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Budapest tram snapshots 3.
Miscellaneous...
T5C5K double-set during a special ride (probably to the central workshop), leaving the Grand Boulevard at Blaha Lujza tér...
... via the connecting track to the terminus of route 37 and 37/37A in Népszínház utca.
Everyday traffic, still at Blaha Lujza tér.
This also happens every day - unfortunately: the first Ganz CSMG2 double-set can't leave the tram stop at Nyugati tér because of a car on the tracks, and therefore, the next double-set can't enter the stop...
An EMU of the vicinal railway to Szentendre at Aquincum. In the background you can make out a Siemens Desiro DMU of the Hungarian State Railways on an embankment.
The tracks of the HÉV (vicinal) and the state railway are connected to each other here. On the picture above, you can see a chartered heritage train with steam loco using this connection.
Óbuda, near the terminus of route 1/1A: the third
track from left is part of a connection between this service and route
17, but these days it was also used as a reserve track. Note: there
are two more tracks to the left
that cannot be seen here. These were rebuilt at the time.
Heritage diesel-train on the Szentendre vicinal line
On the "Weekend of European Cultural Heritage" BKV organised a charter between the Urban Transit Museum in Szentendre and Margarite Bridge.
But before we take a look at the special diesel train, let's look inside the museum! The tramcar in the middle came from Szombathely in Northern Hungary. This meter-gauge operation was closed in 1974, and number 6 is one of the few remaining cars.
This open-platform passenger car was used as a trailer car on the 760-mm-gauge tram/train network in Nyíregyháza (also closed long ago).
My favorite tramcar, the "1000er" between an old and a current HÉV unit.
And this was the heritage train, consisting of DE-loco
DL II 41, passenger car P XV 511 and DE-Loco DL V 42. AFAIK, such a set
was never used in real life.
On September 19th car traffic was banned from the classic avenue Andrássy út, and the street was turned into an amusement park with some music concerts. BKV brought its oldtimer Ikarus 180 articulated bus out of the Szentendre museum to here as part of the "Car-Free Day".
Another attraction: everybody with a driver's licence
could try him/herself behind the wheel of an Ikarus 412 low-floor bus.
Track renovation in Gubacsi út
The worst tram tracks in Budapest are those of route 30 in Gubacsi út. This is a narrow street exploring a very run-down industrial area, and the cars and heavy trucks are sharing the tracks with the tram. This led to a situation where a 5 km/h speed limit was put in force on some sections. I've almost given up hope that this will ever be repaired, but guess what: in september, BKV has started to renew the worst parts there!
That's not the bad part yet: Mester utca.
The route was cut in three parts: the inner setcion between Ferenc körút and Koppány utca was operated by a route 30A...
... then came a section supplemented with busses (note the new concrete panels to the left!)...
... and the rest, the "giant loop" of Pesterzsébet was served by a "circle" route 30 rotating between Határ út and Pacsirtatelep.
A CSMG2 entering the "loop"...
... and another one coming out of it. The UV in the distance rides route 52, while the ex-Hannover TW6000 even further in the background is on route 3.
Next page: route 12 and 14, the "giant loop" of Pesterzsébet, and other things
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