Zürich Tram Museum

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Zürich Tram Museum
Tram-Museum Zürich
Established 1968
Location Forchstrasse 260
8008 Zürich
Switzerland
Coordinates 47°21′27″N 8°34′18″E / 47.3576°N 8.5716°E / 47.3576; 8.5716Coordinates: 47°21′27″N 8°34′18″E / 47.3576°N 8.5716°E / 47.3576; 8.5716
Type Transport museum
Public transit access Zürich tram route 11
Website tram-museum.ch

The Zürich Tram Museum (German: Tram-Museum Zürich) is a transport museum in the Swiss city of Zürich, specialising in the history of the Zürich tram system. The main museum site is located at the former tram depot Tramdepot Burgwies. The museum also maintains a workshop at the much smaller former tram depot of Wartau.[1][2][3]

The tram museum is run by an association, the Verein Tram Museum Zürich, which has some 500 members, and is responsible for looking after the exhibits of the museum. The tram cars remain in the ownership of the Verkehrsbetriebe Zürich, the city owned operator of the Zürich tram system.[4]

History

Preserved cars outside the Wartau site.

The tram museum was founded in 1968. At first it used various borrowed locations to store and work on its exhibits. In 1989 it took over the tiny former tram depot at Wartau, big enough to hold five tram cars, and opened its first public museum. In 2008 the museum moved to the significantly larger site at Burgwies, although Wartau has been retained as a workshop and store.[1]

Access

Tram 321+626 in public service on museum tram route 21

The main museum site at Burgwies is open to the public on several days a week, with exact opening hours varying by day of the week and season of the year. The museum is located by the Bergweis tram stop, on tram route 11 in the city's Hirslanden quarter. The museum also runs an occasional historic tram service between Burgwies and the city centre, billed as tram route 21.[2][5]

As of 2013, the museum opens on Wednesday, Saturdays and Sundays from 1pm to 5pm. Route 21 operates on Saturdays and Sundays during opening hours, providing a half-hourly frequency in summer and an hourly frequency in winter.[2][5]

The site at Wartau is located on tram route 13 in the Höngg quarter, but is not normally open to the public.

Collection

Tram fleet

The museum's collection includes some 20 preserved tram cars, the majority of which are operational. Besides cars from Zürich's city owned fleet, the collection includes cars from the private companies that operated routes around Zürich in the early days. Cars from the city fleet chart ongoing developments, from cars very similar to these early private sector vehicles, through the 1930s Elefant bogie cars and 1940s Swiss Standard Tram (de/fr) cars, to trams only just retired.[1]

The preserved tram fleet of the museum includes the following vehicles:

Number Type Year Notes Image
1 Ce 2/2 1897 Two-axle motor tram originally built for the Strassenbahn Zürich-Oerlikon-Seebach (ZOS) and preserved in their green livery. This is the oldest operable electric tram car in Switzerland.[6][7]
2 Ce 2/2 1900 Motor tram originally built for the Limmattal-Strassenbahn and preserved in their yellow livery. Known as Lisbethli.[6][8]
2 1907 Motor tram originally built for the Albisgütlibahn and sold to the Bex–Villars–Bretaye Railway (BVB) in 1953. Numbered 8 by the BVB. Returned to Zürich for preservation in 2006.[9][10]
2 Ce 2/2 1928 Two axle motor tram built for the Städtische Strassenbahn Zürich of a class popularly known as schnelläufer (fast runner).[6]
102 Two-axle motor tram.
119 B 1935 Light rail trailer car originally from the Lausanne tramway, acquired by the Forchbahn in 1962 and preserved in the latter's red livery. Because of its origins, popularly known as lausanner.[6][11]
176 Ce 2/2 1909 Two-axle motor tram. A later and updated version of the design seen in car 102, with a riveted frame and four larger windows in place of 102's five windows, this is the youngest car in the museum to retain longitudinal seating.[6][12]
321 Ce 4/4 1930 Four-axle centre-entrance motor tram. One of a class of 50 similar vehicles popularly known by the name elefant (elephant). With a weight of 27 tonnes and four 80 hp motors, these cars were used to haul up to three two-axle trailers over Zürich's considerable gradients.[13]
626 Tram trailer.
687 C 1931 Tram trailer.[6]
732 Tram trailer
1392 Be 4/4 1950 Swiss Standard Tram (de/fr) – four-axle motor tram of a type popularly known as kurbeli.[14]
1430 Be 4/4 1960 Motor tram of a type popularly known as karpfen (carp).[6]
1530 Be 4/4 1949 Swiss Standard Tram (de/fr) – four-axle motor tram of a type popularly known as pedaler.[6]
1905 Xe 2/2 1962 Depot shunter popularly known as laubfrosch (tree frog). Built in 1962 using parts from withdrawn trams, its open construction and single central controller was an efficient design for shunting trailer cars, used especially during peak periods.[6]
1935 Xe 2/2 1914 Motor works car popularly known as besenwagen (broom wagon).[6]

Other exhibits

The Burgweis depot

The museum also includes a mezzanine level with smaller exhibits. These include a model tramway layout illustrating the city's street scene over the years, together with a selection of documents and photographs. The museum shop stocks a selection of books, postcards, models and souvenirs.[1][2]

The museum building, the former Tramdepot Burgwies, is also a significant exhibit in its own right, and is shared with a branch of the Migros supermarket chain. The building is inscribed on the Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National Significance.[15]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Zürich celebrates its new tram museum". www.proactiva.ch. Retrieved 2011-09-10. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Zürich Tram Museum". Zürich Tram Museum. Retrieved 2011-09-10. 
  3. ↑ "Wartau open day, and farewell to 93". www.proactiva.ch. Retrieved 2011-09-10. 
  4. ↑ "Zürich Tram Museum Club". Zürich Tram Museum. Retrieved 2013-07-21. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Museumslinie 21 - Fahrplan" [Museum line 21 - The Timetable] (in German). Zürich Tram Museum. Retrieved 2013-06-22. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9 Information displayed on car in museum (in German). Tram-Museum Zürich. Retrieved 2011-09-24.
  7. ↑ "ZOS Ce 2/2 1" (in German). Tram-Museum Zürich. Archived from the original on 2010-06-30. Retrieved 2011-11-11. 
  8. ↑ "LSB Ce 2/2 2" (in German). Tram-Museum Zürich. Archived from the original on 2010-06-02. Retrieved 2011-11-11. 
  9. ↑ "News roundup". www.proaktiva.ch. Retrieved 2012-02-05. 
  10. ↑ "Former Albisgüetli tram in Kärnten". www.proaktiva.ch. Retrieved 2012-02-05. 
  11. ↑ "Anhängewagen B 119" [Trailer car B 119] (in German). Verein zur förderung historischer Forchbahnfahrzeuge. Retrieved 2013-09-19. 
  12. ↑ "Ce 2/2 176" (in German). Tram-Museum Zürich. Archived from the original on 2010-06-02. Retrieved 2011-11-11. 
  13. ↑ "Ce 4/4 321" (in German). Tram-Museum Zürich. Archived from the original on 2006-05-21. Retrieved 2011-11-11. 
  14. ↑ "Photo tour with Kurbeli on 22nd April". www.proaktiva.ch. Retrieved 2011-11-11. 
  15. ↑ "Schweizerisches Inventar der Kulturgüter von nationaler Bedeutung - Zürich" [Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National Significance - Zürich] (in German). Swiss Confederation. 2011. Retrieved 2011-09-13. 

External links


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