After our joint journey to Linz, Gmunden and Innsbruck in Austira a few months ago, Mr. András Báti and I decided to make another tram-oriented voyage through West-Germany. We were accompanied by Mr. Zoltán Németh (NZA) this time.

First day: Munich, Augsburg, Ulm
Second day: Stuttgart
Third day: Heilbronn, Heidelberg
Fourth day: Mannheim, Ludwigshafen, Kassel
Fifth day: Essen, Oberhausen, Mülheim
Sixth day: Düsseldorf, Köln

First day
Munich (München)

Our first stop was Munich, capital city of Bavaria. We arrived very early when there was not enough light to take nice pictures, so first we rode the new vehicles of the S-Bahn.

After the impact of the sunrise came in effect, we started to chase tramcars, like this P3+p3 set on route 25, which we boarded and rode until the outskirts. A strange thing: they drive these old cars with a manual controller very roughly: the wheels spun over upon every start and acceleration, and the stoppages were also unpleasant. You could also smell something slightly burning after every acceleration and decelaration, but the other passengers seemed to be used to this...

A bit later when we got to Karlsplatz, the sunshine was perfect for taking photos like this. The vehicle on the picture is an ADtranz GT8N, designated as R3.3 by Munich urban transit company MVV.

Another nice shot at the same place.

These R3.3's are in fact two units, a driven car and a powered trailer in one, joint by double articulation!

Another Rathgeber P3.16.

R3.3 at Maxmonument, one of my favorite places to take photographs in Munich.

The link between the old P3 and the new R3 is the type R2, also kwnown as the ADtranz GT6N, originally developed by MAN GHH in the early nineties. In my opinion, these are the low-floor tramcars with the smoothest ride of all low-floor tramcars!

We continued our journey on board of an ICE 1 train...

Link: Autumn trams in Munich

Augsburg

Augsburg is a 250,000-city with long historical past, and also, with four tramlines with meter gauge. Unfortunately, one of the lines, route 2 was paused during our visit due to construction works.

The most spectacular car type in the town is the Siemens Combino...

... with a width of 2.3 meters and a length of 41 meters.

It was okay from the inside, too.

On the other hand, the title for the most interesting vehicle here should go to the ex-Stuttgart GT4!

These "Kurzgelenkwagen" (short articulated tramcars) are coupled into driven car+powered trailer units on route 3 and 4.

The driver's cab: the lever to the left is the power/brake controller, the other to the right is for the air brake.

Interior of a powered trailer.

A bit of catenary.

The ADtranz GT6M is the meter-gauge brother of Munich's GT6N. These were the first low-floor tramcars in Augsburg, but after purchasing 11 of them, they choose another type, the Combino. There are also a few M8C's built by MAN on license from DÜWAG, but we haven't seen them.

We continued our journey aboard an ICE3 high-speed train.

Ulm

Ulm is a 115,000-city between Augsburg and Stuttgart, with only one tramline (meter gauge).

The vehicles on the lone service were Siemens Combinos, which were introduced this year here.

In the turning loop at Donaustadion we've also seen a few cast-off GT4 cars, too.

A Combino at one of the termini of the line. These cars are shorter than their Augsburg counterparts (31 m), but wider (2.4 m).

Anyway, the most spectacular attraction in Ulm is the world's highest church tower (or is "spire" the right word?)! It's 162 meters high, and you can climb up to 143 meters via 768 stairs. Quite a weary task, but it's worth it!

After we climbed down, all we wanted was to eat and drink something. After we had that, we boarded another train, and headed for Stuttgart and it's remarkable LRT network!

Next page: Stuttgart, home of the steepest Stadtbahn system I've ever seen!