World Trams A-Z
This page contains links to sites that have information about tram and light rail networks anywhere in the world, including photo contributions and commentaries from third parties.
Much of this information was collected between 1995 and 15th May 1999 and links had expired. Substitute links and updates have been provided where possible, otherwise the contributed text may be of interest as a historical record.
Argentina
Buenos Aires
There is a museum operation in Buenos Aires (every Sunday), and a modern tram extending beyond one metro terminus on two routes.
Thanks to Roderick Smith
"Today, the Association of Friends of the Tramway (Spanish: Asociación Amigos del Tranvía) maintain and refurbish numerous trams inside the Polvorín workshop in the neighbourhood of Caballito...
The service is free and is open on Saturdays and Sundays and public holidays all year round from 4pm to 7.30pm...
The tramway has many trams dating back as far as the early 1900s which are used on its 2 km circuit."
Trams in Buenos Aires - Wikipedia
Australia
Adelaide
The capital of S. Australia, Adelaide possesses a tram line linking the city proper with the seaside suburb of Glenelg ("one of Australia's favourite palindromes... much of the route is in a reservation, but it's still a dinkum tram").
Thanks to Alan Finch
Trams of Australia Page
Wayback Machine archive for www.railpage.org.au/tram/index.html (March 13 2018)
This is David Hoadley's Trams of Australia page (last updated 1999, site appears down since 2018).
This page contains information about the trams of Australia, both past and present: where they can be found, and where and when they run. Included are sections covering present-day operation of trams as public transport in various cities, and sections covering the historical operations of trams in Australia. Information is given on details of individual tram types, and museums where preserved specimens can be found.
Snapshots from around Melbourne
Wayback Machine archive for www.cs.monash.edu.au/melbourne/melbourne.html (Jan 17 1999)
Wayback Machine archive for www.cs.rmit.edu.au/melbourne.html ("This page was derived from http://www.cs.monash.edu/melbourne.html") (Dec 6 1998)
At this site (no longer existing) you could see illustrations of the Melbourne trams. The page suggested that Melbourne is the only Australian capital to retain its tram network. This is because of the extent of the system, which serves many suburbs and hence "network" is certainly appropriate. The trams in Melbourne are not just a tourist attraction, but form a basis for the public transport system in what is a widely spread-out metropolitan area. The city circular route tram around the major shopping and business area is free.
Trams in Melbourne - Wikipedia
Thanks to Alan Finch
Melbourne Trams (Tony Lammens)
http://connexus.apana.org.au/~lammens/trams.htm (site gone)
This was a descriptive page about Melbourne trams and recent extensions to the system.
More about Melbourne Trams...Not just a relic
Thanks to Daniel Reichwald of New York city, an expatriate Melburnian, for the following information:
As the pride of Melbourne's transport network, the tram fleet is continually updated and the network regularly extended and improved. Some of the city's new, smooth, quiet, air-conditioned articulated trams are even taking over old metropolitan commuter railway routes and are said to be more economical to run.
The newest tram route runs all the way from the campus of Latrobe University, on the outskirts of the metro area right into the centre of the City. Melbourne's network passes through every socio-economic sector of the bustling metropolis, from the steel & glass towers of the financial district to the ethnic neighbourhoods of Richmond and Carlton, to the seaside at St Kilda Beach; from the bohemia of Fitzroy to the exclusive boutiques and elegant cafes of South Yarra to the leafy suburbs of Balwyn, Kew and Caulfield.
Not only do Melbourne's trams provide a natural reliable, convenient access to town, but Melbourne has became synonymous with the famous image of green and gold trams - just as Sydney is symbolised by the Opera House.
Melbourne Tram fire
On 15th April 1996, a fire destroyed Melbourne's Z2 tram no. 109 and slightly damaged other trams in the depot. The depot's fire sprinklers prevented further damage, although an estimated $750,000 worth of damage was caused.
Melbourne Heritage Trams
On around 19/10/95 it was reported on various transport related newsgroups that the Department of Transport at Collins Street, Melbourne, was seeking parties interested in taking over the management, operation, display and storage of Melbourne's 30 strong fleet of "heritage trams" at the 1916 "American Romanesque style" Hawthorn tram depot.
Melbourne tram and train map (Chris Brownbill)
Wayback Machine archive for people.enternet.com.au:80/~cbrnbill/maps/melbourn.htm (Oct 24 2001)
Sydney Tramway Museum
This is the largest tram museum in the southern hemisphere, including over 80 tramway and related vehicles in its collection, and operates a running tramway service over approximately 3.5 km of track.
See my page SydneyTramwayMuseum.htm for more on the Sydney Tramway Museum, with plenty of unique photos!
Sydney Tramway Museum News
According to Greg Sutherland (November 1996), Sydney Tramway Museum has taken delivery of Berlin cars 3007 & 3008 (both TZ69 double ended motor cars) and 3717 (BZ69 trailer car). These cars were withdrawn from service in the Kopernick area of Berlin until the introduction of a new timetable on 2 June 1996. Built in 1969, these cars are of historical significance as some of the last examples of single truck cars introduced anywhere in the world.
The cars were formally handed over in Berlin on 4th August 1996 in the presence of Ms Margaret Adamson, Australian Consul General in Berlin. The handover was firmly supported by BVG and the local Berlin tramway museum group. Harpag Lloyd shipped the trams ex-Hamburg on "Contship Barcelona" and German Forwarding Agents Schenker International arranged international handling details for the movement of the trams from the Port Botany wharves to the Sydney Tramway Museum.
Parramatta Park Tramway Museum, Sydney
While passing through Parramatta in December 1995, I spotted in an old UBD Sydney Street Directory a part of Parramatta Park labelled "Tramway Museum". Taking a walk through the park, I eventually found a section of railway track upon which rested a number of carriages, charred almost beyond recognition. Further enquiries revealed that there was indeed a steam tramway museum here, but it burned down in June 1994. Rumours have circulated that a digruntled member of the museum might have been involved (no evidence is known to support this rumour, which could I suppose equally well be false). One engine and two cars were destroyed in the fire. It is hoped that the engine can be restored. There is a theory that there was sufficient water in the steam engine's saddle tank to hold back the worst effects of the fire.
Information about this museum can also be found at David Hoadley's Trams of Australia pages:
Wayback Machine archive for www.railpage.org.au/tram/museums.html (March 13 2018)
New light rail for Sydney
See my Sydney Light Rail page for more on Sydney's light rail network.
Ballarat Vintage Tramway
Ballarat Vintage Tramway is the operating name of the Ballarat Tramway Museum Inc., located in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. It aims to preserve Ballarat's former street tramways and trams for the public's benefit. The museum has a 1.3km track.
Ballarat Tramway Museum website
Ballarat Tramway Museum (Wikipedia)
Bendigo Trams, Victoria, Australia
The Bendigo Trust, Victoria, Australia, runs the tourist tramway in Bendigo.
Click here to view Bendigo Tram photos (contributions from Bill Winn)
Thanks to Bill Winn who sent me the following information about Bendigo:
A brief history of Bendigo's Trams
- 1890: Battery trams operated between Sandhurst (as Bendigo was then called) and Eaglehawk. This system lasted just 13 weeks, owing to the overtaxed batteries going flat; horses were then required to tow the stranded trams back to the depot.
- 1892 - 1902: Steam trams operate successfully.
- 1903: The Electric Supply Co. of Victoria introduce electric trams operating on the overhead wire system.
- 1934: The State Electricity Commission of Victoria take over the operation of the trams.
- 1972 - April 16th. The trams finally cease operation as public transport.
- 1972 - December 9th. Bendigo's vintage 'talking' trams commence. The Bendigo Trust (a non-profit group) saved and successfully operate Bendigo's trams today, carrying some 60,000 visitors annually.
The famous vintage 'Talking' trams operate daily (except Christmas Day) taking a one hour informative tour through the city. The track system is four kilometers in length and there are some thirty trams which all operate at one time or another. The oldest at eighty four years is the Summer Car, otherwise known as the Toast Rack. The original depot that houses the trams was built in 1903 using steel brought out from Sheffield England and the depot is the only original surviving one still in use in Australia. The Tramways within its fleet have five (out of the seven that remain in Australia) rare Birney cars that were built by J. G. Brill, Philadelphia U.S.A. and out of the five there are two with original built longtitude seating; these are the only two that are left in the world.
See also:
David Hoadley's Trams of Australia (Bendigo's tram system):
Wayback Machine archive for www.railpage.org.au/tram/bendigo.html (March 13 2018)
RailPage Tram Pictures (includes Bendigo tram):
Wayback Machine archive for www.railpage.org.au/pix/trams/ (March 13 2018)
Weico Models
According to "Peter K. Ositron" (in 1996, possibly writing in newsgroup aus.rail.models), Weico made HO scale Australian tram models (in kit form).
They were located in Reservoir, Victoria, Australia. After 30 years in the business, Weico Models ceased production in March 2013. Examples may be found on the second hand market. A selection of their models can be seen at the following archive:
Wayback Machine archive for www.modeltrainsho.com.au:80/m8-Weico-Models.html (March 7 2013)
Austria
Gmunden
The Gmunden network has a single 0.9 metre route; mainly a tourist attraction
but also serves the Gmunden public. 4-axle DUWAG tramcars are used in normal traffic,
while historical cars are used at the weekends. An extension of the
route to the Gmunden main line station is planned.
Thanks to Manni Schneiderbauer
Graz
The Graz network (1.5 metre) consists of around 8 routes, numbered
#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, and #14, and is pretty large for a town like Graz.
It uses mainly 6- and 8-axled DUWAG type uni-directional
tramcars running mostly on double tracks. Low-floor tramcars are planned to be
bought in 1997. As a first step, existing 6-axle DUWAG tramcars will be
equipped with a low-floor middle part (and extended to 8 axles this way).
The Graz tramway network is equipped with infrared and other systems to
manipulate traffic lights and to speed up the tram. A new route is planned
to be built in 1996 and 1997; it will be an extension of the existing
route #6. Historical tramcars are operated on the weekends and occasionally by the
Grazer Tramwaymuseum.
Thanks to Manni Schneiderbauer
Innsbruck
The 1-metre-sized Innsbruck network consists of 4 routes, #1, #3, #6 and STB. Two of them are overland routes. One of the overland routes, the almost 100 years old one-tracked route #6, is planned to be closed down in September 1996. There is a citizen's movement to prevent the closing. The #6 route leads through beautiful woods to the suburban village of Igls and is supposedly one of the world's most beautiful tramway routes. #6 only operates hourly between 7 am and 7 pm.
The other overland route, the Stubaitalbahn, another one-tracked route, operates every 40 minutes. It's evidently longer than route #6 and it serves the Stubai valley.
The city routes #1 and #3 are two-tracked throughout. The overland routes #6 and STB also use the city routes' tracks to the Central Train Station. The Innsbruck tramway network uses 6- and 8-axle DUWAG type tramcars. Except for route STB, uni-directional cars are used. Only on STB two-directional cars are used. Low-floor tramcars are planned to get going in three to five years since the old ones (average of 30 years) were recently renovated and big investments were made in a working and expanding, modern low-floor trolley bus network in Innsbruck. All Innsbruck tramcars are equipped with the infrared IBIS computer system which is used to switch traffic lights. A new route #2 is planned to be built for a large new sports stadium. Historical tramcars are operated regularly on the weekends and occasionally by the Tiroler Localbahnmuseum.
There is a monthly magazine called "Schienenverkehr Aktuell" which contains news about the
Innsbruck tramway.
Thanks to Manni Schneiderbauer
Tiroler Museumsbahnen (Wikipedia)
Tiroler Museumsbahnen (website)
Linz
The 0.9-metre Linz network consists only of two routes, #1 and #3.
It's two-tracked throughout. The Linz tram system is designed to be fast and
effective. Modern 8- and 10-axle cars are used. A new route is planned for a
new city quarter and traffic center, and a decision is expected soon on whether the
route should operate on the small Linz tramway tracks or on normal-sized
tracks and use two-system cars that also could use the main train routes
(like the system in Karlsruhe, Germany).
Historical tramcars are operated occasionally.
Thanks to Manni Schneiderbauer
Vienna
Vienna has the largest tramway system in Austria.
Useful information about Vienna.
The public transport system
"The public transport system is definitely one of Vienna’s good points. Cheap, frequent, fast, clean, efficient, relatively safe, and rarely overcrowded"
Both these sites have information about Vienna trams. The first has more general information about the trams, and the second one has "Plans of underground lines, trams, busses" in German.
Vienna's Transport System
The WTM "Wiener Tramwaymuseum" (Vienna Tramway Museum) This replaces a previous expired link provided by Andreas Scholz
The "Wiener Tramwaymuseum" is a registered association, owning most of the exhibits including a horse-drawn tramway and a steam engine tramway, as well as modern articulated cars and Ultra-Low-Floor test units – all located at the "Transport Museum of Wiener Linien“.
Vienna Tramway Museum has an operational tram from the Third Avenue Railway
in New York City of WW2 vintage.
From an article by Andreas Pavlik in misc.transport.urban-transit
Tramways in Vienna/Austria/Europe
Vienna, the capital of Austria, with its 1.6 million inhabitans in the heart of Europe has one of the worlds largest tramway system with an length of 238.6 km (approx. 150 miles). Currently there are 34 lines in daily service, one on weekends and holidays and five on demand. They are connecting 1160 stops with an average velocity of 16 km/h (10 mph), this because of the small distance between the stops (406 meters (1330 feet)). The tramcars currently in service were built by SGP (Simmering-Graz-Pauker) and Bombadier-Rotax (former Lohner-Werke) under license of DUEWAG. There are currently 564 white-red streetcars and 440 trailers in service.
SGP, now part of the Siemens-goup, developed the tramway with the lowest entrance height in the world. There are two prototypes in service at the Wiener Linien (Vienna lines) one with an length of 24.4 m (approx. 80 feet) the other with an length of 35.5 m (116 feet). The entrance height above top of rail is 180 mm (7 inches) and the floor is level on a height above top of rail of 205 mm (8 inches). This became possible because the traction units are fitted vertically in the portal articulation. The gear is a radially adjustable single-wheel running gear, and except the front gears all of them are powered by 60 kW motors. The first vehicles of series production will enter service in 1997.
Erik Sandberg-Diment wrote in the New York Times of August 11th, 1996
"The Viennese take their trolleys, part of one of the finest public transportation systems in the world, for granted. Most visitors see the constant flow of red and white streetcars only through the viewfinder of a camera. Which is a mistake, for it really pays to hop a trolley and ride the rails just as the Viennese do. It's far the best way to see the city..."
Thanks to Christian Pettauer and Thomas Wimmer
List of town tramway systems in Austria (Wikipedia)
Belgium
Belgium has a modernised coastal line (De Panne - Oostende - Knokke) in Flanders. There are also two lines comprising the Charleroi light metro from the south station to Gilly and Anderlues. There are also tramways in Antwerp, Brussels and Ghent.
In Brussels, there is a fine museum with operating historic trams.
Brussels Trams
Charleroi museum
After a whole year without operation (and revenue), the Charleroi-based "Association pour le Sauvegarde du Vicinal" (ASVi) planned to resume regular service again in 1996. The association runs a completely independant operation on a former Belgian "Vicinal" line between Lobbes and Thuin, about 20 km to the South of Charleroi. This line happens to be the last remainder of what once was a network of some 5000 km (!) of rural tram lines all across Belgium.
ASVi - Association pour la Sauvegarde du Vicinal
A living museum retracing the history of the "Vicinal" Light Railways
ASVi museum (Wikipedia)
The Anderlues-Lobbes-Thuin line operated in 1996 between July and mid-October, every Sunday, from 14:00 until 18:00. In 1996, the tram festival which took place on the 15th, 17th and 18th of August was very successful, with numerous cars being run, including the number 9073 dating from 1901, number 9515 dating from 1918, standard 10308 from 1944, and there were also open toastrack, first and second class steam trailers, and luggage vans. A PCC car was in use as a souvenir shop at Thuin Ville Basse. A diesel car (ART 300) ran on a former section of the SNCB line Mons Chimay, which is now converted to meter gauge, in order to link the main tram line to the new depot under construction.
The new depot is now complete with walls and roof. The connecting tracks, a pit and a concrete floor are expected to be complete before the next season in 1997.
You can find more about Charleroi and its museum in Niels Grundtvig Nielsen's pages, linked below.
Follow the link to museums, then Thuin-Lobbes-Anderlues.
Thanks to Ralf R. Radermacher, and Philippe Dussart
Trams in Belgium by Niels Grundtvig Nielsen
"Belgium used to have – sigh – an unparalleled network of trams and light railways, taken for granted whether you were for, against or indifferent"
Wayback machine archive for www.usingit.be/trampage/trams.htm (April 27 1999)
Information about five operational tramways and seven museums.
List of town tramway systems in Belgium (Wikipedia)
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Horse car and electric trams in Sarajevo - horse car from 1 Jan 1885 to 1 May 1895, and electric from 1 May 1895.
List of town tramway systems in Europe (Wikipedia)
- jump to Bosnia-Herzegovina
Trams in Sarajevo (Wikipedia)
Bulgaria
Public transport in Sofia is the responsibility of Gradski Transport-Sofia (GT) comprising the operation of buses, trolleybuses and trams of two gauges. Day tickets were priced at BGL 4.50; single journey tickets at BGL 1.50. and Knyazhevo respectively in its photo captions.
The tramway network in Sofia is split into two parts, the larger of which is the well-established 1009 mm gauge network, dating in part from 1898. In 1987, a standard (1435 mm) gauge route (20) was initiated on a new alignment from Geo. Milev to Iskar in the east of the city, and this has now been progressively extended westwards, largely over former narrow-gauge routes, so that the western terminus is at Teatr, only a stone's throw from the city centre, where there is a mixed-gauge terminal loop shared with routes 3 and 4. A new extension of the route in the Druñba housing complex near the Iskar terminus has been under construction for the last five years, but it is not known when or even if it will ever be brought into service.
This does not mean that the narrow gauge route network has been neglected. New extensions have been opened recently to Ljulin 5 (route 21), Obelya 2 (routes 1 and 6) and Lozenets (route 6).
The network overall gives an efficient impression, with informative stop signs and vehicle destinations, although off-peak frequencies on some routes left something to be desired. A total of 14 narrow gauge routes is in operation (1-12, 19, 21), and these vary considerably in character. The long route 5 to the rural terminus in the lee of the VitoÓa mountains at Knjañevo, mostly on roadside reservation, has an almost interurban character, whilst other routes, particularly in the west side of the city centre (3, 4, 10, 11, 21) run along narrow cobbled streets. Other routes, such as the Obelya, Ljulin and Drvenitsa routes at their outer ends, are surrounded entirely by typical eastern European concrete blocks of flats.
Route 7 terminus at Borovo is a bit of an oddity, since it is approached through a short subway, the line emerging into a cutting for the turning circle. At ground level above there is little sign of habitation.
One section of route not to be missed is that of routes 2, 8 and 19 immediately south of the Chankova turning circle, where the line twists and climbs through an area of woodland before emerging into the open at Pl. Valcova Zavera. The subway on routes 6 and 9 under NDK (National Palace of Culture) is partially shared with trolleybuses running in one direction only, presumably so that they can share one of the platforms of the underground 'station' at NDK.
Condition of the trackwork was in some cases poor, particularly the junctions and town-centre sections, though overall much better than in BucureÕti. The riding of the older trams could be best described as 'graunching'.
Rolling stock on the standard gauge consists of Tatra T6B5 units 4101-4137, working both solo and in pairs (pantograph on second unit not raised), most of which are liveried in white with a broad yellow band and orange lining, almost Budapest style, though one or two were noted in the ubiquitous Tatra red and white scheme. Additional standard gauge trams are home-made GT 6-axle units, none of which were in service, however.
On the narrow gauge, the majority of trams are GT home-made articulated units of various ages, though again a fleet of Tatra T6A2 has recently entered service, also in the yellow and white scheme. Fleet numbers noted for these were between 2001 and 2039.
The fleet numbers of the GT-built trams noted are: 730-799, 101-211: 8-axle cars with curved ends and windscreens; 666: 6-axle car otherwise similar to 730 series; 720/2, 812-860: 6-axle cars of a newer, squarer design; 304/5: 8-axle cars otherwise similar to 720 etc.; 406-420: 6-axle cars similar to 720 etc. but of a more modern appearance. Most GT-built cars are in an allover orange livery, though shades vary; some carry overall advertising for cigarette firms (Marlboro, etc.). An interesting and very useful feature of all of the narrow gauge trams is the provision of a letter box on the nearside of each tram, which appeared to be much appreciated by the local citizenry.
Interestingly, the standard gauge Tatras were not equipped with this feature, and indeed the same position was taken up by a ventilation grille, prominently labelled 'NOT a Post Box'!
Thanks to Norman Griffiths, who has supplied data (and maps) for the Blickpunkt Strassenbahn 'Tramways of the ex-USSR' book.
Canada
Edmonton Radial Railway Society, Alberta
http://www.edmonton-radial-railway.ab.ca/
This tram society started in 1980, and now has a collection of around 20 cars, the majority being former Edmonton Radial Railway cars.
The society operates trams at Fort Edmonton Park every day
during the summer months from 10:00 to 18:00.
Thanks to J.A. Kernahan
Halton County Radial Railway
The H.C.R.R. dates back to December 1953, and has around 21 electric streetcars, 4 interurban cars, 2 rapid transport cars, 9 items of electric work equipment vehicles, 2 trolleybuses, 2 motor buses, 2 internal combustion engine work equipment vehicles, 3 track maintenance vehicles, plus several "miscellaneous" items.
Admission includes unlimited historic streetcar rides on two kilometers of scenic track. The museum is able to accommodate most standard wheelchairs, but some streetcars and display areas are not wheelchair accessible.
Halton County Radial Railway "Ontario’s first and largest electric railway museum"
Located minutes north of highway 401 on the Guelph line.
Thanks to John-Peter Smit for information about the Halton County Radial Railway.
See also Seashore Trolley Museum in the U.S.
Destination Toronto
Toronto Transit Information: The TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) operates Toronto's transit system.
You can use bus, streetcar or subway for one fare, on a one-way trip with no stop-overs.
Wayback machine archive of www.dms-destination.com/toronto/hod177.htm (June 22 2001)
A picture of a TTC Streetcar may be seen at: Wayback machine archive of www.ipoline.com/~deckie/imigrant/ttc/ttc.htm (May 2nd 1997)
However, some people think "The Toronto Transit Commission's Streetcar Lines Should Die!" (Natural gas bus nuts)...
Wayback machine archive of www.interlog.com/~kas/protest/metro/streetcar.htm (July 12th 2001)
Toronto Transit Commission-TTC
Information on Toronto subways, buses, and streetcars, service updates, maps and trip planning:
http://www.ttc.ca/
Toronto Transit Commission (Wikipedia)
CIS
See under RussiaCroatia
There are Metre gauge trams in Zagreb and Osijek. The Osijek network is the only Croatian tram system still in existence outside Zagreb.
Czech Republic (Tschechische Republik)
See the Czech Trams Page
Denmark
Rob Bower of Australia has raised the question of an article written by someone who cliamed to have ridden on Copenhagen trams in the 80's and 90's, but Rob Bower was there in 1979 and reports that they had dismantled their trams in favour of underground rail.David Balharrie has been to Denmark on business several times and confirmed that the trams ceased to run in Copenhagen on 23rd April 1972. There is still visible track in Copenhagen, with some appearing through worn tarmac, and there are also remains of overhead rosettes on many buildings. There are some trams on display in the transport museum in Copenhagen (at Islevdalvej 119, Rodovre, 1000 - 1600, but opening days are limited so please check before visiting).
Denmark also has a museum similar to Crich in the UK, south west of Copenhagen
(address currently unknown).
Soren Gylden tells me that Denmark had systems in Copenhagen, Aarhus and Odense.
- Copenhagen: First line opened in 1862, last line closed 1972, replaced by busses only (no metro line). From 1898 until the end trolleypoles were used. A wide net with 20 lines operating on standard gauge. In 1960 a number of 100 articulated cars were purchased from Duewag Germany, Dusseldorf type, but in even before the last were delivered it was decided to close down the hole system, and the cars were sold to Alexandria Egypt, were they still run.
- Aarhus: Had a 1 meter gauge system with 2 lines, closed 1971.
- Odense: Had 1 standard gauge system with one line, closed 1952.
A most interesting tram museum is located in the middle of Zealand, at Skjoldenaeshold by Jystrup some 10 km north of Ringsted, 45 km west of Copenhagen. It has trams from the 3 towns mentioned above, plus some from Sweden, Germany etc. It operates both 1 meter line and standard gauge line. This year an original tram depot were moved from Copenhagen to the museum. A traffic museum in Copenhagen has trams and busses, but not in operation: HT-museet, Islevdalsvej, Roedovre.
Thanks to David Balharrie, and Soren Gylden, Denmark
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe trip report
Title: Eastern Europe trip report
Trip Report 5/13/93 - 6/3/93 Eastern Europe / Scandinavia
Author: Steve Engelhardt, steven_t_engelhardt
http://www.mninter.net/~engelst/russian.htm
(moved from http://www.digimark.net/rec-travel/europe/east-europe-trip-engelhardt at some point after May 1999
and then from http://www.travel-library.com/europe/east-europe-trip-engelhardt)
This is a rambling account of Steve Engelhardt's trip across Europe and Eastern Europe, by various means of transport and describing assorted types of accommodation, from May 13th 1993 to June 6th 1993.
The original report mentioned the modern light rail transport system at Gatwick Airport, with no overhead power lines, covering about a mile between the North and South terminals, but this appears to have been edited out of the currently available report.
He passes through Amsterdam, Netherlands; Berlin, Germany; Warsaw, Poland; Minsk, (where the trams are described as being "very dated", but to tram fans would probably be a historical treasure); Smolensk, Moscow, Tver, Novgorod, St. Petersburg, Russia; Helsinki, Finland; Stockholm, Sweden; Copenhagen, Denmark; Hamburg, Germany; the English Channel; and back to Minneapolis, USA.
Selected excerpts from the trip report by Steve Engelhardt
Friday May 14, Day 2: London"At Gatwick after leaving plane I took a tram to the next building where Immigration/Customs was... [visited Imperial War Museum]..."
May 19, Wednesday Day 7: Warsaw"...Went on city tour of Warsaw... The people in Warsaw seem to have a lot of spirit even though they are having a lot of economic trbl. The small cars and small trolleys are cute, many of the streets are wide boulevard 8 lanes wide, some with trolleys in the middle."
May 21, Friday Day 9: Minsk to Smolensk"...went on a city tour of Minsk. The city was rebuilt after the second world war and things still look like 1950 now. They rebuilt buildings the way they were in the past. This city is an excellent example of how Russia looked under communism, there are no Coke signs and there are still Lenin status around the busses and trams are very dated and the buildings could use some paint..."
May 22, Saturday Day 10: Smolensk to Moscow"...Our bus is broke down and we are desperate to get out of this place. Fortunately it is only a fan belt and we get it fixed. We then depart on the city tour of Smolensk... We enter Smolensk, which was also occupied by the Germans and rebuilt. It is the most run down dilapidated place on our tour. All of the busses and trolleys are very old and their paint has faded. Nothing is modern at all..."
May 23, Sunday Day 11: Moscow"... We leave on city tour at 8:45 for city tour... After lunch we went to ride the metro. This is the greatest adventure of the whole trip. The plan is for us (35) to follow our Russian guide into the metro and take 4 trains and end up where are bus is waiting. In the process we will spend 1 1/2 hours in the metro and visit 4 stations. Considering everything else the metro is unbelievable efficient. The stations are clean and beautiful, the escalator are 2x as fast as anything in America but they are easy to get on and off probably because there speed is that of a fast walk it takes 2 1/2 min. to ride the escalator with an angle of Apr. 20%..."
June 3, Thursday Day 22: London to Minneapolis"... breakfast at 6:15 leave for Gatwic airport at 6:45... took another tram to my gate and boarded the airplane about 11:15 AM..."
Estonia
Leif Spångberg's Scandinavian tram pages used to host photos of tramways and trolleys from Tallinn
dated 1993 and 1997, but his current website does not list them, although as stated on
the front page in November 2019 (since about 2011), they may be waiting for
"a rescanning of most of my photos".
http://www.tramways.com/index.html
The Estonia entries disappear between
Wayback machine archive of www.tramways.com:80/index.html (October 02 2003)
and
Wayback machine archive of www.tramways.com:80/index.html (April 04 2004)
A few photos show up on the archives of October 02 2003 and earlier, between
Wayback machine archive of www.tramways.com/index.html (March 2nd 2000)
and
Wayback machine archive of www.tramways.com:80/index.html (October 02 2003)
Finland
Transportation, Helsinki
Created by Synchronicity Oy:
Contains a brief outline of the Railway Station, Metro and a list of trams:
Trams: 1, 3B, 3T, 4, 6, 7A, 7B, 8, 10
In 1999, there was a tram network of about 100 route km which was expected to expand in the next few years.
"Note: The contents of this service were last updated in January 1995. As a result it contains a lot of out of date information. In fact some of the places depicted here no longer even exist! Created during the summer of 1994 Helsinki for the Virtual Traveller was one of the first services of its kind. It was produced mainly as a proof of concept (but also because it was fun to do) and the original creators have since moved on to other tasks"
In 2019, Wikipedia lists a route length of 96 km.
Helsinki tram network (Wikipedia)
Helsinki was founded in the year 1550 by a decree of King Gustav I Vasa of Sweden. It was first situated at the mouth of river Vantaa but it was moved further south to its present location in 1643. It has been the capital of Finland since 1812.
Jari Mantynen, a professional tram driver told me about
the Helsinki city transport-company URL at:
https://www.hel.fi/hkl/en/helsinki-city-transport
This has all kinds of useful information in several languages
about Helsinki public transport.
Vintage tram ride
You can take a vintage tram ride from the tram stop next to the Havis Amanda statue by the Market Square.
In summer 2019, the vintage tram operated every Saturday and Sunday from mid-May to the beginning of September.
The regular tram routes can also be used to tour the city.
Helsinki's oldest tram depot (1900) houses the Tram Museum, which opened in 1993:
Tram Museum - Trams in Helsinki
France
Grenoble
In January, 1996, Andrew Lee wrote in the Usenet newsgroup uk.transport in response to Richard Adamfi's request for a public transport utopia where car use is frowned upon and most journeys are made by public transport, bike or foot, citing Grenoble's 'TAG' public transport system in the Rhône-Alpes area.
He described how clean and quiet the city centre was, with well-run trams operating as frequently as every 30 seconds. Travellers may buy a carnet of tickets, and there is a reasonable flat fare of about UKP 0.55 ($0.90), for a 1 hour limit. He considers the system the most civilised public transport system he has ever used.
Grenoble MÉTRO TRAM RER
RER: Réseau Express Régional.
The Grenoble tramway - a tramway of envy for the public. It boasts a friendly and comfortable interior, frequent operation, high speeds.
The full Métro-Tram-RER file, which is about 14 kb, is at the following site. The author recommends: "d'imprimer l'article afin de pouvoir le lire tête reposée, car il fait 8 pages." (Print it out before reading it at leisure, because it's 8 pages long). Includes pictures from Karlsruhe and Strasbourg.
La page de Frédéric Gonot:
http://wwwipd.ira.uka.de/~gonot [Site no longer exists]
A later version is listed in the Wayback machine, but without the comment about printing. There are separate pages for Karlsruhe and Strasbourg that may contain images (web.archive.org seems to be typically poor at reproducing images embedded in pages).
Wayback machine archive of www.gonot.de (May 19th 2001)
The MÉTRO TRAM RER article was posted in the newsgroup soc.culture.French on 21st June 1996.
Strasbourg
Strasbourg's Parking+Tram fee is 14 FF.
(2019 prices: Tickets valid in the greater Strasbourg area)
During the day, trams will run every four or five minutes.
Thanks to Andrew Clarque in misc.transport.rail.europe
A Strasbourg tram page (Francais), by Daniel Masson. Originally at www.mygale.org/~dmasson/tramway-strasbourg, which no longer exists.
Wayback machine archive of membres.multimania.fr/dmasson/tramway-strasbourg/f_tramway-strasbourg.htm (April 30 2013)
The Strasbourg tramway is a network of six tramlines:
Strasbourg tramway (Wikipedia)
Miscellaneous, France
There are tramways at Lille, Marseille, St-Etienne, Rouen, Grenoble, Nantes, and Strasbourg, with new systems planned for Valenciennes, Montpellier, and Southern Paris. In Marseille a line runs from the north-west to the city centre via a tunnel which was too narrow for buses. In Lille, the Mongy tramway runs to Roubaix and Tourncoing. St Etienne has one line running the length of the town.
According to Gerard Delpeuch (in misc.transport.rail.europe, 26th January 1996), Rouen has operated a "Metrobus" light rail system since 1994, which is of a GEC-Alsthom semi-low-floor construction as used in Grenoble, running underground in parts of the historic city centre.
Germany
In Germany, there are large tramway systems in München, Stuttgart, Köln and Frankfurt am Main.
The trams in Stuttgart run on 2 gauges.
Christoph Lorenz told me about the highly successful re-start of Tram number 17 in Munich, on June 1st 1996. This tram had been off service for 13 years, and the restart was celebrated with a "Tram Party" at the Romanplatz tram station by more than 20000 people.
There are also trams in Berlin (mainly East Berlin, but very large), Erfurt, Leipzig, Dresden, Mainz, Ludwigshafen, Mannheim, Heidelberg, Bonn, Freiburg.
The Karlsruhe tram is very interesting, because they have dual use
streetcars that can also use the DB lines.
Thanks to Ulf Kutzner, Mainz, Germany
See also Karlsruhe pictures under Grenoble
No. 19 Tram in München, Germany
No. 19 Tram in München, Germany (Pasing-Marienplatz)
Photographs Copyright © Nov. 1988 Colin Seymour
Johannes Meister
Johannes Meister told me on 22nd September 1996 that the http://www.uni-karlsruhe.de/railroad (or http://www.uni-karlsruhe.de/~bh42/railroad/) pages are now closed down, but also pointed out that these German cities have tramways:
Brandenburg (Havel), Rostock, Goerlitz, Bad Schandau, Ulm, Nuernberg, Gotha, Nordhausen, Potsdam (etc.)
Railroad Crossing
Previously at mercurio.iet.unipi.it/pix/de/trams/pix.html (no longer exists):
The European Railway Picture Gallery (Wayback machine archive of mercurio.iet.unipi.it:80/pix/de/trams/pix.html June 3rd 2004)
Previously titled "The MERCURIO Picture Gallery"
Trams of Germany including Karlsruhe, München, Rostock, and Augsburg.
URL reference provided by Erik Hjelme.
Jobst Brandt wrote in newsgroup misc.transport.rail.europe describing Stuttgart as a regular tram haven. It includes meter gauge, standard gauge, and double gauging with gantlet (three rails).
References:
Buckley, Tramways and light railways of Switzerland and Austria.
Pagel & Taplin, Tramways of Western Germany.
Acknowledgement: Usenet posting by Roderick Smith dated 31 Aug 1995.
Bergische Museums Strassenbahn
The Bergische Museums Strassenbahn is a tram museum with about 1.5 km of outside track, all metre gauge. They are located near Wuppertal, about 40 km from Cologne or 20 km from Duesseldorf.
Bergische Museumsbahnnen e.V. Info: c/o M. Dickmann D-42015 Wuppertal Depot: Wuppertal-Kohlfurth accessible either by car or by bus/rail via Wuppertal-Cronenberg opening hours/public access: Saturdays 11 - 5 (all year) Sundays 11 - 5 (May - October, only)
Bergischen Museumsbahnen - Wuppertal
Bergische Museumsbahnen (Wikipedia)
"The museum is open all year round on Saturdays from 11 am to 5 pm, and from May to October also on Sundays
from 11 am to 5 pm. Services are run from April to October on the 2nd and 4th Sundays
in the month as well as on Whit Monday and Pentecost."
Duesseldorf Rheinbahn A.G. Centenary
In 1996, Duesseldorf's 'Rheinbahn A.G.' public transport undertaking celebrated their 100th anniversary with a parade of their historic trams through the city, an exhibition at the Duesseldorf Art Palace (Kunstpalast), and open days at the Heerdt, Lierenfeld, Tiefenbroich and Mettmann depots.
Cologne
Cologne will eventually have a decent place for their undertaking's growing fleet of historic trams, at last. After decommissioning of the Thielenbruch depot, one of the two former car sheds has been converted into the terminus of tram line 15. The gate leading into the terminus is the rear end of former Cologne 8-axle tram 3832, now repainted in the original cream livery and proudly displaying the citie's coat of arms instead of the new-style rectangle 'KVB' logo. The remaining shed is currently undergoing a major overhaul to become the Cologne tram museum. Presently, all museum trams are stored under plastic sheeting on an outside track of the new Merheim depot.
An extensive homepage on the Cologne trams by Ralf R. Radermacher is available (in English, German and French) at:
Wayback machine archive of www.netcologne.de/~nc-radermra/ (August 16th 2000)
Includes:
- The Cologne public transport undertaking
- History of Cologne trams
- Contemporary rolling stock
- News and events
- Links
- Photo gallery
- Current Exhibition
Cologne Trams to Turkey
Another batch of 3700-clas Cologne 8-axle trams are currently stored at the
Merheim depot awaiting their departure to Konya, Turkey. Eventually, all
3700-class trams with 'Westwaggon' bogeys will see a new lease of life
in what is the most recent Turkish tramway system.
Thanks to Ralf R. Radermacher, Cologne, Germany
Oberhausen
A new tramway system opened in the city of Oberhausen in the Ruhr in 1996. The original tramway was opened in 1897 and closed in 1968, but one 8km line, connected to the nearby Muelheim system, was rebuilt and opened on 1st July 1996. It is a 1m gauge system using low-floor trams of the Bochum type (Siemens-Duewag). The route number is 112.
The next German city to reintroduce tramways is expected to be Saarbruecken, using Karlsruhe-style dual-mode (rail-tram) vehicles, and later Aachen.
See "Light Rail in the Ruhr" by Oliver Mayer which also describes a number
of other light rail systems in the Ruhr area:
http://www.japaneserailwaysociety.com/oliver/ruhr/lrruhr1.htm
Thanks to Oliver Mayer, David McLoughlin
Trams in Mülheim/Oberhausen (Wikipedia)
Hong Kong
There are operating trams in Hong Kong. Indeed, in January 1996 Anna Tam reported in the Hongkong Standard (and Colin J. Churcher noted this in misc.transport.urban-transit) that, following an accident in which a tram collided with a man crossing the road at the junction of King's Road and Finnie Street in Quarry Bay, the man allegedly attacked the tram driver.
Hong Kong Tramways (Wikipedia)
List of tram accidents (Wikipedia)
Hungary
Thanks to Marton Balazs for information about Hungary.
Hungary has trams in Budapest (150.85 route km), Szeged (17 km), Miskolc (12 km), and Debrecen (4.6 km). (according to 1978 data).
The first "Stuka" was delivered in 1940 by the Hungarian factory Ganz, but these no longer operate. They were further developed to build the prototype "Szellem" tram (szellem means ghost in Hungarian), but due to a shortfall of manufacturing capacity, these newer trams were not put into service. After further modifications to the "Szellem" model, 375 new tramcars called UV were manufactured between 1956 and 1965. The name UV comes from Uj Villamos, which means new tramcar in Hungarian. These trams still operate today.
The UV tram can be configured in three ways:
1. P-P
2. P-U-P
3. P-U-U-P,
where P means UV powered cars, and U means
unpowered cars (some of which were delivered before the Second World War).
However, the third configuration has been found to be too slow, so this
configuration is never used in practice.
A diagrammatic view of the tramcars:
The powered car: * * CDD####D####DD# or CDD####DD####DD# BB BB BB BB The unpowered car: #DD########DD# A A
Here, C stands for the driver's seat, D means single door, DD means double door, * means pantograph, BB means bogie, and A means single axle.
UV Powered Unpowered Length: 13.5 or 13.69 meters 10.66 meters Width: 2.3 meters 2.3 meters Distance of axles: 1.6 meters(<-in bogie) 4 meters Distance of center of bogies:5.8 meters Radius of sweep (min): 18 meters 16 meters Weight: 19600 kilograms 7500 kilograms Power (for 1 hour): 4 X 36.8 kilowatts Seats: 20 or 24 16 Places to stand: 70 or 74 65
The trams have electromechanical switched resistor controllers. The unpowered cars are braked by current derived from the DC traction motors during braking. There is a high (4-6 bars) pressure air system to operate doors and a constant-force air brake (to stop the tram from 5 km/h). Springs are of steel.
In 1961, the tramcar "Bengali" was manufactured (not by Ganz factory, but by the transport companies). These don't operate in Budapest but can be found in the three other cities. The car looks like this:
* * CDD###DD##|##DD##|##DD###DDC or CDD#######|##DD##|#######DD# P A A P P A A P
where C means the driver's seat, DD means double door, A means unpowered axle, P means powered axle, | means joint, * means pantograph. The second configuration is only a one-way car. These cars cannot be hooked up in a train.
Bengali Length: about 22 meters Width: 2.29 meters Distance of axles: 3.8;7;3.8 meters Radius of sweep (min): 20 meters Weight: about 24000 kilogramms Power (for 1 hour): about 2 X 80 kilowatts Seats: 28 Places to stand: 127
The trams have direct switched resistor controllers, an air pump for the doors, and constant-force air brakes. The unpowered axles are braked by current derived from the DC traction motors while braking. Springs are steel for this vehicle, too.
In 1967 the Ganz factory delivered the fist eight-axle articulated trams.
These can be found in Budapest. It is possible
to operate these tramcars in pairs; this makes up a 16-axle tram that is almost 56 meters
long.
This configuration works on line 4 and 6 (almost a circuit around the downtown).
The cars look like this:
* CDD#####DD##||##DD##||##DD#####DDC PP BB BB PP
where C means the driver's seat, DD means double door, || means joint, PP
means powered bogie, BB means unpowered bogie, * means pantograph.
Ganz-ipari-csuklos (means Ganz industry articulated):
Length: 26.9 meters Width: 2.3 meters Distance of axles (in bogie): 1.8 meters Distance of centers of bogies:6;6;6 meters Radius of sweep (min): 18 meters Weight: 33600 kilogramms Power(for 1 hour): 4 X 66.5 kilowatts Seats: 40 Places to stand: 158
The trams have electromechanical switched resistor controllers. There are current controls to avoid excessive fuse ruptures caused by over-acceleration, which can occur in the "Bengali" or "UV". There is no air system in these cars, doors are operated by electric motors, and brakes by electromagnets. The springs are made of gum. 172 of these tramcars were manufactured between 1965 and 1978.
Between 1979 and 1980 and in 1984 tramcars called T5C5 were bought from the Czechoslovak factory Tatra:
* CDD####DD####DD# BB BB
(C the driver's place, DD=double door, BB=bogie (powered), *=pantograph.)
T5C5: Length: 15.64 meters Width: 2.5 meters Distance of axles in bogie: 1.9 meters Distance of centers of bogies: 6.7 meters Radius of sweep (min): about 20 meters Weight: 18500 kilogramms Power (for 1 hour): 4 X 45 kilowatts Seats: 28 Places to stand: 72
One, two, three or four of these cars can be set in a train. The sole tramcar can only work a one-way system of course. In Budapest, two and three cars often operate together in a trainset. Digital electronic and electromechanical systems are used to control the value of the current as set by the driver. There is an automatic ABS system (apparently not popular with the drivers) There is no air-system, such as in the Ganz-ipari-csuklos. There is a dual spring system; gum springs between the axle and the bogie, and a combination of steel and gum springs in the bogie.
In 1987, 371 UV powered cars, 95 UV unpowered cars, 151 Ganz Csuklos articulated cars, and 322 T5C5 cars were operating in Budapest. Some UV cars (powered and unpowered cars), may have gone since then.
Some UV powered cars have been fitted with a second driver's seat, and a new air system to allow working sole in two directions. New eight-axle articulated Tatras were bought for the transport company of Miskolc. The bogies are similar to T5C5s'. These cars work with a chopper, but do not have regenerative brakes. A new Ganz-designed articulated tram is operating in Debrecen with 6 axles, choppers and regenerative brakes. The Debrecen transport company plans to change all Bengalis for these new cars. In Hungary, trams are generally limited to 50 km/h, Bengalis possibly to 40 km/h, although they are probably capable (except Bengalis) of about 80 km/h. All trams except UV unpowered cars are braked using big electric magnets clinging on to the rails.
India
Photographs of Calcutta, West Bengal
Wayback machine archive of www.teleport.com/~tlg/Calcutta.html (April 27th 1999)
Photographs of some of the places mentioned in guidebooks, and Calcutta's street life and buildings.
The 4th or 5th photograph shows a tram (Click on any photo to view a larger version of it).
Italy
In Italy, Milan, Rome and Turin have trams, and Trieste, Genova, and Bergamo have special toothed-gear lines for hills. Milan has had continuous tram service since the 1880s, electrified in the early 1890s. Some 1930s trams are still in operation in Milan. Some new lines are being introduced now. Lille has some new Italian low-floor trams.
Torino (Turin)
The first tramways in Turin were horse-drawn.
Sviluppo Del Trasporto Urbano a Torino (Urban Transport Development in Turin)
"The age of private companies (1845-1907)
The history of public transport in Turin is characterized, throughout the nineteenth century, by the activity of private companies...
In 1835... the first request to the Administration for the concession of an urban transport service was presented by Adriano Toaran, from Lyon; but, after long discussions, this concession is not granted.
...only ten years later it was given to Mr. Risone of Moncalieri, who for some years had been successfully operating a transport service between Turin and Moncalieri, the concession for the operation of two lines of horse omnibuses. One from Borgo Nuovo (via Mazzini corner of Corso Cairoli) to Porta d'Italia (piazza della Repubblica) of 2.900 km, the other from Porta Susa to Porta Po (piazza della Gran Madre) of 2.700 km; these lines, on which the omnibuses circulated not on rails, but freely, will later become lines 1 and 2."
In tram per tuffarsi nel passato (Dive into the past by tram)
In September 2018, the atmosphere of 19th-century Turin was recreated using "a vintage tram, made available by the Turin Tram Historical Association" and
characters played by members of the "Le vie del Tempo" Association.
Fu a Torino il primo tram a cavalli: collegava il centro a piazza Carducci (The first horse-drawn tram was in Turin: it connected the center to Piazza Carducci)
"Monday, January 1, 1872, Turin is the first Italian city to have a line of horse-drawn trams. A straight of 3,430 meters, which connected the central Piazza Castello with the barrier of Nice, the current Piazza Carducci."
Naples has a tramway, Genova has an underground line that operates using light rail cars,
and in Rome there is a light railway under construction.
The length of the new line is 5.6 km, using 3.6 km of an existant tramway and the
other 2 km newly built. Opening of the new line is expected at the end of 1997.
Thanks to 106411.1332@compuserve.com
Tram, Trolleybus and Underground in Turin
"Over 140 years ago the first tracks were set for the first horse-drawn streetcar line in Turin, which connected Piazza Castello with the barrier of Nizza, today's Piazza Carducci..."
Japan
Aono's Train Page
Wayback machine archive of plato.mat.muroran-it.ac.jp/guest/aono/index_english.html (December 17th 2000)Includes a Trams and Streetcars photo gallery for places such as: Gifu, Toyama, Takaoka, Kyoto, Matsuyama, and Kochi Cities.
Streetcars of Kyoto
Wayback machine archive of cjn.meitetsu.co.jp/meiji-vil/2-24.html (June 21st 2001)Photo of the Fushimi Line of Kyoto Electric Railway, from the museum Meiji-Mura.
Latvia
There are trams in Riga and Daugavpils.
Latvia also has a tram system in Liepaya,
with Tatra KT4D trams on metre gauge - the other two Latvian systems are
USSR standard (1520 mm) but interestingly use trolley pole collection
(Liepaya is pantograph).
Further information can be found in Janes Urban Transport Systems.
Thanks to Norman Griffiths
Route map and photos of trams in Riga, Latvia:
UrbanRail.Net > Europe > Latvia > Riga Tram
Route map and photos of trams in Liepaja, Latvia:
UrbanRail.Net > Europe > Latvia > Liepaja Tram
Netherlands
Destination Centraal-Station in Amsterdam, Netherlands. [Photo]
The Amsterdam Channel Vondelpark
Wayback machine archive of www.channels.nl/vondelpa.html (July 23rd 1997)
The Vondelpark page gives you the trams you can take from here, or walks to other places. Each linked page offers the corresponding
trams and walks for that location. The tram line pages have a photograph of a tram interior- a pity it's the
same photo on every page!
The modern incarnation of these pages is http://www.channels.nl/vondelpark.html.
Den Haag Public Transport museum
Wayback machine archive of mercurio.iet.unipi.it/nlmus/hovm.html (April 29th 1999)
Routes, operating days and timetable, description of tram rides.
Wayback machine archive of /www.hovm.nl/ (July 13th 2004)
Haags Openbaar Vervoer Museum - housed in an old tram depot, named 'Remise Frans Halsstraat', and built in 1906.
Haags Openbaar Vervoer Museum 2014-2019
"Our museum is located in an old tram depot and tells the story about the past and future of public transport in The Hague with a permanent exhibition and a large collection of historical trams...
Since April 2019, the HOVM has had a new exhibition and a different arrangement of the trams. On the basis of a logical walking route through the museum, you will be introduced to the early years of the electric tram in 1900, the open tram to Scheveningen, the beautiful Yellow Tram and the well-known PCC cars."
Electrische Museumtramlijn Amsterdam
Information obout the E.M.A. (Electrische Museumtramlijn Amsterdam) can be
found here:
Electrische Museumtramlijn Amsterdam, www.museumtramlijn.org
"Tram ride with a historic tram... We drive from the Haarlemmermeer station to Amstelveen-Bovenkerk..."
Rotterdam Tram Museum
General information:
Trammuseum Rotterdam (nl.wikipedia.org - Dutch)
Museum website with opening hours and directions:
Tram Museum Rotterdam
Den Haag (The Hague)
Public transport in The Hague: routes and times
Bus, tram, metro and train companies operating in The Hague
Den Haag Trams - HTM, Page 1 - Den Haag Overview
Trams that have run in Den Haag, with photos from 1976 to 2016 by Ian Boyle.
Also has links for many other pages for different places with relevant photos.
A Dutch Narrow-Gauge Network: By Peter van der Els
http://www.mcs.net/~dsdawdy/Parlor/rtm/rtm.html
What is described here as a tramway would seem to me to be actually a railway (for tram "read: light railway").
Bearing that in mind, this is an account of tramways in Holland from establishment of
the first tramway around 1880 to termination of normal services around 1966.
Since then, the Rolling Tramway Museum
has acted to preserve a wide variety of rail vehicles.
Contains ad least 17 photographs and one or two maps.
Amsterdam Public Transport Information
https://www.peterjager.net/archief/
Includes information on tram lines, rolling stock, light rail (sneltram) and the Tramway Museum Amsterdam
(for updated links to the museum, see Electrische Museumtramlijn Amsterdam above).
This page links to two archives, "Amsterdam Public Transport Information in april 1996"
and "Amsterdam Public Transport Information in maart 1998".
Dutch Open Air Museum
The Netherlands Open Air Museum is located in Arnhem, and has antique houses, farms and factories, and collections of historical clothing and jewellery. The heritage tram line in the museum opened in 1996, and has 1.75 km of standard gauge track.
Dutch Open Air Museum
"The museum has a number of trams to transport visitors around the site. These trams undergo daily maintenance in the tram depot. The GETA 76 was even reconstructed here from scratch as a replica."
New Zealand
There is a tramway in Christchurch that operates historic tram cars. There is also a historical tramway society, Ferrymead, in Christchurch.
The Christchurch Tramway runs round a circuit through the city centre from Cathedral Square (the heart of Christchurch city), westward down Worcester Boulevard (across the Avon River, past the Christchurch Visitor Centre, Christchurch Arts Centre, North along Rolleston Avenue (Botanic Gardens, Art Gallery, Museum, Hagley Park), East along Armagh Street (Parks, Shops, Law Courts, Hotels, Fountains), South along New Regent Street and returns to Cathedral Square.
March 1996 prices: 1 hour ticket: Adult $5, Child (under 15) $2 4 hour ticket: Adult $7, Child $3 Full Day Pass: Adult $10, Child $7 1 Hour Family Pass: 2 Adults & 2 Children $10
After the Grand Opening on Saturday February 4th, 1995, Christchurch Tramway carried more than 10,000 people in the first weekend, many of whom queued for up to an hour to take a ride and collect an 'Opening Day' Commemorative Ticket.
Trams were a part of Christchurch city life for the latter part of the last century, with horse drawn and steam trams running services to many parts of the city. 1905 saw the introduction of the electric trams as an integral part of the city's transport system, where they remained until 1954 when the last of the familiar green and cream trams disappeared.
The voluntary organisation, the Tramway Historical Society based at Ferrymead Historic Park, has operated trams on its track at the Park since 1968. A long and painstaking programme of restoration and refurbishment carried out by the Historical Society in conjunction with the management of the Shotover Jet Group have led to the return of the trams to Christchurch city streets.
Tram No. 152 "The Boon"
An 8-wheel, double truck, 48 seater originally built by Boon & Co of Christchurch in 1910, with enclosed saloons at either end and open seating in the middle. Between 1906 and 1910, 28 of these units were built. Tram No.152 was retired from the streets of Christchurch in 1952.
Tram No. 178 "The Brill"
An 8-wheel, double truck, 52 seat car, 25 of which were built by Boon & Co between 1921 and 1926. During the depression of the 1930's they were converted to a 'one man operation'. This class was retired from the streets of Christchurch in 1953.
Tram No. 11 "The Boxcar"
A 4-wheel, single truck, 28 seater built by J.G. Brill & Co of Philadelphia, USA. Fifteen were built and shipped to Dunedin in 1903. No. 11 ran until 1952.
Tram No. 244 "Bo"
An 8-wheel, double truck, 52 seater built by the Melbourne Metropolitan
Tramway Board in 1925 (similar to Tram No.152).
Withdrawn from service in Melbourne in 1983 and restored for Christchurch by
Sydney Tramway Museum
as the newest addition to the fleet in early 1996.
Trailer No. 115 "The Duckhouse"
A 4-wheel, single saloon trailer seating 28, built by Boon & Co in 1908. Its original capacity of 50 passengers was reduced when transport regulations added a central aisle. Retired from Christchurch in 1952.
Trailer No.18 "The Dunedin Horse Tram"
Built in 1879 by Guthrie Larnach as an open-sided horse drawn tram. Dunedin City and Suburban Tramway Co's entire fleet was destroyed in 1880. No. 18 was rebuilt, as an enclosed saloon tram and retired in 1903 after electric trams came to Dunedin. The first time horse drawn Trams have been seen in Christchurch since 1907 was when two Clydesdale horses pulled this tram down Worcester Boulevard in November 1995.
Thanks to Diane Chisholm & family
New Zealand Tramway links updated November 2019
The Tramway Historical Society - Collections - Christchurch Electric Tram Cars
Includes details of Christchurch No 1, Christchurch "Yank" No 20, Hills Car No 24, Double Decker No 26,
Boon Car No 152, and PC Car No 178.
The Tramway Historical Society - Collections - Dunedin Tram Cars and Horse Trailers
Includes details of Roslyn No. 3 (later Dunedin No. 81), Dunedin Boxcar 11, Dunedin Horse Tram No. 18,
Dunedin California Combination No. 22, and Dunedin Toastrack No. 37.
Tram 178: “The Brill” Christchurch.NZ (picryl.com)
Christchurch Tram. No 11 (Wikimedia Commons)
New Zealand History - Trams - Events In History
- 2 May 1964 - New Zealand's last electric tram trip
- 22 February 1902 - Kelburn cable car opens
- 24 August 1878 - Wellington steam-tram service opened
This site also has a history search feature.
The Auckland Dockline Tram Fleet
Details of the fleet on the 1.5km purpose-built Auckland Dockline Tramway
Christchurch Tram
Restored heritage trams serve 17 stops in Christchurch City Central.
Christchurch Tramway
Details of the Christchurch Tramway from the Ōtautahi Christchurch website.
Christchurch Tramways
Details of the Christchurch Tramway, including historical background with photographs, from the Engineering New Zealand website.
Trams in New Zealand (Wikipedia)
Railway and Tramway attractions in New Zealand
Gives details of tram and railway attractions in 15 regions of New Zealand.
Norway
A WWW railway page for Norway
Wayback machine archive of www.ifi.uio.no/~terjek/rail/tram/trondheim.html, Tramway in Trondheim (December 17th 2000)
Originally linked from A WWW Railway Page for Norway by Terje Knudsen.
Oslo
34 M25 class tramcars from Gothenburg (Göteborg), Sweden, are running (as class SM91) in Oslo. To be replaced by low floor articulated cars expected to be delivered by Ansaldo Firmema in 1997. Aproximately half still have original livery. There are also 11 trailers from Gothenburg, normally coupled to "Høka" class SM53 and SM83 tramcars.
In Autumn 1995, 17 new trams were ordered for Oslo Sporveier from an Italian manufacturer. This is a 1990 design, with 40 currently in service. The new trams are expected in service in 1998.
The photo below was sent to me by Henrik Sartz:
Click to view photo of tram no. 135.
Poland
Tram cities in Poland include Szczecin, Warsaw, and Poznan; there are trams in operation in:
- Bydgoszcz
- Bytom
- Chorzow
- Czestochowa
- Elblag
- Gdansk
- Gliwice
- Gorzow Wielkopolski
- Grudziadz
- Katowice
- Krakow
- Lodz
- Myslowice
- Poznan
- Ruda Slaska
- Sosnowiec
- Szczecin
- Warszawa
- Wroclaw
- Torun
- Zabrze
Thanks to Anita Burg
As of November 2019, Poland has operating tramways in Bydgoszcz, Częstochowa, Elbląg, Gdańsk, Gorzów Wielkopolski, Grudziądz, Katowice, Kraków, Łódź, Olsztyn, Poznań, Szczecin, Toruń, Warsaw (Warszawa) and Wrocław.
List of town tramway systems in Poland (Wikipedia)
Portugal
There used to be trams in Lisbon and Porto. The last time I visited Lisbon there were
operating trams.
No. 23 Tram in Lisbon, Portugal [Photo]
According to Ian Sutton, who visited Lisbon in September 1996, there are apparently only four routes are currently operating:
- Route 15 Praca de Feguira (sp) to Alges
- Route 18 Rue de Alfenda (sp) to Ajuta Cemetery
- Route 25 Rue de Alfenda to Prazeres
- Route 28 Prazeres to Martin Momiz
Maps on all bus and tram shelters show routes 12,17 and 24 but there was no evidence of them being in operation. The map also showed Route 15 running beyond Alges to Chez Quebrada. Some of the new Siemens trams operating on route 15 have some ugly advertising in place for soft drinks and confectionery in a way that makes it very difficult to see inside.
Thanks to Ian Sutton
London's Tramways, Lisbon's Streetcars
In February 1996, Lisbon saw the inauguration of a new high-speed tramway between Praga da Figueira,
and Algés. "The News" described how an Algés resident Ted Stokes (formerly an
employee of London Electric Tramways Co. Ltd.) recalls his work as Assistant commercial manager,
travelling on open top 'toast-rack' trams, and experiences working throughout the 50s, 60s and 70s on the
tramways of Lisbon.
From a now defunct website www.nexus-pt.com/news/profiles/uktram.htm - the site www.nexus-pt.com
was dedicated to the Algarve, covering tourist sites, weather, shopping etc.
"The News" was a subsection www.nexus-pt.com/news/news.htm edited by Paul Luckman
which was an electronic edition of The News, Portugal's national newspaper in English,
including the editorial and classified sections from the current edition,
and a reference section packed with information from past editions.
The Portugal News - Portugal's National Newspaper in English
Previous editions online go back only to 14 October 2017.
Romania
Normal gauge trams may be found in Bucharest, Ploiesti, Timisoara, Galati, Oradea, Brasov, Constanta, Cluj, Braila and Craiova.
Metre gauge trams may be found in Arad and in Iasi, and also between Arad and Pâncota,
and between Sibiu and Rasinari.
The interurrban Sibiu - Rasinari service now uses old swiss tramways from Geneva.
Thanks to Richard Bilek
The tramways in Bucharest, Timisoara, Arad, Galati Sibiu, Oradea, and Braila
date back to 1868-1920. There are tramways in Ploiesti, Brasov, Constanta,
Cluj and Craiova built in the 1980s.
Credits: Nick Sandru writing in misc.transport.rail.europe
Trams & Tramways in Romania
Romania has a wealth of interesting tramways, many operating second-hand cars from other European systems.
This page contains information about the trams and tramway systems of Romania
and the museums at Timisoara and Ghioroc.
List of town tramway systems in Romania (Wikipedia)
Russia
Chelyabinsk City
There were 19 tram routes in Chelyabinsk in 1995.
Moscow
Wayback machine archive of pavel.physics.sunysb.edu/RR/Moscow-Colomna.html (June 17th 2001)
The Moscow-Ryazan commuter division of the Moscow Railroad is described in detail here, together with
maps, and there are interchange points at stations Kolomna and Golutvin with the Kolomna light rail (tram) system.
A page for the Kolomna tram system was added November 6, 1997.
Wayback machine archive of pavel.physics.sunysb.edu/RR/kolomna_lrt.html (April 17th 2001)
Niznyi Novgorod (formerly Gorkij)
There are trams in Niznyi Novgorod, as well as many other places, I am told.
Trams in Nizhny Novgorod (Wikipedia)
St. Petersburg
Model Auto - News Digest (St. Petersburg Tram Collection)
From the now-defunct news page of www.modelauto.co.uk/mar-news.html
St. Petersburg now has a network of some 700 km with 66
routes and more than 2000 tramcars.
St. Petersburg Tram Collection, produce a wide range of 1:43 scale handbuilt models of public transport, include all types of St. Petersburg's Tramcars, many trams all around the world, etc.
The range includes Ref 109 DDR T-57 Power Car (two axle 22-seat tramcars, built from 1957 to 1961 by VEB Waggonbau Gotha, East Germany for 22 towns in East Gemany and some cities in the Soviet Union, and also 1974 Tatra KT4, 1957 Tatra T2 PCC-type, and others.
For more information and a free catalogue please contact St. Petersburg
Tram Collection, PO.Box No 16, 196158 St. Petersburg, Russia.
2019 update:
St.-Petersburg Tram Collection
High quality O-scale models of the trams/streetcars, trolleybuses, buses, subway cars 1:43 1:45 1:48 all around the world.
St. Petersburg items are listed under USSR / Russia - Leningrad/St.-Petersburg.
Thanks to Leonid Khoykhin, St. Petersburg (13th August 1997).
Miscellaneous
Here is a list of the tramways in cities of the former USSR.
In Service
City State Gauge mm Opening Length (km,approx.,1994) Achinsk Russia 1524 1967 39 Almaty Kazachstan 1524 1937 92 Angarsk Russia 1524 1953 97 Arkangelsk Russia 1524 1914 56 Astrakhan Russia 1524 1900 65 Avdeyevka Ukraine 1524 1965 36 Baku Azerbajdjan 1524 1924 106 Barnaul Russia 1524 1948 123 Bijsk Russia 1524 1958 71 Chelyabinsk Russia 1524 1932 155 Cherepovets Russia 1524 1955 28 Cheryomushki Russia 1524 1988 6 *6 Daugavpilis Latvia 1524 1946 25 *7 Dneprodzherinsk Ukraine 1524 1935 86 Dnepropetrovsk Ukraine 1524 1897 158 Donetsk Ukraine 1524 1928 131 Druzhkovka Ukraine 1524 1945 26 *8 Dzerzhinsk Russia 1524 1933 86 Gorlovka Ukraine 1524 1932 62 Groznyj Russia 1524 1932 92 *1 Irkutsk Russia 1524 1945 41 Ivanovo Russia 1524 1933 42 Izhevsk Russia 1524 1935 8 Kaliningrad Russia 1000 1881 103 Karaganda Kazakchstan 1524 1948 11 Karpinsk Russia 1%24 1944 12 Kazan Russia 1524 1875 150 Kemerovo Russia 1524 1939 89 Khabarovsk Russia 1524 1951 75 Kharkow Ukraine 1524 1882 265 Kiev Ukraine 1524 1892 280 Kolomna Russia 1524 1946 40 Komsomolsk/Amur Russia 1524 1956 42 Konotop Ukraine 1524 1949 29 Konstantinovka Ukraine 1524 1931 51 Kramatorsk Ukraine 1524 1937 38 Krasnodar Russia 1524 1918 113 Krasnoturinsk Russia 1524 1946 10 Krasnoyarsk Russia 1524 1956 77 Krivoy Rog Ukraine 1524 1934 120 Kursk Russia 1524 1918 92 Liepaja Latvia 1000 1899 14 Lipetsk Russia 1524 1947 109 Lugansk Ukraine 1524 1933 92 Lvov Ukraine 1000 1880 77 Magnitorsk Russia 1524 1934 142 Makeyevka Ukraine 1524 1924 63 *7 Mariupol Ukraine 1524 1932 114 Minsk Belarussia 1524 1892 65 Molochnoye Ukraine 1000 1989 1 *2 Moscow Russia 1524 1899 459 Mozyr Belarussia 1524 1988 44 Naberezhnyje Russia 1524 1973 88 Nikolayev Ukraine 1524 1915 75 Niznekhamsk Russia 1524 1967 58 Nizhny Novgorod Russia 1524 1895 200 Nizhny Tagil Russia 1524 1937 47 Noginsk Russia 1524 1924 13 Novocherkask Russia 1524 1954 42 Novokuznetsk Russia 1524 1933 140 Novolopotsk Belarussia 1524 1973 22 Novosibirsk Russia 1524 1934 181 Novotroitsk Russia 1524 1954 31 Odessa Ukraine 1524 1907 214 Omsk Russia 1524 1936 130 Orsk Russia 1524 1940 70 Oryol Russia 1524 1896 35 Ossinniki Russia 1524 1957 23 Pavlodar Kazakchstan 1524 1963 87 Perm Russia 1524 1929 130 Prokpyevsk Russia 1524 1934 83 Pyatigorsk Russia 1000 1904 94 Riga Latvia 1524 1901 123 Rostov na Donu Russia 1435(!) 1902 121 Ryazan Russia 1524 1962 25 Saint Petersburg Russia 1524 1895 688 (!) *3 Salavat Russia 1524 1953 37 Samara Russia 1524 1913 162 Saratov Russia 1524 1887 161 Shakthy Russia 1524 1932 33 Smolensk Russia 1524 1944 57 Stakhanov Ukraine 1524 1936 18 Staryi Oskol Russia 1524 1981 61 Sumgait Azerbajdjan 1524 1959 21 Taaganrog Russia 1524 1931 45 Tallinn Estonia 1067 1925 39 Taskhent Uzbekistan 1524 1936 268 Tbilisi Georgia 1524 1934 108 Temirtau Kazakhstan 1524 1959 55 Tomsk Russia 1524 1946 45 Tula Russia 1524 1927 93 Tver Russia 1524 1930 91 Ufa Russia 1524 1936 156 Ulan-Ude Russia 1524 1956 57 Ulyanovsk Russia 1524 1949 120 Usolye Siberskoye Russia 1524 1963 33 Ust Ilimsk Russi 1524 1988 29 Ust Kamenogorsk Kazakhstan 1524 1957 33 Ust Katav Russia 1524 1973 4 *4 Vinnitsa Ukraine 1000 1913 42 *5 Vitebsk Belarussia 1524 1897 69 Vladivostok Russia 1524 1911 44 Volchansk Russia 1524 1949 16 Volgograd Russia 1524 1913 128 Volzskij Russia 1524 1960 48 Voronezh Russia 1524 1909 177 Yaroslavl Russia 1524 1900 67 Yekaterinburg Russia 1524 1928 179 Yenakievo Ukraine 1524 1932 33 Yerevan Armenia 1524 1931 90 Yevpatoria Ukraine 1000 1913 20 Zaporozhie Ukraine 1524 1931 110 Zhitomir Ukraine 1000 1898 18 Zlatoust Russia 1524 1934 50Notes
- Cancelled in Winter 1994 because of war
- Runs in summer only
- Longest and biggest tramway company world-wide
- Test route of tramway's rolling stock company- used only for workers to move from city to factory
- Regauging to 1524 in progress
- Cheryomushki is not a city, but a rather large and populous section of Moscow, in the southwest of the city. (thanks: Boris Levitin)
- Corrected 23/10/96 (country was wrong).
- Corrected 23/10/96 (spelling was wrong).
Footnotes
- Opening - this always means opening of first ELECTRIC tramway (steam or horse tramways are not counted, even if they were first).
- Some cities reagauged their network from different gauges to 1524 mm. Date of opening still means opening of FIRST tramway line.
- 1524 mm - Russian Gauge is from time to time referred as 1520 mm.
- Tramways in Wolchansk and Krasnoturjinsk will probably be closed soon. It may also happens to other cities, because of the disastrous economic situation.
- Names of cities: The spellings given here are based on the phonetic system used in the Czech Republic, which should in most cases sound very similar to the usual Western versions.
There are also abandoned tramway routes in 21 another cities. Thanks to Richard A.Bilek, Praha/Prague, and to S. Pakhomov for corrections e-mailed 9th Oct 1996.
List of town tramway systems in Russia (Wikipedia)
Serbia
Metre gauge trams in Belgrade.
List of town tramway systems in Serbia (Wikipedia)
Singapore
The Singapore Trolley bus service operates between the area of Orchard Road, Tanjong Pagar and the World Trade Centre from 9am to 10pm.
There is a tour operator called the ChinaTown Tram Pte Ltd..., other than that I don't know anything about it.
2019 note: ChinaTown Tram Pte Ltd. filed its last annual return on 31 December 1997.
Trams in Singapore (Wikipedia)
Steam tram services stopped on 1st June 1894, due to financial losses.
Singapore Electric Tramways Ltd started an electric tramway service on 24th July 1905.
"trams were replaced by trolleybuses on 4 September 1927"
Trolleybuses in Singapore (Wikipedia)
"By 1962, motor buses had completely replaced the trolleybuses."
Transport in Singapore (Wikipedia)
Slovakia
There are tramways in:
- Bratislava (narrow gauge)
- Kosice (standard gauge)
- Poprad (narrow gauge, also known as Tatra Electric Railway)
- Interurban Trencianska Tepla-Trencianske Teplice (narrow gauge)
List of town tramway systems in Europe (Wikipedia) - jump to Slovakia
Historic tramways from Slovakia
No tramway museum exists in Slovakia at this time. Reason is clear - because all of Slovak tramcars are displayed in Technicke museum Brno (Czech Republic). As you know - until 1993 Czech Republic was joined together with Slovakia into Czechoslovakia.
Only few tramways remains here. Bratislava, now capital of Slovakia has quite big network of 1000 mm gauge tramways, built 1895. They now preserve three tramcars. One is the No. 38, it originate from batch self-built in company in 1938. This tramcar was for years in museum Brno, but returned to Bratislava in March 1990. Second one is tramcar No. 44, similar to 38, this one was built in 1949 again by tramway company itself. It was restored in 1995, but restoration is not so perfect as No. 38. Last one is 212, an example of PCC-based type T2, that was built since 1956 in CKD Tatra in Prague. This tramcar is restored back to its orignal state as on 1957. Also can be noted here, that second prototype of T2 Class, No. 6002 that runs in Bratislava for years is now regauged back to 1435mm and is in Tramway Museum Praha/Prague City transport company also preserve two historic busses as well as trolleybus FBW/BBC/Oerlikon, built 1947, now restored back to be ready this year. Tramcars are located in depot Krasnany, lines 3,5,11 direction Raca.
Interrurban, narrow gauge (760 mm) tramway (or railway?) Trencianska Tepla - Trencianske Teplice has no historic tramcars in service. One of the tramcars of first generation, M 24.003, built 1909 is in Brno's museum again. Last year, during celebration of 650 years of city Trencianska Tepla there were journeys with steam (!) locomotive No.5 from Hronec's Forest Railway. They were very successful, so there is hope to run this year regularly, with any other locomotive from Hronec.
Another interrurban tramway, 1000 mm gauge Tatra*** Electric Railway based in Poprad operate with a few historic tramcars too. There's preserved coach No. 22. It was originally postal coach, built 1912. After WW2 it was rebuilt to be used as a passenger coach too. It was withdrawn in 1968 (but in last years only rarely used), and 20 years after was restored back. Now with one trailer is used for special journeys, especially on Sundays on route 1 Poprad - Tatranska Lomnica. There's hope to restore another tramcar EMU 49.0005 (built Tatra***, 1949).
For more detailed informations about journeys with Trencianska Tepla, or with Tatra Electric Railway see this year see please timetable of Slovak Railways.
*** Note on Tatra
There's some mismatch with names Tatra. Originally
Tatra is name for mountains, that are around Poprad and over 2500 meters.
But when (in 1897) was founded company for automobiles, their car haven't any
names. One of their first car make a glorious journey through the Tatra
mountains, so factory taken the name Tatra too. This factory is now building
tramcars, as well as an automobiles (high class, used by governement and so)
Last but not at least, Kosice, city on east Slovakia, famous for their steel works "VSZ" has tramways since 1891. There's only one historic tramway, No. 141. It was built in 1920 for Praha/Prague. In 1963 it was sold to Kosice, old to Kosice, and there, after only few years of service in 1968 withd This tramcar is restored, but is not used for any public journeys now. But it can be seen in Depot Saca (lines No. 5,8,9,R1,R2,R3,R4,R5,R6,R7 and R8). It can be observed directly from street, so you needn't to go inside. Please note: This tramcar is from the same batch as tramcar No. 352 that is now in Amsterdam's Tramway museum (please see your Prague's Guide). And something special - here in Kosice was one line through the middle of historic town, approx. 700 meters long. It was closed in 1984. Now it's restored, but not for electric tramways, but there should be a horse-drawn tramway line (!) that should run for tourists on Sundays.
Thanks to Richard Bilek, Czech Republic
Bratislava Museum of Transport
Photographs from the Museum of Transport, which is located in the premises of the first
Bratislava steam-engine railway station from the 19th century.
Bratislava Transport Museum (Wikipedia)
Features motorcars, motorcycles, military and government vehicles, steam and electrical locomotives.
Spain
Valencia has a light rail system. The island of Mallorca has an old tramway system still in operation at Soller. Trams may also be seen at Palma de Mallorca. There is an old street tramway "Tramvia Blau" in Barcelona running between Av. President Kennedy (Av Tibidabo FGC station) to the Tibidabo funicular.
Trams in Spain (Wikipedia)
Trams in Spain go back to an animal-drawn Madrid tramway network, which opened in 1871.
13 tram networks are currently planned to be added to the nine already operating.
Sweden
There are operational tramways in Goteborg/Gothenburg (large system), Norrkoeping (2 lines), Lidingoe (1 line) and Stockholm (the Nockebybanan line).
See List of railway museums (Wikipedia)
for a list of links for railway museums.
Public Transport Goteborg
Wayback machine archive of www.westnet.se/tourist/comm/lokal.html (January 30 1997)
Most places of interest in Goteborg are within walking distance, but trams and buses offer you a quick and
comfortable way of getting around. With photographs by Lars Oscarsson
Ringlinjen Vintage Tram
Wayback machine archive of www.westnet.se/tourist/sights/attractions/ringlinjen.html (January 30 1997)
Goteborg has more than 200 modern trams and an extensive net of tram-lines,
making up a major part of the city's public transport system. During the summer, vintage trams
operate on two lines. Photograph by Lars Oscarsson
The Streetcar Museeum at Malmköping
Photos by Urban Fredriksson:
Wayback machine archive of www.canit.se/~griffon/railways/ (August 1st 2001)
Follow the link to "My visits to preserved railways and museums".
Wayback machine archive of www.canit.se/~griffon/railways/musei/tripreports.html (August 1st 2001)
Then follow the link to "The Tramway Museum in Malmköping".
Wayback machine archive of www.canit.se/~griffon/railways/musei/malmkoping/malmkoping.html (June 3rd 2001)
This page features photographs taken on May 30:th 1998 (5 out of 6 link to valid archived larger photos).
The museum linked to is now at Swedish Urban Transport Museum - Museispårvägen Malmköping where you can find photos of the current fleet.
New tramway in Stockholm
On January 30th, 1996, work started on the New Light Rail connecting the southern and western suburbs with underground and commuter railway stations in the area.
This 2 billion SEK project will be inaugurated 1999 with some 15 double articulated partially low floor trams, each 30 meter long, for which tenders have recently been issued. This new Stockholm tramway will include street, bridge, tunnel and a lot of private right of way running.
Trams last ran in the streets of the Swedish capital in 1967, though two lines
remain, using trams but running entirely on separate track (Nockyby and
Lidingö tram routes).
Thanks to Thomas Johansson
Stockholm museum tramline
Partick Erskine told me that this museum line goes between Norrmalmstorg and Waldemarsudde.
Bruse LF Persson told me that the name Stocktramway is the old telegraphic address of
the "AB Stockholms Spårvägar" (Stockholm Tramway Company), and provided links to
Stocktramway (AB Stockholms Spårvägar/Stockholm Tramway, Djurgårdslinjen) on 17 Jul 1997.
Updated November 2019:
"AB Stockholms Spårvägar (SS) is owned by the Swedish Tramway Society (Stockholm department) as well as individual members. The company has been engaged in tramway operations on Djurgårdslinjen with heritage trams since 1991 and now accounts also for services on the City tramway with regular, modern low-floor trams."
Stocktramway (AB Stockholms Spårvägar/Stockholm Tramway, Djurgårdslinjen):
swedish: https://www.ss.se/
english: https://www.ss.se/english/
Svenska Spårvägssällskapet / Swedish Tramway Society which operates
museum tram services in Malmö, and Malmköping (2019 update: also Stockholm and Norrköping).
swedish: Svenska Spårvägssällskapet
english: Swedish Tramway Society
Stockholm´s Trams from -67
Leif Spångberg had a site on the now defunct www.geocities.com that contained photos, info, and maps about the last summer in operation of the left-hand-traffic tramway system in Stockholm, Sweden, before the roads converted to right-hand-traffic on 3rd September 1967, and the tramway system was replaced by buses.
Leif Spångberg's website since March 1999 (which includes videos) currently includes, in
the Photos section, a page of photos of Gothenburg Tramways in 1965 - 1967, in left-hand traffic:
http://www.tramways.com/
This page shows the picture gallery of the last city trams in Stockholm from summer 1967, although I could not find a link to it via the website front page:
Stockholms Tramways in 1967 (Established 2 July 1996, updated 1 February 2005)
Leif Spångberg's Flickr page with many photos:
Leif Spångberg (flickr)
Reopening of Stockholm Transport Museum - 2020
Look out for the reopening of Stockholm Transport Museum (Spårvägsmuseet), moved from old premises at SL's bus garage Söderhallen where it was located since 1990, to House No. 9, a building located in the Gasworks area at Norra Djurgårdsstaden, just North-East of Stockholm city - planned to open in autumn 2020.
Spårvägsmuseet / Stockholm Transport Museum
Details of the relocation project can be found at the Region Stockholm website:
Public transport projects: The New Tramway Museum
Timetable for the renovation:
• Remediation: spring, summer and autumn 2018
• Construction: winter 2018/2019 - spring 2020
• Exhibition production: spring 2019 - autumn 2020
Switzerland
There is a tramway (Strassenbahn) system in Basel, with several lines, serving the City and places such as Schifflände, Eglisee, the German Railway Station (Badischer Bahnhof) Binningen, and Allschwil.
According to Juraj Riecan, there are also tramways in Geneva (two lines that are being extended), plus Zurich and Bern, and possibly elsewhere too.
Identifies working tramways in Basel, Bern, Bex, Geneva, Lausanne, Neuchâtel and Zürich:
List of town tramway systems in Switzerland (Wikipedia)
Turkey
Turkey Travel Planner - Istanbul Trams, Turkey
See also Cologne Trams to Turkey
United States
Americans use the terms streetcar or trolley where Britons, Australians and others use the term tram to mean the same thing (see David Hoadley's Trams of Australia for a nice description of this terminological variegation).
Operating tramway systems in the US include those in Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh,
New Orleans, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Portland, Seattle, and a few
oddities in other places. There are only five operating trolley
bus systems left: San Francisco, Seattle, Dayton, Boston and Philadelphia.
Thanks to John Cross
Identifies working streetcar systems in Phoenix, Tucson, Little Rock, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco,
San Jose, San Pedro, Denver, Washington, Tampa, Atlanta, New Orleans, Baltimore, Boston, Lowell, Detroit, Minneapolis, Kansas City,
St. Louis, Camden, Hudson County, Newark, Trenton, Buffalo, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Oklahoma City, Portland, Philadelphia,
Pittsburgh, Memphis, Dallas, El Paso, Houston, Salt Lake City, Norfolk, Seattle, Tacoma, Kenosha, and Milwaukee:
List of streetcar systems in the United States (Wikipedia)
The U.S. Streetcar Systems Website
APTA Streetcar and Heritage Trolley Site
Hosted by the Seashore Trolley Museum
RailroadData.Com: Tourist Railroads and Museums, USA
Old Pueblo Trolley, Tucson, Arizona
A trolley-restoring volunteer organization with running trolley cars. Watch out for restoration
news reports.
Original website removed due to error code: SSL_ERROR_BAD_CERT_DOMAIN - site does not have a valid SSL/TLS certificate.
Old Pueblo Trolley (Wikipedia)
Fort Smith Trolley Car Museum, Arkansas
https://www.fstm.org/
Fort Smith Streetcar Restoration Association,
100 South 4th Street. Fort Smith, Arkansas, 72901
Trolleys (trams) run between the Old Fort Museum and the Trolley Museum. One of the latest additions is an extension of the main line which runs between Garrison Avenue and the National Cemetery including stops at the Old Fort Museum and the Trolley Museum.
After 1997, the Museum of History stop was extended past Bricktown Brewery off Garrison Avenue, down Garrison Avenue to the front of Ross Pendergraft Park, which is northeast of the Fort Smith National Historic Site at the base of the Garrison Avenue Bridge. In 2005, the trolley route was extended from Fort Smith National Cemetery to the rear of the Fort Smith Convention Center.
A map of the route can be found here: Fort Smith, Arkansas: Fort Smith Trolley Museum (Jon Bell)
San Diego, California
The South and East Lines (Downtown to San Ysidro) of the San Diego Trolley run from 4:45 a.m.
at most stations for 7 days a week.
The last trolley for San Ysidro leaves at 12:13 a.m., and for El Cajon at 10:18 p.m.
There is no service after 6:10 p.m. at Little Italy and Santa Fe Depot stations on
the South Line.
The new Old Town line is set to start June 15th or 16th [1996], most
likely as an extension of the South Line.
Thanks to David Keenan, Steve Hoskins [misc.transport.urban-transit]
Shore Line Trolley Museum, CT
Wayback machine archive of www.panix.com/~christos/TrolleyPage.html (July 7th 1997)
Operates the oldest continuously operated suburban trolley line in the United States (started 1900).
There are 6 different cars in the operating fleet, others in restoration, and various types of vehicles as museum stock.
Shore Line Trolley Museum (Membership web site)
Shore Line Trolley Museum (Visitor's web site)
Operated by Branford Electric Railway Association; located in River St., East Haven, CT.
Fox River Trolley Museum, Illinois
This museum at Route 31, South Elgin, Illinois has perhaps half a dozen different cars, including an interurban that used to run regularly at up to seventy mph, and a mile or so of track along the bank of the Fox river.
Fox River Trolley Association P.O. box 315 South Elgin South Elgin, IL 60177-0315 Thanks to Niels Grundtvig Nielsen
The museum operates a round trip between Castlemuir (South Elgin) and Blackhawk Station in the Jon Duerr Forest Preserve.
The museum suffered a vandalism attack in July of 2018 and is appealing for restoration funds via a gofundme.com page.
Fox River Trolley Museum (www.foxtrolley.org)
The Fox River Trolley Museum - photos by Edward Kwiatkowski (Flickr)
Fox River Trolley Museum (Wikipedia)
Seashore Trolley Museum
"Our collection includes vehicles from almost all major cities in the United States that had streetcar systems, as well as from other cities across the globe"
"The Seashore Trolley Museum was founded in 1939, to save one trolley from destruction. It was Biddeford and Saco Railroad open trolley #31"
Wayback machine archive of www.biddeford.com/~carshop/trolley/ (June 4th 2001)
Here is what is described as the oldest and largest electric railway museum in the world. It was formed in 1939 to save a trolley from the Biddeford and Saco line. There are many links to information for tourists and railfans. Follow the links to "The Roster of the Collection", then "General Info"-
Note: This link will download a document list.doc. Save it to your downloads folder, and observe all the usual anti-malware precautions for downloaded files.
The file should contain a Seashore Trolley Museum, Kennebunkport, Maine Roster of Exhibits dated 1/2/95 (you may need to set your page layout to landscape).
(Wayback machine archive of www.biddeford.com/~carshop/trolley/list.doc)
- and you will find a list containing, amongst many US and
Canadian streetcars and interurbans, four British trams and one Australian tram.
One of the trams is a Scottish tram from Glasgow - a "Cunarder" class double decker,
which Dewi Williams has seen; he was amazed when the staff told him that as Glasgow used the 4ft 7 3/4"
gauge, instead of standard 4'8 1/2", the museum still manages to run it on regular track
but "very slowly over points, switches, crossings and curves". Dewi also reports that
the museum has the "Golden Chariot", an open charabanc style touring tram from Montreal
(typically run on Canada day) and a cable-car from Dunedin, NZ.
Thanks to Kenyon F. Karl for this URL, 24 Sept. '95
The Trolley Museum of New York
"Kingston Trolley Museum New York"
Wayback machine archive of www.mhrcc.org/kingston/kgntroll.html (November 11th 1996)
Formerly located at Brooklyn, they have now moved their equipment upstate, about 3 hours drive, and are restoring their trolleys, but under difficult circumstances (according to Jan K. Lorenzen).
As of 2019:
"The Trolley Museum of New York (TMNY) has been in downtown Kingston on the Rondout Waterfront since 1983... TMNY is a New York State chartered non-profit educational organization that was founded in Brooklyn in 1955... In addition to static displays of trolley and subway cars from the United States and Europe, an excursion ride runs 1½ miles from the foot of Broadway in Downtown Kingston to picnic grounds on the shore of the Hudson River at Kingston Point."
The Trolley Museum of New York (TMNY)
Brooklyn Historic Railway Association
Wayback machine archive of bjr.acf.nyu.edu/railinfo/text/btm.html (February 1st 2001)
A new museum with 4 trolley cars under restoration at 141 Beard Street, an old pier in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn.
In early 1997, restoration of a former Oslo, Norway, 1897 tram, which was imported into the States by a private individual in 1960, is approaching completion. It was donated to the museum a few years ago, after making a few trial runs on former downtown factory street trackage (with a small dynamo sitting on the rear platform).
The other three cars are ex-Boston 1951
vintage PCC's - one of which, #3321, is the last one built by
Pullman-Standard. 3321 is being checked out and missing/damaged parts
replaced. These cars were extensively rebuilt by Boston in the late '70's
to early 80's and do not yet require total restoration. There is a short
section of single track newly built on the Beard St. pier, and overhead
wire is being put up. The 600v DC power is provided by a former
Long Island RR emergency diesel-electric dynamo. Official operation will
start in Spring 1997 with the former Oslo tram. They are also hoping to borrow
one of the actual Brooklyn trolleys up at Kingston, and also a vintage
tram to fill in the time gap between the Oslo car and the PCC's. Plans are
to extend the line up to the Brooklyn Bridge, and to reuse an abandoned
tunnel used by the LIRR until 1861.
Thanks to Jan K. Lorenzen.
Update:
"Brooklyn Trolley Museum. Brooklyn Trolley Museum is/was an attempt by the Brooklyn Historic Railway Association to start up a Red Hook-Brooklyn Heights heritage trolley line. Below are some photos of the ongoing work at the site, but at this time (2004) it appears that the museum, and the plans, are defunct, and their web site has gone offline."
Brooklyn Trolley Museum at www.nycsubway.org
Brooklyn Historic Railway Association (Wikipedia)
Tracks revealed in Boston, MA
21st June 1996
Robert Coe was surprised on his way to work to see railroad tracks
being dug up by a backhoe working in the area of Massachusetts Avenue in Central Square
between Prospect Street and Pleasant Street, Boston in a neighbourhood reconstruction project.
It may be assumed that these tracks date back 45 years or more
to the streetcar system that used to run between Harvard Square and
Massachusetts Station (the latter is now the location of Hynes Convention Center).
Based on an article by Robert Coe in newsgroup misc.transport.urban-transit
Norfolk, Virginia
Wayback machine archive of www.abel-info.com/regguide/recnr2.html (February 29th 2000)
Visitors can climb aboard a Norfolk trolley for a one-hour tour of historic downtown Norfolk...
Ohio
See under Pennsylvania & Ohio about Pittsburgh and Cleveland.
Oregon Electric Railway Museum
I have been informed that the Oregon Electric Railway Museum includes a working
Sydney open car # 1187. (thanks to Mark Kavanagh, the museum secretary)
Sydney Car 1187
The Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society, owner of the largest Trolley Museum in the Pacific Northwest, now has an official WEB site with space for OERHS operations, photos and links.
The OERHS operates the WST and the Trolley Museum.
Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society
The OERHS is a non-profit 501(c)3 Corporation and founded in 1957. The Society is dedicated to the preservation and education of our historic electric railway heritage, which includes trolleys, interurbans, and electric freight.
Oregon Electric Railway Museum
The Oregon Electric Railway Museum is at Powerland Heritage Park in Brooks, Oregon.
Willamette Shore Trolley
At the Willamette Shore Trolley, trolleys run from downtown Lake Oswego to the SW Portland Waterfront.
Photos from the Oregon Electric Railway Museum 6/26/2011, by Chris Guenzler
Portland, Oregon
http://trimet.org/
Home page for the 'Tri-Met' public transport system with schedules, maps,
fares for every bus route plus the MAX light rail system.
Includes pictures of buses and trams. Note that the
'vintage' streetcars which run along the MAX tracks in downtown
Portland are in fact modern replicas. Public transport is free in
downtown Portland (within a zone called the 'Fareless Square').
Thanks to Simon Titley
November 2019 update:
The 'Fareless Square' existed from January 1975 through August 2012, was limited to light rail and streetcar services in 2010, and discontinued on August 31, 2012.
Fareless Square (Wikipedia)
The Portland Vintage Trolley ran for the last time on July 6, 2014. Replica streetcars Nos. 513 and 514
were transferred to the Willamette Shore Trolley, and 511 and 512 were transferred to the Delmar Loop trolley
in St. Louis.
Portland Vintage Trolley (Wikipedia)
Pennsylvania & Ohio
Pennsylvania Trolley Museum
http://pa-trolley.org/
Information about the Museum, its history, operating dates and times, prices, events, directions and contact information. The Museum has a Western Pennsylvania Trolley Calendar, which can be ordered online.
Willie Pitt told me this:
Both Pittsburgh and Cleveland have light rail rapid transit lines. I don't know if you consider such lines to be trams, but PCC cars were once used on both. Not sure if they still are, but the modern LR cars are still in both places.
Philadelphia
Five Subway-Surface lines share the Market-Frankford Line tunnel at 30th Street in the West. These are served by modern non-articulated LRVs with trolley poles.
In the western suburbs, similar cars but doubled ended run on two routes that are mostly grade separated. A third route uses high speed 3rd rail cars that is 100% grade separated.
SEPTA [Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority] operates a couple of routes with PCC cars painted in vintage PTC colors, and has also opened a store/museum at 1234 Market Street, adjacent to Market East station, with a restored PCC car on display.
There is also a vintage trolley (restored PCCs) operating on the northern part of surface route 23 in Chestnut Hill (weekends only).
Short PCC lines run downtown and in Chestnut Hill. Suburban streetcars run to Media and Sharon Hill.
The stations most acceessible to the disabled include
- Market-Frankford:
- 69th Street Terminal
- 2nd Street
- Girard
- Broad Street:
- Olney
Credits: Howard Sage, Edhein, Sandy Smith, Larry Gould, Lisa Hancock, John Kolassa on news:misc.transport.urban-transit
Sandy Smith sent me this additional information:
The Subway-Surface lines operate in tunnel from 40th and Woodland in West Philly to City Hall. West of 30th, they operate in their own tunnel separate from that of the Market-Frankford Line.
The historic trolley along the Delaware riverfront is history. The volunteer group that ran it was not found to be a "qualified operator" by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, which was prepared to fund extensions and improvements. Instead of that, nobody stepped in to fill the breach and the existing wires and poles were removed. (The tracks, which are used by a freight line, remain.)
The status of the other historic routes in Center City and Chestnut Hill is in question due to SEPTA [Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority] budget problems.
More information at:
Sandy Smith's Home Page: Wayback machine archive of pobox.upenn.edu/~smiths/ (December 13th 2003)
Seattle, Washington State
Route 99 used a pair of vintage trams from Melbourne, Australia, in their original green and gold livery.
Thanks to Simon Titley
The George Benson Line Waterfront Streetcar vintage Trolley service was suspended in 2005.
Affordable Streetcar: Seattle's Waterfront Streetcar
Waterfront Streetcar (Wikipedia) - details the fate of the Melbourne trams
According to the Seattle Times Company (for further information see link below), electric streetcar networks were developed intensively in Seattle from the 1890s to the early 20th century. They covered the University district, Rainier Valley, and West Seattle and encouraged urban ribbon development along the routes served, as the streetcar brought affordable transport to the working and middle classes enabling them to commute to the city.
The independent networks began to be consolidated by 1910 into a single
privately owned city-wide system.
Page showing the Seattle network in 1910
J. L. Toth Historic Railroads and Railroad Museums List
Wayback machine archive of www.clark.net:80/pub/jltoth/rr_museums.html (December 17th 2001)
Here you can find information on the Baltimore Streetcar Museum, the National Capital Trolley Museum
(Maryland), the Rockhill Trolley Museum (Pennsylvania), the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, and
other rail information.
Ukraine
There are trams in Lviv and many other towns.
Trams in Lviv (Wikipedia)
United Kingdom
See United Kingdom on the Tram and Light Rail photos page (Crich Tramway Museum and other UK places).
Leeds
As of 2019, the proposed Leeds Supertram was unsuccessful in getting funding for construction.