SiU-5

SiU-5
SiU-5 museum trolleybus in Saint Petersburg
number of pieces	14,632
Manufacturer	Zavod imeni Uritskowo
Years of construction	1959-1972
Years of use	1959-1994
Length over buffers	11,870 mm
Width:	2680 mm
Height  (without equipment on the roof) :	3120 mm
Wheelbase:	6100 mm
Ground clearance:	200 mm
Turning circle:	12 m
Empty mass:	9.8 t
Top speed:	68 km / h
Starting acceleration:	1.3 m / s²
Engine type:	DK-207A / DK-207G
Power system :	600 volts direct current
Hourly output :	95/107 kW
Control:	Contactor control
Brake:	Resistance brake, direct-acting compressed air brake, hand parking brake
Seats:	35
Standing room:	87 (8 passengers per m²)

SiU-5 ( Russian ЗиУ-5 , transliteration also ZiU-5 ) is the name of a Soviet trolleybus type . The solo cars were manufactured by the Zavod imeni Urizkowo plant in Saratov Oblast in Russia . Today the company operates under the name Trolsa . The series designation is made up of the abbreviation of the official manufacturer name SiU and the serial number of the draft. The employees of the transport company gave this car the nickname "Pjatjorka", which is a diminutive of the number "five" in Russian .

SiU designed the type in 1959 to meet the needs of the Soviet transport companies for large buses. The first series consisted of 200 SiU-5s and was manufactured in the same year. It was delivered to Moscow for extensive testing . After deficiencies had been rectified, the SiU-5 became the predominant model in the fleet of many Soviet trolleybus companies in the 1960s . It was also exported to Hungary and Colombia . From a technical point of view, the vehicle had some advanced solutions in its design for the time. These included the self-supporting car body , the power steering and the fully automatic contactor control . In comparison to the older Soviet types of trolleybuses, passengers benefited from an improvement in ride comfort. During the entire production period, the original design was modernized several times, so there were different versions of the SiU-5 . In 1971 the manufacturer was able to complete the work on the new successor model SiU-9 . As a result, the production of the SiU-5 was stopped in the following year.

SiU built a total of 14,632 SiU-5 trolleybuses. About ten years after the end of series production of the SiU-5 , the number of operational vehicles of this type began to decrease very quickly due to problems with their car bodies. The delivery of numerous SiU-9s made the maintenance of the old trolleybuses superfluous, so that the SiU-5s disappeared from the streets of Soviet cities between 1983 and 1989. The last one was taken out of service in Saint Petersburg in 1994 ; individual surviving examples of this model are used as museum vehicles or preserved as technical monuments .

history

prehistory

In the period after the end of the Second World War , the rapid spread and development of trolleybuses in local public transport in the Soviet Union took place. The trolleybus was seen by the Soviet leadership during this period as the most advanced solution to the existing traffic problems. Using a common road infrastructure with motor transport , according to the prevailing opinion at the time, the costs for construction and operation were lower than with the tram . This was an important factor that made trolleybus operations a priority in the Soviet planned economy . In addition, many Soviet tram companies used small two-axle vehicles. As a result, the trolleybuses temporarily had an advantage in terms of the number of seats per unit compared to trams made up of multiple units and sidecars .

Development of trolleybus traffic in the USSR

Characteristic values	1940	1950	1960	1970	1980	1985
Cities with trolleybus operations	8th	34	53	111	163	176
Contact line length in kilometers	329	949	3030	8142	14.004	16,294
Wagon inventory	800	1800	5400	15,800	23,900	26,800
annual transport performance in millions of people	294	945	3055	6122	9035	9974

Type MTB-82 trolleybus

Since 1946 the MTB-82 ( Russian МТБ-82 ) were the basis of the Soviet trolleybus fleet. They were simple, durable and, with proper and undemanding maintenance, reliable vehicles. From a technical point of view, however, they were out of date, and were considered uncomfortable by drivers and passengers. Some shortcomings were mutually dependent, and one particularity of the construction led to another disadvantage. For example, the main electric motor of the MTB-82 had contactor control , but it did not work automatically and only two speed levels were suitable for unlimited use at constant speed. Incorrect shifting when accelerating and especially long driving in unsuitable gear steps could lead to overheating of the starting resistors and, as a result, to their destruction. In the worst case, it could lead to fires. Therefore, the driver should have some experience in order to drive the MTB-82 safely, as the vehicle was not easy and safe to drive for beginners. The disproportionately large driver's cab could only be heated very poorly in winter, the narrow doors and passages between the seats and the very small front entrance area prevented passengers from changing quickly. The small windows, the deep ceiling and the tight seating made tall people uncomfortable. The need for a new vehicle was obvious.

Technical data of individual Soviet vehicles from the 1940s for public city traffic

Characteristic values	KTM / KTP-1	MTW-82	LM / LP-49	SiS-154	MTB-82
Means of transport	tram	tram	tram	omnibus	trolleybus
Years of construction	1947-1961	1947-1961	1949-1968	1946-1950	1946-1960
Type	Train from Tw and Bw	Solo multiple units	Train from Tw and Bw	Solo bus	Solo bus
Axle or wheel formula	Bo + 2	Bo'Bo '	Bo'Bo '+ 2'2'	4 × 2	4 × 2
Length in meters	10 + 10	13.6	15.4 + 15.4	9.5	10.4
Seats	16 + 15	40	34 + 35	34	38
Standing space for eight passengers per square meter	100 + 108	140	165 + 170	26th	48
Empty mass, tons	12.5 + 8	17.5	19.5 + 13.8	8.1	9.25
Power kW	2 × 50	4 × 55	4 × 55	1 × 83	1 × 80
Power / weight without passengers, kW / t	4.9	12.6	6.6	10.2	8.6

development

Side view of the MTB-82 and SiU-5 trolleybuses

Front view of the two types of trolleybus

The only major manufacturer of trolleybuses in the USSR since 1951 was the Zavod imeni Urizkowo, a company in the city of Engels near Saratov . This factory successfully began series production of the MTB-82 in 1951 , after its original developer, the Sawod number 82 in the then Moscow suburb of Tushino , gave up civil engineering and returned to the manufacture of military aircraft . Although the question of a new model had been discussed since the start of serial production there, the development process was delayed until the mid-1950s due to the high demand for trolleybuses in the vast country and the heavy workload on the staff in organizing the serial production. In 1955 the prototype of the new design TBU-1 and from 1956 to 1957 a small series of ten vehicles, including the prototype, were built and tested in Moscow. The design with its many advanced solutions for the Soviet trolleybus vehicle construction not only showed numerous shortcomings and poor reliability, but also room for improvement. There were other related developments in the field of overhead line trucks - SiU built the test types TBU-2 , TBU-3 and TBU-4 , all of which had the ability to drive short distances without overhead lines using battery emergency driving. However, there was no series production of these models.

The fifth draft was a heavily revised TBU-1 with some special features compared to the original variant and new constructive solutions. When this was ready for series production, the old TB designations of the trolleybus vehicles (such as JaTB , MTB and TBU ) were given up for the new cars, so that the new trolleybus got its official name from the abbreviation for the developer and manufacturer (SiU) and the serial number of the design (5) received. The SiU-5 took over the external appearance of the TBU-1 as well as its fully automatic contactor control, the much wider doors and the arrangement of the main motor between the wheel axles were the most important features of the new model. The main engine of the TBU-1 , on the other hand, was located behind the rear wheel axle, which in practice proved to be problematic.

The first series of the SiU-5 was quite extensive for a test vehicle. 200 new trolleybuses of this type were delivered to the 2nd Moscow trolleybus depot for large-scale tests under real operating conditions. The defects found in the design were corrected immediately on the production line and in the vehicles that had already been built and used. As a result, the second series of the SiU-5 in 1960 showed significant structural differences to the first. Although there were still some problems with the design, even the initially unreliable SiU-5s showed that they outperformed their predecessors, the MTB-82, in terms of effectiveness and convenience for passengers and drivers. They also enabled greater profits for the transport company - the better comfort attracted more passengers and the working conditions for the conductors were made easier. For example, the new trolleybus operation in Novorossiysk, equipped with SiU-5 , was able to generate so much profit that the old tram, which was subsidized from the city budget, was closed almost immediately after the trolleybus opened. The demand was so high that the Soviet leadership decided to stop series production of the MTB-82 in 1961 and concentrate all efforts on expanding production and improving the quality of the SiU-5 .

Improving the design was a constant task for the engineers and technologists at SiU. The design details of the vehicles sometimes changed significantly, but how the SiU designated these variants is unclear until the mid-1960s. After that, the plant officially delivered the version SiU-5G ( Russian ЗиУ-5Г ). After the major expansion and modernization of the company in 1969, the last series version SiU-5D ( Russian ЗиУ-5Д ) was developed. It had many differences compared to the SiU-5G version , but even this more advanced version did not meet all the requirements of the Soviet leadership. During this time, the SiU design office was working on a new trolleybus model to replace the SiU-5 . This car, which was named SiU-9 in the operating documents and was given the designation SiU-682 in the new Soviet class directory of rail-less vehicles, was mass -produced from 1971 after the successful tests. As a result, every further development of the SiU-5 was discontinued. The ascending alphabetical order in the designation of the modifications G and D (in the Russian alphabet ) as well as the comparable practice with the successor model SiU-682 with the proven variants B, W and G (but without the A variant) makes it probable that the early Versions of the SiU-5 could have received the indices A, B and W. Even if it is a plausible hypothesis, there is no confirmation of this.

Technical data of individual Soviet vehicles from the 1960s for public city traffic

Characteristic values	KTM / KTP-2	RWS-6	LM-57	SiL-158	SiU-5
Means of transport	tram	tram	tram	omnibus	trolleybus
Years of construction	1958-1969	1960-1987	1957-1968	1957-1970	1959-1972
Type	Train from Tw and Bw	Solo multiple units	Solo multiple units	Solo bus	Solo bus
Axle or wheel formula	Bo + 2	Bo'Bo '	Bo'Bo '	4x2	4x2
Length in meters	10.3 + 10.1	14.0	15.0	9.0	11.8
Seats	20 + 22	39	37	32	35
Standing space for eight passengers per square meter	65 + 72	158	170	38	87
Empty mass, tons	11 + 8.5	16.5 (17)	18.5	6.5	9.8
Power kW	2 × 46	4 × 36 (43)	4 × 45	1 × 80	1 × 95 (107)
Power / weight without passengers, kW / ton	4.7	8.7 (10.1)	9.7	12.3	9.7 (11)

Remarks:

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Data for the RWS-6M2 version, which was built from 1974 and could run in multiple units.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Data for the SiU-5D version, which was manufactured from 1969.

Serial production

The series production of the SiU-5 lasted from 1959 up to and including 1972. In the course of this there was a broad cooperation between various Soviet mechanical engineering companies. The Urizki factory built only some of the equipment and parts of the trolleybus itself, others were contributed by suppliers. Among them were a number of large manufacturers, for example the electrical equipment, such as the main motor and contactor control, was supplied by the Moscow “Dynamo” plant, and the Minsky Avtomobilny Sawod supplied fully assembled rear axles . Wheels, window panes, the pneumatic equipment and a number of other smaller parts were also supplied by outside companies. With the acceptance of the new SiU-5D version in 1969, the cooperation in series production became international - this variant received a rear wheel axle from the Hungarian commercial vehicle manufacturer Rába .

From 1971, the production of the new model was a result Siu-9 on the production lines of the SIU began. During a certain period of time, which was necessary to resolve the teething problems of the new design and to adapt the technological processes, the company built both models at the same time. In 1972 this transition period ended and the SiU switched completely to the SiU-9 . Over the entire period of series production, it produced 14,632 SiU-5s of all designs.

Operational use

In the period from 1959 to 1972 inclusive, SiU-5 vehicles were delivered to the vast majority of Soviet trolleybus companies under the supervision of the central control. They had almost no alternative, because the series production of the MTB-82 was ended in 1960 and apart from the Urizki plant there was no other large company for the production of trolleybuses. Only two other companies in the USSR, SWARS in Moscow and KSET in Kiev, produced small series of trolleybuses of their own design for their cities. Some of the Kiev vehicles also ran in other Ukrainian cities. The only exception were the trolleybus companies in the Baltic States , Western Ukraine , Crimea and Georgia - they were equipped with imported Czechoslovak vehicles Škoda 8Tr and Škoda 9Tr . Only SiU-5 trolleybuses were delivered to all other cities ; After the old MTB-82 vehicles were retired, the SiU-5 became the only type in the fleet there. Some trolleybus companies were not yet ready for the introduction of this new model. For example, in Gorki, where the trolleybus network is divided into three unconnected segments, the first five vehicles of this type were delivered in 1961 for the network segment in the high part of the city. The exits and vehicle hangars of the local depot, built in 1947 and intended for the MTB-82 , were too small and narrow for proper maintenance of the larger SiU-5 . So after a short time they were brought into the Sormowo network segment. It was only after the construction of the new depot in 1972 that the last series of the SiU-5D, alongside the first series of the SiU-9, could begin traffic in the high part.

The large production number led to the dominance of the SiU-5 among the trolleybus models in the USSR. Even after the start of series production of the SiU-9 , their share in the vehicle fleet remained significant for a long time. In the USSR, SiU-5 drove in the following cities:

Almaty Kharkov Kherson Gorky Yaroslavl Kaliningrad Karaganda Kiev Kirov Kirovograd Krasnodar Kuybyshev Leningrad Lipetsk

Minsk Moscow Murmansk Novorossiysk Novosibirsk Odessa Penza Petrozavodsk Poltava Ryazan Rostov on Don Zaporozhye Saratov Stavropol

Sverdlovsk Tallinn Tambov Tbilisi Togliatti Cheboksary Chernigov Tula Tver Ulyanovsk Volgograd Voronezh Zelinograd

In some cities, such as Cheboksary or Novorossiysk, the trolleybus service there began with this type. The Tallinn trolleybus also went into operation in 1965 with nine SiU-5s. In Gorky, the SiU-5 opened in 1967 in the subnetwork of the Avtozavodsky district .

Ten years after the end of series production of the SiU-5 , the number of operational vehicles of this type began to decrease very quickly due to problems with their car bodies. The delivery of numerous SiU-9s made the maintenance of the old trolleybuses superfluous, so that between 1983 and 1985 the SiU-5s disappeared from the streets of the Soviet cities. With the exception of individual cases, the last ones were taken out of service in 1989 in Leningrad and Odessa, rare surviving trolleybuses of this model were used as service, monument or museum vehicles.

The SiU-5 trolleybuses were also sold to the Budapest trolleybus in the Hungarian capital and to the Colombian capital Bogotá . The Hungarian batch of 100 vehicles was delivered between 1966 and 1969. The first segregation took place in 1975, the last SiU-5 went out of service in 1982. The Hungarian traffic workers were dissatisfied with the poor field of vision from the driver's cab in the area of ​​the front door on the right-hand side. To solve this problem, the design of the front door was changed. The originally two-wing folding door with two moving parts each was replaced by a single wing with three parts; the front wing was attached rigidly and received a large window for a better field of vision.

technical description

Car body

View of the passenger compartment towards the rear

The self-supporting car body of the SiU-5 was a completely welded frame made of bent steel sections of various thicknesses and cross-sections. This framework was clad with 1.5-2 mm thick aluminum plates. As a result of the dissimilar materials in the construction of the car body , the frame and panels were riveted together . A rubber runner was placed on the roof panel to reduce the risk of slipping and electric shock to the mechanics during maintenance. Inside, the car body was given a panel made of lacquered veneer wood , between which and the outer aluminum panels there was thermal insulation . The wooden floor was held on the floor frame of the scaffolding and had a non-slip rubber covering .

Schematic representation of the interior:
Yellow: Passenger area with seats
Green: Driver's cab
Red: Entrance areas
Pink: Ticket machine for single tickets .

The car body can be divided into three parts: driver's cab, passenger compartment and underfloor space. The sprung wheel axles, the main motor, the low-voltage adjustment motor of the control system, starting and braking resistors, the compressor with its electric drive, the air tanks and the other pneumatic devices as well as the battery housing were attached to various points on the floor frame in the underfloor space. For access to these parts and devices, there were some hatches and maintenance openings in the floor as well as flaps in the side skirts. The engine was positioned between the axles and the power was transmitted to the rear axle via a cardan shaft. The vehicle had entrances with folding doors at both ends, in front of the front axle and behind the rear axle . The door drives were installed in housings above the entrances. The driver's seat was to the left of the center of the car body and was separated from the passenger compartment by a bulkhead with an entrance door. The main engine's indirect control system contactors were installed in a housing on the right side of the driver's cab. The passenger compartment was made up of the small front entrance area by the driver's cab, the large rear entrance area by the back door, the running boards, the conductor's seat , which was slightly raised in the earlier series, for passenger flow operations , and the two-seater padded bench seats in 2 + 2 seating with a central aisle. Some metal parts in the interior, such as grab bars and handles, have been chrome-plated for aesthetic reasons and to protect against corrosion . In the vehicles of the first series, there was also a clock on the back of the partition wall of the driver's cab.

The later versions of the SiU-5 had a slightly different design of the passenger compartment - the clock was abolished, an additional bench for two passengers was installed instead of the conductor's seat. New plastics replaced the veneer as inner cladding, instead of chrome-plated handle bars and handles, anodized or polyvinyl chloride coated parts were installed. In the technical literature of the time, these changes were seen as progressive solutions that improved passenger safety from electric shocks and made it easier to clean the vehicle. The primary purpose of these changes was to encourage manufacturers to replace costly technological methods such as chrome plating and, later, anodizing.

SiU-5 in the Nizhny Novgorod Museum of Electric City Transport

From the outside, the car body in the SiU was painted in one of the typical schemes:

• white roof and upper part (above the molding under the window), cherry-red central part (between the molding) and apron (under the second molding);
• light blue roof, top and middle, red aprons;
• yellow roof, top and middle, red aprons and stripes under the window with a "decorative point" on the front; the SiU-5D in the Nizhny Novgorod Museum has such a paint job;
• white roof and top, green-blue center and apron; the SiU-5G in the St. Petersburg Museum has such a paint job.

The endeavor to save time and materials in production had a negative effect on the reliability of the car body. In use, there were several fatigue breaks on the most heavily loaded parts of the floor frame of the scaffolding. Some trolleybus companies (for example in Gorki and Krasnodar) built additional seats in the area of ​​the large rear entrance in order to reduce the load on the load-bearing components of the car body. The type of steel used for the scaffolding construction also had a negative peculiarity - it lost its strength properties when exposed to heat. After the fatigue fracture was welded in the floor frame during repair work, further cracks soon appeared in the vicinity of the weld seam. As a rule, this led to renewed breakage of the structural steel sections of the scaffolding; the vehicle failed and was scrapped as unsuitable for further safe use. The combination of the different metals for the car body (aluminum as cladding panels and iron in the steel of the frame) caused galvanic corrosion of the metal with the higher standard potential , i.e. aluminum. While this was not the main cause of the construction's deterioration, it added all the negative and destructive factors. As a result, the service life of the entire vehicle was not long; in Gorkier depot no. 1, for example, it did not exceed eleven to twelve years, with the trolleybuses being taken out of service because of the poor condition of the car bodies.

Mechanical equipment

The rear wheel axle of the SiU-5 trolleybus

The mechanical parts of the SiU-5 were typical of the trolleybuses manufactured in the 1950s and 1960s. Included in the equipment

• the front axle with worm steering ;
• the drive rear axle with the differential gear ;
• the power transmission from the armature of the main engine to the differential gear consisting of the countershaft and cardan shaft ;
• the suspension of the axles on the car body;
• the drum brakes on all wheels.

When braking, the contact pressure of the jaws on the drum was regulated by the pneumatic drive and brake return springs. There was also a hand parking brake with bars and levers for holding the vehicle on sloping roads. The use of the hand parking brake while driving was only permitted in the event of a technical failure of the pneumatic brake drive.

The suspension system included four semi-elliptical leaf springs and four telescopic shock absorbers , two per wheel axle. The telescopic shock absorbers, first introduced in the Soviet trolleybus construction with the SiU-5, improved the smoothness of the vehicle considerably compared to its predecessors.

Electrical equipment

DK-207G drive motor of the SiU-5

The motor generator (converter) of the SiU-5 trolleybus

The electrical equipment of the SiU-5 can be divided into high and low voltage circuits. The vehicle received the electrical energy from a two-pole overhead line via two conventional rotating pantographs without a retriever . It was designed for a line voltage of 600  volts direct current .

The catenary served as a direct power source for the high voltage circuit. The DK-207A - engine-wound motor ( DK-207G in the execution Siu-5D ), the acceleration and braking resistors , the reversing switch and the contactors of the control systems were responsible for driving parts of this circuit. In addition to this equipment, a number of other consumers and devices were operated with high voltage:

• the interior lighting of the passenger compartment - extra-low voltage incandescent lamps connected in series so that the voltage was sufficiently reduced;
• the compressor drive;
• the motor-generator for the power supply of the 24-volt low-voltage circuits;
• the circuit breaker.

A so-called "radio reactor" was an important component of the high-voltage circuit. Connected in series, this choke was used for radio interference suppression , i.e. to avoid undesired high-frequency emissions.

The 24-volt low-voltage circuits got their energy from the continuously running motor generator. This device was a 600 volt electric motor with a coaxially connected 24 volt generator. This method of transforming the 600-volt DC voltage into 24-volt DC voltage is very simple, but generates constant noise during operation. With careful lubrication and centering, however, the noise could be kept at a tolerable level. In the event of a power failure in the overhead line, the pantograph jumping off the wires or stopping with the pantograph lowered, the functionality of this circuit was supported by two accumulator batteries . In contrast to the bus and coach , the SiU-5 trolleybus did not have a starter and its high and low voltage circuits were completely separated, so driving using the energy from the batteries was not possible. The consumers and devices in the low-voltage circuit were:

• the control system for the contactors of the main motor circuit;
• the exterior lighting and lighting of the driver's cab;
• the direction indicators , brake lights and horn ;
• the heating of the passenger compartment;
• the door drives and the windshield wiper ;
• the test measuring equipment: voltage and current measuring device, as well as the display of the contactor states;
• the radio intercom and the stop signal from the passenger or conductor to the driver;
• a set of fuses for overcurrent protection of the devices in the low voltage circuit.

This division of electrical equipment was due to two main factors. The first priority was the safety of the driver and passengers. Almost all high-voltage devices have been relocated from the passenger compartment and driver's cab to the underfloor or ceiling area. This significantly reduced the likelihood of life-threatening electrical damage. The only exception was the contactor panel, which was installed in a housing on the right-hand side of the driver's cab. The contactors needed a moisture-proof installation for reliable function and good maintenance access, which made their arrangement in the roof or underfloor area impossible. The instructions for the driver and electrical mechanic strictly forbade any work on this housing with the cover open and the pantograph raised at the same time. All other functions required for the passenger area, such as the heating or door drives, were carried out by 24-volt low-voltage devices. They were safer for people in the event that the insulation was damaged . The second factor was energy savings: the use of high voltage to supply power to equipment that basically requires low voltage would have made it necessary to install series resistors in the circuit. These would only convert power into heat and thus reduce the overall efficiency of the device.

The main component of the electrical equipment of the SiU-5 was the type DK-207A motor with a nominal output of 95 kilowatts or the 107 kilowatt type DK-207G in the SiU-5D sub -series . Both variants were DC machines and double- wound motors with a collector . With the drive switch , the so-called " group rheostat controller " (GRK, Russian групповой реостатный контроллер, ГРК ) the driver regulated the amperage in the rotor and field windings of the motor and consequently controlled the acceleration when the trolleybus started up. This device was the core of the indirect automatic contactor control of the SiU-5 . It is a low voltage servo motor that moves a shaft with cams. These cams switch the control circuits of the contactors on and off. The driver only controls the rotations of the servomotor with the accelerator and brake pedals, so he selects the program of acceleration, movement at constant speed or braking that is fixed by the GRK's electromechanical system. By rotating the servomotor, the GRK controls the sequence in which the contactors are switched on and off, i.e. the current strength in the various circuits of the main motor and thus its operating mode. There were 18 starting and two braking levels in the GRK. When braking, the motor and resistors act as an electrodynamic brake through a special circuit . In an emergency, the vehicle could brake down to five to ten kilometers per hour even if there was no voltage in the power supply system; complete standstill was achieved using the handbrake or compressed air brake. In contrast to tram vehicles, however, the resistance brake was only an aid due to its effect on the rear axle. The main braking mechanism of the SiU-5 was pneumatic.

The contactor control of the SiU-5 up to version D gave the vehicle a high level of driving dynamics. When starting, the buses reached a speed of 50 km / h even faster than Soviet cars of the time. However, the control was recognized as oversized and changed in the SiU-5D so that it no longer allowed such acceleration.

Pneumatic equipment

The pneumatic power steering of the SiU-5 trolleybus

The SiU-5 trolleybuses had pneumatic systems for the operation of the brake system , the system for inflating the tires and the power steering , as well as the first series of door drives in the vehicles built between 1959 and 1961. This equipment included a compressor (driven by an electric motor), an air filter , a manometer , three air tanks, a main air line with an electropneumatic pressure regulator , and mechanical safety and check valves . The normal operating pressure was in the range of 5 to 6.5 atmospheres . The safety valve was designed for emergency venting in the event of a dangerous rise in air pressure above eight atmospheres as a result of the failure of the pressure regulator. The non-return valves in the pneumatic system were used to maintain the air pressure in the event of a pressure loss through the leaking outlet valve of the switched off compressor. There were also other valves, fixed steel pipes, flexible rubber connecting hoses and the aforementioned compressed air consumers.

Choosing a pneumatic power steering for the SiU-5 was an unusual technical decision, as hydraulic or electrical systems were usually used in other vehicles. However, it worked sufficiently well and made the driver's job easier, there were no complaints about the reliability of this system.

Versions

SiU-5 trolleybuses were produced in several variants, but only a part of them received an official designation as an execution of the original design. Also were Siu-6 - power bus and the SIU-7 -Oberleitungsbus on the basis of the SIU-5 developed.

Series vehicles

A SiU-5 manufactured in 1961 at a classic car show in Moscow

Another vehicle from the Moscow Public Transport Museum at a classic car event, a SiU-5G built in 1966

A SiU-5D manufactured in 1972 in Nizhny Novgorod

The trolleybuses of the original design, the SiU-5 of the first series built in 1959, had a significant number of design features that set them apart from the later variants of the vehicle family. The most important of these were the glazing of the car body and the pneumatic door drive. Each half of the windshield of this SiU-5 was composed of two sections and the rear of the vehicle had three large windows. In addition to reinforcing the weak points of the self-supporting car body, there were changes in the post-processing of the design that were not associated with safety or reliability. In particular, the glass area in the rear was greatly reduced, so that only a single small central window remained; both front windows of one half were replaced by a single larger one. An electrical version was also installed instead of the pneumatic door drive. All these changes resulted in the variant for large-scale production, built from 1960. However, these innovations were not introduced in one step, for example two out of five of the newly manufactured SiU-5 trolleybuses, which were first delivered to Gorki in 1961, still had pneumatic door drives. The further development of the design led to the first officially confirmed version SiU-5G . Due to the lack of information, the exact differences between this variant and older vehicles as well as their production volume are unknown. The distinguishing feature of version G was the small housing with the window of the line indicator at the rear, colloquially known as the "star box". The SIU-5G as the previous versions with a DK-207A equipped -Hauptmotor maximum of 95 kilowatts of power.

In 1969, the company switched production to the new SiU-5D version . Compared to the SiU-5G , this variant had several significant changes. The most noticeable external differences were the manufacturer's new round emblem (this went over to the next SiU-9 model) and the removed line indicator housing with a window at the rear of the trolleybus. The innovations in the mechanical and electrical equipment were more important than the external appearance of the vehicle. It received a new rear axle manufactured by the Hungarian commercial vehicle manufacturer Rába and a new version of the main engine DK-207G with a maximum output of 107 kilowatts. This made some changes to the devices of the contactor control necessary.

The trolleybuses of the G and D versions, which were intended for export abroad, were subject to more careful quality control and they showed small differences compared to the models for the domestic market. In particular, the SiU-5 were equipped with additional handle bars in the passenger compartment for export.

Test vehicles

In the development and conversion phase from one version to the next, the SiU produced a very small number of vehicles with equipment that deviated from the standard. These can be viewed as experimental models for testing new devices and parts. In the mid-1960s, a single SiU-5 test vehicle with three doors was also manufactured, which was used in passenger traffic in Saratov .

Further developments

SiU-6 - bus with the car body of the SiU-5 . In the development time of the SiU-5 there were no buses in the USSR with comparable passenger capacity, so the idea of ​​redesigning the trolleybus into a bus was born. The electrical equipment in the underfloor space was completely replaced by a mechanical power transmission , internal combustion engine and fuel tanks. The new bus made a good impression, but the arrangement of the parts required a low-height boxer engine , but there were no series-production engines in the USSR. The import of a foreign box engine was considered to be far too expensive, which is why the SiU-6 did not go into series production and only remained a test model. There were also three revised versions of the original design, which were designated SiU-6-2M , SiU-6 2M and SiU-6M . Seven buses and coaches manufactured between 1959 and 1975 (one SiU-6 prototype, two SiU-6-2M , two SiU-6 2M and two SiU-6M ) drove in Kiev, Moscow and Sochi .

SiU-7 - trolleybus with medium passenger capacity based on the SiU-5 (this was a large-capacity trolleybus according to the Soviet classification). The discontinuation of series production of the MTB-82 also had negative consequences: the SiU-5's capacities were too large for some transport companies . For this released niche, the designers of the SiU developed an abbreviated variant of the SiU-5 , which was officially designated as SiU-7 . The vehicle was very much unified with the SiU-5 . The entire mechanical, pneumatic and electrical equipment was transferred without any changes, only the structure of the car body was new: it was shortened by a window section and the front door changed position with that of the front axle. From 1966 to 1969 only a small series of the SiU-7 of three vehicles was produced. With the same engine power and lower passenger capacity, the operation turned out to be more cost-intensive than that of the SiU-5 , so that series production was soon ended. Trolleybuses of this type drove in Kirov, Moscow and Cheboksary.

Design analysis

At the time of its appearance, the SiU-5 implemented progressive ideas of Soviet trolleybus construction: For the first time in the USSR, a self-supporting car body and a fully automatic contactor control were used, the electrical equipment was separated into high and low voltage circuits and numerous manually or pneumatically driven devices from the earlier models replaced by electric. The developers paid special attention to the comfort of the passengers and the ergonomics of the driver's workplace. Thanks to the large SiU-5 car body, two-seater bench seats with a sufficiently wide passage between them could be arranged along both sides. The rear entry area was spacious and particularly suitable for passengers with larger luggage; Compared to its predecessor, the MTB-82, the wide entrances accelerated passenger changes considerably. The large glazed windows contributed to a good field of vision from the driver's cab and passenger compartment. As a high-floor bus, it was unsuitable for wheelchair users and passengers with prams. Corresponding requirements were not made by the Soviet leadership of the transport system. Disabled people in the USSR were entitled to a small car as part of social security and the help of the All-Union Disability Association, and regulations required people with children to get on and off public transport with their child by the hand in order to avoid accidents .

German trolleybus from the Büssing-NAG company on a postage stamp

Compared with the technical level of foreign trolleybuses, the SiU-5 took its place in the range of contemporary models, albeit with a significant delay. For example, the German trolleybuses from Büssing-NAG from the late 1930s already had automatic contactor control and a self-supporting car body.

A Czech trolleybus of the type Škoda-9Tr , contemporary model and alternative to the SiU-5 in some Soviet cities

After eliminating its teething troubles, the SiU-5 proved to be a very comfortable vehicle in operation. However, like many other types, it was heavily influenced by the main trend in Soviet mechanical engineering in the 1960s - the pursuit of cheaper production and higher production numbers. The short service life and reliability of the design were often the result of this trend - the SiU-5 was no exception. The large number of innovations in the design initially led to difficulties in the introduction of the SiU-5 . Furthermore, as a result of state funding and the high production figures, the Soviet transport companies received many new vehicles on schedule, so that there were no incentives for careful use of the existing vehicle fleet. In addition, there was often a lack of care on the part of the workers in handling and maintaining the vehicles. The design flaws of the SiU-5 also played an important role here, so its service life was much shorter compared with vehicles from the Stalin era or with imported foreign vehicles.

At the end of the 1960s, the Soviet transport authorities no longer saw the SiU-5 as a modern trolleybus, so the SiU began developing a new vehicle. The plant produced the first prototype in 1971, which later became the most popular type of trolleybus in the world, the SiU-9 (or SiU-682 ). With the exception of the new welded steel car body with a more angular exterior and now three doors as well as the additional pneumatic suspension stage, the SiU-9 did not show any significant innovations in its design and equipment compared to the SiU-5 .

Received vehicles

Budapest museum car of the type SiU-5G

Some of the decommissioned SiU-5s were not immediately scrapped, but their car bodies were used as sheds, gazebos or construction trailers on construction sites. Some transport companies also converted individual vehicles in good condition into work vehicles for service purposes; they became training vehicles, self-driving repair shops or staff canteens. From the mid-1990s SiU-5s no longer ran in regular passenger traffic , but due to their importance in the history of Soviet transport, some organizations and trolleybus enthusiasts began to work on the refurbishment of vehicles of what was once the most numerous trolleybus type in the former USSR. Even completely dismantled car bodies have been restored, and as a result of the loss of some of the original devices, these have been replaced by compatible parts of the widely used SiU-682 . As a result of this activity, there are now a total of seven roadworthy SiU-5s in Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Kirov, Nizhny Novgorod and Budapest. There are also some non-roadworthy SiU-5s in these and other Russian or Belarusian cities and in the Trolsa company museum .

The Museum of Public Transport in Moscow has three roadworthy and two other non-operational trolleybuses of this type, including various designs. A roadworthy SiU-5G and two more non-operational SiU-5s (1960 model) belong to the collection of the Museum of Electric City Transport in Saint Petersburg. The Moscow exhibits often take part in vehicle exhibitions. The Kirov SiU-5D drives on trolleybus lines with passengers sometimes on public holidays. The Nizhny Novgorod SiU-5D , although roadworthy, has been erected as a technical monument outdoors since 2006. Another well-preserved and roadworthy SiU-5 is in the Budapest Tram Museum.

literature

• Пассажирские троллейбусы ЗиУ-5 и ЗиУ-7 (инструкция по эксплуатации) . Под. ред. В. С. Каштанова и Г. В. Вишника. - Б. м .: б. и., б. г.
  (Russian and in Cyrillic script; German roughly: The trolleybuses SiU-5 and SiU-7 (operating instructions ) , edited by WS Kaschtanow and GW Wischnik, without publisher, place of publication and year of publication.)
• И. В. Рубинский, В. С. Списков: Устранение неисправностей в троллейбусе ЗиУ-5 . Москва, Стройиздат, 1964.
  (Russian and in Cyrillic script; German roughly: IW Rubinski, WS Spiskow .: The repair of the SiU-5 trolleybus . Strojizdat, Moscow, 1964.)
• И. С. Ефремов, В. М. Кобозев: Механическое оборудование троллейбусов . Москва, Транспорт, 1978.
  (Russian and in Cyrillic script; German roughly: IS Jefremow, WM Kobosew .: The mechanical equipment of trolleybuses . Transport, Moscow, 1978.)
• Д. И. Перкис: Учебное пособие для слесарей по ремонту троллейбусов . Москва, Стройиздат, 1966.
  (Russian and in Cyrillic script; German roughly: DI Perkis. The mechanic's textbook for the repair of trolley buses . Strojizdat, Moscow, 1966.)
• Ю. М. Коссой: 50 лет нижегородскому троллейбусу . Нижний Новгород, Литера, 1997, ISBN 5-900915-13-1
  (Russian and in Cyrillic script; German roughly: Ju. M. Kossoj. 50 years of Nizhny Novgorod Trolleybus , Litera, Nizhny Novgorod, 1997.)
• Л. М. Шугуров: Автомобили России и СССР. Часть II . Москва, ИЛБИ, 2000, ISBN 5-87483-006-5
  (Russian and in Cyrillic script; German roughly: LM Shugurow. The automobiles of the Soviet Union and Russia. Part II . ILBI, Moscow, 2000.)

Web links

Commons : SiU-5  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• History of the SiU-5 ( Memento from July 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (Russian)
• "Traffic Kharkov" page on the SiU-5 (Russian, history, photos and sketches from operating instructions)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ленинградский-Петербургский троллейбус: История и современность. - СПб .: Лики России, 2006. - 144 с., Стр. 61 (Russian and Cyrillic script; German: Leningrader-Petersburg trolleybus: history and present , Liki Rossii, Saint Petersburg 2006, ISBN 5-87417-231-9 ), p. 61.
2. ↑ Ю. М. Коссой: 50 лет нижегородскому троллейбусу . Нижний Новгород: Литера, 1997, 120 с., Стр. 10 (Russian and Cyrillic script; German: Ju. M. Kossoj: 50 years of Nizhny Novgorod Trolleybus , Litera, Nizhny Novgorod, 1997, ISBN 5-900915-13-1 ), p. 10.
3. ^ A. Sorokin, M. Russell: MTB-82 - the trolleybus "for all times" . In: Trolleybus Magazine , Volume 44, Issue Number 280, National Trolleybus Association, ISSN  0266-7452 , pp. 74-77
4. ^ Page of the manufacturer on the TBU series (Russian), accessed on July 9, 2010
5. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m} page “Verkehr Charkows” on the SiU-5 (Russian), accessed on April 29, 2010
6. ↑ ^{a b} History of Novorossiysk's tram on the page “Public Transport in the Kuban Region and the Adygea Republic” (Russian), viewed on July 9, 2010
7. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i} History of the SiU-5 ( Memento from July 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (Russian), accessed on February 1, 2013
8. ↑ ^{a b c} Page of the manufacturer on the SiU-5 (Russian), accessed on July 9, 2010
9. ↑ ^{a b c} SiU-5 in Gorki ( Memento of July 28, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (Russian), accessed on February 1, 2013
10. ↑ Photo of the first SiU-5 trolleybus in Cheboksary, today this vehicle is a technical monument in trolleybus depot No. 1 , viewed on February 1, 2013
11. ↑ On the way: The trolleybus operation and buses in Tallinn (Estonia)
12. ↑ ^{a b} The trolleybuses SiU-5 and SiU-7. Pp. 10-31.
13. ↑ ^{a b} The trolleybuses SiU-5 and SiU-7. Pp. 6-9.
14. ↑ The SiU-5 and SiU-7 trolleybuses. Pp. 106 and 113.
15. ↑ The SiU-5 and SiU-7 trolleybuses. Pp. 115-117.
16. ↑ The SiU-5 and SiU-7 trolleybuses. P. 130.
17. ↑ The SiU-5 and SiU-7 trolleybuses. Pp. 118-121.
18. ↑ The SiU-5 and SiU-7 trolleybuses. P. 120.
19. ↑ LM Schugurow: The cars of the Soviet Union and Russia. Part II. Article on SiU-5
20. ↑ The SiU-5 and SiU-7 trolleybuses. Pp. 80-82 and 97.
21. ^ Page of the manufacturer on the history of its production (Russian), accessed on April 29, 2010
22. ^ Page of the manufacturer on the SiU-6 (Russian), accessed on April 29, 2010
23. ^ Page of the manufacturer on the SiU-7 (Russian), accessed on April 29, 2010
24. ↑ Photo of the excavated car body of the Nizhny Novgorod SiU-5 before its restoration ( Memento from March 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
25. ↑ Vehicle list of Moscow museum buses
26. ↑ Vehicle list of the St. Petersburg museum trolleybuses
27. ↑ The photo of the SiU-5D in Kirov on May 9, 2013

This article was added to the list of excellent articles on September 11, 2010 in this version .