Elektrifiziert die Deutsche Bundesbahn booklet
A 1959 promotional booklet compiled by the Ifo-Institut fur Wirtschaftsforschung, München, for the Deutsche Maschinentechnische Gesellschaft (DMG) – the German Mechanical Engineering Society – to promote the benfits of the further electrification of the West German Railways, DB. The text, photographs and diagrams aim to prove the many benefits of such schemes, from improved productivity, working conditions and the economic superiority of electric traction as against the steam locomotive. The sub-title reads “a task of great urgency”.
At the time German railways compared quite poorly when ranked against other Continental railways – 11% of the system as against Switzerland’s 99% – although in fairness France came in at 15%, Belgium at 29% and the Netherlands at 51%.
Hermann Zapf’s Palatino (Stempel, 1950) is used throughout. It’s the original foundry version, which is distinguished by a number of details: E F show an unseriffed middle bar, p q have no bottom serifs, s S exhibit a horizontal middle segment, v y have a unilateral left serif, and the apex of w extends beyond the x-height.
The last paragraph on this spread shows that Palatino used to have a double hyphen as well as tightly fitted pairs for ch and ck. Both these features were standard in fraktur typefaces. In the first half of the 20th century, they were also common among roman typefaces by German foundries.
Note the use of letterspacing for emphasis, an old habit from the days when blackletter was the dominant type genre in Germany. Fraktur typefaces didn’t have an italic.
1 Comment on “Elektrifiziert die Deutsche Bundesbahn booklet”
2022 and routes mentioned in this leaflet are still unelectrified.