For more than a century, the tram has been a favorite mode of transport in many cities, although it is increasingly being replaced by its underground brother, the metro. The first streetcars appeared in New York City in 1832, when an inventive local carriage maker came up with a way to transport the growing population.
New mass mode of transport
The industrial revolution led to the fact that in the cities of Western Europe and the USA at the end of the 18th century. factories grew like mushrooms after rain. Horse-drawn carriages were unable to handle the transport of so many people, not to mention the fact that these means of transportation were too slow for the new era. New York resident John Stephenson found a solution to the problem. He laid the first intracity rails in Manhattan - and on November 26, 1832, the New York and Harlem Train began its work. The comfortable carriages were equipped with carpeted runners and soft seats, and people suddenly felt that there was no shaking here, like in a droshky. In addition, the tram moved faster, even at a time when it was still pulled by horses. Paris followed the example of New York in 1855, London in 1861, Copenhagen 1863.
The Great Breakthrough - Electricity
Soon, trams appeared, powered by steam or compressed air. After the invention of the dynamo, which made it possible to supply an entire city with electricity using a cable, the tram became a truly modern form of transport. At the Berlin Crafts Exhibition in 1879, engineer and entrepreneur Werner von Siemens proposed a sensational new product. True, his tram was very small and resembled a mine trolley, and yet it was the first railway without steam and horses. In 1881, the first electric tram moved along the streets of Berlin. True, the cables running straight along the ground posed a significant danger. The Americans Frank Sprague and Charles van Depol coped with this problem. In 1887, they succeeded in creating a reliable overhead wire system in Richmond, Virginia. From that moment on, the tram began its victorious march through cities around the world.
- 1832: The first type of streetcar opened in New York City.
- 1873: Aerial tramways arrive in San Francisco. The rope was driven by a stationary steam engine.
- 1877: The city steam locomotive line opened in Kassel. However, the fumes and noise disturbed the townspeople so much that the line soon had to be closed.
In the summer of 1872, the Polytechnic Exhibition was held in Moscow, dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the birth of Peter the Great. Especially for the exhibition, the War Ministry laid the first temporary horse-drawn tram line along the central streets of the city - from the Iversky Gate to the current Belorussky Station. Carriage traffic was opened on June 25 (July 7), 1872. Traffic along the first rebuilt Petrovskaya line of the horse-drawn tram (from the Iverskaya Chapel through Strastnaya Square, Tverskaya Zastava to Petrovsky Park) opened on September 1 (13), 1874. In subsequent years, the horse-drawn railway network grew steadily. In November 1891, all previously existing horse-drawn tram routes were revised and 25 new lines began operating.
In July 1898, the First Horse Railroad Society, with the consent of the city government, began electrifying the first three sections of its network. The company began to re-equip the Dolgorukovskaya line of the horse-drawn railway from Strastnaya Square along the street. M. Dmitrovka and further to Butyrskaya Zastava (i.e. from Pushkin Square, along Chekhov Street, Dolgorukovskaya, Novoslobodskaya, along Suschevsky Val), as well as two experimental suburban lines: Petrovskaya (from Tverskaya Zastava to Petrovsky Palace) and Butyrskaya (from Butyrskaya outpost along Upper and Lower Maslovka to Petrovsky Park). Along with the reconstruction and construction of lines, the First Society decided to build a traction substation near Butyrskaya Zastava, which was supposed to supply electricity to these three lines. And back in June, construction of the “Electric” tram park began on Bashilovka.
The rails on the Dolgorukovskaya and Petrovskaya lines were laid grooved on wooden sleepers. The railway gauge was adopted - 5 feet - 1524 mm. Rails of the Vignolles type were laid on the Butyrskaya line.
Twenty-three motor-electric and one carriage with mixed battery-electric traction were manufactured during 1898 at the Fankelried plant in Hamburg, and the electrical equipment for them came from the Siemens and Halske factories. The carriages were biaxial, 8.41 m long and 2.45 m wide. The carriage interior had two longitudinal benches with 20 seats in summer and 18 in winter. The front and rear platforms housed electrical equipment for controlling the car, as well as standing areas. The maximum speed was 25 versts per hour (27 km/h).
All major construction work on the first section from Petrovsky Park along Verkhnyaya and Nizhnyaya Maslovka to Butyrskaya Zastava was completed by the end of January 1899. Therefore, in February, a trial run of the electric tram line and training of operating personnel began.
The grand opening of the tram service on the first line in Moscow from Butyrskaya Zastava along Nizhnaya and Verkhnyaya Maslovka to Petrovsky Park took place on March 25 (April 6), 1899 in the “Electric” Park. At 4 o'clock in the afternoon a prayer service was held with the blessing of water in front of the revered icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands and local shrines. The prayer service took place in the engine building, decorated with flags. It was attended by the Moscow Governor, Chamberlain A.G. Bulygin, the Moscow Postal Director, Privy Councilor K.G. Radchenko, the Moscow City Mayor, Prince V.M. Golitsyn, the acting Moscow Chief of Police, Colonel D.F. Trepov, and the Chief of the Postal Service. telegraph district F.A. von Pistolkers, government inspector P.D. Vonlyarovsky and others. After the prayer service, all those present were invited to take seats in cars decorated with national flags.
Soon the first carriage with officials and dignitaries set off, and a tricolor ribbon was cut at the exit from the park gates. Behind this carriage, at short intervals, 4 more carriages, filled with guests invited to the celebration, moved.
2 Petrovsky Park
Electric cars were heading to Petrovsky Park. There were people all along the route, looking with curiosity at the movement of the electric tram. In Petrovsky Park the arrival of the tram was expected by the local population.
From Petrovsky Park, guests were very quickly transported along the second route to Butyrskaya Zastava. Here, horse-drawn railway carriages awaited them, into which all the invitees transferred to travel to the Moskovskaya Hotel, where lunch was prepared for the invited persons.
Regular tram service along the suburban line from Butyrskaya Zastava to Petrovsky Park opened the next day, March 26 (April 7), 1899. The carriages ran at intervals of 14 minutes from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. A ticket along the entire line cost 6 kopecks.
All construction and installation work on the Dolgorukovskaya Line and the suburban section of the Petrovskaya Line (Belorussky Station - Petrovsky Palace) were completed in June-July 1899. The grand opening of electric tram service on these lines took place on July 27 of the same year.
In New York in 1832 and in New Orleans in 1834. However, horsecars became truly successful only after Alphonse Loubat invented rails with a groove for the wheel flange, which were recessed into the roadbed, in 1852. Previously, rails were used that protruded 15 cm above street level, which greatly interfered with other street traffic. (Alphonse Loube's invention is in fact still in use today.) A horse-drawn carriage was usually harnessed to one or two horses; mules and zebras were less commonly used.
Before that time, omnibuses were already used as urban transport. But in comparison with an omnibus, the wheel of a horse-drawn carriage experienced less rolling resistance, which allowed the horse to drive a heavier omnibus car. However, other shortcomings were not eliminated. The horse's working day was limited by the animal's physical capabilities (four to five hours). On average, there were ten horses per car of a horse-drawn tram, which also required care and food.
Amsterdam: a bus instead of a horse
In New York, the horse car was closed in 1914, and around the same time horse cars in many other cities ceased to exist. Usually they were replaced by electric trams, although oddities also happened... So in 1922 in Amsterdam, on one of the last routes, horse-drawn trams were replaced by buses. A horse-drawn carriage was attached to the bus from behind. To avoid confusion, a “tram” sign was installed on the bus. The route existed in this form for four years, after which the rails were removed and regular “non-tram” buses began running along the route.
In foreign Europe
Electric railway of the Siemens & Halske company at the Berlin Exhibition of 1879
The prototype of electric trams (as well as electric locomotives) was a machine created by the German engineer Ernst Werner von Siemens. It was first used in 1879 at the German Industrial Exhibition in Berlin. The locomotive was used to take visitors around the exhibition grounds. The speed of the train driven by the locomotive was 6.5 km/h. The locomotive was powered from the third rail by a direct current of 150 volts and had a power of 3 hp. The weight of the locomotive was a quarter of a ton. Four cars were attached to the locomotive, each of which had six seats. Over four months, 86,000 exhibition visitors used the services of the new vehicle. The train was later demonstrated in 1880 in Düsseldorf and Brussels, and in Paris in 1881 (inoperative). In the same year in action in Copenhagen and finally in 1882 in London (in the Crystal Palace) and in St. Petersburg. The gauge on which this semi-toy train ran was 508 millimeters.
Paris tram at the end of the 19th century
After success with the exhibition attraction, Siemens began construction of a 2.5 km electric tram line in the Berlin suburb of Lichterfeld. The motor car received a current of 100 volts through both rails. The tram's motor power was 5 kilowatts. The maximum speed was 20 km/h. In 1881, the first tram, built by Siemens & Halske, ran on the railway between Berlin and Lichterfeld, thereby opening tram traffic.
In the same year, Siemens built a tram line of the same type in Paris.
In 1885, the tram appeared in Great Britain in the English resort town of Blackpool. It is noteworthy that the original sections have been preserved in their original form, and the tram transport itself is carefully preserved in this city.
IN THE USA
The appearance of the first trams in the USA occurred independently of Europe. Inventor Leo Daft began experimenting with electric traction in 1883, building several small electric locomotives (see history of electric locomotives). His work attracted the attention of the director of the Baltimore Horse Railroad, who decided to convert the three-mile line to electric traction. Daft began electrifying the line and creating electric trams. On August 10, 1885, an electric tram opened on this line - the first on the American continent. However, the system turned out to be ineffective: the use of the third rail led to short circuits during rain, and the voltage (120 volts) killed many unlucky small animals (cats, dogs), and it was also unsafe for people. Soon they abandoned the use of electricity on this line and returned to horses.
However, the inventor did not abandon the idea of an electric tram, and in 1886 he managed to create a workable system - instead of the third rail, a two-wire contact network began to be used. (This two-wire Daft catenary can be considered the prototype of the later trolleybus catenary systems.) Daft trams were used in Pittsburgh, New York and Cincinnati.
Another pioneer of streetcars in America was Charles Van Depoele. After learning of the success of the Siemens electric locomotive in Germany, he arranged for a demonstration of his own experimental electric car in 1883 at the Chicago Industrial Exposition. His experiments aroused interest, and by 1886, five cities in the United States (including Scranton and Minneapolis) and one city in Canada, Windsor, were operating trams of his system. For power supply, he used a single-wire contact network. A direct current of 1400 volts was used.
However, the real development of trams in the USA began after engineer Frank J. Sprague created a reliable current collector - the trolley rod. The trolley current collector was not only reliable, but also safer compared to the third rail. In 1888, a streetcar network created by Sprague opened in Richmond, Virginia. Very soon, the same systems appeared in many other US cities.
In Europe, too, powering a tram through the third rail was quickly abandoned, as was power supply from two conventional rails (this system had all the disadvantages of a system with a third rail, plus it complicated the design of the tram, since it required insulation of the wheel pairs, otherwise the wheels and the axle connecting them caused a short circuit between the rails). However, instead of a trolley rod, Siemens developed a yoke (looks like an arc). Unlike the Sprague system, which required arrows on the contact wire, the Siemens system does not require them, which made it simpler and more reliable. (The Sprague system, which is the progenitor of trolleybus contact networks, also has a disadvantage inherent to them - derailments of trolleybus rods from the contact network wires are still a common occurrence to this day. Whereas the derailment of a yoke or pantograph from a contact network wire is extremely unlikely, which allows a tram with a yoke or pantograph move much faster than a “rod” tram.)
Golden age of trams
The period of the most rapid expansion of the tram lasted from the beginning of the 20th century until the period between the world wars. In many cities, new tram systems were created, and existing ones were constantly expanded: the tram actually became the main form of urban transport. Horse-drawn transport had practically disappeared from the streets of European and American cities by 1910, buses were still in their early stages of development, and cars had not yet had time to turn from luxury into a means of transportation.
By the end of the 20s, it became clear that the period of tram dominance was coming to an end. Concerned about falling revenues, the presidents of US streetcar companies held a conference in 1929 at which it was decided to develop a series of standardized, significantly improved cars called PCC. These cars, which first saw the light of day in 1934, set a new bar in the technical equipment, comfort and appearance of trams, influencing the entire history of tram development for many years to come. Actually, it was then that the tram appeared for many years - especially in the USSR - which became a tram classic.
Temporary disappearance from many cities
At the beginning of the 20th century, trams were an integral part of any sufficiently large American (and European) city
In many countries, the growing popularity of cars led to the rapid disappearance of trams from city streets (around the end of the fifties). Trams had to compete not only with privately owned cars, but also with minibuses, buses and trolleybuses. First of all, this process affected the countries of North America and Western Europe, but it was also observed in South America and Asian countries. (In East Asia - especially Japan - the tram was most often replaced by the monorail or surface urban electric trains)
Governments primarily invested in road transport, as the automobile was generally seen as a symbol of progress. For example, French President Georges Pompidou said in 1971: “the city must accept the automobile.”
Technical progress has increased the reliability of buses and trolleybuses, which have become serious competitors of the tram - also due to the fact that they do not require expensive infrastructure. Often, buses and trolleybuses also provided a more comfortable ride and smoother ride than the older tram cars. In some places the tram was replaced by a trolleybus.
There was no modernization of tram networks, and therefore their condition constantly deteriorated, and accordingly the public’s opinion about trams as a form of transport worsened.
Trams have almost completely disappeared in North America, France (in France, only Lille, Saint-Etienne and Marseille retain a tram), Great Britain (of fifteen cities, only Blackpool retains its tram), India, Turkey, Spain, South Africa and Australia (with the exception Melbourne and Adelaide). At the same time, the tram was preserved and modernized in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Belgium, the USSR (later in Russia) and other countries, from where the tram, as a mode of transport, later went on a “counter-offensive” and began a new expansion. In some countries, the situation regarding the tram was different in different cities. Thus, in Finland the tram in Turku was closed, but was preserved and even developed in Helsinki. Sweden retained trams from Norrköping and Gothenburg, but the transition from left- to right-hand traffic completely closed the tram network in central Stockholm.
A slightly different evolution was observed in the countries of the socialist camp. Motorization was proclaimed as one of the important goals of socialist development, but in reality its pace was very low. Therefore, public transport, including the tram, played a vital role in the life of society. However, starting from the thirties in the USSR, and later in other socialist countries, the trolleybus began to be considered as an alternative to the tram. The pace of tram development slowed down, and in some places tram lines were replaced by trolleybus lines. Many tram services suffered damage during the Second World War - some of them were not restored and the losses were compensated by buses and trolleybuses.
Revival of the tram
Futuristic tram of Strasbourg
Munich, old tram (1979)
The negative consequences of mass motorization - especially in large cities - were problems such as smog, traffic congestion, noise, shortage of parking spaces, etc. This led to a gradual revision of transport policy.
At the same time, neither buses (including trolleybuses) nor subways were able to solve the problems that arose (at least completely). The buses were unable to serve a high enough passenger volume due to insufficient capacity, and when used in cities, the buses were stuck in traffic jams with other cars, which did not contribute to their efficiency. The allocation of separate lanes for bus and trolleybus traffic did not solve the problem either - the insufficient capacity of the buses affected it. Construction of a metro requires large capital investments, and operation is also very expensive. As a result, the metro is economically justified only in conditions of very high passenger traffic within a city or urban agglomeration. Thus, the scope of application of the metro is limited only to large cities and large urban agglomerations, where there are very large passenger flows. In many cities, the construction of a subway (especially an underground one) is impossible (or unacceptably expensive) for geological reasons or due to the presence of archaeological sites.
Against this background, the advantages of the tram became more noticeable. The revival of the tram began in the late seventies. Some of the first new tram systems opened in Canada - in Edmonton (in) and Calgary (in). On the European continent, the revival of trams began in the Netherlands, where the Utrecht light rail opened in 1983, then the initiative passed to France, where new tram systems opened in Nantes (see Nantes tram) and Grenoble. It is interesting that it was France, half a century earlier, back in the thirties, that began to get rid of the tram as an “outdated mode of transport”, for example, the first Parisian tram ceased to exist in 1937 (now the Parisian tram has been revived).
In addition, there is a concept light rail, LRT(English) Light Rail Transit, LRT). Light rail transport refers to predominantly off-street passenger railway systems built to lightweight standards and using more economical engineering solutions compared to railways and the “classic” metro. LRT is distinguished from the tram by a higher degree of isolation, and from the metro by the use of lighter rolling stock and lower construction costs due to the minimization of expensive underground work. The boundaries both between LRT and tram, and between LRT and classic metro or railway, are blurred due to the wide variety of types of rail transport systems.
In many cities in Germany (for example, Hanover, Frankfurt) and France, the metro system (in Germany U-Bahn) is widespread, with a small number of underground stations in the city center, and a significant number of outdoor stations directly on the city streets, where trains differ little from trams . However, these cities also have an independent pure tram network. The difference between a tram and a metro is that trams have fewer cars connected and are more maneuverable on the streets, the metro consists of larger cars, and the metro lines facing the street are somewhat better protected from pedestrians and other traffic.
In North America
A slightly different trend is observed in North America. Here, too, new systems are being created, which can be divided into two categories: light rail And historical tram English heritage streetcar.
In Asia, the tram appeared at the very end of the 19th century. The first city in East Asia to acquire this means of transport was Kyoto in 1895. In 1899, trams appeared in Seoul, and a few years later in Hong Kong and Tokyo.
The tram reached its maximum development in Asia in the late 1930s. In the fifties, with the growth of automobile traffic, as well as under the influence of the then urban planning fashion, trams disappeared from the streets of most large and medium-sized cities in the region.
However, tram systems continue to operate in many Asian cities. Quite old double-decker trams operate and are very popular in Hong Kong, which are both a means of transport and a tourist attraction. China has begun production of its own low-floor cars. In Japan, the Philippines and other Asian countries, new tram systems based on modern technical base have been put into operation.
History of trams in Russia
The emergence and development of electric trams in the Russian Empire
The first Moscow tram, 1899
The first tram in the Russian Empire was launched on May 2, 1892 in Kyiv, it was built by engineer A.E. Struve. Then it appeared in Nizhny Novgorod, Elisavetgrad, Vitebsk, Kursk, Odessa, Kazan, Tver, Ekaterinodar, Ekaterinoslav... In the Asian part of Russia, the first tram line was opened on October 9 in Vladivostok. In the capital cities - St. Petersburg, Moscow - he had to endure a struggle with competitors - horse-drawn horses (in Kyiv there was practically no such struggle due to the difficult terrain - the horses could not cope with the steep climbs).
The oldest tram in modern Russia is located in Kaliningrad. At the time of the opening of the electric tram in 1895 (the horse-drawn tram had existed since 1881), this city was called Königsberg and belonged to Germany.
Owners of horse-drawn horses, private and joint-stock companies, which at one time received the rights to construct “horse-drawn railways,” did not want to return these rights for a long time. The law of the Russian Empire was on their side, and the issued licenses stated that the city government could not use any other type of transport on the streets for fifty years without the consent of the “horse” owners.
In Moscow, the tram started operating only on March 26, 1899, and in St. Petersburg - only on September 16, 1907, despite the fact that the first tram line there was laid back in 1894 directly on the ice of the Neva.
Trams travel on the ice of the Neva
Before the revolution, a unique suburban line appeared in St. Petersburg to Strelna, Peterhof and Oranienbaum, ORANEL, which in 1929 was included in the city network.
The tram in pre-revolutionary Russia (unlike the USA) was not a common phenomenon and its appearance was associated with the economic status of cities, the presence of effective demand among its residents and the activity of local authorities. Until 1917, in addition to the systems in Moscow and St. Petersburg, traffic was opened in about a dozen more cities, half of which were commercial and industrial cities on the Volga (Tver, Yaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Samara, Saratov, Tsaritsyn).
Course on standardization and unification
These cars corresponded to the world technical level of those years. For the first time in Russian and Soviet tram construction, they had an all-metal welded body, a new type of bogie with rubberized wheels, an indirect rheostat-contactor control system, which made it possible to operate the car according to a system of many units (although in practice this possibility was never used), they were equipped with a pantograph and regenerative electric brake. The M-38 cars had a length of 15 m and a weight of 20 tons; the four engines had a total power of 220 kW. The carriage had three automatic screen doors (the middle door was double). The carriage capacity was 190 people, the carriage had excellent dynamic qualities and a maximum speed of 55 km/h. From 1941 to 1941, 60 cars were produced.
Unfortunately, not a single copy of the M-38, LM/LP-36 or KTC has survived to this day.
Tram during the War
For the needs of the remaining few narrow-gauge tram services, cars from the GDR, “Lova” and “Gotha” were imported (wide-gauge cars of these brands were also imported in small quantities).
Tram in the Russian Federation
Despite the above-described renaissance of trams in Europe and North America, in Russia the tram is often viewed as an outdated mode of transport, and a significant part of the systems is collapsing or stagnating. Some tram farms (Shakhtinskoye, Arkhangelsk, Karpinskoye, Grozny, Ivanovo, Voronezh, Ryazan) ceased to exist. However, for example, in Volgograd, the so-called metrotram or “premetro” (tram lines laid underground) plays an important role, and in Magnitogorsk the traditional tram is steadily developing. In addition to Magnitogorsk, new tram lines have opened over the past 15 years in Ulyanovsk, Kolomna, Kazan, Naberezhnye Chelny, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Pyatigorsk and some other cities. The leader in purchasing rolling stock is
We all know the tram well as one of the types of urban transport. The history of its existence goes back almost two centuries. Having appeared in 1828, trams gradually became widespread throughout the world and are still an integral part of the transport network of many cities. Over the many years of its existence, this type of transport has constantly changed and improved. Different types of trams appeared, including horse-drawn, electric, pneumatic and gas-powered. The features of each of them will be discussed in more detail below.
Equestrian
It is with the advent of horse-drawn urban transport (or horse-drawn cars) that the history of the tram begins. She is quite interesting and entertaining. We will tell you about it in the article.
The first tram was a closed or open carriage drawn by one or two horses, and sometimes mules or zebras, and running on rails. The horse-drawn horse was driven by a coachman, and there was always a conductor present, who (in addition to selling tickets to passengers) often helped the coachman in driving on difficult sections of the road. The first tram appeared in 1828 in Baltimore, America, and a few years later in other cities. But this type of transport gained real popularity only after rails with gutters that did not protrude above the road were invented in 1852, and thus horsecars stopped interfering with the movement of other vehicles.
Already at the end of the 19th century, horse-drawn trams became popular in Russia, and in our country two types of such transport were used: single-decker and double-decker trams, the so-called imperials.
But the heyday of the horse-drawn horse was short-lived. Significant inconveniences in its use, for example, low speed, rapid fatigue of horses and the need to regularly change them, led to the fact that already at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, horse-drawn trams were replaced with electric ones in almost all major cities. Moreover, this happened both in America and Europe, and in Russia.
Electric tram
The ideas that later formed the basis for the creation of electric transport were voiced by Russian scientists back in the 40s of the 19th century. However, it took another half a century for these ideas to be put into practice; only in 1892 the first electric tram was launched in Kyiv. Later they also appeared in Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow, St. Petersburg and other large cities. The first electric trams appeared in Europe a few years earlier. But in general, we can talk about the almost simultaneous development and implementation of this type of transport in the Russian Empire and European countries. This type of tram was distinguished by a higher level of comfort and significantly higher speed compared to horse-drawn trams.
Other types of this type of transport in history
Several other types of this urban transport are not widespread in the world. Thus, for several decades there was a pneumatic tram in Paris. The movement of the carriage was carried out by a pneumatic engine, and the compressed air was in special cylinders, the total supply of which was enough for a trip in both directions. At the final station the cylinders were refilled with compressed air.
In Russia (and later in the USSR), gas-powered trams existed in a number of cities. Little information has survived to this day about what they looked like. It is only known that they were trolleys without a roof, which were driven by light motor locomotives. They were not widely used, this is mainly due to the fact that the level of noise they created was many times higher than permissible standards.
Tram in the 20th century
Speaking about the fate of the tram in the 20th century, it should be noted that during this period there were both ups and downs in its development. The time from the beginning of the 20th century until the period between the First and Second World Wars is considered the so-called golden age of trams. During this period, it gradually became almost the main mode of urban transport. Horse-drawn horses had almost completely ceased to be used by this time, and buses and cars had not yet become widespread. However, already in the mid-late fifties, cars gradually began to replace trams on city streets. Also, by this time, trolleybuses and buses began to compete seriously with this type of transport, the trips in which were much more comfortable, because the tram tracks were practically not repaired, so the movement was no longer smooth and soft. All this led to the decline of this type of urban transport.
Takeoff of trams
As the history of the tram says, its new “take off” dates back to the end of the seventies. By this time, large-scale motorization had led to such negative consequences as traffic jams, smog, and lack of parking spaces. All these factors have led to the need to revise transport policies almost all over the world; the advantages of the tram as an environmentally friendly mode of transport have once again become obvious. In addition, technical improvements in tram networks have helped reduce the number of cars and buses in cities, which has contributed to a decrease in the number of parking spaces and the emergence of more parks and squares.
Tram in the modern world
Nowadays, city trams not only continue to perform their direct function - transporting passengers along a set route, but can also be used for excursion purposes, to attract tourists or as advertising for a particular establishment. Thus, double-decker trams and convertible trams ply along the streets, and in some cities they also serve as cafes or hotels.
There are also trams used for technical and service purposes: for example, for repairing rail surfaces or removing snow, for transporting goods.
Speed view
In a number of cities, they have become widespread. In general, any type of urban transport whose speed is or exceeds 24 km/h is considered high-speed. In practice, of course, the speed of modern trams can be several times higher. Thus, in France, a high-speed tram running between the city center and the airport can reach speeds of over 100 km on some sections of the route. If we talk about our country, then, for example, in Volgograd an entire tram system has been created, which includes 22 stations and partially runs underground to ensure the highest possible speed.
The oldest functioning tram in the world is the Santa Teresa in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Back in 1896, it was converted from horse-drawn to electric, and since then it has been driving on city streets without any changes or improvements. Used to entertain tourists and conduct city tours.
In Lisbon you can ride the so-called musical tram. Traveling on it, tourists seem to be transported back in time. Just like a hundred years ago, this tram is made of plywood, and local performers provide live music throughout the journey. If the passenger wants to get out, he must pull a special cable located on top.
The highest mountain in the world passes through the French Alps. Tram rails were laid here at the beginning of the 20th century, then this road was used mainly for purely practical purposes, that is, for transporting peasants from one village to another. Currently, this is a very popular route among tourists, since a trip on such a tram allows you to see the Alpine beauty with your own eyes, and the highest point of the route is located at an altitude of almost two and a half kilometers above sea level.
Tram Museums
As discussed above, over the years of its existence the tram has undergone many changes, one type was replaced by another. The history of the tram is extremely interesting, so both in Russia and in the world there are a number of museums of this type and electric transport in general. One of them is located in Nizhny Novgorod. This is no coincidence, because the Nizhny Novgorod tram is considered the first in Russia. The museum displays a significant number of trams and trolleybuses, and since the museum is aimed at families with children, all the exhibits here can be touched with your hands and studied very carefully.
Another museum of the history of trams and trolleybuses is located in Yekaterinburg; its opening was timed to coincide with the 275th anniversary of the city. It covers in detail the history of the creation of urban electric transport.
As for tram history museums abroad, the most interesting organization dedicated to this type of transport is located in Amsterdam. The museum displays about 60 carriages brought from several European countries and belonging to different eras of the existence of this type of transport. In order to fully experience the atmosphere, you definitely need to take a ride in an old carriage, the route of which passes by all the main attractions of the city. At the same time, the youngest tourists are also allowed to actively “help” the movement of the tram: for example, call stops and ring the bell. Another service that the museum provides is the rental of historical carriages for weddings, graduation parties and just photo sessions, which is very popular among locals and visitors.
Amazing things are nearby" we say when we notice or get to know closer something that we have passed by hundreds of times, but either did not know or did not pay attention to.... I would also add - "the unknown around", because often in life we are surrounded by things so banal and familiar that for some reason we think that we know everything about them... we cannot understand where such conviction and confidence comes from... it is also not clear why, having lived a fair number of years, knowing perfectly well, to for example, what a tram is, we know so little about it... when and where it first appeared, what it looked like, who was its predecessor... We can find out these and many other interesting facts and details from the history of the tram and tram traffic if we show interest ...
Tram is a type of street rail public transport for transporting passengers along given (fixed) routes. Used mainly in cities. This is probably what anyone who is asked to characterize this type of public transport will answer...
Word tram derivative from English tram (car, trolley) and way (path). According to one version, it came from trolleys for transporting coal in the mines of Great Britain. As a mode of transport, the tram is the oldest type of urban passenger public transport and arose in the first half of the 19th century - initially in horse traction.
Horse-drawn horse
In 1852, a French engineer Luba came up with a proposal to build rail tracks along the streets of large cities to transport carriages by horses. Initially, it was used only for cargo transportation, but after the construction of the first passenger lines, the horse-drawn horse began to carry passengers. Such a road was built by him in New York....
Horse-drawn horse on the street of New York
and very soon a new type of transport spread to other cities in America and Europe.
Detroit Koenigsberg
Horse-drawn horse in Paris
London
Sweden Czech Republic
“What about in Russia?” - you probably ask....Soon a horse tram appeared here too....
In 1854, in the vicinity of St. Petersburg, near Smolenskaya Sloboda, as an engineer Polezhaev a horse road was built from longitudinal wooden beams covered with iron. In 1860, engineer Domantovich built a horse-drawn railway in the streets St. Petersburg.
Despite the low speed (no more than 8 km/h), the new type of transport soon spread and took root in many large cities and provincial centers.
In Moscow at the Serpukhov Gate
V Minsk
Samara
Voronezh
in Tiflis
Kyiv
Tashkent
For example, in St. Petersburg, horse-drawn railways ran along all significant highways from the center to the outskirts.
In most cases, the horse tram was built with the participation of foreign capital, and if at the beginning this had a positive effect on the development of the transport network in cities, then over time it greatly slowed down the development process... Firms that owned horse trams became ardent opponents of the introduction of steam and electric trams...
History of the electric tram
The prototype of electric trams was a car created by the German engineer E. rnst Werner von Siemens. It was first used in 1879 at the German Industrial Exhibition in Berlin. The locomotive was used to take visitors around the exhibition grounds.
Electric railway of the Siemens & Halske company at the Berlin Exhibition of 1879
The first electric tram appeared at the end of the 19th century - in 1881 in Berlin, Germany. Four carriages were attached to the locomotive, each of which had six seats.
The train was later demonstrated in 1880 in Düsseldorf and Brussels, in 1881 in Paris (inoperative), in operation in Copenhagen the same year, and finally in 1882 in London.
After success with the exhibition attraction, Siemens began construction of an electric tram line 2.5 km in the Berlin suburbs Lichterfeld.
A carriage of the world's first electric tram line in the former Berlin suburb of Lichterfeld, opened on 05/16/1881. Voltage 180 volts, engine power 5 kW, power was supplied through running rails until 1890. Photo 1881
The motor car received current through both rails. In 1881, the first tram, built by Siemens & Halske, ran on the railway between Berlin and Lichterfeld, thereby opening tram traffic.
In the same year C imens built a tram line of the same type in Paris.
In 1885, a tram appeared in Great Britain in an English resort town Blackpool. It is noteworthy that the original sections have been preserved in their original form, and the tram transport itself is carefully preserved in this city.
The electric tram soon became popular throughout Europe.
Haalle
Warsaw
View of the portal of the Rhine Bridge in Mannheim a lovely-looking tram rolls by
tram in Barcelona
The appearance of the first trams in the USA occurred independently of Europe. Inventor Leo Daft(Leo Daft) began experimenting with electric traction in 1883, building several small electric locomotives. His work attracted the attention of the director of the Baltimore horse-drawn railway, who decided to convert the three-mile line to electric traction. Daft began electrifying the line and creating trams. On August 10, 1885, electric tram service opened on this line - the first on the American continent.
Boston Double-axle tram with open areas. USA.
However, the system turned out to be ineffective: the use of the third rail led to short circuits during rain, and the voltage (120 volts) killed many unlucky small animals: (cats and dogs); and it was unsafe for people. Soon they abandoned the use of electricity on this line and returned to horses.
Cincinnati. Ohio. USA.
However, the inventor did not abandon the idea of an electric tram, and in 1886 he managed to create a workable system (a two-wire contact network was used instead of the third rail). Daft streetcars were used in Pittsburgh, New York and Cincinnati.
Ice tram of St. Petersburg
In St. Petersburg, according to the agreement with the horse-drawn owners (it was concluded for 50 years), there should have been no other public transport. In order not to formally violate this agreement, in 1885 the first electric tram ran on the ice of the frozen Neva.
Sleepers, rails and overhead poles crashed directly into the ice.
They were called “ice trams”.
It is clear that this type of transport could only be used in winter,
however, it soon became clear that the time of horse-drawn trams was coming to an end.
Steam horse
It’s little known, but it’s a fact that, in addition to the traditional horse-drawn horse, there were two more lines in St. Petersburg steam horse. The first line of the steam tram or in common parlance - steam engine, was laid in 1886 along Bolshoy Sampsonievsky Prospekt and Second Murinsky Prospekt, although officially this line was called the “steam horse-drawn railway line”.
The steam engine had a number of advantages over the horse-drawn horse: higher speed, greater power. Due to the resistance of the owners of horse-drawn trams and the advent of the electric tram, the steam tram was not developed - the steam tram line from Vosstaniya Square to the village of Rybatskogo along the current Obukhovskaya Defense Avenue became the last one.
Also in the early 1880s, a steam train line was laid along the embankment of the Ligovsky Canal.
The steam locomotives were stored in the Vyborg Horse Park. As a passenger transport, the steam tram only slightly outlived the horse-drawn tram (its last run was in 1922), but it again appeared on the streets of besieged Leningrad to transport goods and weapons.
Electric tram in Russia.
Contractual obligations with horse-drawn tram owners in some cities have delayed the development of electric trams in them. Somewhere the tram tracks were laid parallel to the horse-drawn tracks in order to bankrupt it. Sometimes city authorities simply bought out the horse-drawn roads in order to turn the horse-drawn horse into a tram. Thus, the first electric tram in Russia was first launched not in St. Petersburg, as many mistakenly believe, but in Kyive.
Here he appeared in 1892 year on Alexandrovsky (Vladimirsky) descent. The builder is Siemens. Quickly becoming popular, he literally captivated the entire city. Soon other Russian cities followed the example of Kyiv: a tram appeared in Nizhny Novgorod in 1896
IN Ekaterinoslav(now Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine) in 1897,
tram appeared in Moscow in 1899
V Saratov
Smolensk
Electric tram, as the tram was also called, appeared in Tiflis and had a fairly extensive network there.
Details about the Tiflis tram can be found in guide to Tiflis 1903
In Odessa and St. Petersburg - in 1907.
At the end of 1904, the City Duma announced an international competition for the right to carry out the work. Three companies took part in it: Siemens and Halske, General Electric Company and Westinghouse ( English). On September 29, 1907, regular electric tram service was opened on the streets of St. Petersburg. The first line ran from the General Headquarters to the 8th line of Vasilyevsky Island.
Saint Petersburg. Blessing of tram cars
Details:
On Sunday, September 15, at 10 a.m., those invited to the grand opening of tram service along the line began to gather in the Alexander Garden: the main headquarters, the Nikolaevsky Bridge and the 7th line of Vasilyevsky Island. People were allowed into the garden by personal summons. The public, for the most part, occupied the opposite panel. At the entrance to the garden there were brand new carriages in 2 rows. Car drivers and conductors in brand new uniforms were grouped here. A tent was pitched in Alexander Square, and a prayer service was held there.
The first toast to the health of the Sovereign was proclaimed by the mayor Reztsov, then the mayor, Major General Drachevsky, proclaimed health to the entire city government and its representative Reztsov. The chairman of the tram commission, Sokov, in a long speech expressed his gratitude to the administration and the audit commission for their assistance in the construction of the tram. The mayor in his speech emphasized that despite the difficulties of the task, almost 80% of all work on the construction of the tram was completed in one construction period. A nice toast was proposed by the chief engineer of the tram commission, Statsevich, who raised a glass to the tram worker, who had carried a million pounds of tram work on his shoulders. Anya’s workers heard this fair assessment of their work, since their representative was not at the celebration.
At the end of the prayer service, the guests entered the new carriages and traveled to the 7th line and back. The carriages are striking in their miniature size. The carriages are striking in their miniature size. The fee is posted in prominent places: for broken large glass - 7 rubles, for small glass - 8 rubles, for damaged doors - 40 rubles. “Spitting and smoking are prohibited.” The carriages are divided by a partition into 2 classes: the first has 14 seats, the second 10. 10 passengers can stand on the rear platform, 6 on the front platform. The carriage drivers were apparently worried, but they passed the first test with honor. In the first carriage, traffic was opened by the mayor Drachevsky and the mayor Reztsov.
Upon his return, before opening passenger traffic, the mayor went out onto the platform of the lead car and, addressing the public, proclaimed: “Tram traffic in St. Petersburg is open, hurray!” To this there was a response of “hurray” from those present. The public rushed into the carriages, with the boys ahead of everyone. The older ones hesitated, and the boys took all the seats. In the blink of an eye, the conductors' calls rang out and the carriages began to roll with the first paying passengers. ."
After the appearance of the electric tram in 1907, the horse-drawn tram was gradually replaced by it; on September 8, 1917, it disappeared completely. The use of horse trams in Moscow continued until 1912.
Moscow
Old electric trams were completely different from modern ones. They were smaller and less perfect. They did not have automatically closing doors; the front and rear platforms were separated from the interior by sliding doors. On the front platform, the carriage driver himself sat on a high stool with metal legs and a thick round wooden seat. In front of him is a tall black engine. With the inscription "Dynamo" on the lid.
The carriages had wooden seats inside. In some they were in the form of sofas for two passengers with common backs on one side of the car and chairs designed for one person on the other. At the end of each carriage there was a place for the conductor. A special sign warned about this, so that, God forbid, someone would not sit in this place. The conductor (more often the conductress) often wore a service uniform overcoat, or even just a coat or fur coat. He had a huge leather bag for money hanging over his shoulder, and a board with tickets was attached to his belt. Tickets were of different denominations, depending on the distance of travel and the number of payment stations. The tickets were very cheap. Then the cost became the same, and the conductor now had a roller of tickets hanging on his belt. A thick rope was stretched from the conductor to the driver through the entire carriage under the ceiling. When boarding was completed, the conductor pulled this rope, and the bell rang loudly at the carriage driver's on the front platform. There were no electrical signals back then. From the second car, the second conductor sent a signal to the rear platform of the first car in the same way. Only after waiting for him and checking the boarding of his car, the conductor of the first car could signal the carriage driver about the end of boarding.
Standing passengers could hold on to canvas loops located along the entire cabin and hanging on a thick wooden stick. These loops could move with the passenger, sliding along the stick. Later, the hinges began to be made of plastic. Metal handles were also added on the backs of the benches, as well as handles on the walls between the windows. But that was much later. The windows opened completely. They went down into the lower wall. It was not allowed to stick out. It was even written about this on signs at every window.
Small children had the right to free travel. But no one asked the child's age. It’s just that on the trim of the salon doors there was a deeply embedded and whitened mark, by which the child’s height was determined and whether he should be paid or not. Above the mark, the child already had to pay for his travel.
Intercity trams
Trams are primarily associated with urban transport, but intercity and suburban trams were also quite common in the past.
The tram follows the route Pierrefitte - Cauterets - Luz (or vice versa) in the French Pyrenees. You can say intercity tram, which is not quite usual.
This is one of the most picturesque places of the designated tram line that arose on the border of the 19th and 20th centuries, decorated with a bridge named Pont de Meyabat.
Intercity mountain tram in France
What stood out in Europe was Belgium's network of intercity trams, known as the Niderl. Buurtspoorwegen(literally translated as “local railways”)
The first local railway section (between Ostend and Nieuwpoort, now part of the Coastal Tram line) opened in July 1885. Intercity trams were also common in the Netherlands. As in Belgium, they were originally steam-powered, but then steam trams were replaced by electric and diesel ones. In the Netherlands, the era of intercity trams ended on February 14, 1966.
Until 1936, it was possible to travel from Vienna to Bratislava by city tram.
Few people know, but there was an intercity tram in Italy. Tied up Solerno and Pompeii.
There was also an intercity tram in Japan between Osaka and Kobe.
After its heyday between the world wars, the tram began to decline, but since the 1970s there has been a significant increase in the popularity of the tram, including for environmental reasons and technological improvements.
Interesting facts about trams around the world
The largest tram network in the world is located in Melbourne, Australia.
The oldest tram cars still in normal use are cars No. 1 and 2 of the Manx Electric Railway. They were built in 1893 and operate on the 28.5 km Douglas en Ramsey Country Line]
The longest tram ride in Germany is from Krefeld, or rather its suburb St Tönis, to Witten. The length of the trip will be 105.5 km, covering this distance will take approximately five and a half hours, and will require transfers eight times.
The longest non-stop tram route is the Coastal Tram (Dutch). Kusttram) in Belgium. There are 60 stops on this 67 km line. There is also a line from Freudenstadt to Ohringen via Karlsruhe and Heilbronn with a length of 185 km.
The northernmost tram system in the world is located in Trondheim.
Frankfurt am Main has had a children's tram since 1960.
The third generation of trams includes the so-called low-floor trams. As the name suggests, their distinctive feature is their low floor height. To achieve this goal, all electrical equipment is placed on the roof of the tram (on “classic” trams, electrical equipment can be located under the floor). The advantages of a low-floor tram are convenience for the disabled, the elderly, passengers with strollers, and faster boarding and disembarking.
