Ukraine 2009 and Isle of Man 1967 - 2009

Interiors 2009

2009-09-14T15:57:00.001+01:00

1. A trailer showing the roll down shutters on the rear bay.
2. Number 6.
3. Number 5.

4. 22 seems to have Stagecoach mocquette.

Laxey etc

2009-09-14T15:46:00.001+01:00

1. Mercury Arc rectifier at Laxey sub station.
2. 'Thunderbird' number 34 is diesel powered but, just like 01 at Crich years ago, it can also feed the overhead.
3. Rural crew change just south of Ramsey.
4. Interior of number 19.

Derby Castle 2009

2009-09-14T15:37:00.001+01:00

1.Belt driven machinery.
2. One of Winter Saloon number 20's bogies.
3. 19 and 22 being prepared for service.
4. Crossbench motor car number 33.

Snaefell 6

2009-09-07T17:30:00.001+01:00

Snaefell 5

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Snaefell 4

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Snaefell 2

2009-09-07T17:14:00.000+01:00

Snaefell 1

2009-09-07T17:07:00.000+01:00

MER number 32

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MER number 27

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MER number 26

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MER number 25

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MER number 22

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MER number 21

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MER number 20

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MER number 19

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MER number 18

2009-09-03T20:57:00.000+01:00

MER number 16

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MER number 9

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MER number 7

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MER number 6

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MER bumber 5

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MER number 2

2009-09-03T14:52:00.000+01:00

MER number 1

2009-09-03T14:49:00.000+01:00

2009-07-15T09:09:00.002+01:00

PLAN B
My camera seems to have got sunstroke. First it would only take pictures in shady places and now even hotel bedrooms are too bright. So we will have to use Kath's mobile phone for the last few days of our trip but we have no way of uploading pictures before we get home. We are now in Krivoy Rog and the sun is shining in the mid 30s. There are a few new low floor trolley buses here and about 3 newish trams.
This afternoon we travelled on the Express Tramway. This is a light metro with no street running or road crossings but operated by Tatra T3s with a tunnel section in the town centre. We boarded at the open air town terminus where two back to back KTM8s were waiting. These have been modified with perimeter seating. We travelled through the two tunnel stations and at the first surface station we were on the wrong line and got off along with everyone else to walk a few yards to a turning circle and another tram. On the other track was a KTM5 works car at the back of a coupled T3 set which had had its track brakes removed from the rear bogie and replaced by a 'dolly' with two very small wheels. We couldn't look to closely because there were several paramilitary looking policemen and who knows who else. The KTM8 was operating a single line 3 station shuttle and the service cars were turning short.
Unfortunately the mobile phone was set to low resolution so the pictures are not suitable for this blog. I think Ian Longworth is planning a weekend trip to Odessa next spring so perhaps we will return with our new camera.

2009-07-15T08:31:00.001+01:00

Express Tramway. The express tramway runs entirely on private rights of way and was operated by couple and single T3s.
1. The southern turning circle.
2. A surface station.
3. One of the two underground stations in the centre.
4. The last picture taken by our Canon Ixus.

2009-07-15T08:19:00.002+01:00

KRIVOY ROG has a conventional tramway and an express tramway. These pictures are of the conventional tramway.
1. A typical KTM5 in the centre.
2. Most of the routes are infrequent running at intervals such as every 34 mins or every 108 mins.
3. KR trams were better maintained than some but we saw this one being pushed back to the depot.
4. There are a few KTM8s.

2009-07-14T15:15:00.001+01:00

KRIVOY ROG
1. The train to Krivoy Rog was slow even by Ukrainian standards. We suspect mining subsidence is the problem.
2. Steam engines on plinths are quite common in the former Soviet Union.
3. In eastern Ukraine many old Soviet monuments and street names have survived.

4. Kvass is a refreshing drink made out of fermented bread. It used to be sold from tank wagons such as this but is increasingly being bottled now.

2009-07-14T15:06:00.000+01:00

DNEPRODZERZHINSK is about an hours minibus ride from Dnepropetrovsk.
1. This KTM5 was built in 1989. This route runs every 27 minutes.
2. A 1997 KTM8 at the town centre terminus, a steel works.
3. A 1984 Tatra T3.
4. A Tatra T3M Yug built in 1996.

2009-07-14T14:46:00.001+01:00

DNEPROPETROVSK summer tram
This car runs from the station to the city centre at a premium fare and seems to be very popular. I suspect that it is based on a KTM1 underframe.

2009-07-14T14:39:00.000+01:00

DNEPROPETROVSK - three city centre views of the busy route 1.
1. Ex Schwerin refurbished T3s. These are motor trams coupled to non-driving motor trailers.
2. A pair of local Tatras.
3. A pair of T3m Yugs built in Dnepropetrovsk in 2002.

2009-07-14T14:22:00.001+01:00

DNEPROPETROVSK
1 & 2. One of the two main terminii at the side of the station. Most trams are Tatras T3s with KTM5s on just two routes 18 and 19. The KTM8s seemed to operate peek hour extras on route 19.

3. The other terminus is in front of the station. It has two concentric loops and three high frequency services.

4. Look carefully and you will see two lads riding on the coupler.

2009-07-14T13:45:00.002+01:00

UKRAINIAN TRAINS
1. We left the group who are seen here about to leave Donetsk for Lugansk by coach and spent a week travelling by train.
2. Most Ukrainian stations have been restored to their former grandeur. This is Dontesk station.
3. Refreshments are easy to find.

4. The trains are infrequant and very long and very slow.

2009-07-12T12:28:00.000+01:00

KONSTANTINOVKA

2009-07-12T12:20:00.001+01:00

KONSTANTINOVKA This imposing depot has a target of running just 4 trams each day. On the day of our visit only 2 cars were serviceable.

2009-07-12T12:09:00.002+01:00

AVDEYEVKA There is just one route in Avdeyevka linking the shops and flats to the chemical works.
1. There were two trams in service - this coupled set and a single car.
2. This KTM5 has retained its uphostered seats.
3. Rusty rear view.

4. Whilst there is very little investment in public transport, new churches abound in Ukraine.

2009-07-12T11:49:00.002+01:00

DRUZHKOVKA
There was only one tram in service during our visit on route 3. One of the two cars on route 1 had broken down in the late afternoon and the service was abandoned for the day.
1 & 2. The sole car on route 2.
3. A handwritten timetable pasted on the back on the cab.
4. The defective tram on route 1 being pushed back to the depot.

2009-07-10T07:54:00.005+01:00

KRAMATORSK - a tramway with a development plan

KRAMATORSK

2009-07-08T10:20:00.000+01:00

DONETSK 6 Tatraland.
Tatra T3s provide the backbone of the service in Donetsk. The lady in pink on the third picture is the driver checking her car at the city terminus.

2009-07-08T10:11:00.000+01:00

DONETSK 5 The worl'd bleakest tram junction. I'm not sure how the theories about flange wear and check rail apply to this crossing.

2009-07-08T10:04:00.000+01:00

DONETSK 4 coupling trams.
Breakdowns are commonplace on Ukrainian tramways and as a result the mostly female crews are skilled at coupling trams and pushing them back to the depot. In picture 2 the lady is putting a wooden block under the tow bar to equalise the heights.

2009-07-08T09:41:00.002+01:00

DONETSK 3 an MTV82.
MTV82s were built in Moscow between 1947 and 1949 and then production was transferred to Riga until 1966 when they were replaced by the PCC inspired RVZ6.

2009-07-08T08:56:00.001+01:00

DONETSK 2 works cars etc.
A feature of former Soviet tramways is a vast number of works cars and here are two examples. Very few new trams have been delivered since 1992 and most depot yards are full of rusting hulks stripped of useful parts. Donetsk is unusual in cutting up old bodies.

2009-07-07T15:11:00.002+01:00

DONETSK 1
1. Ukrainian built T3M Yug.
2. Ukrainian built K1.
3. The old and the new.
4. The old? Note the sidelamp fittings of the type found outside German bars.

2009-07-07T12:43:00.002+01:00

MARIUPOL - new trams and cheap beer
These new trams are direct descendants of Tatra T3s. When the Tatra works in Prague was closed, a number of T3Ms (known as T3M Yug) were assembled in Dnepropetrovsk using surplus parts. The same factory has now produced this design known as K1 and we saw examples in Mariupol, Donetsk and Krivoy Rog.

2009-07-07T12:29:00.001+01:00

MARIUPOL - Sunday market

2009-07-07T11:51:00.002+01:00

MARIUPOL is a polluted steel-working town on the Sea of Azov. Most of the trams are Russian built KTM5s with their unique sliding doors.
1 & 2. Front and rear views.
3. KTM5 interior with wooden seats and no lighting on the left hand side. trams with just 5 interior light bulbs on the right hand side were quite common. What must it be like in winter for the conductors?

4. Rail joints like this one are quite common.

2009-06-22T19:04:00.002+01:00

YEVPATORIA 2.
1. Inside the workshop.
2. Bob investigating wheel profiles etc.
3. In addition to the four services there is a tourist tram operated by a double ended KT4.
4. The real 1940s old soldiers.

2009-06-22T18:28:00.001+01:00

YEVPATORIA is a small town tramway that opened in 1914. It is all single track except for a post war extension to the main route 1.
1. Route 4 is a summer only one tram shuttle to the beach.
2. Route 1 is the main route operated by Tatra KT4s.
3. Route 2 serves another beach area operated by Gothas with Tatra windows.

4. The shuttle 3 to the station is served a Gotha motor and control trailer.

2009-06-22T18:15:00.001+01:00

MOLOCHNOYE is the smallest and the newest trmmway in Ukraine, It is 1.5 km long from a seaside rest home for Chenoble victims to the beach, and opened in 1989.
There are just 2 second hand Gotha cars coupled back to back.

2009-06-18T16:29:00.002+01:00

YALTA
The road along the coast from Alusta to Yalta is also quite spectactular although some of the participants nodded off.

2009-06-18T16:17:00.002+01:00

ALUSTA - the mid point.
1. Inside Alusta depot where everything is make do and mend. There have been no new trolleybuses for 20 years.
2. The group hired this Skoda 9Tr trolleybus seen on the outskirts of Simferpol .
3. The mountain section.
4. A buffet lunch was provided at Alusta depot.

2009-06-18T16:11:00.003+01:00

SIMFEROPOL trolleybus depot & museum.
There is no railway to the seaside and health resort at Yalta because of the difficult terrain. In the 1950s a new road some 50 miles long was constructed from the railhead at Simferopol complete with trolleybus wiring. The first service journey was in November 1959. Today the trolleybus service is a shadow of its former self with through passengers using the the more modern and faster competing minibuses.

2009-06-16T05:08:00.005+01:00

SEVASTAPOL
Sevastapol is a naval base with an extensive trolleybus network.
1. Typical trolleybus. Note the traction poles inside the building framework.
2. Replica of first electric tram.
3. There is a museum at the depot.

4. The Library at the museum.