Trams of Hungary and much more...
Hier geht's zur deutschsprachigen Version / Kattints ide a magyar változathoz
I arrived to Halle (Saale) with only minimal information about its trams - deliberately so, I wanted this visit to be a surprise for me. And it was, an even bigger and better than I imagined: I simply loved the place!
Some basic figures: this city with about 230,000 residents has a tramway network of 75 kilometers. This number is boosted by the Halle - Ammendorf - Marseburg - Leuna - Bad Dürrenberg interurban line, but the city network is also quite extensive, and best of all: a real network, not just a bunch of radial lines!
About the weather... well, it rained cats and dogs as I arrived, but it got a bit better later. Hamster-weather, what else? :) On these pictures we see DUEWAG MGT6D partially low-floor trams, of which Halle has bought 60 pieces between 1992 and 2001.
Marktplatz, the centre of the inner city. To the left: the newer (partially) low-floor type in the fleet: Bombardier's MGT-K (also known as NGT6DE). To the right: another MGT6D.
I loved the narrow, winding streets that lead to Marktplatz: to the left Schmeerstrasse with a Tatra "Grosszug" (motor + motor + trailer unit), to the right Grosse Ulrichstrasse.
In contrast to many German cities, Halle sustained remarkably small damage during World War 2, so not only the layout of the old city remained, but also most of the old buildings.
And to make it even better, trams are still winding through these old streets!
To the left: Alter Markt, to the right: Rannischer Platz, with another Tatra "train".
Due to road works, trams in Beesener Straße were confined to use only one track for both directions...
... using mobile california switches ("Kletterweiche").
The relationship of the old streets and the trams remineded me of Brno, although the buildings and the streetscapes were quite different.
Two minutes in motion.
MGT6D from the outside and from the inside. Note the map on the left of the articulation tunnel, where a red dot represented where the vehicle was at the moment.
Tatra "power train" in the reversing loop at Frohe Zukunft (this name translates to "Happy Future", and was the name of a former mining district here). To the right: the interior of a T4D-C powered car.
In a "power train" ("Grosszug") the last car is an unpowered trailer, a B4D-C.
A whole video dedicated to the Tatras. At last I was able to ride them in their home, because before this I have only rode Tatras from Halle in Arad, Romania.
The vicinity of the stop Am Steintor is like tram photographer paradise: three triangle junctions in a row!
And this is where this short report ends, I had had to continue my trip to Leipzig. Halle was fun, I'd like to come back here sometime!