Today's Gazeta Stołeczna informed Warsaw that today there would be a last chance to bid farewell to the Konstal 13N tram, finally withdrawn from regular service last week after 53 years of continuous duty. I shall miss them; a tangible link to my childhood visits to Warsaw. A sentimental journey, to pay homage to the old trams, was therefore in order. Below: 13N no. 836 at Rondo Waszyngtona, in front of the National Stadium.
Below: the special excursions proved very popular with a wide cross-section of Varsovians. Running between the loops at Teatr Powszechny and Pl. Narutowicza, the farewell service ran all afternoon and into the evening. I hope it will be reprised at this year's Noc Muzeów ('museum night') in May, but I guess that most 13Ns will have been scrapped by then. A handful will be kept on as heritage trams.
The doors open and close in a sharp and noisy manner; the sound of the trams' acceleration and deceleration was also characteristic. In winter (+1C today), the wind would whistle through numerous cracks and openings. Not too comfortable, but back in the early 1960s, this was grand style.
Click on the video below (courtesy of Mat at Naokolo.pl.blog) who concurs that this is indeed the best seat in the tram.
Good to have the new Swings on our streets in ever-increasing numbers, but still, I will miss the 13Ns. Farewell.
This time five years ago:
Five departures from Okęcie
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10 comments:
Michael,
I remember when I was only a few years old, in 1980s, I strongly preferred (then rare) 105N trams over 13N for one simple reason - 13N has its windows higher and for a child this was not enough to see the world outside. But then, when I grew up, I changed my mind and preferred the older trams. Probably one of the reasons is I was able to sit in the front of the trailer, just as you described with your last photo. Here's my sentimental journey, one of my last rides in this place: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpA2XaL64mw
Mat - if you don't have any objections, I'd love to embed your YouTube video into this post (with relevant name-check and acknowledgements). Please let me know if you're OK with that...
You weren't in Warsaw on Christmas Eve (untrue what you wrote about White Christmas, we had a fresh snow on 24 December, at 6:00 a.m. temperature was -6C, thaw began around midday). Falling sleet was very icy and ice settled on wires. New Swings and SKM trains could cope with it and got stuck. Older vehicles could still run. New, posh public transport vehicles are far less durable than their counterparts produced in socialist economy. New Solaris buses won't start in temperature of -20C and engines run in depot all nights during frost waves to keep buses going. Old Ikaruses would start at -25C. Durability of newly-produced stuff is appalling low...
Michael,
no problem, I'll be happy if you add this video to your post :) You can mention my almost abandoned blog (this time I added URL to my name).
@student SGH:
it's not exactly true what you're saying - first Solaris buses are getting their first overhauls, after over 10 years of service, and it's not even a general overhaul, as it looks its frame is still pretty rust-free. First Ikarus buses were getting scrapped after 6-7 years of service. Subsequent Ikaruses sometimes made it to over 20 years in service, but if you count how much time these buses spent in being repared, then this becomes a totally different story. And in winter they also did need to run the engines in the night, no change here. 13N needed to be overhauled every 3-4 years, and for its first ~10 years were very non-reliable. New vehicles use less energy, and low-floor means not only much better accessibility, but passenger exchange is just faster, you don't need to climb the stairs. I'd say you get much more benefits with new vehicles, and if one day a year they cope with the elements worse than the old ones, it's still not something I'd worry about too much.
I've quite forgotten how bleak Warsaw looks at this time of year...
I discovered for the first time how bleak Warsaw could be on Saturday, l packed my lightweight kilt (summer) instead of my heavyweight one and when the wind turned from the north l in New where it went!
A good turn out by the people of Warsaw to say farewell to some very reliable friend's and the parade on a cold Saturday,s afternoon shows a dedication to public service by the tramwAy departments as outstanding, a rare commodity seen in the west these days. The friendlyness shown me despite the language problems was wonderfully Well done Warsaw & Poland
@ Jimmy Harkins
You're a legend already,, Sir!
The 13Ns always reminded me of the American PCC cars from the 30s. Is there any link?
@ anonymous:
Yes, via Czechoslovakia - there is a direct link from PCC to the 13N via the Tatra T1 (Wikipedia has a page about the T1)
Akin, then, to the A-Stock on the Metropolitan line in London just retired after over fifty years service. Each city obtained good value from its investment over half a century ago.
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