Umformerwagen of the Viennese light rail and tram
The Umformerwagen of the Viennese light rail and tram are a series of - originally four - non-powered special vehicles that were procured for the former Viennese electric light rail and for the Viennese tram . The four-axle bogie cars , also known as rectifier cars (GLW) or mobile converter systems , act as mobile substations and serve as an independent operating reserve for the regular stationary substations . Originally they did not belong to the tram company, but were directly under the administration of the municipal electricity company . For this reason, they are not painted in the Viennese city colors red and white, like the passenger vehicles, but gray.
First car from 1925
The capacity of the stationary substations was completely sufficient for the continuous operation of the electric light rail, which opened in 1925, with at least one rectifier in reserve at each of the four locations. In order to be prepared for the unforeseen requirements of peak traffic on the few Sundays and public holidays in summer, a mobile converter system was available from the start. It should ensure the power supply of the light rail during special missions and in particular if a stationary rectifier or a feeder cable fails. To avoid rotational vibrations , the car had a heavy cast-iron frame, as was common with stationary systems at the time. The heart of the vehicle was, on the one hand, an ELIN single-armature converter with an output of 700 kilowatts , and, on the other, an air-cooled oil transformer , which was divided into about half of the vehicle. The manufacturer of the wagon construction part was the Enzesfeld wagon factory.
The converter car was usually moved with one type N urban rail car at the front and one at the rear, for which it was equipped with the cables and connections required for multiple control. Right at the start of its mission, the first converter car was damaged in an accident. On June 26, 1926, it unrolled at 4:55 a.m. due to the poorly working handbrake during shunting work in Michelbeuern and reached the northern belt line - which was not yet regularly operated - as far as Heiligenstadt, where it derailed when entering the train station.
In 1935 the first transformer car received an additional transformer for use in the tram network, which is operated with the lower voltage of 600 volts. When the five-kilovolt three-phase network was finally converted to ten kilovolts at the end of the 1950s, the municipality of Vienna decided not to carry out any further modifications, whereupon the car was withdrawn from the inventory in 1962.
Second car from 1928
As the system introduced in 1925 proved its worth, in 1928 a second - electrically identical - converter car number 2 was put into operation for the Stadtbahn. Its wagon construction part came from the Simmeringer Waggonfabrik , and it was also 60 centimeters longer than the converter wagon number 1 with a length of 12,600 millimeters via the coupling. The second system was also adapted for tram operation in 1935, and it was finally taken out of service in 1963.
Third and fourth cars from 1944
In 1944 the electricity works acquired two more converter cars with the numbers 3 and 4 from the Simmeringer Waggonfabrik, but they were initially designed exclusively for 600-volt tram operation. They have a length over buffers of 13,300 millimeters, are 2,150 millimeters wide, 3,630 millimeters high and weigh 26,000 kilograms. Its center-to-center distance is 6400 millimeters and the wheelbase in the bogie is 1500 millimeters.
In 1958, both vehicles were adapted for 750-volt light rail operations and converted to ten-kilovolt supply in 1963 and 1970, respectively. In this context, the original mercury vapor rectifiers were also replaced by silicon rectifiers . On December 18, 1986, they were given company numbers 1 and 2 with a second occupation before both were taken over into the portfolio of Wiener Linien in February 2007, with retroactive effect from March 28, 2006 . At that time they were officially assigned the new company numbers 7001 and 7002, which they had been using unofficially since January 1st, 1995.
numbering
From 1939 to around 1955, the two Stadtbahn Umformerwagen were labeled with the Roman numerals I and II instead of the Arabic numerals 1 and 2.
literature
- Alfred Horn: Wiener Stadtbahn. 90 years of light rail, 10 years of underground. Bohmann-Verlag, Vienna 1988, ISBN 3-7002-0678-X
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ The Viennese electric Stadtbahn by engineer Ludwig Spängler, director of the Viennese urban trams, special print from the Elektrotechnische Zeitschrift, issue 39, 1927, Julius Springer, Berlin ( digitized on Commons ).
- ↑ Chief Inspector Ing. E. Gebauer, Vienna: The power conversion systems of the municipal electricity works in Vienna for the operation of the Viennese electric light rail , pp. 769–780, in: Elektrotechnik und Maschinenbau, Zeitschrift des Elektrotechnisches Verein in Wien, 43rd year, Issue 39, Vienna, September 27, 1925 , here pp. 778–780.
- ^ A b Alfred Horn: Wiener Stadtbahn. 90 years of light rail, 10 years of underground. Bohmann-Verlag, Vienna 1988, ISBN 3-7002-0678-X , p. 138.
- ↑ Length of converter car number 1: 12,000 millimeters, see car drawing in Alfred Laula, Alfred Rosenkranz: Wiener Straßenbahnwagen - Technik und Fotos . Josef Otto Slezak, Vienna 1983, ISBN 3-85416-092-5 , p. 105.
- ↑ Description of the Umformerwagen on strassenbahnjournal.at, accessed on October 18, 2018.