Gb 2/2

Gb 2/2
A Gb 2/2 in the 1950s on the central Piața Victoriei (left), an FII twin railcar on the right
Number:	7th
Manufacturer:	201-202: IET / ITT 203-207: ITAS
Year of construction (s):	1948 to 1954
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Length:	13,200 mm
Height:	3,120 mm
Width:	2,240 mm
Trunnion Distance:	6,200 mm
Empty mass:	14,332 kg
Top speed:	50 km / h
Traction power:	4 × 25 kW
Power system :	Direct current
Power transmission:	Overhead line
Number of traction motors:	4th
Operating mode:	One-way vehicle
Seats:	21st
Standing room:	100 (for 5 people per m²)
Particularities:	not capable of multiple traction, designed for passenger flow

The Gb 2/2 is a small series of Romanian large-capacity tram cars . They were only used on the Timișoara tram . The seven standard-gauge four - axle vehicles with road numbers 201 to 207 were built by the local transport company Întreprinderea Electromecanică Timişoara ( IET ) after the Second World War - from 1948 as Întreprinderea de Transport Timişoara ( ITT ) and from 1949 finally as Întreprinderea de Transport, Aprită .și ( ITAS ). They were in operation until the mid-1970s. From 1964 they carried the type designation T.7 , based on the PCC cars - partly produced by the American Pullman Palace Car Company - they were also referred to as the Pullman type.

The Gb 2/2 was based on the concept of the Dresdner Hechtwagen with its strong taper at the front and rear . In terms of design and appearance, however, it was very similar to the so-called Swiss standard car , which was widely used in Switzerland from 1940 . It is not known whether it is an official license replica .

Construction and commissioning

The type Gb 2/2 was planned from 1946 and initiated the modernization of the Timișoara tram. Until then - apart from a four-axle explosive unit  - this only knew two-axle vehicles. In the years 1942 and 1943, due to the war, new type FII two-axle vehicles  had to be re-commissioned according to plans from 1927 that were long out of date. With the decision in favor of new four-axle vehicles, the complete conversion to trolleybus operation that had been planned before the Second World War was finally off the table. The then director of the IET, Dr. Ing.Corneliu Micloși (* 1887; † 1963), who ran the transport company from 1920 to 1949. The type designation is composed as follows:

G	Continuous allocation of letters according to the alphabetical designation system introduced in the 1920s for the two-axle vehicles in Timișoara (types A , AII , B , C , CII , D , DII , E , F and FII )
b	Bogie vehicle - b is the abbreviation for boghiu (ri) , Romanian for bogie (e)
2/2	Vehicle with two bogies, each with two driven axles - that is, one traction motor per axle, two traction motors per bogie and four traction motors in total.

In 1947, the tram company finally began building the first two cars and largely completed them in the course of 1948. The new branch line in the Rona in went into operation that year . The new wagons could not be used on it, but would have released older wagons on the main lines. However, the Reșița steelworks was only able to deliver the required axles later due to the post-war era , which delayed completion accordingly. In the meantime, commissioning was planned for Labor Day on May 1, 1949, but that also failed. It was only with the help of the party committee in Timiș County that it was possible to force the steel mill into production. The ceremonial commissioning of the first two cars took place exactly one year later, on May 1, 1950. The new cars could be used free of charge on that day. In total, the Timisoara workshop produced seven self-made copies by 1954:

1948:	201 and 202
1950:	203
1952:	204 and 205
1953:	206
1954:	207

The Gb 2/2 were the first modern four-axle bogie large-capacity wagons in Romania, at the same time they were also the first steel superstructure wagons in the country. In contrast, the 37 type V951 open- plan cars produced in the Bucharest tram's own workshops were not built until 1951.

In addition to the completely welded all-steel construction and the Sécheron spring drive , the principle of passenger flow known from the Peter Witt and PCC cars was also progressive for Romania . Entry was only made at the four-leaf door at the rear - where the conductors' seat was - while getting out at the two double-leaf doors in the middle and in front. What was also new for Timișoara were the upholstered seats, which were also all arranged in the direction of travel, previously only wooden seats were known in this company. This comfort feature ultimately earned the vehicles the nickname Pullman . Another innovation was the illuminated target sign boxes in this series.

At the end of 1953 - after the completion of car 206 - the government in Bucharest decided to centralize the construction of large-capacity trams from 1954 at the Electroputere locomotive factory in Craiova , so that from 1955 Timișoara also purchased type V54 cars from there. The local workshop, on the other hand, was temporarily prohibited from further manufacturing new trams, but in the course of 1954, the 207 was still put into service. Originally, this was to be completed as early as November 7, 1953 - on the occasion of the 36th anniversary of the October Revolution of 1917 - together with car number 206. However, its commissioning was postponed until the new situation could be finally clarified with the responsible authorities.

As a result of the ban on the production of new vehicles, the tram company finally concentrated in the following years on the reconstruction of pre-war two-axle vehicles with wooden bodies. From 1958 these were converted into steel cars of the Pionier series and looked largely similar to the Gb 2/2. However, the slightly shorter passenger cabin of the pioneer car only had five instead of seven side windows.

Use and modifications

Because the Timișoara tram network was mainly designed for bidirectional traffic in the 1950s, Gb 2/2 could initially only be used on line 2 - which was renamed line 1 in 1962 - and ring line  6. The former was equipped with reversible loops in 1949 especially with a view to putting the new cars into operation. This created an adequate area of ​​application for the Gb 2/2, as line 6 was still served by two-axle solo cars at that time and did not require any larger units. It was not until the mid-1950s that the Gb 2/2 also found their way onto line 6, when this was gradually converted to longer units.

In October 1959, the establishment of a second ring line - Line 5, which was renamed Line 7 in 1962 - added a third route. The closure of the ring in the Fabric district finally made it possible to use Line 3 from the end of 1959, which was renamed Line 2 in 1962. However, after the ring traffic on line 7 was interrupted again in 1969 due to the closure of the line through what was then Calea Șagului , line 7 was no longer used as an area of ​​operation after ten years.

Modernization from 1966

In 1966, the then Întreprinderea de Transport Timișoara began to modernize the Gb 2/2 in parallel to the somewhat younger V54. At that time they received a compressed air brake and car aprons retrofitted. In addition, the wooden folding doors were replaced by folding steel folding doors, and the two narrower exits were also given four-leaf doors.

First of all, the three cars 204 and 206 (each 1966) and 205 (1967) were rebuilt; in the course of the modernization, in addition to the modifications mentioned above, they received new windows with rubber bulges and a new line destination display. After 1969, the 201 and 203 cars followed, but they retained their original windows and the old line destination display. It is not known whether the cars 202 and 207 were later adapted accordingly.

With the new air brakes, the Gb 2/2, which were initially only used solo, could also be used together with sidecars for the first time . On the one hand, the V12 sidecars from the Bucharest main workshop and on the other hand the R.1 sidecars, which were also built on site, were used.

Whereabouts

In the mid-1970s, the Gb 2/2 were finally replaced by the Timiș 2 series, also produced in Timișoara . While at least the four cars 201, 204, 205 and 206 were still in operation on March 9, 1974, a few months later “only car 202 was in use in the early hours”. It is recorded for 1975 that "every now and then a car from the 201-207 series drove", for example on July 23, 1975 car 203 on line 1. In city ​​traffic 1-1981 it is finally reported that all seven Gb 2 / 2 are finally out of order. No copy of the type Gb 2/2 has survived.

Similar vehicles in Arad

From 1952, the Astra automobile and wagon factory from Arad also produced four-axle large-capacity trams based on the Timișoara type Gb 2/2 for the meter-gauge Arad tram . A total of twelve more vehicles of this type were built. They were given the road numbers 2 and 16 to 26, the first of which was put into service in May 1953. In Arad, too, the open-plan cars were referred to as the Pullman type, the official type designation has not been passed down. In the years 1961 to 1964 used V08 sidecars were procured from Bucharest for the Arad railcars , in some cases they also pulled two of these trailers. The Arader Pullman railcars were in service until the 1970s, and none of them survived either.

literature

• Dorin Sarca, Gh. Radulovici: Centenarul tramvaielor din Timișoara, monograph 1869-1969 . Timișoara 1969.
• 1869 −1994, 125 de ani de circulație cu tramvaiul în Timișoara, monograph . Timișoara 1994.
• Regia Autonomă de Transport Timișoara, 130 de ani de activitate, 1869–1999, monograph . Timișoara 1999.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Drapelul roșu newspaper
2. ↑ Drapelul roşu newspaper , November 7, 1953 edition
3. ^ Regia Autonomă de Transport Timișoara, 130 de ani de activitate, 1869–1999, monograph. Timișoara 1999.
4. ↑ Drapelul roșu newspaper , born in 1974
5. ↑ Stadtverkehr , issue 9-1974
6. ↑ Hans Lehnhart and Claude Jean Marie: tram operations in Eastern Europe II . Verlag Eisenbahn, Villingen 1977, ISBN 3-85649-032-9 .
7. ↑ 60 de ani de la introducerea tramvaiului electric în Arad on ctparad.ro ( memento of the original from October 6, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.