Wednesday, September 03, 2014

PYONGYANG DPRK - TRAMS AUGUST 2014 (4)

Lots of Tatras mainly from Czech Republic originally.
T3 of 1980


Overhead view - note the lack of traffic


On Railway Station turning circle

Doors receiving attention!

Railway Station

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Songsan Tram Depot

Songsan Tram Depot - we didn't get to look inside, but it was an achievement to get this far

Running into the depot off service

Running into the depot off service

And again

Our charter tram

Tram and trolleynus stop at the Railway Station

PYONGYANG DPRK - TROLLEYBUSES AUGUST 2014 (3)O



More trolleybus pics.
Our Chollima 70 of 1970 charter trolleybus

Works vehicles

Trolleybus overhead platform

Fairly simple lift

Works vehicle

Our Chollima 70 at the end of the journey.  A reporter from the Pyongyang Times arrived to interview a couple of our group and they can be seen on the trolleybus.


Transit vehicles and cycles open to tourists
British tourists try an old trolley bus.
BY COURTESY OF THE KOREA INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL COMPANY
    Kind people, clean environment and special tours in particular and drawing an increasing number of foreign tourists.
To meet their diverse tastes, the Korea International Travel Company has launched tours by public transit vehicles and bicycle.
During their stay in five days and four nights the tourists can see the course of development of the local transit system.
The most available public transport vehicles are trolley buses and trams, which encompass different types of trolley buses ranging from the earliest Chollima-70, which was made 50 years ago, to the latest ones and trams T3, T6 and B5.
“Trolley buses show the development of the Korean nation in the 1960s. We are pleased that you respect your heritage. And you have kept them in good order. I think many countries neglect their heritage. But you have taken care of your heritage. You haven’t put them in museum but kept them in good working order, which is very encouraging and commendable,” British tourist Hasel Dine Peter said after travelling between August 19 and 23.
“We cycled on streets, farms and mountains. All of the cycling was great. When we came down Mt. Paektu through the beautiful fields of wild flowers and forests, it rained at times, but it actually made the riding even more fun,” said American Adam Sullivan, who enjoyed cycling tour from August 14 to 21.
Cycling tour through Pyongyang and local areas gives a good chance for tourists to get closer to the local life and scenery.
You cannot imagine what it is like to cycle along the hilly roads on Korea’s celebrated Mt. Paektu, Mt. Chilbo and others.
Tourists will have a good time in Pyongyang and local areas during a week-long cycling tour.
By Kim Rye Yong PT
This is the article from the Pyongyang Times issue 35 of 8/2014 (Juche year 103).  Some fairly quaint English and Peter Haseldine now has a Korean version of his name! By the way we didn't do the cycling bit.

PYONGYANG DPRK - TROLLEYBUSES AUGUST 2014 (2)

Pyongyand had a large variety of trolleybuses of various vintages and mainly homemade 'Chollima' type.  We had 3 specially chartered trolleybus rides and one specially chartered tram, also we were allowed to travel 7 stops on the metro getting off at most of the stations to admire the architecture etc.
Opposite the railway station

Chollima type 091 built 2009 in front of Railway Station

Trolleybus 209 with lots of accident free stars on its sides

The stars which appear on the sides of some of the trolleybuses denote how many miles of accident free work they have accomplished - each star is equivalent to 50,000 km, also an indicator of the age of the trolleybus.

The Chollima brand symbol.  Chollima is the name of the winged horse (Pegasus) in Korean.

This was the first of our chartered trolleybuses - a Chollima 964 built in 1964.  It was in good condition,  but a little slow.

This is the Chollima 964 in front of the winged horse it is named after

Our group at the end of the trolleybus hire with the driver and conductress in our midst.  The two men on either end of the group were the depot/transport managers for Pyongyang and they were very pleased to meet such an interested crowd.  We also found out which towns in DPRK still have trolleybuses and trams, useful for a further visit.
Trolleybus and tram stop outside the Railway Station

Some very pretty liveries

One of the older type trolleybuses

On it's way round the Railway Station turning ciurcle


En route from Arch of Triumph to Kim Il Sung Square

Passing the Arch of Triumph with a 2 pieces of traffic!

Two types of trolleybus

Passing through Kim Il Sung square, familiar from military parades

Kim Il Sung Square

Wiring crossover

Most recent model of trolleybus.  Note the young lady traffic person, present at most road junctions.  Not much traffic to direct and some seemed to spend most of their time saluting to cars with blacked out windows!

PYONGYANG DPRK - ZURICH TRAMS AUGUST 2014 (1)


A group of 12 visited Pyongyang for 5 days in August and managed to have our visit tailored to a transport theme and apart from the obligatory museums, mausoleums etc did practically everything we requested.  Although denied the opportunity to ride on the former Zurich trams to the Kumsung Sun Palace (mausoleum) we were given the opportunity to photograph them at the 11th hour en route to the station for the train back into China..

Tram on way back to metro station.  The mausoleum (Kumsung Sun Palace) can just be seen in the background.

En route to the mausoleum with passengers sitting to attention.

113 on way to metro station

101 returns to metro station

Tram on way back to the metro station.  This was as close as we were allowed to get after our visit to the mausoleum.

This was the last tram of the morning on way back to depot

Monday, September 01, 2014

NANJING AUGUST 2014 - Luc Koenot

Nanjing indeed opened August 20. After Olympic services focusing on the first 5 stops of the line during the Olympics (August 20-28), service is now on the entire line. 3 cars are offering now an irregular 45-minute service on the 7,76 km long line with 13 stops from which the last 7 are in undeveloped but already infrastructured land. See picture taken of car 01 in an empty environment along a 2x (4+2) lanes road ! Special in Nanjing : overhead lines only at stops to recharge the Primove accumulators. The second line will open end of Q4.

DA LIAN 25 AUGUST 2014

The newest trams in Da Lian are a rather ugly locally built  'low floor' DL6WA type (but only low floor if at a platform stop, not too frequent) and some rather nice 1927 cars with art deco light fittings and very authentic sounds, which should alternate with the newer trams on route 201, but seems to be every 3rd or 4th.  Route 201 is  very slow as it is fighting the copious traffic most of the way along it's route. The fare on route 201 is terminus to railway station CNY1 and railway station to other terminus CNY1 necessitating fighting your way to the ticket machine if you ride across the railway station boundary.  Fares are either paid by smart card or notes into a fare collection box.

Arriving at Da Lian station

Da Lian DL6WA tram

Basic controls

All the DL6WAs we travelled on had loose covers on the seats

Route 201 in a much more pleasant livery

1937 car on route 201

Route 201

Route 201 at the seaside terminus, which has been cut back several stops due to building works

Interior view showing the old photos of trams in Da Lian behind the hand rails

Beautiful art decor type light shades

201 working its way through the traffic - note the easily remembered fleet number!