Quote (Ymtram, 28.04.2024): > But I also understand that in the 1990s there was still regular daily service to Klus.
This was indeed the case. It was after that (early 21st century) that the current system was introduced as a great economy measure. In fact, they wanted to close down the entire tram network, but then many subsidies had to be paid back. That explains why this branch still exists and is only used for a few journeys a week. If they want to close this branch, subsidies will have to be (partially) repaid to higher authorities.
I really can't remember this, sorry... By the way, it is only a (small) selection of what I own and then photographed. I've more photos of the regular Konstal 805NA trams. I shared now the lesser-known 803N here, but this does give a false impression, as I photographed only 4 or 5 of them.
Patience is a beautiful ability but unfortunately occasionally necessary in our hobby. This tram network is already not very impressive, with at best only 5 trams running on the entire network. With only 1 tram with an inconvenient frequency, I can only congratulate you here for your patience and endurance.
What a coincidence... You could never know that I made this photo and was going to share it here (this all happens randomly) and I really couldn't know that many years later you were going to take a similar photo at the same spot - without trams.
This is due to bureaucratic measures: the deployment of a low-floor vehicle brings a bonus, to high-floor vehicles (less accessible) a blame or comment. That this particular measure is not practical: this does not matter in this context...
I corrected the location: the driver had forgotten to change the destination and was already on his way back towards Ostend or Westende. The Zwarte Kiezel turning loop is visible in the background, where the tram is coming from. There are many such places near Den Haan (and Bredene). Whether it is possible also depends on the height of the vegetation. It has been raining almost continuously for the past few months, this may cause plants and branches to be much too high or large.
The 1082 was certainly (for a short time) used in passenger service: it carries Romanian advertising. https://transphoto.org/photo/1934632/ The situation then was very complex. The quality of local trams was more than questionable. Second-hand trams were then donated from Germany, but then other problems arose: neither the workshop staff nor the drivers had any knowledge of these trams. Tatras may be excellent trams, but it's important to know how to handle them, as driver and technician, and this was certainly not the case in the beginning. Some trams were effectively sent for spare parts, others became it very quickly after accidents and breakdowns. I still have a lot of photos of this city and plenty of Tatras, which I believe never entered service, or barely ran.
We drove back. Some days later, the fire brigade cleared the tree. This is one of their official duties in Belgium but of course no urgency could be invoked here. The tree might have been there for quite a long time and for a tourist tram they are not going to come urgently: these are tasks they have to do, but certainly not with urgency. This would be completely different should it be a public road or a regular tram line: the tree would be cleared immediately.
Excellent map. Only the explanation about changing from right to left hand traffic beyond Waterloo is highly dubious. Actually, I had never read anywhere (not even in official documents) that it was ever intended to transfer trams from the coast to Charleroi. Furthermore, it could be possible to broken out the junction and simply driven on the right, as on all other routes: middle platforms are used almost everywhere on this system. These branches should have come into service as early as 1985, but the then remaining tram operator (SNCV/NMVB) could not reach an agreement with the other operator (STIC), which had the monopoly on public transport operation (but only with buses) in this particular area. During the planning, the STIC was effectively involved and demanded that boarding would be done on the right, analogous to what happens with buses. Their travellers were so familiar with this and there was no reason for them (the STIC) to change it... In 1991, both companies merged but it's clear for everyone that it would take many years before everyone could share the same offices... The STIC's specific desire didn't disappear in a one-year span and so for the sake of peace, left-hand traffic was inaugurated in 1992, as it had been planned long before...
No. Probably 601 but it take time to check and double check this. Maybe I have also a photo of this car (601?) but this also I need to take a look of it.
Only the colour: these were by far the largest British tram built ever. I don't think such trams would be allowed to run in the streets of London. Smaller trams than these were never allowed to operate within London and were forced to terminate at the city limits. And they really were a size smaller than this one...
> In this photo, MMTB/Ansair W7 Class from Melbourne passes through a long section right next to the sea.
As far as I can see on the map and remember my visit many years ago, this is a place where salt is extracted. Below you can see the same spot, with water:
Quote (Trolleybus Man, 03.02.2024): > So a Portesi re-body of this Carrara Alfa trolleybus cannot be considered as a separate model, since it is still an Alfa on paper
Thank you for this long and interesting explanation. For clarity, I will still introduce an additional type (as a variant) with the distinction "modernised". I also found additional explanations on the Italian Wiki page and will take a closer look at this as well.
Quote (A. N., 03.02.2024): > Still it is very curious how it ended up having the right-hand drive - was it some kind of experiment?
It has not been an experiment, I suspect rather a rule. I have older photos of other Italian cities. Here I will find out further if this was the case on all older type vehicles, but in Milan I have also seen this:
In Europe, some sweeper vehicles also have the steering wheel on the right side: this is allowed, to give drivers better visibility. Obviously, off topic, but still a picture:
This may have been one of the reasons with the older trolleybuses in Italy, perhaps in combination with a safer way for the driver to get off if he had to bring the trolley back against the wire. Did any buses exist with a separate entrance for drivers? I can't confirm it but for older types it could well be the case.
I have suggested some possibilities, experts can examine this in more detail.
I will investigate this later. Personally, I have too little knowledge about these types of vehicles and trust the data from the database. I also need to find out whether they were conversions/modernisations or effectively new vehicles, where I am also in doubt about the year of construction.
I did some research about this tram. In 2013 restoration started somewhere on the Isle. Since then, no news but also no proof that this vehicle is scrapped. 2013 is exactly what you wrote, between 2010 and 2016.
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Halberstadt — Line to Klus