Timiș 2

Timiș 2
Timișoara: Timiș-2 railcar 252 with a sidecar in use on line 1 with the red line number , 1987
Number:	542 railcars, 531 sidecars
Manufacturer:	Întreprinderea de Transport și Construcții Vagoane de Tramvai Timișoara (until 1977) / Electrometal Timișoara (from 1977)
Year of construction (s):	Prototype: 1970 Standard gauge: 1972–1990 Meter gauge : 1981–1987
Axis formula :	B'B '(Tw) + 2'-2' (Bw)
Gauge :	1000 mm or 1435 mm
Length over coupling:	14,600 mm + 14,600 mm
Length:	14,000 mm + 14,000 mm or 14,100 mm + 14,100 mm
Height:	min. 3446, max. 5930 mm (depending on pantograph position)
Width:	2303 mm
Trunnion Distance:	6500 mm
Bogie axle base:	1800 mm
Empty mass:	21,500 kg (Tw) 14,500 kg (Bw)
Top speed:	70 km / h
Traction power:	2 × 120 kW (at 750 volts) 2 × 96 kW (at 600 volts)
Impeller diameter:	686 mm
Power system :	Direct current (600 or 750 volts)
Power transmission:	Overhead line
Number of traction motors:	two
Operating mode:	One-way vehicle
Seats:	Tw: 24 Bw: 24
Standing room:	for 5 people per m²: Tw: 61 / Bw: 76 for 8 people per m²: Tw: 98 / Bw: 122
Floor height:	850 mm
Particularities:	not capable of multiple traction , designed for passenger flow

A series of Romanian large-capacity trams comprising 542 multiple units and 531 sidecars is referred to as Timiș 2 or Timiș II , colloquially often also called Timiș trains or Timiș wagons . They were made in Timișoara in the Banat from 1970 to 1990 . The standard-gauge version produced 446 railcars and 436 sidecars, the meter-gauge variant 95 railcars and 95 sidecars. The exact technical names were TM 69 E (Tramvai Motor 69 E) for the railcars and TR 69 E (Tramvai Remorcă 69 E) for the sidecars, the number 69 referring to the year of construction 1969.

The prototype and the first series vehicles were built by today's transport company Societatea de Transport Public Timișoara (STPT), then still called ITT (until 1973) and ITCVTT (from 1973). The later mass production was finally transferred in 1977 to the mechanical engineering company Electrometal Timișoara , or Eltim for short, which was founded in 1959 .

Timiș 2 trams used to be very widespread in Romania; apart from the Timișoara tram , they were used in a total of ten other Romanian tram companies. Only in the capital Bucharest and in the factories Constanța , Botoșani and Brașov were they never to be found.

After the Romanian revolution of 1989 and the economic upheaval that followed, Electrometal Timișoara stopped producing rail vehicles in 1990 due to economic problems, but the company itself still exists as a manufacturer of household appliances to this day. From the mid-1990s, the Timiș-2 trains were then replaced in all operations by used tram vehicles from Western Europe. They were last used in scheduled passenger operation in June 2011 on the Cluj-Napoca tram . Many Timiș 2 vehicles only achieved a comparatively short service life. This applies in particular to the trains last produced, which were built in the second half of the 1980s.

The Timiș 2 series was characterized by its spartan interior design, the high proportion of standing room due to the 1 + 1 seating, the comparatively weak engine and the continuously high level of damage. In the mid-1990s, for example, this was estimated at fifty percent. An estimate from 1992 even assumes that the trains were "at best one-third still usable" back then. The insufficient supply of spare parts by the manufacturer was just as typical. These effects were reinforced by the extremely high stress on the vehicles during the Romanian energy crisis in the 1980s and the lack of experience of the workshops in the tram companies that were also newly opened during this phase.

prehistory

A tradition of tram vehicle construction in Timisoara

As early as 1914 - at that time Timișoara was still part of Austria-Hungary  - the local transport companies began to manufacture tram vehicles on their own. Initially only the three sidecars 01 to 03 were built in this way , from 1922 with the type DII then - with the continued use of old electrical equipment - for the first time also railcars. From 1948, the Timișoara tram company finally built the first modern four-axle open- plan carriages in Romania, the type Gb 2/2, based on the Swiss standard car . However, only seven vehicles of this series were produced up to 1954.

Later they concentrated on the reconstruction of older two-axle vehicles with wooden superstructures, which were given new steel superstructures. First, the 26 Pionier railcars were built between 1958 and 1961 , then the nine T1-62 railcars between 1962 and 1964 and the nine R.1 sidecars from 1962 to 1966 . With the T1-62 railcars, the opportunity was used for the first time to use the type designation to indicate the production location of the vehicles, as these were also referred to as Timiș 1 from the late 1960s / early 1970s . Timiș is a Banat river, its German name is Temesch . What is meant in this case, however, is the Timiș County , named after the river , which has existed since 1968 and whose capital is Timișoara.

All tram vehicles produced in Timișoara up to 1966 have in common that they were only produced in small series and production nevertheless extended over several years. The production of larger quantities would not have been logistically possible in the cramped workshops of the tram depot on Bulevardul Take Ionescu in the Fabric district . Mainly because production took place in parallel with regular maintenance and driving operations. Industrial mass production only began with the new Timiș 2 type, but the new wagons - apart from the production location - had nothing in common with the conversion wagons of the nominal predecessor Timiș 1 series.

In addition, there were plans between 1965 and 1967 to build a separate articulated vehicle with the project name Tramvai articulat 65 , TA-65 for short , but these were not implemented. The three-door car should have been 25 meters long and carried 200 people.

Starting position and economic framework

The articulated car prototype 230 was always a one-off

The main reason for the construction of a separate type of tram in Timișoara was the fact that the fleet of local transport companies was very old at the time. At that time, two-axle vehicles, some of which were very old, dominated, and they no longer lived up to the new status of the tram as a means of mass transport in a city that was then booming. Another decisive factor were the sometimes very narrow radii in the Timișoara tram network. They would not have been suitable for all types available on the tram market at the time. This requirement is reflected in the comparatively short and narrow construction of the Timiș-2 wagons.

From the outset it was planned to deliver the new type to other Romanian companies, and there were also opportunities for export. For this purpose, the product was in the directories of the Bucharest foreign trade company MECANO Exportimport , although ultimately not a single foreign company made use of this offer. The production of articulated wagons was also still planned, but later this never got beyond two prototypes completed in 1982 and 1985 with the type designations V2 and V2C . After Astra from Arad and Electroputere from Craiova hadn't produced any new tram cars since the 1950s, there were only two national tram vehicle manufacturers with the main workshop for the Bucharest tram and the transport company in Timișoara. From the capital came the articulated car family V2A, V2B, V3A and V3B , which was produced from 1971 to 1992 and thus largely parallel to or in competition with Timiș 2. Czechoslovak Tatra tram -vans imported while Romania - unlike other CMEA -Staaten - only in small quantities and only from 1971 to 1981.

Start of Timiș-2 production

Preparations for production of the new type began in 1969, and at the end of July 1970 the largely completed prototype railcar was presented to the local press for the first time. This finally took his first test drive outside the depot on December 1, 1970. Then the first accompanying sidecar was built, so that ultimately in April 1971 the first complete train started testing. For the initial non-public test drives, both cars did not have a company number.

This first Timiș-2 train was built - like all vehicles built in Timișoara so far - also in the workshops of depot number 1 on Bulevardul Take Ionescu. The engineer Gheorghe Bihoi, who was directly employed by the company, was responsible for the design, while the bogies were supplied by the Bucharest vehicle construction company Intreprinderea de Reparaţii Auto Griviţa (IRA Griviţa) . This operated for a time under the name Centralei Industriale de Reparaţii Auto (CIRA) and also produced the largely identical bogies for the Bucharest articulated wagons.

While the transport company was trying to get the official approval of the prototype train, which the authorities finally granted after the end of the test phase on January 18, 1972, a new tram production hall with a siding was built in 1971 and 1972 on the southern outskirts south of Bulevardul Dâmbovița to the tram network. It was located in the immediate vicinity of the new tram depot, which was also opened in 1972. In this work - where all the other cars were - finally began in 1972 with the construction of the second and third train the series production . In order to ensure that production was set up according to Western European standards, 40 skilled workers, technicians and engineers from the Federal Republic of Germany were guests in Timișoara for a period of two years from 1970. In return, the Timișoara tram also loaned workers to the Munich transport company in the early 1970s . They helped convert the local M-cars to conductors-less operation. The first Timiș 2 trains finally went into regular service at the end of 1972.

The transport company also changed its name in connection with the start of the production of tram cars on a larger scale. It was in 1973 - instead of the current Întreprinderea de Transport Timişoara (ITT)  - Întreprinderea de transport şi Constructii Vagoane de tramvai Timişoara (ITCVTT) . In order to further professionalize the production of tram cars - series production had only got off to a very slow start - the company therefore separated vehicle production from tram operation in 1977. Electrometal Timișoara has been responsible for production since then , and the transport company itself only operated as Întreprinderea de Transport în Comun Timișoara , or ITCT for short

Series production for Timișoara

Timișoara: train 339-67 in October 1989; as was customary at the time, it is put together inappropriately

Timișoara in October 1989: Car 344 (built in 1986) in the modified paint scheme of the late 1980s

2003: Timiș 2 riding solo in Timișoara

Almost a quarter of the total Timiș-2 production ended up in Timișoara itself, where they ran under an electrical voltage of 600 volts. The local transport companies received a total of 134 railcars and 123 sidecars from the factory; the numbering of the railcars followed the 20 type V54 open-plan cars (210 to 229):

Construction year	Number of Tw	Numbers Tw	Number of Bw	Numbers Bw	Remarks
1970	01	231	0-	-	Prototype, originally with neon lighting, until 1972 without a company number
1971	0-	-	01	1	Prototype, originally with neon lighting, until 1972 without a company number
1972	02	232-233	02	2-3
1973	05	234-238	05	4-8
1974	10	239-248	10	9-18	from 245–15 with Romanian electrics
1975	17th	249-265	17th	19-35	Start of production for other companies
1976	24	266-289	24	36-59
1977	22nd	290-311	22nd	60-81	Transfer of production to Electrometal Timișoara
1978	08th	312-319	08th	82-89
1979	06th	320-325	06th	90-95
1980	0-	-	0-	-
1981	0-	-	0-	-
1982	05	326-330	01	96	from train 326–96 with facelift
1983	03	331-333	0-	-
1984	0-	-	0-	-
1985	07th	312 II , 334-339	03	107-109	Car 312 II replaced the first car with this number that had burned out in an accident
1986	07th	340-346	07th	110-116	from train 343–113 with modified paintwork variant
1987	0-	-	0-	-
1988	05	347-351	05	117-121	with modified paintwork variant
1989	08th	352-359	08th	122-129	with modified paintwork variant
1990	04th	361-364	04th	131-134	with modified paintwork variant

From 1988 to 1995, almost all of the Timișoara tram fleet consisted of this series. The only exception to this was articulated trolley 230, which had already been parked in 1992. As a special feature, the used train 360-130, taken over from Reșița in 1990, ran for some time in the original colors of the local tram until it - in 1998 at the latest - was repainted in the color scheme customary in Timișoara. In terms of books, it belonged to the Reșița transport company Prescom until at least the end of 1996.

In 1995, the then Regia Autonomă de Transport Timișoara began to replace their Timiș-2 trains with used vehicles from Bremen and Karlsruhe . From 2000, further used vehicles from Munich , Frankfurt am Main and Düsseldorf followed . As a result, Timiş 2 trains have not been used in scheduled passenger traffic in Timişoara since the mid-2000s. Regular trains consisting of multiple units and sidecars were last used on lines 4 and 10 in July 2004.

Eight railcars finally went back into operation a few months later and, due to the construction site, operated as rear-to-rear coupled two-car trains in shuttle traffic. On the one hand, this affected train 319-351 on the temporary line 1 barat between November 28, 2004 and September 16, 2005, and on the other hand, the three vehicles 311-346, 343-353 and 338-360 commuted between June and August 2005 on a section of line 4.

Most of the wagons were scrapped after being decommissioned. However, a few vehicles are still in sporadic use as work and service vehicles, including only railcars. In principle, the Timișoara tram always benefited from the spatial and organizational proximity to the manufacturer with regard to the Timiș-2 trains; the supply of spare parts and the know-how were thus significantly better than in the other operations in the series.

Deployment in Timișoara

The new Timiș 2 trains were initially - that is, from the end of 1972 - only used on Line 2. However, they had to struggle with technical problems from the start. In May 1974, for example, of the 13 sets available at the time, only three to four were in operation at the same time. Stadtverkehr magazine also confirmed this impression a few months later. There it is reported in the September issue that the still 13 trains are still so prone to failure that only two to three units are in use at a time.

This was followed by the introduction on the other two main lines 1 and 6 on August 15, 1975. In January 1977, only Timiș 2 operated on lines 1 and 2, while some old wagons still had to help out on the slightly less frequented line 6. After the latter route could also be fully equipped with the new vehicles in the course of 1977, the next route - also from 1977 - was line 8. In 1976 to the important - then followed diameter line mutant - line 4. First, however, still had to autumn 1977, the old railway underpass in Strada Coriolan Brediceanu be converted to the pantograph was too low modern railcars. After this measure was completed, line 4 and its amplifier line 4 barat  - which was renamed line 2 on the same day - could be switched to Timiș 2 on June 1, 1978 . This was finally followed by line 7 in 1982 and line 3 in 1985. On the repeater line 4 red, which was set up in 1987 and the tangential line 9 opened in 1989, Timiș 2 ran from the beginning. In 1992, the RATT also equipped line 5 - which was reopened after four years of cessation with the open plan car. The last new area of ​​application for the Timiș-2 trains was the repeater line 10 established in 1997.

Series production for other cities

Craiova, 1988

Craiova, 2006

1994: Timiș-2 train in Ploiești, typical of that era was the poor state of preservation of the relatively young vehicles

Sibiu: Car 6 in 1994

Cluj-Napoca was the last city to use Timiș-2 trains, here on July 16, 2006

From 1975 onwards, other Romanian cities were also supplied with Timiș 2 trains as follows, in Craiova, Oradea, Reșița and Sibiu the entire fleet of cars consisted of this series for a number of years:

network	Companies	Gauge	tension	number	Numbers	Years of construction	in action
Oradea	OTL	1435 mm	600 volts	054	Tw: 64-76 Bw: 136-148	1975	until spring 1998
					Tw: 77-84 Bw: 149-156	1976
					Tw: 85-89 Bw: 157-161	1977
					Tw: 90-97 Bw: 162-169	1978
					Tw: 98-100, 1-4 Bw: 170-172, 101-104	1979
					Tw: 5-7 Bw: 105-107	1980
					Tw: 8-11 Bw: 108-111	1982
					Tw: 12-17 Bw: 112-117	1990, delivered 1991
Brăila	Braicar	1435 mm	600 volts	058	Tw: 29-33 Bw: 39-43	1975	until August 2005
					Tw: 34-39 Bw: 44-49	1976
					Tw: 40-44 Bw: 50-54	1977
					Tw: 45-54 Bw: 55-64	1978
					Tw: 55-64 Bw: 65-74	1979
					Tw: 65-72 Bw: 75-82	1980
					Tw: 73-79 Bw: 83-89	1982
					Tw: 80, 81 and five more with unknown numbers in a second line-up Bw: 36, 37, 38 and four more with unknown numbers in a second line-up	1990
Galați	Transurb Galați	1435 mm	750 volts	071	Tw: 51–60 Bw: 101–110, later renumbered 301–310	1977	until 1998
					Tw: 71-90 Bw: 311-330	1978
					Tw: 91-115 Bw: 331-355	1979
					Tw: 116-129 Bw: 356-369	1980
					Tw: 130 + 131 Bw: 370 + 371	1982
Iași	RATP	1000 mm	600 volts	047	Tw: 301-330 Bw: 301-330	1981	until 2003
					Tw: 331-347 Bw: 331-347	1982
Arad	CTP Arad	1000 mm	750 volts	044	Tw: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 Bw: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16	1981	until 2008
					Tw: 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 31, 33, 35 Bw: 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36	1982
					Tw: 180, 182, 184 Bw: 181, 183, 185	1984
					Tw: 186, 188, 190, 192, 194 Bw: 187, 189, 191, 193, 195	1984 or 1985
					Tw: 196, 198, 200, 202, 204, 206, 208 Bw: 197, 199, 201, 203, 205, 207, 209	1985
					Tw: 210, 212, 214, 216, 218, 220, 222, 224, 226, 228, 230 Bw: 211, 213, 215, 217, 219, 221, 223, 225, 227, 229, 231	1986
Sibiu	Tursib	1000 mm	600 volts	004th	Tw: 5 Bw: 5	1985 or 1986	until 1994
					Tw: 6-8 Bw: 6-8	1987
Craiova	COUNCIL Craiova	1435 mm	600 volts	049	Tw: 001-021 Bw: 001-021	1987	by the end of 2007
					Tw: 022-037 Bw: 022-037	1988
					Tw: 038-049 Bw: 038-049	1989
Cluj-Napoca	RATUC	1435 mm	750 volts	039	Tw: 01, 03, 05, 07, 09, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25 Bw: 02, 04, 06, 08, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22 , 24, 26	1987	until June 2011
					Tw: 27, 29, 31, 33, 35, 37, 39, 41, 43, 45, 47, 49, 51, 53, 55, 57, 59, 61 Bw: 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38 , 40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60, 62	1988
					Tw: 63, 65, 67, 69, 71, 73, 75, 77 Bw: 64, 66, 68, 70, 72, 74, 76, 78	1989
Ploieşti	RATP	1435 mm	600 volts	020th	Tw: 7006, 7009, 7011-7012, 7015-7017, 7020 Bw: 7106, 7109, 7111 + 7112, 7115-7117, 7120	1987	until 2002
					Tw: 7021 + 7022, 7025–7027, 7038–7040, 7043 + 7044, 7046, 7049 Bw: 7121 + 7122, 7125–7127, 7138–7140, 7143 + 7144, 7146, 7149	1988
Reșița	Prescom	1435 mm	750 volts	022nd	Tw: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21 Bw: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22	1988	until 1998
					Tw: 23, 25, 27, 29, 31, 33, 35 Bw: 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36	1989
					Tw: 37, 39, 41, 43 Bw: 38, 40, 42, 44	1990

The train with the serial number 100 left the production hall in April 1977, 65 of which remained in Timişoara, 21 went to Oradea and 14 to Brăila.

Reșița originally ordered 28 trains, which at the time were supposed to cost 188,159,000 Romanian lei or 47,000,000 US dollars , respectively , but ultimately only accepted 22 trains. The six trains canceled due to poor quality remained with the Timișoara tram and, according to Stadtverkehr magazine , went into operation there in 1990 together with trains 361-131, 362-132, 363-133 and 364-134. In fact, they were repainted in the then current Timisoara color scheme, but ended up in Oradea in 1991 after several months of storage. There they went into passenger service for the first time, still in Timisoara design. In July 1991 they were already in use.

In the early 1980s, Brăila initially owned 48 trains, the number of which increased to 51 due to a replacement in 1982. Another delivery of seven trains finally led to the decommissioning of five railcars and four sidecars in 1990, so that at that time 53 railcars with the numbers 29-81 and 54 sidecars with the numbers 36-89 were available. Brăila was the only city that replaced older Timiș-2 cars with brand-new ones.

In addition, the Brașov tram, which has now been shut down again, also ordered 30 Timiș-2 trains when it opened in September 1987. For unknown reasons, however, the city received Bucharest articulated wagons from the summer of 1987, so that ultimately no wagons from Electrometal Timișoara operated there.

Modifications over the years

Timis 2 seat shells made of fiberglass, in this case continue to be used in a Rocar - trolleybus

A characteristic of the Timiș 2 trains was the fact that they were produced almost unchanged over the comparatively long production period of twenty years and were therefore technically outdated, especially in the 1980s. There were only modifications to certain details that are listed below, different type designations for the different variants did not exist:

• The trains built first (up to at least train 234-4) only had top-hung windows on the window side to avoid drafts, but not on the door side. On the trains built later, however, pop-up windows were installed on both sides.

• The first five trains had electrically operated doors. However, due to passengers jammed on the stairs and hindering the closing process, the electric motors could not do their job and often overheated. For this reason, those responsible decided to use pneumatic doors from train 236–6.

• The first 14 Timiș-2 trains, all of which were intended for Timișoara, were equipped with electrical equipment from the German company Kiepe Elektrik from Düsseldorf . A drive switch was used here, which had 20 driving and 17 braking levels. In 1974, however, the Romanian side terminated this joint venture and switched to local electrics from the 15th train. From then on, these were supplied by the - later complete manufacturer - Electrometal Timișoara.

• Up to train 289-59, built in 1976, two-part yellow plastic seats were built into the Timiș-2 trains, with the backrest and seat being separated from one another. After Electrometal Timișoara took over production in 1977, they were given an alternative to one-piece seat shells made of fiberglass in red color, as they were also used in Bucharest's V3A trains. All older seats were then also painted red.

• Sliding windows were only installed on some trains in the area of ​​the driver's cab, which was closed off from the passenger compartment; these could be opened in the upper half of the window for better ventilation of the driver's cab. However, neither the first nor the last trains produced have this feature; How many trains were delivered in this variant or whether there were later related conversions is not known.

• In the cars produced last, the manufacturer installed a rear-facing headlight just behind the first door at the level of the upper window edge . This was used to better monitor the change of passengers in the dark, in particular to prevent passengers trapped in the doors from being dragged along.

1981: Import restrictions, meter gauge version and facelift

At the beginning of the 1980s, the then Romanian government under Nicolae Ceaușescu pursued the goal of making the country economically largely self-sufficient. The aim here was, in particular, to pay back old debts with the few foreign currencies that were available and, to compensate for this, largely to forego expensive imports. These restrictions also affected the transport sector. As a result, certain metals previously obtained from abroad had to be replaced by domestic steel. For example, aluminum was no longer allowed to be used in the construction of trams, trolleybuses and omnibuses . The production of Timiș 2 trains was also affected by this problem. Among other things, the restriction meant that the older trains from the 1970s were of better quality than the last ones produced. This in turn meant that many of the cars built in the 1980s were withdrawn from the stock after only a few years of use.

Furthermore, the import restrictions resulted in Romania also ending the import of Tatra trams in 1981. However, since the two relatively large meter-gauge companies in Arad and Iași continued to require modern tram cars in large numbers and the Bucharest main workshop only produced standard-gauge cars, the IJTL Iași asked Electrometal Timișoara for a narrow-gauge version of the Timișoara in the fourth quarter of 1980 . The Timisoara engineers constructed these at relatively short notice and delivered the first two test trains to Iași as early as February 1981. The most important difference to the standard gauge version was the bogie frame, which enclosed the wheels from the outside.

The switch to domestic suppliers also led to a small facelift between 1980 and 1982 , which included the following innovations:

• In the area of ​​the bogies, the car bodies were given a recess from 1980 to improve cornering and to facilitate maintenance. After the revolution of 1989, most companies also provided their older trains with these recesses.
• Instead of the previous, small, cube-shaped line number display - which was placed on the car body - the railcars received a new, broad, combined line number and line destination display from 1981. It was integrated into the car body above the driver's cab and was accessible from the driver's cab, which means that the driver could change the sign himself if necessary. However, it was only actually used in Cluj-Napoca and Oradea to indicate the destination of the route; the other cities only used it to display route numbers or not at all.
• The cab was henceforth completed by a partition from the passenger compartment, it was retrofitted to all older cars from the 1981st
• The top-hung windows previously used - which could be tilted in the upper window quarter - were replaced in the course of 1982 by sliding windows in the area of ​​the upper half of the window.
• The interior received new lighting with significantly shorter fluorescent tubes.
• The previously bare metal support bars in the interior were then covered with green or later gray shrink tubing .
• From then on, the railcars had two plastic handles below the windshield.

Special forms: solo cars, three-car trains and overland variants

2006: one of the last Arad Timiș-2 trains, it was converted to an overland version in 1996/97

As a rule, the Timiș 2 operated as a composition of railcars and a sidecar. However, they could be found solo in Timișoara during the energy crisis of the 1980s, in the period immediately after the revolution and in their last years of service on lines 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8. In the last few years they also ran in Brăila, Cluj-Napoca, Craiova, Galați, Iași, Reșița and Sibiu, sometimes without a sidecar. One of the reasons for the solo use was defective engines, which means that one of the two motor bogies of each of the two units running solo was provisionally replaced by a non-powered bogie from the parked sidecar.

In Galați, due to numerous defective railcars, the tram company formed Timiș 2 and Tatra T3R three -car trains with two sidecars for commuter traffic to the ironworks combine CSG as early as 1981. This traffic meant maximum loads for the wagons, which was particularly bad for the weakly motorized Timiş 2 wagons got. Although the trains had a good capacity, they could only travel relatively slowly. When fully occupied, for example, the ramp to the bridge over the Siret river could only be driven at walking speed. Iași followed this model from 1989 and also formed three-car trains that also only reached comparatively low speeds. Unlike in Galați, however, the three-car trains did not prove their worth there because the trains got stuck on ramps and inclines. In Iași, there were never more than four such trains in use at the same time before they were all disbanded in the course of 1991. In the case of the three-car trains, the additional second sidecar was firmly connected to the first sidecar with a coupling rod, while the multiple unit and first sidecar - as is common with all Timiș-2 trains - were connected by a central buffer coupling.

In the second half of the 1990s, the Arader Verkehrsgesellschaft CTP had two of their Timiș-2 trains converted at Astra for the interurban tram to Ghioroc . For this purpose, the sets 1 + 2 (rebuilt 1996/1997) and 15 + 16 (rebuilt 1998) received a more comfortable interior with upholstered artificial leather seats, luggage nets and curtains. In addition, the proportion of seats was increased by installing 2 + 1 seating and removing the middle entrance.

In addition, Craiova (eleven trains between 1993 and 1995 for the local company Electroputere) and Cluj-Napoca (three trains between 1998 and 2000 for the local company Remarul 16 Februaryie , including one with a chopper control ) modernized some of their trains to reduce their service life increase. In Iași, 16 two-axle V56 trains were also given new superstructures in 1991 using components from retired Timiș 2 trains.

Conductor and passenger flow

Since the Timișoara tram was operated with conductors until October 1, 1975 , the Timiș-2 trains were also designed for conductors with passenger flow. As a special feature, the permanently installed conductor's desk was not - as is generally the case with open-plan cars - at the rear entrance on the door side, but in the middle of the car and on the window side. For this reason, a double door was arranged in the middle of the car, the conductor handling the passengers moving to the left and right at the same time. The designers adopted this principle from the V54 series from Electroputere.

After the Timișoara tram was switched to conductors-less operation, the conductors' desks finally disappeared in favor of additional standing room. On the other hand, the changeover to conductors-free operation had no effect on door operation; this was done directly by the driver right from the start. Independently of this, the double central door was also installed in all of the trains that were built later. In order to minimize passenger switching times, passengers were advised by means of labels to get on in the middle and only use the other two doors to get off.

Painting

As a special feature, all Timiș-2 trains produced up to mid-1986 were delivered in the paintwork customary in Timișoara. The roof and window areas were cream-colored, the side surfaces below the windows dark yellow and the aprons painted white. In addition, a black decorative stripe ran around the edge of the window. The trains delivered from mid-1986 for the then newly opened tram companies and the three subsequently delivered trains for Sibiu, on the other hand, were given individual colors, although a new scheme was also introduced in Timișoara itself at the time:

Cluj-Napoca:	Ribbon yellow, hull orange in the upper half and red in the lower half, aprons dark gray
Craiova:	Cream window band, red hull, dark gray aprons
Ploieşti:	Window band and aprons light gray, body wine red
Reșita:	Window band and aprons light blue, hull white
Sibiu:	uniform yellow
Timișoara:	Window band and aprons light gray, body lemon yellow

However, all other companies later repainted their trains in their own company colors over the years, so that from the mid-1990s the original paintwork could only be found in Timișoara itself. Also in a few places in Brăila, but later supplemented with individual dark green decorative stripes.

numbering

A specific sidecar was already assigned to each Timiș 2 railcar at the factory, this could also be recognized by the company number:

Craiova, Iași and Sibiu:	The railcar and sidecar each had the same number
Arad, Cluj-Napoca and Reșita:	Number of the sidecar one counter higher than the number of the railcar
Brăila:	The number of the sidecar is initially twelve, later ten counters higher than the number of the railcar
Oradea:	The number of the sidecar was initially 72, later 100 meters higher than the number of the railcar
Ploieşti:	The number of the sidecar is 100 counters higher than the number of the railcar
Galați:	The number of the sidecar was initially 50, later 240 or 250 meters higher than the number of the railcar
Timișoara:	The number of the sidecar is 230 counters lower than the number of the railcar

In practice, however, the generally high number of damaged areas meant that the sets - especially in the late 1980s and early 1990s - were rarely put together appropriately. The many withdrawals also led to numerous newly formed sets and corresponding renumbering.

Received wagons

The Arader train 31-32 in Ghioroc, 2017

Tower car 69 in Brăila, 2017

The following Timiș 2 were preserved as work cars or museum trams (as of 2019):

Arad:	Railcar 31 (intended as a museum car, parked in the Ghioroc depot) Sidecar 32 (intended as a museum car, parked in the Ghioroc depot)
Brăila:	Railcar 69 ( tower car )
Cluj-Napoca:	Railcar 01 (intended as a museum car) Sidecar 01 (intended as a museum car) Sidecar 33 (tower car)
Galați:	Railcar 57 (intended as a museum car)
Iași:	Railcar 341 ( snow plow ) Railcar 342 (intended as a museum car) Sidecar 342 (intended as a museum car)
Ploieşti:	Railcar 5008 (snow plow)
Timișoara:	Railcar 252 ( shunting railcar ) Railcar 263 (transport car with open loading area) Railcar 271 (suppressor car with sheet metal central doors) Railcar 311 (museum car) Railcar 334 (tour car with air conditioning) Railcar 343 (suppressor car with sheet metal central doors) Railcar 346 (museum car) Railcar 351 (museum car) ) Motor car 353 (museum car) Motor car 360 (museum car) Motor car 363 (shunting car) Sidecar 125 (museum car) Sidecar 133 (museum car)

literature

• Dorin Sarca, Gh. Radulovici: Centenarul tramvaielor din Timișoara, monograph 1869–1969 . Timișoara 1969.
• Hans Lehnhart and Claude Jeanmarie: Tram Companies in Eastern Europe II . Verlag Eisenbahn, Villingen 1977, ISBN 3-85649-032-9 .
• 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.
• A. Günther, S. Tarkhov, C. Blank: Tram atlas Romania 2004 . Working group Blickpunkt Straßenbahn eV, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-926524-23-5 .
• Borcea Liviu, Mihai Apan, Moisa Gabriel: De la o stație la alta . Editura Arca, Oradea 2006.
• Tram magazine , October 2011, vehicle portrait : Success story under difficult conditions - Romania's TIMIS-II open-plan car

Web links

Commons : Timiș trams  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Timiș 2, de la Revoluție direct la Restaurant by Cseh Kriszti on blog.publictransport.ro

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "Eltim" mizeaza pe dezvoltarea satelor romanesti , article from April 13, 2007 on romanialibera.ro
2. ^ Website of the manufacturer Electrometal Timișoara
3. ↑ ^{a b} Tram Magazine 3/1997, page 60
4. ↑ Stadtverkehr 6/92, page 15
5. ↑ Drapelul roşu newspaper , May 7, 1969 edition
6. ↑ Surprize la Timisoara de Ziua Transportului Public! Avem PROGRAMUL complet! opiniatimisoarei.ro, article of July 7, 2015
7. ↑ Drapelul roşu newspaper , August 1, 1970 edition
8. ↑ Drapelul roşu newspaper , December 2, 1970 edition
9. ↑ Drapelul roşu newspaper , April 21, 1985 edition
10. ^ History of the Regia Autonomă de Transport Timișoara on www.ratt.ro
11. ↑ 1869–1994, 125 de ani de circulație cu tramvaiul în Timișoara, monograph. Timișoara 1994.
12. ↑ Straßenbahnfreunde München eV - Review of the year 2000
13. ↑ ^{a b} Modern Tramway. Aug 1975, p. 280
14. ↑ phototrans.eu
15. ↑ Anuarul statistic al României 1997, page 590
16. ↑ City Traffic 9/74
17. ↑ ^{a b c d} newspaper Drapelul roșu
18. ↑ Romániai építésű vasvázas motorkocsik állományi adatai on eminescu.rdsor.ro ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2013 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. 
19. ↑ Oradea, Timiș 2 motor car on transphoto.ru
20. ↑ Oradea, Timiș 2 trailer car on transphoto.ru
21. ↑ The first sidecars delivered to Brăila originally had numbers from 41 ff., Following on from the former two-axle sidecars 1-40.
22. ↑ One of these two trains was exhibited in September 1982 at the Bucharest Expoziţiei Realizărilor Economiei Naţionale (EREN) trade fair
23. ↑ ^{a b c} Timiș 2-trams in Iași on bahn.trix.su  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
24. ↑ Train 301 was given the new number 348 in 1985, which is why some sources give 48 trains for Iași
25. ↑ Trains 301 and 302 delivered in advance as prototypes in February 1981, these differed from the series cars by their old line number display
26. ^ Vehicles of the Sibiu tram on transphoto.ru
27. ↑ The tram in Craiova at www.lars-p.de
28. ↑ The gaps were filled by ITB articulated vehicles that were delivered during the same period. The consecutive numbering of both series took place after the date of commissioning.
29. ^ Train 41–42 handed over to Timișoara in 1990
30. ↑ Drapelul roşu newspaper , April 23, 1977 edition
31. ↑ Spinoasa problemă a tramvaiului reşiţean on jurnalul.ro, article from October 2, 2009
32. ^ Stadtverkehr 6/92 (37th year), public transport in Romania, by Hans Lehnhart, pages 15-17
33. ↑ The Timiș 2 type on eminescu.rdsor.ro ( Memento of the original from August 9, 2014 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. 
34. ↑ tramwaysdumonde.skynetblogs.be
35. ↑ www.civitas.eu
36. ↑ Blickpunkt Straßenbahn 1/1993, pages 220–222
37. ^ Tram atlas Romania 2004. Page 27
38. ↑ Tatra trams of the type T4 / B4 on www.strassenbahnen-online.de
39. ↑ ^{a b} Blickpunkt Straßenbahn, 1/1994, page 238
40. ↑ Tram atlas Romania 2004. Page 65
41. ↑ Focus on the tram. 1/1994, page 233
42. ^ Tram atlas Romania 2004, pages 14–21