Südgelände: the wild railway yard
An abandoned marshalling yard gone to birch woodland, with a rusting locomotive and steel walkways above the rails. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Priesterweg (S-Bahn)
Start at the suburban station and follow the signs to the *Natur-Park*. There's usually a small entry fee at the gate — bring a coin or two; it keeps the place the way it is.

2. The old water tower
The brick water tower from the yard's working days, the first landmark inside. From here the woodland closes over and you forget the city is a hundred metres away.

3. The steam locomotive
A rusting steam engine left where the yard died, slowly being taken back by birch and bramble. The single best image of the whole park: machinery losing to the trees, on purpose.

4. The raised steel walkway
A grated metal path lifted above the tracks so the meadow underneath is left to grow undisturbed. Walk it slowly; the conservation logic is the art, and the rail-themed steel sculptures along it are real art too.

5. The birch woodland & meadows
The heart of it: thirty-odd years of self-seeded birch over the old sidings, rails still threading through the grass. Pick any path. You don't have to do it in order — wandering is the right way here.

6. Toward Südkreuz
Leave by the southern side and walk the Priesterweg path toward Südkreuz, the big interchange where regional and S-Bahn trains meet. The contrast — wild yard to glass station — is the last beat of the walk.

Südgelände: the wild railway yard