Trams in Romania 1982

2011

2011-06-24T01:46:00.001-07:00

We are returning to Romania next week visiting Iasi, Galati, Braila and Bucuresti. I will publish some tram pictures here. We are also visiting Chisinau and the weather forecast is heavy rain. I will publish trolleybus pictures here.

Zagreb

2007-02-18T08:21:00.000-08:00

Our drive from Belgrade to Zagreb and Ljubliana was on the last Saturday in August - a very busy day for holiday traffic. With a right-hand drive car, I simply decided not to try to overtake and just to follow the vehicle in front. Kath saw two fatal accidents during the course of the morning. The next day the car was loaded onto the train in Ljubliana and we travelled overnight to Holland arriving in time for the mid-day boat to England.
1. My first blue Tatra.
2. Local built bogie car.
3. Another Tatra.
4. Finally are of these 4-wheel cars still running in Zagreb odr have the new low floor cars replaced them?
This post marks the end of this blog. Thank you to the various people from Romania, Germany and Hungary who have e-mailed me - I am glad you enjoyed the pictures. We are now planning a trip to Romania in May 2007 flying with Whizz Air and hiring a car. We hope to visit some of these tramways and also to stay in some of the same hotels.

Belgrade Trams

2007-02-10T08:21:00.000-08:00

To Belgrade

2007-02-10T08:15:00.000-08:00

The next morning we drove to Belgrade without any problems at the border with Yugoslavia. We found a central hotel with a large family room very easily. Yugoslavia seemed very rich and prosperous compared with Romania and we could buy beer and ice cream without queueing.
1. Some Belgrade trams carried advertising. This was the first time I had seen a Tatra tram with adverts - for Coca Cola of all things! We didn't see any over advertised western consumer goods in Romania.
2. This is the view from the hotel bedroom window.

Ronat

2007-02-04T06:13:00.000-08:00

Our last tram ride in Romania was to Ronat in Timisoara. This route ended with a single track section in an unpaved road and was operated by an elderly 4-wheel tram and control trailer or perhaps it was a close coupled set with one motor in each unit Hungarian style. I can't remember - perhaps someone will add a comment with details of theses cars.
Kai has e-mailed to tell me that these two cars were built in 1928 in the Timisoara workshops. In 1935 they were modified to operate back to back as a coupled pair of cars with new motors from Germany -each car having one motor. They were known as 'gemene' in Timisoara which translates as twins. Kai remembers their distinctive sound and running to the garden fence to watch them pass. Perhaps he saw me standing on the front platform on an August evening in 1982.
Rather surprisingly there was a timetable at Ronat and as I recall it said first tram 5:30 or similar and then every 29 minutes until late evening - not exactly user friendly.
Next morning we set off for the Yogoslavian boarder and Belgrade.

Timisoara

2007-02-04T06:12:00.000-08:00

Beer, roads and cars.

2007-01-28T08:35:00.000-08:00

1. Draught beer was difficult to find in Romania in 1982. It was always sold in half litre mugs and was unfiltered and unpasturised. It was always dispensed with the aid of a cylinder of CO2 but usually cool and refreshing.
2. Constanta railway station.
3. A village scene. Most of the roads we drove on were quite good and there was very little traffic. The main problem was overtaking ox carts with a right hand drive car. Village streets often had loose chippings and the side roads were not surfaced at all.
4. RTV 604X - the Ford Cortina that made the journey and a wayside inspection ramp.

Arad

2007-01-28T04:16:00.000-08:00

We then continued northwards to Arad. I was feeling ill with a stomach bug and could only sit on a bench and took three pictures in the centre of the city.

Rasinari

2007-01-20T07:36:00.000-08:00

There was only one tram route in Sibiu - a suburban service to the small town of Rasinari. I think this is still the case.

To Sibiu

2007-01-20T03:49:00.000-08:00

Leaving Bucharest we drove northwards to Sibiu. I was fined 40 Benson & Hedges cigarettes for changing lanes without signalling on an empty road.
1. Dracula's castle.
2. Socialist constuction methods.
3. Sibiu has a number of old buildings like this one. (We think the queue was for a delivery of soap which had just arrived). We are looking forward to visiting Sibiu in its new role as European Capital of Culture 2007.
4. Typical rural transport.

Farewell Bucharest

2007-01-14T08:18:00.000-08:00

We leave Bucharest in 1982 with a few pictures of the articulated cars. Some of these may well still be in service. Kath and I returned to Bucharest in 1994 not long after 'regime change'. We are now looking forward to our flight with WizzAir to Bucharest on April 30th this year.
1. Car 173. For more recent view see http://ratb.stfp.net/Data/T/3/173-32:4.jpg
2. Car 227. For more recent view see http://ratb.stfp.net/Data/T/3/227-46:1.jpg
3. Car 284 and its driver. For more recent view see http://ratb.stfp.net/Data/T/3/284-Dp:1.jpg

Points

2007-01-06T03:34:00.000-08:00

Most of the tram points in Bucharest were manually operated. At busy city centre junctions there were small metal huts with a seat and a point lever usually occupied by an elderly lady. Otherwise the drivers simply got off their trams and used a point iron.

More route 29

2006-12-30T03:05:00.000-08:00

By the time I publish the next picture in this series Romania will be a member of the European Union. I am looking forward to visiting the country again in 2007 and wish Romania and all its people well for the future.
1. The interior of tram number 75 on route 29 in Bucharest.
2. Kath demonstrating the 'missing window' air conditioning system.
3. A Romanian tram driver at work.

Route 29

2006-12-30T02:59:00.000-08:00

1. Route 29 was a suburban feeder route along an unmade road.
2. The lady on the left is the driver.

Puddles

2006-12-24T08:09:00.000-08:00

Bucharest 1

2006-12-24T07:54:00.000-08:00

We spent 4 nights on the coast at Costanta and then drove to Bucharest. On the way we passed through several rain showers. Cars jus stopped in the middle of the road whilst the drivers took the wiper blades from the glove boxes and re-fitted them. The trams in Bucharest had flags on them because the next day was 'National day' or similar.
1. An unusual 2 section artic. Most were three sections. This one had a broken pantograph.
2. Typical bogie cars.
3. Air conditioned (missing window) 4-wheelers.
4. Tatra T3s.

More Constanta trolleybuses

2006-12-17T08:41:00.000-08:00

1. A map of the system and a woman with red hair.
2. Running repairs to a trolleybus.
3. As in many parts of the former Soviet Union, trolley heads seemed to need frequent inspection.
4. The word 'DEFECT' is self-explanatory. Is the tool leaning against the entrance steps a 'jim crow' for trolley poles? Perhaps John Markham or Bob Hall will be able to tell us.

Constanta - trolleybuses

2006-12-17T08:31:00.000-08:00

After about a week and a half on the road we arrived at the Black Sea resort of Constanta. Here we stayed in a beach tourist hotel catering for package holiday visitors from western Europe. Magically there was plenty of food - enough for three reasonable meals per day. Bottled beer and wine were also available.
1. There were no trams in Constanta in 1982 but there was a long trolleybus route along the coast to the north. The service was unreliable.
2-4. Town centre views of the trolleybuses.

Braila

2006-12-10T06:42:00.000-08:00

Braila had a one route tramway and as far as I know it still has.

Galati

2006-12-02T09:52:00.000-08:00

In Galati the first routes of a new standard gague tramway opened in 1971 and by 1982 there were no metre gague routes left.
1. A typical Tatra T3.
2. A Banat motor tram and trailer - these must have been only a few years old in 1982.
3&4. Shift change at the steel works.

To Galati

2006-11-26T09:27:00.000-08:00

The next day we drove southwards from Iasi to Galati. The main problem with a right hand drive car was overtaking the many horse-drawn carts that were used for general transport in the rural areas. Getting petrol was a problem because in the towns there was usually a queue about a mile long at each of the few petrol stations. The cars were parked at the side of the road with their engines switched off and when the queue moved they were pushed. In the countryside there were few queues. We saw petrol stations with high octane petrol between Iasi and Galati and arrived with a fairly low tank. Sure enough there was a queue of cars along the road and out of sight round a corner. We drove along and then I saw a gap near the front and drove into it expecting to be sworn at in Romanian. A crowd surrounded the car calling out 'pumpe speciale' and escorted us to the special pump (for party leaders perhaps) and then they all admired our luxury Ford Cortina and gave us a friendly wave as we left.
1. This well is at a world famous painted church.
2. Typical horse drawn carts.
3. Making friends with a local on a ferry.
4. We will always remember this hotel. On arrival it looked better than the previous ones and it even had a multi-lingual menu in the dining room. We each chose someting different but the elderly waiter mumbled someting and disappeared, returing with the young man from the reception desk who said 'We are not rich in food!'. All they had were chips, some cold ham and some cucumber. Towards the end of this banquet a local asked to change money and I was so fed up that I followed him to the gents and got about 5 times the official rate of exchange which made things more affordable. That was the first time I changed money on the black market.

Iasi 4-wheelers

2006-11-15T06:14:00.000-08:00

Romania has a continental (hot in summer, cold in winter) climate. Most of the 4-wheelers had the front near side window removed. Not for them them the complications of air-con or semi-convertable cars.
1. Close up of a typical w-wheeler at Zona Ind (Industrial zone).
2. There should be plenty of electricity. I don't remember any power cuts on this trip.
3. Well laden tram near city centre.
4. Just imagine that you have a wife and two children with you and that you all were all relying on this tram to get you back to the hotel before they sold out of anything edible.

Iasi Tatras

2006-11-14T09:23:00.000-08:00

Iasi has a metre gauge tramway.
1. Turning circle at Tatarasi.
2. One of the main squares in the city centre. The sole motor car is a locally built Dacia.
3. In the socialist world most bus drivers were men, tram driving was usually woman's work and anyone could have a go on trolleybuses. This was the first time I had seen driving cabs with lace curtains etc, although it is quite common in the more remote parts of the former USSR.
4. Track repairs in the city centre.

Parc Distractiv

2006-11-14T08:35:00.000-08:00

The Romanians considered their language to be superior to those of their neighbours. Everyone knows that Magyar is only related to Finnish and Estonian and the surrounding slav languages are written in Cyrillic script. Romanian is written in in the Latin script and claims to be the closest of all modern languages to Latin.
In 1982 hotels had to be pre-booked through the Romanian travel office in London and vouchers had to be pre-purchased for petrol. The hotel vouchers stated the name of the hotel and the date and covered room and breakfast. A cash refund at the official rate of exchange was given on checking in to pay for meals (if available). The petrol vouchers could be used at larger petrol stations that stocked 4 star petrol but only in multiples of 20 litres.
After taking some photos in Oradea we started to drive eastwards towards Iasi through the Carpathian Mountains. This was too far for one day so we spent the night in Targu Mures (or it might have been Cluj-Napoca). There were no trams here so in the evening after a frugal meal we went to the 'Parc Distractiv'.

Oradea

2006-11-03T01:28:00.000-08:00

It is only 15 km from the Hungarian border to Oraea but it seemed like a different world. Though both notionally communist states Hungary and Romania were persuing very different economic policies. Compared with the other eastern bloc countries Hungary was a bit like China today - and some private enterprise was allowed and the shops were full of goods and there no queues for petrol. Romania was paying off the national debt by making sure there was nothing left for the locals. Food was scarce - even fresh fruit and vegetables in August and buying petrol for the car was a challenge.
1. The first tram I photographed in Romania. One of the 'standard' four wheeters without air conditioning.
2. I think this was the first time I had seen trams operating on dirt roads. I wonder if the EC will pay for it to be surfaced now.
3. The bogie version was far less common. We only saw them here in in Timisoara. Note the bow collectors on the first three pictures.
4. This is a 'Banat' tram built in Timisoara. These were painted yellow in most towns.

A Tatra train

2006-10-22T04:43:00.000-07:00

In August 1982 we made an epic trip from Ripley to Constanza on the Black Coast and back in a Ford Cortina, RTV604X. We left Ripley immediatly after work on a Friday evening and caught the overnight boat to Holland and then drove to Linz arriving at about 6:00 pm. On Sunday we travelled on the Postlingbergbahn and the 900mm gauge Linz trams. On Monday we crossed into still communist Hungary in record time - 10 mins to cross from Austria to Hungary and found a hotel that accepted credit cards in Budapest with no difficulties. Tuesday was spent in Budapest visiting the Pioneer Railway and the connecting tramways and funiculars and eating ice creams and street snacks, drinking wine and beer and enjoying good food at very reasonable prices. On Wednesday we spent a few hours in Debrecin before driving to the Romanian border. We had a few Florints left so I filled the petrol tank to the brim and then bought some soft drinks and snacks. Later this proved to be a very wise decision. It took at least an hour to cross into Romania and the difference between the standard of living in Hungary and Romania was immediately apparent.........to be continued

A taster of Romania - a tram train of 3 Tatras in Galati which make Halle 902 look immaculate.