Searching for old DLR Trains in Essen
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ส.ค. 2024
- Searching for old DLR Trains in Essen
I take a diversion to go and visit the Essen Stadtbahn, where old DLR P86/P89 stock (but, as I later learned, not Train 11) run.
Thank you to CityTransportInfo for graciously lending me some old footage:
/ citytransportinfo
Royalty-Free Music:
incompetech.co...
This film contains some of my footage - this was used with my permission.
I very much like their ticketing system - you buy your ticket in advance and validate it at the start of your journey (on the bus / tram / Stadtbahn or at a railway station), then apart from the short trip K tickets (where available) you have a time restricted ride-at-will ticket that allows you to travel on any urban transport without paying again... bus, local train, tram, H-Bahn, trolleybus, Schwebebahn (depending on which city you are in) and you can even return back home - as long as you end your journey within the time limit. Much more user-friendly and attractive than anything we have in the UK, even London! Regular passengers (or a group of friends / family) can buy multiple tickets at a discounted rate and validate them when needed.
The trams are metre gauge and less wide - they only have 2+1 seating; the newer Stadtbahn is standard gauge and the rolling stock is 2.65m metre wide
Wow, you saw one of the old Duewag trams! (@ 11.25)
11:24
The old DUEWAG trams were built to last and were practically absolutely indestructible. Here in Dortmund, they began to withdrawn the DUEWAG GT8 cars just after 21 years of service, and they even already bought new trams only four years after the delivery of the last GT8 trams. Unfortunately, Dortmund didn't even keep a single GT8 tram car for special/museum rides as in Essen, Düsseldorf or Bochum...
I live in Essen lol 😂
Edit: 11:18 these old trains are serviced and operated by VHAG. They restore and service these old trains to keep them as heritage. They are integrated into regular service sometimes. Sometimes they run as special additional trains. They can always be boarded with a regular ticket unless stated otherwise. There should be special schedules on the info board on the platform where the regular schedules are as well which tell you the exact times when these trains are in service. Cheers ✌️
What a good form of recycling if one city doesn't need it it's good to see another city recycling them modifying them for you on the network instead of scrapping them
5211 was scrapped for a few years.
The P86 where new numbered by the second rebuild, where they get new doors, a other drive control and the yellow livery. DLR 01 - 11 became at first EVAG 5201 - 5211 and then 5231 - 5240. 5211 wasn't rebuilt.
I went to Essen about 2 or 3 years after the DLR trains arrived there, and spent an afternoon riding on them. At the time, many had been pressed into service in their original DLR livery, and the upholstery on the seats had not been altered either. They all seem to have been painted yellow (or carrying advertising liveries) now though.
Part of the changes that were made during the midlife refurbishment of these trains appears to be the replacement of the fold in twin leaf doors with sliding single leaf doors
Shame about unit 5211 having been scrapped. In late spring 1989 I was in London and had bought a pass for the city's transport for several days. Wouldn't you know it, there was a strike on the second day. Fortunately for me, I was staying at a campground in Hackney, within walking distance of the original DLR. At least I could take it into near the center of London. I remember riding in the front seat, during jet lag, passing out intermittently as lots of people got on and off. Sometimes I'd wake up seeing out the back window of the train, etc. I don't think I got my money's worth on that transit pass. Still, it was good to have these automated DLR trains to ride on: very cutting-edge back then!
There is actually a full Metro/U-Bahn line in Essen it is the U18 this line does not have any sections next to or on the road.
Well done on finding the old trains!
Cracking video David. I've only just stumbled across them. Do they still operate on the U bahn there. I'm planning my 1st dip into European rails in march 2023 and this will be a must do, especially on that bit of on street running on U17. Along with a little trip to the Schwebebahn in Wuppertal, Its leading up to be an outstanding trip !! 😀
They haven't gone anywhere, as far as I know!
Hello, i live in Essen. And i dont know if anyone noticed that the U-bahn has different track dimension then tram. Its because U-bahn in Essen was created first then tram in Essen, which means that they maked the rails and U-bahn wheels to rails of U-bahn. But then they created trams in Essen with another train dimension. So Its sad that U-bahn can't go on tram track and tram can't go on U-bahn track
The Strassenbahn Essen opened in 1893 with a 1 metre track gauge. The Stadtbahn Essen opened in 1977 with a more conventional 1.435m track gauge. I agree that organising the network would be much easier if all the track had the same gauge and also platform height.
This is just speculation, but as many Stadtbahn systems where intended to be an intermediate step to later covert it to a true underground, using third rail instead of overhead wire and such.
If you look closely you can see a lot of bellmouths for future untergrund extensions in nearly ever Stadtbahn system build in the late 60 and early 70.
To get to the point, maybe they also bought the DLR stock, because it already was build to be compatible with 3rd rail operation. Making switching to true underground easier and more cost effective because the rolling stock already supports it.
Like in most Stadtbahn systems the first rolling stock where converted High floor Tram vehicles.
There was no intention to convert the so-called “Stadtbahn” routes into full underground networks. The original idea was to connect and merge the tram networks in the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan area, but these plans were already scrapped in the 1970s. Back in the 1960s, there actually was a mere idea to convert the networks to operate it with a third rail, but this idea hasn't even been discussed, it was just a suggestion that wasn't even considered. The Docklands cars were bought in the 1990s, and at this time, nobody considered about a third rail for years already.
As a matter of fact, these aren't even real Stadtbahn networks. Those are actually just so-called “U-Straßenbahn” (plain trams with a few underground passages) routes. Real Stadtbahn routes connect multiple cities with each other and consist of long distances (e.g. routes like Düsseldorf - Duisburg/Krefeld or Cologne - Bonn). Just moving a short inner-city section of a conventional tram into an underground tunnel doesn't make it a Stadtbahn. Even if you operate this network with exaggerated light rail vehicles (“Stadtbahnwagen B” or the Docklands cars), it's still not a Stadtbahn. However, the municipal utilities still crown themselves with the term “Stadtbahn”, most likely because it sounds more modern. All in all, these are just simple U-Straßenbahn networks.
I'm guessing the reason for buying the old Docklands LRVs is because those are based on the B-Wagens. The B-Wagens are fantastically reliable (Almost the entries first generation fleet from the 70s is still in service, and the recently refurbished units in Cologne will likely make it past the 2030s), and buying vehicles with broadly similar mechanicals to your other rolling stock is cheaper and easier for maintenance.
@@arino253 Sofern es sich um einen Mischbetrieb zwischen U-Bahn und Straßenbahn handelt, ist es auf jeden Fall eine Stadtbahn. Auf Linien wie die U18 oder die U35 in Essen und Bochum trifft das zu, wobei die U18 alls vollwertige U-Bahn durchgehen könnte. Die von dir genannten Überlandlinien fallen eigentlich komplett aus dem Schema. War lediglich recht günstig diese in die neuen Stadtbahnnetze zu integrieren und somit schnelle städteübergreifende Verbindungen zu schaffen, aber an sich ist eine Stadtbahn doch eher ein rein städtisches Verkehrsmittel. Auch wenn es teilweise echt schwer ist zwischen einer simplen U-Straßenbahn und einer echten Stadtbahn zu unterscheiden.
Cool that you spotted some DLR stock in Essen, but sorry, (No offense) the frame rate at the station was just... what??
Yeah I think it was in the wrong mode, it's quite dark down there so the quality wasn't great
They only replaced them because they didn't have emergency end doors for use in the, then, newly opened tunnel sections.
Which is ironic given where they ended up
@@DavidFrankal Are their tunnels larger with more space to exit through the side doors?
Possibly, or it might just be different safety standards
@@fluffybadger9832 Yes they are. In germany tunnels are as wide as you can walk beside the train in an emergency. Its also more practical for workings in the tunnel, as the workers can walk on the sideway while the trains are still driving.
@@DavidFrankal I believe the standards were changed midway through the construction of the Bank branch. Meaning they couldn't get away without end doors (possible the walkways were too narrow) P89s did run into the tunnels pending B92 deliveries but were modded with the sliding doors to make them semi compliant.
Probably a stupid question, but are the DLR trains driverless in Essen like they were in London or do they have drivers there?
Not a stupid question at all! Drivers cabs were retrofitted into the units when they moved
David Frankal Also these trains originally had third rail shoes which were replaced with pantographs.
This is cursed. Why is the DLR P86 there?? Lol
Because Essen needed more trains for the underground network and the young trains from the UK were cheaper than new trains.
Aside from the different body, the DLR trains, being based on the B-Wagen, are more or less identical to the preexisting rolling stock when it comes to its mechanicals. Presumably they saw that the LRVs were still in good nick (B-Wagens are essentially indestructible, most of the 70s fleet is still in service or has been refurbished) and saw it as an opportunity to enlarge their fleet without introducing a wholly new type of train.
Did you ride the old tram
Sadly not