Fwd: [Eurotrams] Lisbon museum trams on the street (1/2)
Greg Sutherland
Friday, October 4, 2024 1:22 AM
-------- Forwarded Message --------
| Subject: | [Eurotrams] Lisbon museum trams on the street (1/2) |
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| Date: | Thu, 3 Oct 2024 16:23:24 +0100 |
| From: | Ernst Kers <[email protected]> |
| Reply-To: | [email protected] |
| To: | Eurotrams <[email protected]> |
Museu da Carris, the museum of the Lisbon urban public transport company Carris, organizes every year a parade with a part of their vehicles. This year it was on Saturday 21 September. Two trips were made, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Both times from Santo Amaro to Algés and back. Santo Amaro is the site with the tram depot, the tram workshops and the museum. Algés is the western terminus of tramline 15. A return trip takes a little less than an hour.
In total 13 vehicles participated, ten of them trams and
three of the off-topic type with rubber tyres. As it's difficult
to take photos of the trams when travelling in one of them, I
decided to make photos of the trams on the morning trip and only
join the afternoon trip.
In this mail photos of the first five of the ten
participating trams. The photos are in sequence as the trams
were during the trips, not as I took them. Except for one, all
photos were made in Rua da Junqueira on a short distance from
Santo Amaro.
Open tram no.283 was built by the J.G. Brill company
of Philadelphia and delivered in 1902. It has Brill made 22E
maximum traction bogies with 25 hp General Electric GE59 motors.
It was the first of a series of 40: 283-322. These trams had
seats for 48 passengers and were in service until the
mid-1950's. No.283 is the sole survivor and brought back into
the condition of about 1940.
Tram no.444 was one of a series of 75, numbered
400-474, built by the Saint Louis Car company and delivered in
1901. The trucks were Brill built of the 21E type and the motors
GE59. Around 1930 these trams got a major overhaul. During this
overhaul the platforms were closed, the drop windows were
changed to lifting windows and the transverse seat arrangement
changed from 2+1 into 2+2, augmenting the number of seats from
20 to 24. Apparently in that time Carris still wanted to offer
as much seats as possible. Most of these trams were withdrawn
during the 1960's, a small number getting into the early 1970's.
Museum tram no.444 is brought back into close it's original
state with open platforms, drop windows and 2+1 seat
arrangement. This tram had me as passenger during the afternoon
trip.
Tram no.535 was built by the Carris workshops in 1928
as part of the series 532-551. This was the first version of the
tram type now emblematic for Lisbon. In contrary to the later
versions the platform floors are on the same level as the saloon
floor. To compensate a little for the larger step to be taken
when boarding, the wheels are a little smaller: ø 78 cm instead
of 85 cm normal on most other Lisbon trams. The truck is built
by Maley & Taunton and of the 21ESL type, a modified Brill
21E design. The 45 hp MV115 motors were made by Metrovick
(Metroplolitan-Vickers). Seat capacity is 24. The first four,
532-535, were around 1940 modified to be allowed for use on the
lines with the steepest slopes. The others, 536-551, were in the
early 1950's modified to operate in semi-permanent combinations
with the new trailers built in the same period. Apart from a few
accident victims, these trams were only withdrawn during the
1980's. Museum tram no.535 is brought back into close to the
original state.
This is the only photo I made during the afternoon trip: in
Rua dos Pedrouços out of the window of 444.
Tram no.741 was the youngest participant. That's to
say of the trams. The buses were younger and also most of the
people. ;-) This tram was built by the Carris workshops in 1947
as part of the series 736-745. These trams were allowed for use
on the steepest slopes. The trucks were Maley & Taunton
built 21ESL with MV115 motors. Seat capacity is 24.These trams,
that means the bodies as the trucks and motors remained in use,
were withdrawn in the late 1980's. Nine were scarpped, but the
body of 741 was stored, later equiped with another truck and for
many years on display in the museum on a short, isolated piece
of track. This year was the first time it participated on the
parade.
Tourist tram no.1 is now part of the museum
collection. Like 444 it was part of the Saint Louis built series
400-474, the original number being 437. In 1965 this
tram, together with no.435 that became no.2, was modified for
the new tourist service. It seems that the new fleet numbers, 1
& 2, together with the red colour and the new but in old
fashion ornate luxury style interior were meant to let the
tourists believe that it were the very first Lisbon electric
trams in original state. The reality is that the first electric
trams were of the open type and numbered behind the existing
horse trams (from 203 upward), the trams always had been yellow
and the interiors were never in ornate luxury style. Also the
modifications of about 1930, closed platforms and lifting
windows, were retained. But of course it's in line with the
tourist industry principle: "With anything you tell to tourists,
don't care if it's true, just make them feel happy."
For about 30 years the red 1 & 2 pair provided the
tourist service, but with the increasing number of tourists they
were replaced by a larger number of younger trams. This pair now
moves the visitors between the different locations of the museum
on the Santo Amaro site.
In my next mail five more trams.
Ernst
Eurotrams started in March 2000 as a place for friendly discussion about Tramways in Europe and sometimes a bit beyond. Pictures are always welcome, but we will not tolerate copyright infringement. There is a group homepage you might like to visit at https://groups.google.com/g/eurotrams-group which contains the current Google group archive.
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