Because we've spent most of the day in Woltersdorf, we didn't have time to take a real look around Potsdam. Mainly, all we did was photograhping the Tatra KT4D trams, from which a couple has already been sold to the hungarian town of Szeged.
This city was one of the first places, where the problems with the low-floor tramcar Combino became known. The cars (AFAIK all back in traffic as I'm typing this) were taken out of service, and closely inspected. Some of them were in for a repair, some of them were allowed back in operation quite soon.
Of course, most of the trams we saw, when we were there, were Tatras...
... and we only met this one Combino, number 416.
We took a ride with it, and saw a few things inside that might have been signs that the car was taken apart - like that fresh-looking sealing round the round plastic thingies, which - I suppose - hide the joint's bolting.
Even further, on the back of the driver's cab there were sheets of paper showing how and when the car was examined, and an official letter from the manufacturer, stating that the vehicle was safe to use.
More coupled Tatras. On the latter image, note the old (or old-looking) water tower preserved in the middle of the modern railway station building!
KT4D double-set in the bend.
We didn't leave the vicinity of the railway
station, because we've had to catch a train to the Ruhr-area.
After a long railway journey with a couple of changes, we arrived to Dortmund. My friends then decided to take a walk around the inner city, before we go to sleep. I wasn't very happy about this...
... but at least I took some late evening/night shots of the trams on the surface. Who knows, in a few years, this photo might become a documentary piece, because AFAIK, this line should be supplemented for an underground LRT service in a few years.
Next morning we walked around again. There were signs of "lost" tramlines all over the place - they were replaced by the subway LRT (Stadtbahn) line not too long ago.
I must confess, the tram traffic on the remaining lines was heavier than I had imagined. Maybe that's the cause for the new line being build underground.
Rheinoldikirche, where the surface tram and the underground service are crossing. And what was really strange: the stop of the underground that will replace the tram, is already there, only that it was empty!
Another picture of a DÜWAG N8C.
One of the most interesting features of
the Dortmund "Stadtbahn" for me were these eight-axle "B-types".
You should know, that the type B ("Stadtbahnwagen B"), used all over in
the Rhein-Sieg (Köln, Bonn)
and Rhein-Ruhr (Essen, Düsseldorf)
area have only got six axles normally, but this version, the B80C/8 has
a middle part, too.
Our next stop was Uerdingen, a suburb of Krefeld. This is where the DÜWAG tram-buliding facilities were/are located, so it's a kinda sacred place for me :-)
Krefeld itself has a meter-gauge tram network, operated exclusively with DÜWAG cars.
The interior of this 1980/81 M8C.
The main street of the city is evey tram photographer's dream: at one point the meter-gauge tracks straddle the terminus of the LRT service between Krefeld and Düsseldorf ("Stadtbahn" service U76), which operates on normal-gauge!
From here on we can see four rails for the two gauges...
... running along the two sides of a narrow park in the middle. Very nice, I think, just like these classic "round" DÜWAG tramcars!
The service to Düsseldorf is operated with double-sets of type B "Stadtbahn" cars. The small graph on the left upper side of the leading car's front show, that there's a buffet on board!
Another photo of a "round" DÜWAG GT8, my favorite tram type after the UV and the 1000er of Budapest.
The interior of such a car. Old-fashioned and simple, but spacious!
A quick look at the dashboard...
... and the controller switch. These cars are real classics!
From the terminus of tram line 041 we took this LRT train to Düsseldorf. Fortunately it had the buffet on board, so we could drink some fine apple juice, instead of being parched out on this interurban journey!
Next page: Düsseldorf with lots of DÜWAG's
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