MER number 2

MER number 1

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.