Budapest Trams 1989 Part 2

[@kozlekfantube4178]

Hello! I live in Budapest I birth in 1991 and now I tram driver in Budapest! I am tram fanatic so I absolutely love youre videos about Budapest tram network. Thank you!

[@tressteleg1]

Congratulations on getting into the job you love. No doubt you will see quite some differences which have happened in Budapest since my last visit in 1992. I suppose you have found others of my Budapest videos. If not you will find them below. Europe UK Trams Trains Trolleybuses kzbin.info/aero/PLLtOIHp49XNC0_Yij1-K5sFXu_hAe5oZZ I am typing this on Gold Coast tram 13. Separately I will send you the link for this line.

[@tressteleg1]

Gold Coast Trams/Light Rail kzbin.info/aero/PLLtOIHp49XNChPr3pQV6NSGE67BlWJ3oL

[@Balint2908]

Thank you for sharing! Your film is an extremely unique masterpiece! 😊

[@tressteleg1]

😊👍

[@shenanigan87]

Again, very interesting footage! Lines 44 and 67 are very well known among the community, especially the latter, as it has been "temporarily" out of service for decades. The line is still there for the most part, though sections have been covered with tarmac. Every now and then, the idea to reactivate it comes up, but never came to fruition. I remember how I once wanted to ride it as a child, not realizing that it has been discontinued and replaced by the 67V bus. I don't know for how long I made us stand and wait at the terminus for the tram that would never come. Also, seeing the M1 prior to its large scale renovation is also rather special. I remember how it used to be pretty scary and run-down by the 90s full of graffiti and with all those brown, fake leather seats in tatters, while today, it got back its historic splendor after being completely overhauled. Finally, the 41 was my fave line by far. I absolutely adored how it took you out of the noisy, inner city, and went out so far into the suburban woodlands. Later on, the line was extended to Batthyány Tér, just a stone's throw from where we lived, allowing us to just ride one extremely long tram line from the city into the country. The simple pleasures of life back then. Though as I kept watching, I realized that at the time you were filming, it was still using that old Y-reversing rail, not even going as far as Móricz Zsigmond Körtér. Fascinating! Again, your commentary is very much appreciated, especially considering that you're in the business and know the stuff, not just talking as an observer but as someone who knows how tramways operate. :)

[@tressteleg1]

Thanks for the additional information relating to this video. I did not know the 67 is in mothballs. It’s just lucky that by chance I rode it and took video. I have been a tram fan since my youngest days, like yourself, and from 1988 to 1994 was a Melbourne tram driver and I think this gave me a deeper insight into how tramways can and should run. I don’t especially remember anything about Budapest which I thought was not up to standard. In some respects it was better than Melbourne. Below is the link for other videos. Europe UK Trams Trains Trolleybuses kzbin.info/aero/PLLtOIHp49XNC0_Yij1-K5sFXu_hAe5oZZ

[@shenanigan87]

@@tressteleg1 Heh, browsing through your other videos was the first thing I did, obviously. :) Cool to see that you turned your passion into your job! Is there a reason for you not longer working there, if I may ask? And I agree that the Budapest network, while obviously not without its flaws, can be regarded as rather effective and reliable at moving large masses of passengers around. Eastern Europe always had the problem of cars not being as freely available as in the west, so rail-bound public transit systems were much more likely to survive the onslaught of the automobile. If you're interested, here's the last known instance of a tram making its way down Thököly út and through the reversing loop around the amphiteatre as you called it at Keleti. It was organized by VEKE who preserved several UV cars as well. At that point, the unused rails had become so rusty and dirty that they had to pour salt water onto the wheels, and even so, sparks kept flying due to the bad contact. Not to mention copious amounts of dirty being kicked up, and illegaly parked cars having to be muscled out of the way by the numerous volunteers. x) kzbin.info/www/bejne/oaa4mq18p8itbNE

[@tressteleg1]

Trams fascinated me from my earliest years. When my Post Office job became worse than it was, I took the chance to move to Melbourne. I never intended to stay there forever - too cold for me (but not you). Anyway a Right Wing government won power in Victoria and they cared nothing about public transport except making it cost less to run, so closed several rail lines and made some very bad decisions about the trams (but could not get away with closing any lines). A motor bike accident coming home from work had me off work for several months, the new government was offering early retirement packages, so took one of those and moved to the Gold Coast. Then the tramway operation was privatised, and run by some nasty foreign company. I like to visit every year, but would never want to work there again. Too old now anyway. I will look at that video later.

[@tressteleg1]

@@shenanigan87 I just looked at the video, and it was quite an adventure! Pouring water onto the wheel from inside would not help much. I looked at the BKV maps I bought on my visits, and see that the 69 went further out than the 67, so I suppose it closed also. Do you have any idea why they closed the line? I thought that Budapest would be unlikely to close lines unless they went somewhere where nobody lived or travelled to.

[@shenanigan87]

@@tressteleg1 Thanks for the background story there! :) In that case, I'm glad that Budapest saw an expansion of public transport in recent years, despite the far-right government that turned out to be a scourge for Europe...

[@vargazsoltrobert]

Time tram traveller... ! Thank you!!

[@tressteleg1]

😊👍

[@zsombor_99]

Pretty good documentary of the late 80's Budapest's trams! 👍 Well done, sir. 😏 (I was born in Budapest, so I know the city well.)

[@tressteleg1]

😊👍

[@sozofe1]

thank you for this video. so strange to see my childhoods lines i used everyday to school. line 41 and 47.

[@tressteleg1]

😊👍

[@bx6095]

Stunning document from the era. Thank you!

[@tressteleg1]

Well I’m pleased you enjoyed it. When I recorded it, it was just every day events. Now it’s a great history of the past. 😊

[@jasonswaglord1498]

18:20 the guy was a pro :D Such a smooth stop from 55-60 in such a short distance and on a slope aswell. You could do miracles with the old Ganz trams. Too bad they are being neglected as hell. Some of them are serving with the boogies collapsed... Also one thing to note how fast they go on the switches. You wont see that anymore. The maximum theyre allowed is 10-15 on the switches. Except on line 1 where they allowed to do 35 to keep the schedule.

[@tressteleg1]

You are not the first person to comment that unfortunately Budapest trams have lost some of the sparkle they had in the past. This included slowing the trams down. Unfortunately this seems to be a disease which at least in some countries is the result of too many universities trained so-called experts setting speed limits even though they have never driven the trams or trains themselves. The higher speeds on route 1 could possibly be the result of installing pointwork or switches designed for higher speeds. Or maybe the slow ones are because that equipment is neglected and falling apart.

[@gabornogradi1765]

Great video. Thanks for the uploading.👍

[@tressteleg1]

😊👍

[@daniellefko6527]

Happy new year my friend I hope you make more videos next year.

[@tressteleg1]

Thanks, and Happy New Year to you as well. I hope I can continue making videos into next year.

[@albertlugosi]

Unfortunately Tatra tramcars were operated solo only for a few weeks on Route 59 right after their introduction in 1980. But not any more. I did ride them a few times back then.

[@tressteleg1]

Thanks. They probably found that it was too much trouble to uncouple them and couple them up again.

[@Adani12345]

22:40 Freedom statue aka. the largest beer opener in the world. :)

[@tressteleg1]

Ha Ha!

[@Adani12345]

Great video!

[@tressteleg1]

😊👍

[@richardsingh5827]

I was there in 1989, it was fun

[@tressteleg1]

I went to Hungary partly because it was now on the Eurail pass, not knowing what to expect. In fact it was just in the early stages of breaking free from the USSR. In fact I was greatly surprised and very impressed by the apparent efficiency of the tramway, quality of trams and trackwork and service frequency. I have heard that since ‘westernising’ it is not quite as snappy as before, but no doubt in good order.

[@1rem1Art]

Thank you.

[@tressteleg1]

😊👍

[@albertlugosi]

39:55 Oh, did you? Do you think you can share some footage of that trip? Parts 1 & 2 were awesome!

[@tressteleg1]

I have only had a look at some of it. I’ll look into doing video of the 2 later trips next year sometime.

[@МаксимМалышев-х3г]

👍👍👍

[@tressteleg1]

😊👍

[@atszu]

Do you have any footage of trolleybuses in Budapest?

[@tressteleg1]

Yes I did take a few trolleybuses scenes. If they are not in the link below, they are in part 2 which I will not publish until a lot more people have watched part 1. Budapest Trams & HÉV 1991 Part 1 kzbin.info/www/bejne/jaLddZhniJKpbZo

[@David-h4z2s]

The train station looks similar to the Melbourne train station

[@tressteleg1]

@@David-h4z2s 😊

[@anguscovoflyer95]

once the eastern bloc fully opened up, i bet a lot of tourists visited on masse to check it out before eastern europe changed dramatically

[@tressteleg1]

Maybe, but I suspect that most Westerners could not care less.

[@thaihdvision142]

at the intro, why was the tram like that?

[@tressteleg1]

Like what??

[@thaihdvision142]

tressteleg1 when you click the video, there is a tram that is small carrying a carriage that has a pantograph

[@tressteleg1]

Most original tramways were around well before roads were any good or motor trucks existed so they all had their own works vehicles to transport things between depots and from the workshops out to the depots. Over the years, these were generally replaced by road trucks. Some places probably still have some form of tram transport for their own goods.

[@thaihdvision142]

tressteleg1 so they're workshop trams? That's cool

[@tressteleg1]

Effectively, yes although in some cases a depot may have had its own works tram as well but they all did much the same work.

[@lszujo73]

I think these trams were considered to be old even in 89....they were so loud,uncomfortable...hot in the summer and cold in the winter...for nostalgy sake it's nice,but really and truly it was miserable....then you were "blitzing" all the time,trying to save money on tickets...

[@tressteleg1]

Air conditioning on street public transport would have been pretty rare in any vehicles anywhere before about 1980, so there is nothing unusual about that. However I would have expected that Budapest’s winters would have justified heating even from the earliest days. It sounds like you were indulging in a bit of teenage fare evasion!

[@torpaninternational8351]

Gret video , but one can only see the standard of a communist country , in that era. The breakdown was typical of the eastern Europe countries of lack of n maintenance in everything, at that time. The cars are very similar to ones , at the same time , I rode in Warsaw, ; maybe the same communist maker.

[@anindrapratama]

I think most Polish trams are locally made back then even now Same goes for Budapest

[@tressteleg1]

I well I was favourably impressed with the Tramway. Services were frequent and speeds were as fast as practical. I never saw any breakdowns. The Tramway was in much better condition than what I saw in Russia a year or two later.

[@peterausfranken]

In the communist counties the most tram cars where built by Tatra

[@torpaninternational8351]

@@peterausfranken Which country built the Tatra trams?

[@peterausfranken]

@@torpaninternational8351 Czechoslovakia