Letná tram
The Letná tram , in Czech : Elektrická dráha na Letné v Praze or Letenská elektrická dráha , formerly also known as the Belvedere Electric Train , was the first electric tram in Prague and the first ever built Czech electric train. It was opened together with two funiculars as part of a large exhibition on July 18, 1891 and was operated by a private company that also owned the Letná funicular until it was sold to the municipal transport company founded in 1897 . It operated until the late summer of 1900, when it was then discontinued and partially integrated into the new urban tram network, but its further part up to the Letná height was dismantled.
history
Construction and opening
The Letná tram was opened on July 18, 1891 as the first electric tram in Prague and at the same time the first ever built Czech electrically powered train under the direction of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy under the name "Belvedere Electric Train" . This took place as part of the Great General State Anniversary Exhibition , which took place that year in the then capital of the Austrian Crown Land of Bohemia and was 35 days after the Letná funicular and seven days before the Petřín lookout tower or the Petřín funicular, which opened exactly at the same time as the latter ceremoniously handed over to the public. The company Belveder-Drahtseil- u. Electric train in Prague (Czech: Letenská dráha lanová a elektrická v Praze ) built and operated the train (as it also ran the Letná funicular) between the city center of Prague and the highest point of Letná Heights (German: Belvedere ) . This remained in the possession of this private transport company until it was closed; the small depot with workshop was also located on the Letná.
This first electric tram was designed in Prague by the eminent Czech electrical engineer František Křižík using his own system, which, however, was partly based on inventions and patents of the US naval officer, inventor and electrical engineer Frank J. Sprague . In 1880 he invented the roller pantograph (also: pantograph), which was also used on this railway in Prague, and after attempts in late 1887, on February 2, 1888 in Richmond (Virginia), he opened the first really reliable electric tram in the USA and the world ( Richmond Union Passenger Railway ). The gauge of the Letná tram was (as with the Prague horse tram ) 1435 mm ( standard gauge ), which was also used by the later uniform Prague tram from 1907.
The four vehicles, both visually and technically extremely simple, with 24 seats (6 wooden benches for 4 people each) were delivered by the railway and wagon construction company Ringhoffer in Prague-Smíchov . These had two axes and were completely open on the sides, the platforms on the front sides were, as was customary at that time, without front glass. On the left and right sides at the top of the roof a tarpaulin was attached as protection against rain, which could be lowered after removing five attachments. Another characteristic feature was the step running over the entire lower side, which was also present on various US trams of that time and on which the conductor often rode while standing. There was a single, relatively large electric headlamp on the central edge of the roof on both ends, a rather unusual feature, but by no means rare in early Czech trams. The parking brake (handbrake) was operated manually as with the horse-drawn tram carriages at each stop using a hand crank on the outside of the front panel for the carriage driver . The maximum speed of the cars was around 30 km / h, but they rarely drove faster than 20 km / h on the route.
Right from the start, the tram proved to be very successful and with its typical “ summer carriages ” that were completely open on the sides, ran from the city center to the Letná height with practically no disruption and thus served in particular as a feeder for the Letná funicular, which is located directly on the The end of the tram had its mountain station.
Shutdown
The always privately operated streetcar wrong until the end with stable passenger numbers, as this along with the also simultaneously operated Letná funicular to the three years previously founded new urban transport company Electrical companies of the Royal City of Prague (Czech: Elektrické podniky královského hlavního města Prahy ) - in short also Electrical Companies Prague / Elektricke podniky Praha - was sold and the company then dissolved. However, the city was no longer interested in continuing to operate this railway, which was now a bit out of date due to technical progress in this area (instead, it preferred the conversion of the horse-drawn tram lines and the construction of new electrical routes), which is why it finally did so in the late summer of 1900 was discontinued.
The route was partly integrated into the new urban tram network after the renovation or dismantled on its continuing part up to the Letná height.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Elektrická dráha v Praze SLAVI 120 let. Dopravní podnik St. m. Prahy, accessed August 2, 2013 (Czech).
- ↑ Jakub Kolář: 110 let pražských elektrických drah. Maturita.cz, accessed on August 2, 2013 (Czech).