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Old Swiss big vehicles

Telecolor 3007

Telecolor 3007

I love old stuff
I'm a fan of old Swiss Made vehicles, especially pre 1970 buses, trolleybuses (trolleycoaches) (tracklesstrolleys) and trams (streetcars) (trolleys*).
For the begining...
Basel (1989): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spBMpaR50IQ&feature=relatedî
Basel (1994) - vintage trams (streetcars): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwuIlJsV-sE&feature=relmfu
Bern (1989): http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=204JsTG9Ob0
Biel (1989): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CyJiCsAJqM&feature=related
Geneve (1983): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmBVjDkwgE8&feature=feedlik
Zürich (1989): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvaGRMQ2ri8&feature=related

* I'm avoiding using the term trolley because in Europe people may think that you're talking about trolleybuses. Most trams (streetcars) in Europe are equypt with pantographs, not with trolleys.
 
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Thanks for posting the vids. brought back memories. I grew up in Cleveland Ohio, USA. I never did it but some kids would jump the back of the tolleys and pull down on the rope that held the electrical arms. They would run away and the driver would have to get out to raise them.
 
I remember those trolleys and electric busses in Geneva, never rode them much because I usually stayed at a hotel within walking distance of the ITU Tower.
 
We still have some trolleybus line in Seattle, most of the buses are not as nice as the Swiss made ones. And sometimes the poles do come off.
 
Hehehehe...They still had streetcars-Trolleys-in Chattanooga in the Fifties, the McCallie boys would "Soap" up the line comin' off Missionary Ridge in front of the school, & laugh at the conductor as he tried to slow the trolley down...Not Swiss, but Austrian, & DEFINATELY "Lustable" were the Austro-Daimler-Puch para-military "Pinzgauer" & "Haflinger" vehicles of the Sixties/Seventies.
 
Today Swiss trolleybuses and trams (streetcars) aren't as beatiful as the ones from the past and they are full of plastic. In Switzerland there aren't any longer bus manufacturer. "Saurer" produces today sewing machines and "F.B.W." dissapiared completly. Those 2 companyes also produces trolleybuses. No the bodyworking company "Hess" (in Switzerland "F.B.W." & "Berna" + "Saurer" didn't made the body work for theyr buses and trolleybuses, some other companyes did that) is assembling the Swiss trolleybuses.
In a village called Lupeni *, from judeţ (county) Harghita there is a company called "Transp.tur.". They bring second-hand buses and recently strated to bring new buses too. They have/had in theyr yard 3 "F.B.W." B71U buses from 1965 (bought from Berne) and 3 "F.B.W." B71U buses from 1969 (bought from Basel). It seemms that one of the buses from 1965 had dissapeared (it was probably scrapped :tears: ) and the ones from the '60's are also in danger of beeing scrap. I don't they ask too much money for a bus (maxim 4.000 dollars), but I don't have the money. It would be a pitty for those buses to be scrapped. There aren't to many pre 1970 buses left in Romania. And there are only 2-5 pre 1965 buses preserved in Romania. None of the pre 1970 bus preserved in Romania is Romanian.
The old "F.B.W."
it seems there where 2 "F.B.W." B17U buses from 1965 kept at Şumeleu, near Miercurea Ciuc (amdinistrative city of Harghita county)
http://tramclub.org/viewtopic.php?t=894
http://tramclub.org/viewtopic.php?t=10421
http://forum.transira.ro/viewtopic.php?t=3577 (only B.V.B. # 69 and B.V.B. #56 from Ruse, Bulgaria are made in the '60's).

* not to be confused with the mining city from Hunedoara county
 
When I was three, my family moved to Zurich (Kilchberg, actually). I watched the Zurich video, and it looks like they haven't modernized the trams since I lived there (1966 to 1968). A tribute to their quality of build.

Do they make tube amps too?
 
That video with Zurich was made in 1989. But there is posibilty that those trams to still be in use.
Take a look around here: http://www.stadt-zuerich.ch/vbz/de/index.html

Yes, the Swiss kept there vehicles in use for a long period of time. The buses runed in Switzerland more then in Germany. In some cityes they kept theyr buses in use for even 25 years! And some trolleybuses where kept in use for even 40 years! But they spent money on maintinance. And some trams (streetcars) where kept in use for 50 years (well, the trams last longer and not only in Switzerland).

Probably they manufactured tube amplifiers, but on a low scale. But the Swiss made awsome reel to reel tape recorders! I wish I could my hands on a "Revox" or a "Studer".
 
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Here's a picture of the kind of buss's that I remember from my childhood in Cleveland Ohio.
 

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Snow, slush, grime, rust.....and Babushkas.

Yep, that's Cleveland.

How did they keep the poles on the wires without tracks to keep the bus lined up properly?

Dave
 
Many of those old streetcars have ended up in daily service in San Francisco. In the 1990s, the Italian city of Milan was selling off surplus cars and SF bought a number of them -- for well under $100K each and way below the cost of new ones ($2M and up). Plus, like much vintage stuff, they are built to last so they are both cost-effective and way cool. San Francisco also has trams from Zurich, Blackpool and a lot of American cities too. Check out the variety at: http://www.streetcar.org/streetcars/
 
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