budapest
other hungarian
close-up
lost rails
other countries
(mainly Arad, but bits of Cluj-Napoca and Oradea, too)
On the 18th, 19th and 20th of July, 2004 I visited a few Transylvanian cities with the urban transportation history society V.T.T.E. and the enthusiast of K.B.K., the Friends of Narrow-gauge Railways Club. If someone doesn't know, Transylvania ("over the forests") is a part of Romania that once belonged to the hungarian kingdom, so it has lots of hungarian roots and connections. We also visited the typical tourist sights, but on these pages I will concentrate on the trams.
Our first stop was the city of Arad, where we were guided around by the kind people of the CTP, the local transportation authority.
Arad has the second largest tram system in Romania with more than 250 cars and a meter-gauge network of 92 kilometers. The rolling stock is pretty mixed: you would find czech Tatra and romanian Timis cars next to a colorful fleet of vehicles from various german cities like Ludwigshafen, Mannheim, Mülheim, Stuttgart, Ulm, Bochum, etc.
This for example is an ex-BOGESTRA (Bochum-Gelsenkirchen Strassenbahn AG) DÜWAG GT6.
Our guided tour included a ride with an ex-east german heritage tramcar of the Gotha T57 type, originally from Halberstadt.
The interior of this 2-axle car. It's not used in regular traffic anymore.
They only kept the most important instruments in the driver's cab.
Unfortunately one of the magnetic track brakes of the car broke off, so we continued our way with a blue Esslingen GT4 from Ulm.
The Ulm GT4 side-by-side with a Stuttgarter GT4. Of course this GT4 from Ulm was also bought from Stuttgart long ago...
The driver's cab of the Esslingen GT4.
I think the knob of the main controller switch, seen at the bottom of the picture, must have started its life as a gear lever of a car...
Our blue GT4 from behind.
An ex-Essen DÜWAG GT8 eight-axle articulated car.
We continued our way on the former "Arad-Hegyaljai Motorosított Vasút" vicinal line to Ghioroc (Gyorok), which wasn't part of the Arad tram network originally, but after a few shortenings and a major reconstruction it has joined it in 1983. The vehicle on the picture was built by Ganz in Budapest.
The car features two compartments, and a toilet between them.
The controller switch, also manufactured by Ganz.
Built in 1912 in Budapest by Ganz, rebuilt in 1995 by Astra. The renovators did a wonderful job!
The air-compressor on the bottom of the car...
... and one of the trucks.
A Timis motor+trailer set in one of the passing loops of the one-track vicinal line to Ghioroc.
Sight of the line through the window. Notice that the bottom of every tree and stanchion is painted white!
The terminus in Ghioroc. The vehicles reverse in a triangle which was a junction originally.
An ex-RHB (Rhein-Haard-Bahn) unit waiting in one branch of the triangle: a six-axle DÜWAG powered car...
... with a six-axle DÜWAG trailer car.
This DÜWAG set, leaving the traingle for Arad was built for Bielefeld originally, and then used by the OEG around Mannheim.
Next page: more Arad, Cluj-Napoca and Oradea
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