German tram photos

[Moritz K]

Hi everyone,

 

yesterday, after school, i've noticed that the two Duewag 1975-vintage tram cars were in service again, and i came to have my camera with me, so i went and did some "tramspotting" inside town. If you're interested, here are some of my photos:

 

 

One of the two Duewag trams approaching Stadtbücherei. This stop is only about 100 metres away from Römerkreis, where 5 of 6 tram lines appear, each every 10 minutes, so it's a very busy place and there are plenty of nice viewpoints for taking photos. The Tram was built in 1975, it's a Duewag standard type, but a local variety - three-car sets of the type only exist in Heidelberg.

 

 

No. 202 again, showing off its beer advertising livery. Sadly the trees spoil this viewpoint, i didn't want to photograph from there, the tram was a bit faster than me .

 

 

It's "brother", No. 204 appeared less than one minute later, before i had reached my proposed viewpoint, but i managed not to get its unique face hiden by a tree. This vehicle was painted by an artist sometime around 2002.

 

 

Finally where i wanted to be, i got this view of OEG car No. 4122 on an service to Mannheim. This is one of the specialities of the Heidelberg tram network: The OEG links it to the Mannheim tram network, which is linked to the one at Ludwigshafen, which has one overland line to Bad Dürkheim. All this makes up a total network of 302 kilometres. Since 2006 all this is operated by a single company, RNV, but by now few trams have recieved the RNV orange, blue and white livery, so at the moment you can see trams in blue and white (The colors of HSB, which served the Heidelberg network before 2006), red and white (ex-OEG trams), and orange, blue and white (New RNV colours) liveries, plus advertising ones.

 

 

The type of No. 4122 was, with few design changes, adapted by the then independent companies operating the Heidelberg-Mannheim-Ludwigshafen network as the standard vehiecle for the network. After having passed me, 4122 passes through Römerkreis.

 

 

Shortly after that, another ex-OEG tram, No. 4132 passes in the other direction.

 

 

No. 3287 already sports the new RNV livery.

 

 

No. 3287 passing its still red and white "brother" 4130.

 

 

One of the older M8C tramcars, No. 3257, in HSB blue and white, and orange Variobahn 4175.

 

 

OEG also owned Duewag trams, but they were speccialy adapted to the conditions on the OEG line - officially OEG isn't a tram but a railway. This is No. 4104, especially ornated with DUEWAG crests on both ends, perhaps by some Duewag-enthusiastic RNV staff - I've seen these crests on several of the OEG Duewag sets.

 

 

 

 

No. 204 is on its return journey now - showing its "kiss me" face niceley.

 

 

204's other end looks somewhat puzzled, doesn't it?

 

 

No. 3263, one of the 8 MGT6D low-floor trams from the nineties, in HSB livery.

 

 

No. 3257 again, at Heidelberg main station.

 

The S-curve at main station niceley allows trams to show off their length, which is, in case of 7-car Variobahn No. 3283, leaving Hauptbahnhof stop shortly behind OEG Duewag No.4099, a quite significant one:

 

 

 

I hope the photos were of interest to you.

[Allegheny1600]

Wow, what excellent variety of trams - lovely!

Many thanks for posting.

John E.

[Moritz K]

Thank you! There is even more variety on the tracks: Two M8C sets have been refurbished, their middle car is now low-floor and they sport RNV orange livery, some ex-OEG Duewags have air-conditioning and orange livery, and there are eight Variobahn sets in HSB blue and white. Also, both OEG Duewag and Variobahn trams operate in multiple on the OEG line. It's a really interesting network.

[NGT6 1315]

Only just had a look at your images, Moritz - thanks for sharing . The huge Rhine-Neckar network sure is an interesting subject which - as a general notice for non-German readers - is rather frequently covered on German railfanning forums, with the Duewag sets obviously being especially popular!

[PhilJ W]

I visited the area almost 40 years ago, I'll have to try to find some of the photographs I took of the trams and buses. If you visit in September you will have to visit the annual sausage market at Bad Durkheim at the extreme western end of the system. An interesting feature at the time was that freight was still carried on the line using open wagons built on old 4 wheel tram underframes to carry grapes for wine production.

[Moritz K]

RHB (The Ludwigshafen-Dad Dürkheim line) is quite an intersting topic of its own, with the Duewag 7-car trams - as far as i know the longest Duewag sets ever built. I hope i'll be able to catch one of the old 8 wheel OEG cars built by Waggonfabrik Rastatt - five of them still seem to be in service in departmental use, but very rareley see one ot them. One really interesting possibility for photos is the annual "Lange Nacht der Museen" (long night of museums): This night in March/April vintage trams operate inside Mannheim - it's a great opportunity for taking night shots of old 4 wheel trams like ex-HSB no.80 (http://www.bahnbilder.de/name/einzelbild/number/458284/kategorie/deutschland~strassenbahn~rnv-oeg-heidelberg-ludwigshafen-mannheim.html). An opportunity i've missed this year i have to admit .

[NGT6 1315]

There also is the interesting detail of parts of the Rhine-Neckar network having reversed OHLE polarity, as well as being fed with 600 V DC rather than 750.

 

Freight workings also existed on parts of what is now the light rail network around Frankfurt, with the line to Oberursel having been prominent in that respect. If you look into my Bw Frankfurt blog on here, you will find two articles related to a LRV excursion in March 2010 where you can see a few traces left from that time.

[PhilJ W]

I had a tour of the depot at Ludwigshafen where I took some photographs of some elderly 4-wheelers used as works cars. As I don't have a scanner I am unable to post them unfortunately.