City tram Freiburg 100 to 102

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sputnik
Sputnik 100 on March 15, 2014
Sputnik 100 on March 15, 2014
Numbering: 100 (1967-1994: 103) , 101-102
Number: 3
Manufacturer: Rastatt wagon factory
Year of construction (s): 1959
Retirement: 1994-1995
Gauge : 1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Length over coupling: 17,430 mm
Width: 2173 mm
Empty mass: 18.75 t
Hourly output : 2 × 60 kW = 120 kW
Power system : 600 volts (from 1983 750 volts) direct current
Power transmission: Overhead line
Seats: 42
Standing room: 100

The car 100-102 of the Municipal Tramway Freiburg were three tram - mover carriage in saddle joint construction . The railcars built by the Rastatt wagon factory were put into operation in November 1959. Scheduled use in passenger service ended after 36 years of operation; Car 100 has been preserved as a museum car by the Friends of the Freiburg Tramway (FdFS) . They were the first articulated cars of the streetcar Freiburg . Popularly they were also called Sputnik after the satellite of the same name from 1957 .

history

History and procurement

In the 1950s, the city tram was looking for a vehicle that was as efficient as possible. The new railcars should offer the same amount of space as the combination of a two-axle vehicle and a sidecar and thus save a conductor . In addition, the design should be based on the previously purchased first aid trolleys in order not to have to expand the spare parts inventory.

At the end of 1959, Waggonfabrik Rastatt developed a series of four-axle articulated wagons with semi- mounted end wagons, also known as saddle- articulated wagons or saddle wagons for short . The one-way wagons consisted of a two-axle dressing wagon with a fixed chassis on which an associated trailer was saddled . The end car was supported on a non-powered bogie . Both parts of the car were finally connected by a floating joint . Even then, this design was considered technically obsolete compared to wagons with Jakobs bogies , but it was able to meet all requirements. In particular, the designers achieved a low envelope curve for the entire car body - required for the tight curves of the Freiburg network . The Rastatt wagon factory was producing similar wagons as early as 1958 by converting existing body wagons for the Aachen tram .

commitment

The three railcars were delivered in November 1959. The almost 20-meter-long Sputniks could accommodate a total of 142 passengers, 42 of whom were seated . When the number of passengers is high, the four-axle motor vehicle was supplemented by a two-axle sidecar from the 121-143 series.

Due to the design as a one-way vehicle, all seats in Freiburg could be arranged in the direction of travel for the first time . Here a 2 + 1 seating was used. As a special feature, the aisle-side seats of the double benches were designed to be foldable in order to facilitate access to the window seats. The passenger flow system and the automatic doors were also new for Freiburg . From now on, the two front double doors were used exclusively for exiting, while the third and last double door, next to which the permanent conductor's seat was located, were reserved for boarding passengers. These modern attributes gave the car its nickname Sputnik, after the Soviet satellite of the same name had caused quite a stir in Western Europe two years earlier .

In the absence of reversible loops , the Sputniks could initially only be used on line 4 between Hornusstraße and Littenweiler . In addition to the block loop in the Brühl district , this used a turning triangle at the Littenweiler train station. The latter was replaced in 1964 by a loop on Lassbergstrasse. In 1967, car 100 was given the new number 103 with a second occupation, after the previous car with number 103 - a GT4 - received the new number 109. In addition, the railcars were converted to conductors-free operation in the 1970s. With the delivery of the first GT8K in 1981 and the associated suspension of sidecar operation, the use of the Sputniks initially ended.

With the linear network reform of 1983, the cars were but needed again, this time for the then into a ring line converted amplifier line 3 - which replaced the line in turn four as only facility line of Freiburg. They were initially used on this - now only driving solo - until 1990, before they were replaced by the first GT8N . In the mid-1980s, cars 101 and 103 were also given the new red and white paint scheme of the Freiburger Verkehrs AG (VAG), which was based on the colors of the Freiburg city coat of arms and the youngest light rail companies of the time. Car 102, on the other hand, remained in the original cream-colored paintwork with green decorative stripes until the end.

Due to the regional environmental card introduced on September 1, 1991 , the Sputniks had to be reactivated a second time at short notice in order to cope with the sudden rush of passengers. This time they were used on line 5. Only with the delivery of the first GT8Z wagons in 1993 was it finally possible to dispense with the old wagons in the plan service.

Whereabouts

From 1993 the Sputniks were only used sporadically as e-cars , most recently in the winter of 1994. Car 103 was the first to be withdrawn from the regular stock in 1994. At that time it was given back its original operating number 100 and from then on functioned as an advertising tram . For this purpose, the side windows were covered with wooden panels in order to obtain a larger advertising space. However, the car advertised - initially in green and later in red - only for VAG itself, it was not used for commercial advertising.

Cars 101 and 102 were last used as driving school cars and finally both were taken out of service in the first half of 1995 and scrapped in the same year.

Car 100 came to the friends of the Freiburger Straßenbahn eV in 2006 - after more than ten years of service as a publicity car . V. ( FdFS ). They converted the vehicle back to the delivery condition. Since then, Sputnik number 100 has generally been used on the first Saturday of each month from May to September on vintage car line 7 between Paduaallee and the Musikhochschule. The vehicle can also be rented as a party car.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Dietmar Gemander, Thomas Hettinger: The Freiburg tram. The time before the light rail. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2006, ISBN 3-88255-845-8 , p. 46: Freiburg's first articulated trams - the "Sputnik".
  2. ↑ The series 401–410 of the Augsburg tram on www.fdas.de ( Memento of the original from December 15, 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.fdas.de
  3. ↑ Description on www.nahverkehr-breisgau.de
  4. ↑ www.tram-info.de
  5. ↑ fdfs.de , accessed on July 13, 2014