Trams of Debrecen I. (original) (raw)

Trams of Debrecen

Debrecen is a large (well, at least in hungarian measures) city in Eastern Hungary. It was known for a number of things during its history (for example it was once called the "The calvinist Rome"), but its most interesting feature concerning this website is the tram. Originally there were six tram routes, but by the end of the seventies only one was left. From time to time there are rumours about building another one but we've yet to see that becoming reality...

This trip to Debrecen was organized for a couple of hungarian tram fans.

If you take the train to Debrecen, one of the first things you see leaving the station is the turning loop of the tram. The only remaining service (carrying the number "1" like as if there were more) has loops on both end, so one-way vehicles can be used. Or better: one-way vehicles could be used - the transportation company DKV scrapped its last one-way tram five years ago.

There are two types: the two-way "Bengali" (the "home-made" articulated; to the left on the picture above) and the Ganz KCSV6 (right). The latter is the last tram built by Ganz 'til date: a new 6-axle, "not-exactly-low-but-lower-than-we-did-before-floor" construction. A very nice tram, I think!

Number 500 and 510 side-by-side. As you can see, there are a couple of optical differences: 500 was the prototype car.

The driver's place in 507. Very much like a "western" design. This tram, designed in 1993 might be the last tram designed in Hungary, because Ganz is now in such a bad shape that it cannot participate in the competition for building new trams for Budapest. Too bad, I'd be happy with this tram on some Budapest routes! Ganz even designed 4-axle and 8-axle versions of it, but BKV didn't bought new trams at that time...

The tram shed on the tram and trolleybus workshop of DKV.

This is nostalgy train 1894-1984. Originally it was a 2500-series twin in Budapest, and was purchased by DKV in 1984, celebrating the 100th anniversary of public rail service in Debrecen.

BTW, this is kind of strange, because there wasn't a tram like this in Debrecen before that, but at least there are two 2500-sets preserved in Hungary (the other one is at Szeged; there's also one somewhere in England, originally at Transperience, Bedford - I wonder if that tram is still in one piece!).

An old electric loco can also be seen here.

Bengali number 481 pulled aside the shed, with...

... 488...

... 483...

... and 487 behind it. These cars might be the first ones to be scrapped when new ones will be bought (there were some rumours about Debrecen buying a few TW6000's from Hannover - I don't know if this is true).

The instrument panel of these Bengalis is different than those of Szeged. The interesting thing is that although this type was designed in 1962-63, the cars are far newer: they were manufactured here in Debrecen until 1978.

The interior of one of the articulated trams.

This shed has been refurbished for the KCSV6's.

And now let's see one of these new Ganz trams from a bit closer! The interior is nice: the vehicle is quite narrow so there aren't many seats, but it's quite comfortable. I don't really like the colors though...