VBK GT6-D

GT6-D
A GT6-D in 1991
Numbering:	147-176, 189-215
Number:	57
Manufacturer:	DWM / WU , BBC
Year of construction (s):	1961-1978
Retirement:	1986-2000
Axis formula :	B'2'B '
Type :	Six-axle one-way articulated tram car
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Length over coupling:	20,435 mm
Length:	19,295 mm
Height:	3,186 mm
Width:	2,373 mm
Trunnion Distance:	6,000 mm
Bogie axle base:	1,800 mm
Empty mass:	23.1 t
Service mass:	35.3 t
Top speed:	60 km / h
Hourly output :	2 × 120 kW
Acceleration:	1.0 m / s²
Braking delay:	1.2 m / s²
Wheel diameter:	680/600 mm (new / worn)
Power system :	750 volts direct current
Power transmission:	Overhead line
Number of traction motors:	two
Drive:	DC motor
Brake:	Self-excited resistance brake, compressed air spring brake, link magnet rail brake
Train heating:	electric
Control:	Cam switch
Coupling type:	BSI compact coupling (only some vehicles)
Seats:	39/42 (one-man operation)
Standing room:	149/117 (one-man operation)
Floor height:	900 mm

The GT6-D tramcars operated by Verkehrsbetriebe Karlsruhe (VBK) are a series of 57 articulated vehicles that were delivered to VBK by DWM and Waggon Union for use in the Karlsruhe tram network between 1961 and 1978 . By 1972 the articulated railcars completely replaced the two-axle vehicles of the Karlsruhe tram and formed the backbone of the operation until the delivery of the low-floor cars in the 1990s. The articulated multiple units were retired between 1986 and 2000. Some vehicles were given to the Timișoara tram in Romania .

technology

construction

The vehicles were two-part one-way articulated multiple units. They had conventional bogies at the bow and stern, while the car parts were supported in the middle on Jakobs bogies and were connected to one another by articulated portals, so that the vehicles could be walked through. The car bodies were welded steel constructions and their shape was based on the design of the Duewag articulated multiple units . In contrast to the vehicles GT6-EP of the first delivery series with a vehicle width of 2.40 meters, the vehicles from the second delivery series were delivered with a width of 2.37 meters. The cars had four double folding doors of the Düwag design. Despite their great resemblance to the Duewag standard car, it was not a license build .

The vehicles were driven by two DC motors each, which were installed in the first and last bogies. In contrast to the Düwag tandem drive , a differential was built in to compensate for differences in the wheel diameter. The drive power was two times 120 kW. While the GT6-EP vehicles of the first delivery series were equipped with electropneumatic contactor control, lever-operated cam switches were installed in the other delivery series . The vehicle designation stood for " G elenk- T railcars with 6 axes and d irectly controlled derailleur". The vehicles were equipped with a pantograph (single arm shear ). The vehicles could be braked with resistance brakes, compressed air spring-loaded brakes and magnetic rail brakes.

A BSI compact coupling on a GT6-D

Until the beginning of the 1970s, the vehicles had BSI compact couplings for taking sidecars with them, after that only coupling stubs on which an emergency coupling could be attached. Some vehicles were again equipped with BSI compact couplings for double traction operation with GT8-EP in the 1980s .

inner space

The interior was designed for a long service life. The cars had simple 2 + 1 row seating with tubular steel chairs and wooden seats and backrests. The driver's seat in the front of the vehicle was not separated from the passenger compartment, only a curtain was provided as a privacy and glare protection. There was a shunting drive switch at the rear. Until the end of the 1960s, there was also a conductor's seat in the rear for the passenger flow procedure . After the introduction of one-man operation, it was removed from the Rastatt wagon factory in 1967 and 1968 and replaced by a switch cabinet. For one-man operation, ticket validators were installed near the doors and the vehicles were marked with red stickers with a white S as a conductorless vehicle. Line number boxes at the front and rear of the vehicles, a target film display at the front and four side sign boxes were used for passenger information. The route, the destination and the line were displayed on the inside of the side sign boxes for the passengers.

Typical of the type of wagon discussed here were the Berlin coats of arms and district names as an indication of the production location of the wagons

Coloring

Upon delivery, the vehicles were already painted in the Karlsruhe city colors yellow with a wide red decorative line around the window below the window, under which there was a decorative strip made of chrome-plated aluminum. At the bow, the lower edge of the car body was also decorated with a chrome-plated aluminum strip. This paintwork was slightly changed in the 1970s by replacing the chrome trim with a second, thin red trim line and also painting the apron of the car body red. The aluminum trim strips were omitted and were replaced by steel bumpers, which were initially yellow and later red.

As a sign of the bond with the then divided city of Berlin , at the same time the place where the vehicles were manufactured, each car was christened a Berlin district. Outwardly, this was made clear by the Berlin bear and the name of the district, which were attached to the front right and rear right of the car body .

The wagons were named after the following districts or districts:

Conversion to GT8-D

Due to the increased number of passengers and the increased demand for vehicles, some of the cars have been extensively modified. The cars were extended to GT8-D by adding another vehicle part . The following cars were affected: 175 and 176 (1975), 174 (1991), 189–208 (1975), 209–215 (1980).

history

procurement

Since the articulated multiple units were usually used as solo cars in city traffic, a decision was made, in contrast to the electropneumatic control of the first delivery series ( GT6-EP ), for the following series for a more robust, direct- controlled switching mechanism, which was made by DWM (later Waggon-Union) from 1961. were delivered in Berlin. The electrical equipment was supplied by BBC from Mannheim . Compared to the four-axle large-capacity trains that were previously purchased , the articulated multiple units promised an increase in transport capacity while at the same time saving a sidecar attendant. From 1975 onwards, most of the vehicles were lengthened to form eight-axle cars by a central section. The vehicles were delivered in five series until 1978:

Delivery series	dare	Construction year	number	Conversion to GT8-D
2	147-156	1961	10
3	157-176	1963-1964	20th	1975 (only 175, 176), 1991 (174, with middle section ex 196)
5	189-199	1969	11	1975
6th	200-208	1972	9	1975
7th	209-215	1978	7th	1980

commitment

The vehicles were initially used on the busiest line 1 (Durlach – Knielingen). With the delivery of further vehicles and the equipping of the line endpoints with reversible loops, the use was gradually extended to all lines. In contrast to the vehicles from the first delivery series, the vehicles could not be used on the Albtalbahn and Hardtbahn due to the lack of approval according to the railway building and operating regulations. Therefore, their use on Line A was limited to the section between Rüppurr, Karlsruhe city center and Northwest City. After the last pre-war vehicles were taken out of service in 1972, the VBK articulated railcars shared the Karlsruhe rail network only with the GT6-EP of the first delivery series, the longer GT8-D , the four-axle T4 and T4-EP of the 1950s and the articulated railcars of the AVG.

From 1983 the wagons 165–173 were partly used in double traction on lines 1 (Durlach – Knielingen) and 2 (Durlach – Rheinstrandsiedlung). Mixed double traction with the former articulated multiple units of the AVG from the vehicle series 1–21 and 22–25 were formed. However, due to technical differences (directly controlled angular travel switches instead of electropneumatic control), these vehicles could only be used as leading vehicles in a double traction.

With the delivery of the type GT6-80C and GT8-80C light rail vehicles , the articulated railcars were initially replaced by Line A from 1983, and from 1987 also by Line 2. After delivery of the low-floor cars of the type GT6-70D / N and GT8-70D / N from 1995, the area of ​​application of the articulated railcars was further reduced before they were completely retired in the early 2000s.

Conversions

• 147–176 - Bumper bars mounted on the front and rear.
• 147–176 - Removal of the couplings.
• 147–176 - Conversion to one-man operation by the Rastatt wagon factory (1967–68).
• 175–176 - Conversion to GT8-D by adding a middle section (1975).
• 174 - Conversion to GT8-D by inserting the middle part from 201. Renaming to 201 (1975).
• 189–208 - Conversion to GT8-D by adding a middle section (1975).
• 209–215 - Conversion to GT8-D by adding a middle section (1980).

Retirement and whereabouts

Apart from the accident-related retirement of the car 154 in 1967, the series began to be retired in 1986 and ended in 2000 with the delivery of the last vehicles to Timișoara.

Karlsruhe

Some cars were converted to special cars as early as the 1980s. The front parts of wagons 158 and 164 were turned into a six-axle, bidirectional vehicle, which was equipped as a grinding wagon and is used regularly. In 1990, railcar 155 was turned into a bicycle transport car , which was used together with a light rail car as a bicycle express on the Alb Valley Railway until it was retired in 2005 . The front section (A-section) of railcar 151 was converted into a four-axle battery trailer in order to investigate the possibility of a catenary-independent operation on railway lines for an extension of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn . Test drives for this were carried out from 1987. However, these were given up in 1990 in favor of the two-system technology and the vehicle was scrapped in 1991. Railcar 167 has been preserved to this day as a museum car as it was in the 1980s.

The following cars were scrapped: 147 and 148 (1993), 149 and 150 (1996), 154 (1967), 156 (1990), 158 B-part (1991), 159 (1993), 161 (2000), 162 (1992 ), 164 B-Part (1991), 165 (1992), 173 (1988).

Timișoara

Car 172 in Timișoara, 2007

A total of ten wagons were handed over to Romania as follows, where some of them were used by the local transport company Societatea de Transport Public Timișoara until 2017:

• 152: 1995 to Timișoara, retired in 2002
• 153: 1995 to Timișoara, retired in 2005
• 160: 2000 to Timișoara, retired in 2009
• 163: 2000 to Timișoara, parked in 2011, meanwhile retired
• 166: 2000 to Timișoara, meanwhile retired
• 168: 2000 to Timișoara, meanwhile retired
• 169: 2000 to Timișoara, retired in 2002
• 170: 2000 to Timișoara, meanwhile retired
• 171: 2000 to Timișoara, meanwhile retired
• 172: 2000 to Timișoara, meanwhile retired

gallery

• 

  Two GT6-D at Ettlinger Tor, 1988

• 

  GT6-D on the market square, 1988

• 

  GT6-D at the town hall, 1988

literature

• Manfred Koch (Ed.): Under power. History of local public transport in Karlsruhe. Badenia Verlag, Karlsruhe 2000, ISBN 3-7617-0324-4 ( publications of the Karlsruhe City Archives 20).
• Dieter Höltge: Trams and light rail vehicles in Germany. Volume 6: Bathing. EK-Verlag, Freiburg (Breisgau) 1999, ISBN 3-88255-337-5 .
• Martin Pabst: Paperback German streetcar railcars. Volume 2: Electric multiple units 1931 - today. Franckh'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 1982, ISBN 3-440-05043-2 .
• Willi Diestelkamp: Standard articulated multiple unit of the Karlsruhe transport company. In: Local traffic practice. 3/1978, ISSN  0342-9849 .

Web links

Commons : GT6-D  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Meeting point for local rail transport in Karlsruhe: Vehicle fleet list trams - articulated multiple units 6x D 2nd series
• Meeting point for local rail transport in Karlsruhe: list of trams - articulated multiple units 6x D 3rd series
• Meeting point for local rail transport in Karlsruhe: list of trams - articulated multiple units 6x D 5th series
• Meeting point for local rail transport in Karlsruhe: Vehicle fleet list trams - articulated multiple units 6x D 6th series
• Meeting point for local rail transport in Karlsruhe: Vehicle fleet list trams - articulated multiple units 6x D 7th series

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Meeting point for local rail transport in Karlsruhe: Vehicle fleet list for trams - wagon number with the district or local part name of the articulated multiple unit. Meeting point for local rail transport in Karlsruhe eV, accessed on March 28, 2014 .  
2. ^ Tram atlas 2004 Romania