We arrived to Switzerland's most populated town (364,000 inhabitants) late in the evening, so all we did that day was heading for the youth hostel, leaving everything for the next day.
Of course on our way to the hostel we noticed the undulating nature of the city, and also that the trams are quite powerful, so that they match the hilly enviroment.
The vehicles on the picture bear the nickname "Mirage". I was told that they're called so, because they were introduced at the same time as the Swiss Air Fource bought their then modern Mirage jet fighters.
Some tram types are hard to tell apart at first sight, like the different batches of the "Tram 2000" family. The train on the picture consists of a 6-axle Be 4/6 car manufactured between 1985 and 87, and a 4-axle powered trailer nick-named "Pony".
A similar set from behind.
Some of the Mirages we've seen earlier were towing old 4-axle trailers that looked like the ones in Bern.
The interior of such a trailer.
Bahnhofstrasse, the main shopping street of the city.
A tram stop with raised platforms...
... in the middle of this noble street.
View of the Zürichsee, with tram.
The tramstop Bellevue is an important junction of the tram system.
A Mirage approaching Bellevue. I first thought the slope behind it was steep...
... but than I saw this one. Now _this_ is steep :-)
Kirche Fluntern, where route 5 ended. The powered car on the picture (nickname: "Carp") was built in 1959/60.
The trailer matches the "Carp" in its design, so they form a harmonic set together.
Route 6 even took us higher, with its terminus laying on a plateau near the city Zoo. An interesting sight were these "guarding turnouts". They seem to be there to derail runaway (think of a brake failure when the driver's not on the vehicle) trams, so that they can't run down the tracks on their own. Or do they serve another purpose?
A "Carp" set...
... and a "Carp" from the inside.
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