Morning all!

As I'm sure I mentioned at one point or another, I had let our shift planners know that aside from preferring getting shifts throughout our network in order to stay proficient on all routes and tram types, I'm always happy to take shifts out of the ordinary soon after having joined the tram. I thus was delighted when for yesterday, I found I had been booked on a shift on Line 16, which line has been temporarily cut at the Eutritzsch, Krankenhaus loop for track renewal further north on the Exhibition Centre route. For visualisation, may I just, once again, link to Christian Stade's CC-BY-SA licenced track plan at gleisplanweb.eu: Click.

The traffic pattern up until 8 August will thus comprise trams terminating and commencing at the Klinikum St. Georg stop on Delitzscher Straße, handing off passengers to rail replacement buses calling at all stops on the remainder of the line to the Exhibition Centre.

In addition, 23 July was scheduled to be the day when, after years of modernisation work, Dölitz Depot – located in the far south of Leipzig very near the boundary with the town of Markkleeberg and designated VH2 (for "Verkehrshof") internally – would go back on line. This required that timetables on Lines 9, 10, 11 and 16 which will be partially or, in the case of Line 9, entirely be supplied by Dölitz had to be arranged such that the required number of trams would transfer there with their depot returns. My shift comprised Turns 1609 and 1607/1007, with 1607/1007 being one of those turns planned to return to Dölitz in the evening.

In warm but still fairly sticky summer weather, 1207 "Stuttgart" is seen here in the waiting zone at Lößnig, which we can use to perform the usual terminus walkthrough to check for damage or lost items.

The Eutritzsch, Krankenhaus loop is located at the boundary of a residential area off Wölkauer Weg, in turn on the east side of Delitzscher Straße opposite St George's Hospital. The loop as such is fairly nondescript but offers two boarding platforms and can be sortied from both towards the city centre and the Exhibition Centre, thereby presenting a convenient reversing spot in the event of excessive delays or route closures.

For Turn 1607 – later transferring to Line 10 as 1007 – I got 1228 "Essen", seen here next to 1142 "Ulrich von Hutten" at the boarding platforms in Lößnig.

Line 16 services are signed as "Dienstfahrt", i.e., not in service, for the short movement into the Eutritzsch loop.

A view from a location a few steps further towards the road…

…and one from the rear end of 1228 while I was carrying out my walkthrough.

The last round for the day commenced upon transferring to Line 10 at Lößnig, with my ride terminating at Central Station where I would be reversing…

…through the stabling area on Kurt-Schumacher-Straße and where I did not let the opportunity for taking a photo with my tram signed for Dölitz pass!

Night had fallen as I had returned to Dölitz, so these photos are really just a couple of mood-setters. Here, the first couple of trams to have been transferred to the refurbished depot are seen stabled for the night and awaiting cleaning.

The portico which belonged to the old car shed has been retained and re-erected – though slightly shifted in location – to serve as a portal for the sortie tracks.

This shed will eventually serve as a parking area for buses and, I was told, employee cars.

And this would be the depot workshop and washing facility where three or four trams were awaiting servicing.

Thank you for reading!