budapest
other hungarian
close-up
lost rails
other countries

yours truly

youtube channel

The withdrawal of the good old four-axle tramcars from the then-shortened route 41 was the penultimate chapter in the UV's life story. Interestingly, one year ago everyone said this would be the last service where this type will last, probably a few years yet, but somehow things changed. The closure of Szabadság híd (Liberty Bridge) for a grand renovation gave the BKV enough time to rearrange its rolling stock.

But at least one of the last services was an interesting one: route 41 running out in the wild. Although the UV was not at all "traditional" here (they only arrived here in 1988), these 19 years gave me enough time to get used to them here. To tell the truth, the Tatras running on line 41 between 1984 and 88 were too modern for this route, which is basically a cut-back remnant of a suburban light railway. Something old-style was better suited for the bucolic vicinity outwards of Budafok, elágazás. And also better suited for the tracks, which are in a terrible state at some sections.

To preserve as much rememberance of this perfect vehicle+service combo as possible, I spent many evenings and nights out here in the last one and a half years, mainly with friends. Some of the pictures and footage I already shared on my pages - here are a few more typical snapshots from the last months:

Although the overhead posts between the tracks are a bit of a hindrance, ...

... the outer section is still very photogenic.

The section in Kőérberek changed quite a bit. Now it looks like this (halfway into being turned into a housing area, with some infrastructure already in place and others not), but earlier ...

... it looked like this.

Back to recent past, to the (still) scenic vicnity of the new stop Kőérberek/Tóváros lakópark, which was built to serve the future housing area.

The stop seen from the other side of the small lake.

Taking night shots along route 41 can be defined as taking pictures of light and darkness at the same moment.

Of course a tram line is not about taking photos, but about service. But this one is special in this way too: on the bad trackage (with some rail material dated 1963) trams are moving more like a boat than a rail vehicle :)

The last day of UVs on route 41: July 22, 2007.

And then the last day arrived - and afterwards the last night, when I joined the dozens of tram-friends travelling up and down the line. These photos were taken at the stop Budaörsi repülőtér.

The last course started from Albertfalva kitérő, because the inner section was being rebuilt due to the construction works for the new M4 metro line. On this tram there were so many fans of the type (and trams in general), that it was outright impossible to take decent pictures...

... so instead of that I'm going to show you a small movie about a separated double-set of the line reversing inside the depot. This was necessary because on the next day they most of these cars returned to route 47 with an intermediate trailer car between the motorcars. But just for one more month, as their swan-song.

As for route 41, from July 23. 2007 it's operated with Ganz articulated cars. Of course the magic of this outskirt service remained even with these vehicles, but still I miss the UVs very much!