Type FII (Timișoara tram)

Type FII
The restored museum train
Number:	19 railcars
Manufacturer:	Car 107–121: Tramvaiele Comunale Timişoara (TCT) / Car 122–125: Întreprinderea Electromecanică Timişoara (IET)
Year of construction (s):	1927-1943
Retirement:	1988
Gauge :	1435 mm
Length over coupling:	10,020 mm
Length:	9220 mm
Width:	2200 mm
Fixed wheelbase:	3200 mm
Seats:	24
Standing room:	28

A series of 19 two-axle railcars of the Timișoara tram in Romania was designated as Type FII . The standard-gauge bidirectional wagons were built between 1927 and 1943 by the local transport company Tramvaiele Comunale Timișoara ( TCT ), which operated under the name of Întreprinderea Electromecanică Timişoara ( IET ) from 1938 , and were in use until 1988. They were the last vehicles made for Timisoara with a wooden body. As a result of the systematisation of the type designations that took place in 1964, they were also referred to as T.3 . In addition to the 19 cars in Timișoara, there were two other identical vehicles on the meter-gauge Arad tram , but they had no type designation.

description

The type FII cars were 9220 millimeters (car body) or 10,020 millimeters (length over coupling) long and 2200 millimeters wide, their center distance was 3200 millimeters. They weighed 8,700 kilograms and offered space for 52 passengers. In addition to 24 seats on the two longitudinal bench seats - which were later replaced by individual seats - there were 28 standing places. The access platforms were designed to be open and secured with hinged metal grids, the appearance of the new railcars was very similar to the predecessor series Type F (years of construction 1925–1927) or the somewhat younger type CII sidecars (years of construction 1928–1929). Unlike the four-window F and CII cars, the larger passenger cabin of the FII had five side windows.

history

Commissioning

The first 15 FII cars, which had electrical equipment from the Compagnie Française Thomson-Houston from Paris, were produced as follows - the numbering followed the six cars 101-106 of the type F:

1927:	Cars 107, 108 and 109
1928:	Cars 110, 111 and 112
1929:	Cars 113, 114 and 115
1930:	Cars 116, 117 and 118
1931:	Cars 119, 120 and 121

The FII cars were initially only used on main line 1, where they were mostly pre- loaded with a type A , AII , C or CII sidecar .

Conversion to twin railcars

In January 1931, the TCT finally formed a firmly coupled twin railcar based on the Budapest model from the two cars 107 and 108 . Together with the train 82-83 of the new type Fa , which was created on January 19, 1931 from two - simultaneously motorized - CII sidecars, it was one of the first two twin trains in Timișoara. They established a tradition that resulted in 29 such teams being created by 1969. With them, in particular, there was no need to maneuver the sidecars at the terminals. After the first two mixtures - Romanian for twins - proved their worth, six more FII doubles were created by 1935. Only car 113 was the only one to remain solo due to the lack of a suitable partner:

• 109-110 on March 29, 1931
• 111-112 on February 15, 1932
• 114-115 on June 6, 1932
• 116-117 on March 25, 1935
• 118-119 on March 28, 1935
• 120–121 on August 23, 1935

At the same time, the lyre pantographs were replaced by scissor pantographs , so that the bracket could not be repositioned at the end points. In the process, the car with the higher number lost its pantograph and was henceforth supplied with power cables . Except for trains 111–112 and 114–115, where the pantograph was initially mounted on the wagon with the higher number, but was implemented over the years. In addition, the teams each received two new driving switches from Siemens-Schuckertwerke in Germany. These controllers had nine driving and seven braking levels and were intended to enable the vehicle to accelerate and brake as smoothly as possible. In contrast to this, the four previously installed drive switches on the individual cars only had seven drive and six braking levels. In this context, the braking system of the FII wagons was also converted to magnetic solenoid brakes . To compensate for this, the no longer required electrical coupling for trailer operation was omitted in all fourteen appropriately adapted cars. Another innovation concerned the departure signal at the stops . While with the classic two-car trains the conductor of the sidecar transmitted the readiness to depart by whistling to the conductor of the railcar and the conductor passed it on to the driver by bell , an optical system was used with the twin railcars . Here, the conductor in the guided car had to operate a switch rod at the beginning of the passenger change , whereupon a light signal came on in the driver's cab of the leading car. The train was only allowed to leave when this was extinguished again by operating the rod again. In 1950, the driver finally took over the monitoring of passenger changes, for which the vehicles were subsequently given rear-view mirrors . In addition to line 1, the double railcars were also used on line 7, which was renamed line 2 in 1936.

First modifications

In the years 1937 to 1940 the open stages of the FII wagons were closed by two-part pneumatic folding doors and folding steps were installed; in return, the handles on the outside were omitted. The prerequisite for this was retrofitting with compressors to operate the new doors. The wooden folding doors opened to the outside, they were initially not painted, but left natural. It was not until the first half of the 1960s that they were adapted to the red and white car colors that were common at the time. Only train 109-110 was excluded from this conversion and retained its open platforms. In addition, the FII cars were given single seats with 1 + 1 seating instead of the previously built-in longitudinal bench seats. Initially, two people sat opposite each other. In later years, the passengers sat in one car each in the direction of travel, while in the other part of the double multiple unit all the seats were arranged against the direction of travel.

Replica of four other cars

After no new trams could be manufactured or procured between 1932 and 1941, the tram company, which had meanwhile been renamed Întreprinderea Electromecanică Timişoara (IET) , reverted to the - now obsolete - type FII plans during the Second World War . Four more wagons were built, and from the start they operated as twin teams:

1942:	Train 122–123
1943:	Train 124–125

These two trains were fitted with engines of the type BBF 40 , which were procured from the German Reich , which was then allied with Romania, from ELIN Aktiengesellschaft für electrical industry in Linz . They were 35.3 kilowatts and ran at 650 revolutions per minute. In addition to the 113 single car, there were a total of nine FII combinations.

With the post-produced wagons, it was possible to operate main line 3 almost entirely with double multiple units from 1942, which ended use on lines 1 and 2. Until the appearance of the four-axle type Gb 2/2, which were produced from 1948 , they were the most modern vehicles on the Timișoara tram. However, after 1955 more Großraumwagen - 20 V54 of electroputere - were delivered, the FII 1959 disappeared from the main line 3, which at that time on device operation was changed. As a result, the FII migrated to the less frequented branch lines 4 (from 1962: line 3), 8 (from 1962: line 4) and 9 (from 1962: line 5), onto which types B , C, DII and F for more modern one-way cars of the Pionier T.4 and T.5 , T1-62 and R.1 series , bidirectional cars were urgently needed. Line 7 was later added as a new area of ​​operation, which emerged from the previous line 5 in 1962 and was operated as a bidirectional line from 1969 to 1974 and again from 1975 to 1980.

From 1966 the loner 113 formed a twin team with the smaller F-car 106 and was renamed to 105 for this purpose. The original F-Car 105, on the other hand, was converted into a Timiș 1 railcar in 1964. In addition, the AII car number 1 was added to this unequal combination as a middle trailer until 1970 . In the spring of 1964, the oldest two trains 107-108 and 109-110 were assigned the new numbers 128-129 and 126-127 for systematic reasons, while the previous Fa railcars 82 and 83 carried the numbers 107 and 108 with a double crew .

modernization

In the 1960s, the 19 FII cars were modernized somewhat, although the conversions were not carried out uniformly for all vehicles:

	105	111-112	114-115	116-117	118-119	120-121	122-123	124-125	126-127	128-129
Car aprons:	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Rounded window panes with aluminum surround and one-piece front panes:	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
illuminated train destination displays:	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
pneumatic folding doors, four-part:	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No

End of use

The conversion of suburban lines 3 and 4 to one-way operation with more modern vehicles meant that from 1976 the FII cars were only used on lines 5 and 7. After line 7 was finally converted into a ring line again in 1980, this led to the decommissioning of the first teams - these were trains 118–119, 120–121 and 122–123. The remaining trains were then only in use on the last remaining two-way line 5 into the Ronaț , before they were finally largely replaced there in 1985 by pioneer railcars. As a result, the mixed train 105-106 and the train 124-125, now renamed 153-154, were removed from the inventory in the mid-1980s.

Since there were only three pioneer trains available for the total of four routes on line 5, some cars continued to operate, these were the 111–112, 114–115, 116–117, 126–127 and 128– 129. With the retirement of the last F-wagon number 106, the FII were also the last scheduled wooden superstructures of the Timișoara tram from 1985 and at the same time the last in Romania at all.

It was not until 1988 that the FII series could finally be dispensed with, when the line into the Ronaț was temporarily suspended during the conversion to one-way operation.

Museum train

Interior view of the museum train

Ultimately, only the oldest train 128–129 - formerly 107–108 - remained, which was needed as a shunting railcar in depot number 1 on Bulevardul Take Ionescu. In this role he was still in use until the first half of the 1990s under the abbreviation “VSP” - or later without a name.

For the 125th anniversary of the Timișoara tram in 1994, the last FII train was externally refurbished and repainted for the first time. With a view to its 130th anniversary in 1999, it was finally extensively restored and partially returned to its original state. Longitudinal bench seats were installed again in the interior, the aprons and doors that were subsequently installed were removed, the lower decorative strip was reinstalled and the original red and white paint was applied. In the summer of 2001, the Regia Autonomă de Transport Timișoara , the name of the tram company at the time, carried out special public trips at the regular tariff for the first time with this museum car .

Similar carriages in Arad

In 1949, the then Arad tram company Întreprinderea Comunală Orăşeneşti Arad ( ICOA ) built a double multiple unit based on the Timişoara type FII in their own workshops. This was given the numbers 14-15 following the existing two-axle vehicles and differed only in details from its models from Timișoara. For example, both the line number display and the headlights were integrated into the car body . He remained a loner, because shortly thereafter, in Arad, too, the building of modern four-axle vehicles in the form of the twelve Pullman large-capacity cars that were built from 1952 onwards was relied on . There were also no other twin trains of other types in Arad, which made it the only Romanian double multiple unit outside Timisoara. In the second half of the 1960s, the train 14-15 was converted to one-way operation, making car 15 a guided multiple unit . At this point in time there were only equipment trolleys in stock. The combination was in operation in this form until 1974, the two cars have not survived.

literature

• 60 de ani de la înființarea tramvaiului în Timișoara, monograph 1869-1929 . Timișoara 1929.
• Vasile Deheleanu, Sabin Indrieşu: Monografia întreprinderilor electromecanice municipale Timişoara . Timișoara 1944.
• 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. ↑ www.tramway.com ( Memento from December 25, 2001 in the Internet Archive )
2. ^ ^{A b} Regia Autonomă de Transport Timișoara, 130 de ani de activitate, 1869-1999, monograph. Timișoara 1999.
3. ↑ city traffic 11 / 12–1985
4. ↑ Information on the special trips of the Banat Tram Club at www.ingo-teschke.homepage.t-online.de
5. ↑ 60 de ani de la introducerea tramvaiului electric în Arad on www.ctparad.ro ( Memento of the original from October 13, 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. 
6. ↑ Hans Lehnhart and Claude Jeanmairie, tram operations in Eastern Europe II, Verlag Eisenbahn 1977