the cabovers were introduced, because until then all double-deckers in Berlin, apart from three prototypes from 1939, had long snouts.
Hoods characterized the appearance of all Berlin buses for decades. The license plate of the double-decker shown here bears the letters “KB”, the abbreviation for Kommandantura Berlin, a designation of the Soviet occupying power. The nomenclature changed in 1956 when the “B” was introduced for all West Berlin vehicles. The three-axle double-decker D 38 in the photo was produced by the companies Büssing (90 units), Henschel (10 units) and Daimler-Benz (100 units) from 1938 to 1940. These vehicles were part of the Berlin streetscape until 1958.The only exception to the conventional concept were three double-decker prototypes, which were commissioned from Büssing, Henschel and Daimler-Benz in the mid-1930s by the Berliner Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (ABOAG had changed its name to BVG in 1929). The Second World War, which began in 1939, initially prevented further development. The three cab-overs were put into service between 1938 and 1940 and were in use in West Berlin until 1956 and in East Berlin until 1958.
The new cabover double-deckers were based on Büssing chassis. The first series consisted of 39 three-axle and 70 two-axle vehicles, which were built by Orenstein & Koppel, Gaubschat and Deutsche Waggon- und Maschinenfabriken (later Waggon Union), all three located in what was then West Berlin.
The first new Berlin double-decker in cabover design was built in 1951. Series production of the new D2U 52 buses began the following year. Seventy of them were built on Büssing-NAG chassis by Orenstein & Koppel, Gaubschat and Deutsche Waggon- und Maschinenfabriken. It is difficult to find out which of the three factories the photo comes from.The photo shows a double-decker of the D2U 52 or D2U 53 series with an underfloor engine. It can be recognized by the flat windscreens, which were no longer installed later, as curved glass was introduced in vehicle construction around 1954.A trip into the countryside: BVG was already operating excursion lines in the early 1950s. The picture shows one of the 39 three-axle buses with underfloor engines that Büssing supplied to the Berliners under the designation D3U 52. These buses were taken out of service in 1965.We take a look at some details of the double-decker from the 1950s: The upper deck can be seen at the top left - note the step that led to the first row of seats. Below the step was the driver's cabin and the front entrance. Smoking was permitted on the upper deck, the lower deck remained smoke-free. The photo below shows the view to the rear, with the bulge in the ceiling on the right, which can be explained by the corridor on the upper floor. Until around 1960, all buses had open doors at the rear. Initially there was only a vertical bar in the middle of the entrance opening, but the picture already shows the newer design with a more elaborate construction with two vertical handrails.The type D2U 55 double-decker already had curved windscreens in the area of the A-pillars. The year of construction 1955 can also be seen from the license plate, as from 1956 Berlin vehicles received new license plates beginning with the letter “B”. The photo was taken on Kurfürstendamm; the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church can still be seen in the background in its post-war state. The destroyed main tower has been preserved as a memorial to this day, while the tower on the right was demolished at the end of the 1950s to make way for the new tower and church building designed by architect Egon Eiermann and inaugurated in 1961.A double-decker of the D2U 58 series in Alt-Buckow, a suburb of what was then West Berlin. The photo was taken in 1974 by Hans Koch.
Of course, development also continued in East Berlin: between 1954 and 1959, VEB Waggonbau Bautzen built a total of 190 units of the Do 54 and Do 56 types with a flowing hood that looked very modern at the time.
A total of 190 examples of the Do 54 and Do 56 series were built by VEB Waggonbau Bautzen for use in East Berlin between 1954 and 1959. The photo was taken by Bill Godwin around 1965 in the street Unter den Linden and comes from the Michael Haeder collection.
From 1953 to 1967, there were also seven double-deckers as semi-trailer combinations, known as DoSa, in East Berlin. The H6 tractor units and the semi-trailers came from VEB IFA Kraftfahrzeugwerk Werdau (formerly LOWA). A double-decker trolleybus in semi-trailer design was also in use in East Berlin at the time, pulled by a LOWA type W 601 trolleybus tractor unit.
The two photos show articulated vehicles with double-decker bus bodies from VEB IFA Kraftfahrzeugwerk Werdau (formerly LOWA). Seven of these articulated buses were built at the end of the 1950s and were in use until 1974. The photos are from the Sigurd Hilkenbach collection.In fact, there was actually also a trolleybus double-decker articulated bus in East Berlin (are there still increases?) The concept was developed at the VEB IFA Kraftfahrzeugwerk Werdau, but the vehicle was built at the VEB Waggonwerk Ammendorf (formerly Gottfried Lindner AG). The photos are from the collections of Sigurd Hilkenbach (above) and Martin Krüger (below).
In addition to the double-deckers, single-deckers were also used by the transport companies in both parts of Berlin, especially as some bridge underpasses could not be used by double-decker buses. In the 1950s, all West Berlin double-deckers had the so-called Büssing spider on the front, i.e. the chrome-plated radiator grille with horizontal struts. This concealed the crest-shaped opening through which the engine breathed. Most of the photos in this article are from this period. After that, the Büssing spider gave way to other front designs, right down to the unadorned nothingness that Berlin double-deckers had to make do with for a long time.
Finally, a bus without an upper deck from Berlin in the 1950s, because we don't want to give the impression that only double-deckers were used by the BVG in Berlin. The photo was taken by Bill Godwin and is from the Michael Haeder collection.
A multi-part article would be necessary to present and illustrate the entire history of the Berlin double-deckers, which we could publish at a later date if our clientele is interested.
