VBZ Be 4/4 (carp)
| Be 4/4 "carp" | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Numbering: | Be 4/4 1416–1430 B4 771–786 (sidecar) |
| Number: | 15 railcars 16 sidecars |
| Manufacturer: |
SWS (wagon construction part) MFO (electrical part) SIG (sidecar) |
| Year of construction (s): | 1959-1960 |
| Retirement: | 2006 |
| Axis formula : | Bo'Bo ' |
| Gauge : | 1000 mm ( meter gauge ) |
| Length over coupling: | 13,950 mm |
| Height: | 3540 mm |
| Width: | 2200 mm |
| Empty mass: | 23.0 t (railcar) 11.0 t (sidecar) |
| Hourly output : | 4 × 63 kW = 252 kW |
| Power system : | 600 V DC |
| Power transmission: | Overhead line |
| Train control : | Integra «train stop» ZST 90 |
| Operating mode: |
One-way motor vehicle One-way sidecar |
| Coupling type: | + GF + |
| Seats: | 32 |
| Standing room: | 49 (railcar) 57 (sidecar) |
The Be 4/4 with the road numbers 1416–1430 is a former type of railcar of the Zurich tram with the type designation Be 4/4. The open-plan cars procured by the Zurich Transport Authority (VBZ) became known under the nickname “ Karpfen ”.
overview
Compared to the 65 Ce 4/4 “Kurbeli” and 52 Ce 4/4 “Pedaler” purchased from 1941 - the so-called Swiss standard wagons - the Be 4/4 “Karpfen” series was extremely small with only 15 wagons built. The VBZ have already checked the use of articulated wagons, but the Swiss rolling stock industry has not yet made any corresponding offers. The future of the Zurich tram network was also uncertain after the Second World War. There was loud demand for a “ deep train ” to give the automobile more space on the city center streets.
With regard to the planned underground railway , the Be 4/4 1416–1430 were given doors in the level for a possible operation at high locks while retaining the pike shape , whereby the doorless left side of the car could also have been retrofitted with doors. The pike shape in connection with the large side plane gave the car the characteristic, somewhat beefy head shape, which is more reminiscent of a carp than a pike, from which the nickname of the vehicle is derived. At the same time, matching type B4 sidecars with the same characteristics were built.
For the first time in Zurich, the control (braking and driving) was carried out via a steering wheel centrally located in front of the driver, as was common with all subsequent tram types in Zurich. In the beginning, the “Karpfen” were nicknamed “P16”. The FFA P-16 was a projected combat aircraft for the Swiss Air Force at the end of the 1950s . In analogy to this, the successor series from 1966 was called the Be 4/6 “Mirage” .
Technically and optically closely related to the "Karpfen" is the articulated car prototype Be 6/6 1701 , built immediately afterwards in 1960 , for which the 16th sidecar (B4 786) was built. The articulated car never went into series production, but remained (from 1967 under the number 1802) in the inventory of the VBZ on line 11 and later also served as an emergency car. The vehicle was converted into a so-called Fonduetram in 1993 and continued to be used as a mobile restaurant by the VBZ, subject to seasonally changing culinary themes, until it was retired in 2015.
business
The Be 4/4 "Karpfen" were always operated together with the sidecars from the same series. The first use was on line 14. There they were displaced by the Be 4/6 «Mirage» towards the end of the 1960s and were then used exclusively on line 11. From 1976 onwards they were again displaced by the Be 4/6 “Tram 2000” and used on line 9. Due to the extension of line 9 through the tunnel to Schwamendingen , they were retrofitted in 1985 with a single-arm pantograph and the Integra line block protection system "Zugstop" (new name ZST 90) for use in the tram tunnel for operation on the extended line 9.
With the delivery of the second and third series of the Be 4/6 “Tram 2000” from 1987, the Be 4/4 “Karpfen” was withdrawn from this line and distributed to the less important and shorter lines 5, 6 and 10.
Location of the vehicles
When the timetable changed in December 2006, the vehicle type was taken out of service. Before that, it was the oldest type of tram that was in normal operation on the Zurich tram.
A composition was received for the Tram Museum Zurich . 13 “Karpfen” trams were given away to the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia . At the expense of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), they were transported by rail to the Ukraine in February 2007 and adapted there for use on the Vinnytsia tram ; “Mirage” trams were also delivered to Vinnytsia. Originally, a useful life of a further ten years was expected there, but they were already reported out of operation in 2011. At least car 233 (formerly VBZ 1427) was spotted on the so-called City Tour in 2015.
literature
- Peter Willen: Trams in Switzerland. Railcar . Orell Füssli Verlag, Zurich 1978, ISBN 3-280-00998-7 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Peter Kamm: Zurich Transport 1882-1996. Oberstalden GL 1996, pp. 58 and 102
- ↑ Zurich trams on Buchs siding. Liechtenstein Fatherland , July 4, 2010, accessed on November 9, 2010 .
- ↑ Project description “Zurich Trams for Vinnitsa” by SECO (PDF; 83 kB)
- ↑ Carp in Vinnitsa: The end
- ↑ Here comes the tram ex Zurich Karpfen Be 4/4 in special livery for the city tour