T3G Posted July 14, 2017 Report Share Posted July 14, 2017 Besides Slovakia, the other place in Europe where I plan to do a bit of fanning this summer is the Czech Republic! ...I think it's the summer, anyway. You wouldn't know it from the weather we've been having. As I type this, it's 20 Celsius in Prague! It figures, really. Anyways, I've already been to Prague (and will come again) and also plan on visiting Brno and Plzeñ. But here's what I've seen of Prague so far! Probably post 1 of 2. The first time I went was on July 12, but visiting Prague wasn't originally in the cards. However, my mom and cousin went to a shopping centre near Černý Most (the eastern terminus of Metro line B ) and I saw that, two stations down, at Hloubětín, there was a tram platform just over the station. The 16 and 25 stopped there, and both had some highly interesting vehicles in service that day, so we parted ways at the shopping centre and I rode to Hloubětín, where I trolled around for the next two hours. Here is what I got. Almost immediately, I found something which was of some annoyance to me - routes 16 and 25 have awful combined schedules. First it's the 25 that leaves, then the 16 follows three minutes later, and then there is no service for 9 minutes. Not an optimal arrangement, but oh well! I first sighted two T3R.P trains. This is one of the most numerous types of trams in Prague - I believe there is 315 of them. DPHMP 8329 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 8364 - 01 by Andrew P., on Flickr Shortly after, a rebuilt KT8D5 came down on route 25.DPHMP 9095 - 01 by Andrew P., on Flickr Both routes 16 and 25 had a varied dispatch. For non-accessible runs, you could run into a T3R.P or T3M2-DVC. On accessible runs, you could sight the rebuilt KT8D5s or one of the new Škoda 15T trams.DPHMP 9237 - 01 by Andrew P., on Flickr The newest ones (the 15T4) come with some design differences, as well as new liveries.DPHMP 9326 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 8328 - 02 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 8364 - 02 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 9329 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 8371 - 01 by Andrew P., on Flickr Just down the street was the Starý Hloubětín loop, terminus of the 8, so I walked down there and took some photos there as well. This is a T3M2-DVC. In the late 1990s, some of the city's oldest T3M trams (distinguished by the large cabinet of braking resistors on the roof) were in bad shape, but their electrical units were still fairly well off, so 18 cars got new bodies. Besides two pairs of T3Ms the company has kept for use on a historical, tourist-oriented tram route downtown (I haven't seen these as of yet) these are the only T3Ms you'll run into.DPHMP 8089 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 8051 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 8051 - 02 by Andrew P., on Flickr Another set of T3M2-DVCs leaving the loop with a number 8 service.DPHMP 8080 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 8063 - 02 by Andrew P., on Flickr KT8D5 rebuild #9066 waiting in the loop.DPHMP 9066 - 01 by Andrew P., on Flickr I also ran into one of the oldest trams in Prague - this car was built in 1962. I'm not sure how exactly it was decided which cars would be rebuilt, because the bulk of the T3R.P fleet is made up of cars dating back to the 1960s, whereas, in 2008, they sent 20 year old cars to North Korea. I know that the build quality of some of the later T3s dropped off a bit, but it still seems really strange to me.DPHMP 8359 - 01 by Andrew P., on Flickr #9066 pulling out of the loop...DPHMP 9066 - 01 by Andrew P., on Flickr ...and replaced by #9098. This car did not run in Prague originally; it was originally built for Košice, Slovakia, and then sold off to Strausberg in Germany because they had a surplus of cars. In 2015, Strausberg ceased to find a fair few KT8D5s useful so Prague picked them up. Currently, #9098 is the only car that has been finished... cars 9099-9105 are also planned and they're a long, LONG way from completion. Here is what 9101 looked like this past April.DPHMP 9098 - 01 by Andrew P., on Flickr And #8089 came the other way. Note its doors as compared to the ones on the tail car (8051).DPHMP 8089 - 02 by Andrew P., on Flickr Some ominous storm clouds were on the horizon, so I went back up to the Hloubětín stop, because, in the event of inclement weather conditions, I could run down into the metro, or into one of the shelters at the stop.DPHMP 8015 - 01 by Andrew P., on Flickr Well the rain came down, and hard. I hid under the shelter and was fairly well off for the entire 5 minutes of rain. DPHMP 8359 - 02 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 9096 - 02 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 8076 - 01 by Andrew P., on Flickr Before long, the sun was shining again!DPHMP 8015 - 02 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 8009 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 9303 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 9060 - 01 by Andrew P., on Flickr Along came Škoda 15T #9355, which is one of the few trams in Prague with a name. It's named František Kardaus, in honour of the designer of the T3 tram.DPHMP 9355 - 01 by Andrew P., on Flickr #9409 is the latest 15T to be delivered.DPHMP 9409 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 9409 - 02 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 9093 - 02 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 8072 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 9093 - 03 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 9076 - 03 by Andrew P., on Flickr To complete the outing, along came KT8D5 #9054. This car was equipped with an experimental pantograph in March 2016, and I wanted to get a photo of it. When I initially arrived, I found I had just missed it due to roadworks on the way to the metro, but everything came through in the end.DPHMP 9054 - 02 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 9054 - 03 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 9054 - 03 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 9054 - 04 by Andrew P., on Flickr That's it for now, thanks for viewing! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T3G Posted July 18, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2017 Another batch of photos. The next time I visited Prague, I took the train from the suburb in which my family lives straight to the city centre. Coming out of the station, I was immediately treated to a host of trams.DPHMP 9059 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 8265 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 9078 - 03 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 8251 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 8518 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 8225 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 9241 - 01 by Andrew P., on Flickr I had to catch a tram on route 15 to get across the Vltava river, where my journey would continue. It arrived in the form of T3R.P units 8538+8539. DPHMP 8538 - 01 by Andrew P., on Flickr Once I arrived at Malostranské náměstí, I found I had just missed a route 23 run and had a nice 30 minute wait for the next one (the 23 is the aforementioned historical route) so I settled down to wait.DPHMP 8310 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 8180 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 8181 - 01 by Andrew P., on Flickr A 23 came by in the opposite direction.DPHMP 7142 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 7144 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 7144 - 02 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 8182 - 01 by Andrew P., on Flickr Along also came (finally) some T6A5s.DPHMP 8645 - 02 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 8646 - 01 by Andrew P., on Flickr Notice the different couplers on cars 8645 and 8646. Originally, all T6A5s came with automatic couplers (as on car 8646) that could join all electric circuits in a two car train (both 600 V and 24 V); practically speaking, what this means is that a two car T6A5 train can operate with power from just one car's pantograph. While the majority of Prague's automatic couplers remain, there is a considerable portion of the fleet that has lost one of its couplers and had it replaced with a simpler, so-called "Prague coupler" (being that it was invented in their workshops), that only allows a mechanical connection. Some cars have lost their front coupler (as in 8645); others their rear coupler. While it would make sense to remove the front and rear couplers on the ends of trains in a city like Bratislava, which runs their T6A5s in permanently joined two car trains, it seems odd for Prague to do so, as trains are put together and dismantled based on the needs of the car-house on any given day. Along came another T6A5 train, this time on the 15.DPHMP 8741 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 8730 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 8273 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 8573 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 9409 - 03 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 2033 - 01 by Andrew P., on Flickr Finally, the 23 came. I recorded a video too, but I have yet to upload it to Youtube so it's just photos for now.DPHMP 7205 - 01 by Andrew P., on Flickr Once off at the Prague castle, I took another photo.DPHMP 7205 - 02 by Andrew P., on Flickr After I was done touristing, I arrived at Malostranské náměstí again.DPHMP 9389 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 2033 - 02 by Andrew P., on Flickr Until next time! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTC T6H-5307N 2252 Posted July 18, 2017 Report Share Posted July 18, 2017 Very nice trams though which one is better Tatra T3 or T6A5? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T3G Posted July 19, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2017 The answer to that question depends on a number of factors - what exactly are you considering when asking that question? Build quality? Technical reliability? Driver experience? Amenities for passengers? The T3 is a fairly reliable vehicle, but it uses PCC technology from the 1930s so it's massively inefficient. The various rebuilds (T3M, T3G, T3R.P, T3R.PLF) have remedied this problem, however. Build quality was fairly good on cars built until 1982, but afterwards Tatra stopped giving a f*ck so the post-1982 cars are not nearly as well built. I believe the same is true for the T6A5, which was built from 1991-1997. I myself am partial to the T3, but I realize that, like with any other vehicle, it has it's positives and negatives. The oldest T3R.Ps use the frames of T3s built in the 1960s, and in a survey of the tram system several years back, it was found that the standard PCC T3 had a really low breakdown rate, so it doesn't seem to be a particularly bad tram, all things considered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Transit geek Posted July 19, 2017 Report Share Posted July 19, 2017 I am amazed how ČKD was able to fit a low-floor section into their T3s without eliminating their characteristic American-inspired look. Wonder how odd it would be to ride in one, or if Brookville Equipment Corp could do such a thing one day with our own PCCs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T3G Posted July 19, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2017 The low floor T3 was not ČKD's idea, it was the product of Czech rail engineering firm Pragoimex, who also designed the low floor section on the KT8D5 rebuilds.It's quite a good design IMHO, if they pulled through and added an air conditioning unit they would be perfect cars, just as fit for modern service as any modern tram. I do like ČKD's designs a whole lot, and I can't deny the reliability of the T3, but as a company they didn't really believe in a lot of innovation. The USSR demanded accelerator controlled cars as they were the simplest to maintain in their conditions, and if the rest of the Comecon members didn't share their enthusiasm, that was too bad. The aforementioned T3Ms came with upgraded electric units, but they didn't come from the factory in that way - ČKD supplied the electrics, and it was up to the individual operator to install them in place of the old PCC technology. Technological advancements such as the KT8 and T6 series were put on the backburner - when the first T6A5 prototypes rolled out (in 1991) the design was about 20 years out of date. Conceptually they derived from the T6B5, which was in production since 1983. I don't exactly know how the T6B5 and KT8D5 came to be, but the former was marketed to the Soviets as type T3M -some type of skullduggery, perhaps? In any case, until 1989 their biggest product was T3s witb 1930s technology. I think the modernized rebuilds (T3M, T3G, T3R.P) are fine enough cars but they REALLY should have arrived from the factory as such, never mind the KT8s and T6s: if GM could keep the Fishbowl design going for 30 years, the use of the original T3 carbody design was not a problem. Once capitalism settled down, the huge T3 orders for the USSR fell through. They couldn't compete in the market and went bankrupt in the late 1990s. Good cars, miserable manufacturer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T3G Posted July 22, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2017 Next time I visited Prague, I went in search of Tatra T6A5 #8739, which had an irregular paint scheme: its roof was white instead of grey. Here are the photos from that visit: DPHMP 9088 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 8178 - 01 by Andrew P., on Flickr I took a tram across the river to Strossmayerovo náměstí, where I assumed it would be a better photo angle than at Náměstí Republiky. I was wrong. While I waited, I photographed T6A5 #8734, which, for a change, has a simpler rear coupler. it was a Sunday, and so there were no two car trains in operation on route 6, it was all solo units. This is utter nonsense as the trams were rammed and they could have easily justified two car trains, but in the interest of saving money...DPHMP 8734 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 8734 - 02 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 8352 - 01 by Andrew P., on Flickr An ad wrapped Škoda 14 T. DPHMP 9141 - 01 by Andrew P., on Flickr Along came #8739, also on the 6.DPHMP 8739 - 01 by Andrew P., on Flickr I took a short ride and got off again.DPHMP 8739 - 02 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPHMP 8739 - 03 by Andrew P., on Flickr Until next time! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T3G Posted July 26, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2017 Here's my final batch of photos - for now. Some trams in the vicinity of the train station.DPP 8079 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPP 8516 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPP 8517 - 01 by Andrew P., on Flickr A KT8D5 on Namesti Republiky.DPP 9070 - 02 by Andrew P., on Flickr Some trams in the vicinity of Andel metro station.DPP 9342 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPP 9393 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPP 9078 - 04 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPP 8635 - 02 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPP 9350 - 01 by Andrew P., on Flickr A couple of days later I was in Prague again, and managed to photograph a few interesting vehicles within 10 minutes. T6A5 #8664+8666. 8664 is one of the only T6A5s I've seen where the upper cab window is a sliding one instead of a tip in one, and 8666... well, it's 8666. DPP 8664 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPP 8666 - 01 by Andrew P., on Flickr A few minutes later came #8694+8748. I saw 8748 the same day I photographed #8739 - in fact, in the photo labelled "8739 - 02", it was at that same stop when I got there. I had to decide whether I would run after it or get another shot of 8739. I made the correct decision in the end, because the first photo I got of 8739 isn't the best, and on this next trip, I would see the car no less than 4 times during the span of the day.DPP 8694 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPP 8748 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPP 8748 - 03 by Andrew P., on Flickr A T3R.PLF and KT8D5R.N2P.DPP 8257 - 02 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPP 9098 - 02 by Andrew P., on Flickr Some time later I decided to visit Vyšehrad, an old fortress right by the river. When I got off at the nearby stop, I photographed #5519, a T3M that is a driver schooling car. This car lost its middle doorway when it was rebuilt.DPP 5519 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPP 5519 - 03 by Andrew P., on Flickr Oh look, it's 8694+8748 again!!!DPP 8694 - 02 by Andrew P., on Flickr Later, after I was touristing, I was at Palackeho nam. and making my way across the river (back to Andel) to buy some food. As I travelled, I saw a bunch of trams:DPP 9157 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPP 8652 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPP 9067 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPP 8695 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPP 9051 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPP 8260 - 01 by Andrew P., on Flickr After I got my food, I went to the Prague castle, via the 15 and 22.DPP 8160 - 02 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPP 8271 - 02 by Andrew P., on Flickr This was my tram, #9317. The A/C wasn't working and the tip in windows provide such piss poor ventilation that it's worse than one of the non-air conditioned old cars with sliding windows.DPP 9317 - 01 by Andrew P., on Flickr After more touristing, I came down to Malostranská and waited for a number 15 back to the station.DPP 9379 - 03 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPP 8385 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPP 7282 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPP 9202 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPP 8341 - 02 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPP 7290 - 01 by Andrew P., on Flickr At the station, I walked up to Senovazne Nam to wait for a work car that I had the schedule for. While waiting, I got these snaps..DPP 8704 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPP 9075 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPP 8277 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPP 9218 - 01 by Andrew P., on FlickrDPP 8257 - 03 by Andrew P., on Flickr Look who it is... again!!!DPP 8748 - 04 by Andrew P., on Flickr Here's the work car, T3M #5572. This car, since 2015, has been used as a track lubrication car. It's become something of a phenomenon within the city, to the extent that its daily schedule is published for anyone to see. I knew the car was supposed to be here, and it was very much of interest, so I hunted it down.DPP 5572 - 01 by Andrew P., on Flickr Until next time! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captaintrolley Posted April 20, 2018 Report Share Posted April 20, 2018 https://prague.tv/…/…/n14008-Prague-to-expand-electric-buses 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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