In Memory of Kiev Trams. Photo Galleries:: Historic:: July 1959

JULY 1959

An eyewitness account of an epoch long gone

[ Part 1, Part 2 ]

A few years after the Soviet government lifted the ban on foreign tourist travel, R. De Groote and W.C. Hoffman from Chicago became the first Western railfans to 'officially' visit Kiev. The timing could not possibly have been better. On 11-12 July 1959, the Vladimirskaya St. line had but a few more months to live; trams still ran along the whole of Saksaganskogo St. to Ploschad Pobedy (Victory Square); route 20 to the Lavra was still alive, while new route 24 to Stalinka (sic) had just been introduced. By no means less interesting was the real 'zoo' of tram cars serving the still huge network. The old Pullmans and Kh+M cars, plus KTM-1s, plus Kiev's own KTCs and KTVs of two types, plus the then-new MTV-82s, and to top it off, LM-57 5001 which was to be the first and only one in town. All that, and more, was captured by the railfan explorers, to become an evidence of Kiev's tram history whose value cannot be overestimated.

All photos are by Raymond De Groote Jr. and William C. Hoffman, kindly supplied to the author by Raymond De Groote Jr., Aare Olander, and Alexander Shanin.

Kontraktovaya Ploschad

In the middle of Podol, the lower part of town, at Kontraktovaya Ploschad (Contract Square), are two termini serving about one half of all city's routes. Here at the northern terminus, MTV-82 1329 on route 13 will go to the railway station, and the prewar wooden Kh+M train 457+295 will follow route 9 to the suburb of Stalinka (nowadays Demievka).
[12.07.1959]

The same train, 457+295, is leaving the terminus as a babushka looks on. Behind it is a unique car ...
[12.07.1959]

... which now comes into the spotlight. 1023 is a Pullman rebuilt in Kiev and now resembling very much the new KTV model which we will encounter later. Reassigned from route 19 to route 12, it is about to begin its long journey towards Puscha Voditsa far in the outskirts.
[12.07.1959]

Another MTV-82, in a different livery, has now joined 1329, and on the second track there appears yet another beast ...
[12.07.1959]

... which is a rebuilt Pullman again; rebuilt in a different manner, however, and resembling its original self somewhat closer. This 1053 is on route 27 to a nearby industrial area of GES-2.
[12.07.1959]

Mezhigorskaya

Seen here is the exit from the Kontraktovaya Ploschad terminus into Mezhigorskaya St. 1023 heads north towards Puscha Vodica, trailing yet another MTV-82. This place looks hardly different today.
[12.07.1959]

On the same spot, 1057, yet another Pullman serving route 19, a shortened version of 12. Unlike 1023, the three doors are all in place here; however, this car has been converted to single-ended operation. The original Pullmans were all double-ended, intended for use on stub-track routes.
[12.07.1959]

GES-2

1058 is at GES-2 (Gosudarstvennaya ElektroStanciya, for State Electric Power Plant), the outer terminus of route 27. About a half of the route's length was single-track, and it was usually served by two Pullman cars.
[11.07.1959]

The same car at the same loop, from a different standpoint. Although the area is not at all remote, it hardly looks like cityscape. The route sign displays a funny mixture of Russian and Ukrainian, somewhat typical of Kiev: the left part is in Ukrainian, the right part in Russian. This line was shut down in 1962.
[11.07.1959]

Kin Grust

Looks familiar by now? The single-ended KTV-55 1111 was inspired by the rebuilt Pullman (1023) and resembles it quite closely indeed. Carrying a new KPV-55 trailer 1013 (the trailers and the Pullmans shared the 10** series for a while, before the veterans left), it is on route 12 at Kin Grust (Ploschad Shevchenko), just about to enter its interurban portion running through the forest to Puscha Voditsa.
[11.07.1959]

Aleksandrovskaya

Aleksandrovskaya St. (Zhdanova at the time, Sagaidachnogo nowadays) connects Kontraktovaya Ploschad and Pochtovaya Ploschad (Postal Square); the latter was the lower terminus of the first Kiev tram line. Here, car 1350 is on route 20, which served Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra (Monastery on the Caves); abandoned in 1960 and replaced by a trolleybus route under the same number. The trolleybus route would be 'temporarily' suspended in 2001, and a bus under an impressive number 20TR substituted. 1374 is on a longer route 3, which was changed, due to a closure of a portion of its line, in 1962, and survived until 1971.
[11.07.1959]

Now this is a unique one. The prototype LM-57 car 5001 was donated to Kiev as a gift from its manufacturer in Leningrad (St Petersburg), and, while another one never followed, it defined the enumeration of the Kiev cars for thirty years to come! Indeed, the Tatra T-2s and T-3s, which followed shortly thereafter, just started from 5002 upwards, eventually ending at 6032. The location here is the same Aleksandrovskaya St.
[11.07.1959]

A freight car V-15 (the sign atop says "Freight"), similar in appearance to a pre-war passenger vehicle, runs along the same line, on Aleksandrovskaya. Freight service was very widespread in Kiev before the war, there existed quite a few freight-only lines; but then, with a general decline of the network, it became less and less sensible to employ trams in this quality, and it was phased out.
[11.07.1959]

Ploschad Stalina

The square that holds the Kiev record on renamings, called Ploschad Stalina at the time, Evropeyskaya Ploschad today, was the upper terminus of the first Kiev tram line. The already-encountered Leningrad 5001 on the short route 5. The stop sign atop reads "3 5 B", and the route 16 stop was behind this one, enabling two cars to board simultaneously.
[11.07.1959]

Emerging from behind the previous one, MTV-82 1358, too, is heading upwards on an extension of the first line into the district of Pechersk, serving route 16 to Pecherskiy Most. That extension was destroyed in 1962, with the original line sharing its fate in 1977.
[11.07.1959]

Ploschad Slavy

1532, most probably at Ploschad Slavy, turning left from Suvorova into Yanvarskogo Vosstaniya towards Arsenal.
[12.07.1959]

Naberezhnoe Shosse

From Podol, it was possible (still is, so far) to go in three different directions: due north to Kurenevka and Puscha Voditsa, west to Lukyanovka and the railway station, and south to Naberezhnoe Shosse (Embankment Highway) towards the newly constructed Paton Bridge and the left bank. KTM-1 519 plus trailer KTP-1 119 on route 28 has started the long journey to the eastern suburb of Darnitsa across the river along this newly-constructed line.
[11.07.1959]

In a minute at the same spot, KTV-55-2 2019 on route 29 (which began at Pochtovaya Ploschad with a crossover between tracks, not a loop, hence the double-ended car).
[11.07.1959]

Same car at the same place in a slightly different view. Look at that enormous crowd of swimmers across the river, at Trukhanov Ostrov (Trukhan Island)!
[11.07.1959]

Further down the line, approaching Most Patona (Paton Bridge). Today not far from here, by the river, stands a monument to the legendary founders of Kiev. KTM-1 510 with trailer 110 is on route 28, bound for DShK (Darnitsa Silk Factory).
[11.07.1959]

At the very same spot, a training car which looks exactly like the KTV-55 but is apparently two-axle; most probably, rebuilt in Kiev itself from an older model.
[11.07.1959]

Not only are the local workers well aware of the photographer, they are greeting him indeed!
[11.07.1959]

Just short of Most Patona, a TP-2 (Tyagovaya Podstanciya, for Traction Substation) rebuilt from an older car is positioned by the tracks.
[11.07.1959]

[In Memory of Kiev Trams | Historic gallery]

© Stefan Mashkevich, 2003
Any usage of materials found herein requires explicit consent of the author and/or copyright holders as specified.
Last modified 16 December 2003

Kontraktovaya Ploschad
	In the middle of Podol, the lower part of town, at Kontraktovaya Ploschad (Contract Square), are two termini serving about one half of all city's routes. Here at the northern terminus, MTV-82 1329 on route 13 will go to the railway station, and the prewar wooden Kh+M train 457+295 will follow route 9 to the suburb of Stalinka (nowadays Demievka). [12.07.1959]
	The same train, 457+295, is leaving the terminus as a babushka looks on. Behind it is a unique car ... [12.07.1959]
	... which now comes into the spotlight. 1023 is a Pullman rebuilt in Kiev and now resembling very much the new KTV model which we will encounter later. Reassigned from route 19 to route 12, it is about to begin its long journey towards Puscha Voditsa far in the outskirts. [12.07.1959]
	Another MTV-82, in a different livery, has now joined 1329, and on the second track there appears yet another beast ... [12.07.1959]
	... which is a rebuilt Pullman again; rebuilt in a different manner, however, and resembling its original self somewhat closer. This 1053 is on route 27 to a nearby industrial area of GES-2. [12.07.1959]
Mezhigorskaya
	Seen here is the exit from the Kontraktovaya Ploschad terminus into Mezhigorskaya St. 1023 heads north towards Puscha Vodica, trailing yet another MTV-82. This place looks hardly different today. [12.07.1959]
	On the same spot, 1057, yet another Pullman serving route 19, a shortened version of 12. Unlike 1023, the three doors are all in place here; however, this car has been converted to single-ended operation. The original Pullmans were all double-ended, intended for use on stub-track routes. [12.07.1959]
GES-2
	1058 is at GES-2 (Gosudarstvennaya ElektroStanciya, for State Electric Power Plant), the outer terminus of route 27. About a half of the route's length was single-track, and it was usually served by two Pullman cars. [11.07.1959]
	The same car at the same loop, from a different standpoint. Although the area is not at all remote, it hardly looks like cityscape. The route sign displays a funny mixture of Russian and Ukrainian, somewhat typical of Kiev: the left part is in Ukrainian, the right part in Russian. This line was shut down in 1962. [11.07.1959]
Kin Grust
	Looks familiar by now? The single-ended KTV-55 1111 was inspired by the rebuilt Pullman (1023) and resembles it quite closely indeed. Carrying a new KPV-55 trailer 1013 (the trailers and the Pullmans shared the 10** series for a while, before the veterans left), it is on route 12 at Kin Grust (Ploschad Shevchenko), just about to enter its interurban portion running through the forest to Puscha Voditsa. [11.07.1959]
Aleksandrovskaya
	Aleksandrovskaya St. (Zhdanova at the time, Sagaidachnogo nowadays) connects Kontraktovaya Ploschad and Pochtovaya Ploschad (Postal Square); the latter was the lower terminus of the first Kiev tram line. Here, car 1350 is on route 20, which served Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra (Monastery on the Caves); abandoned in 1960 and replaced by a trolleybus route under the same number. The trolleybus route would be 'temporarily' suspended in 2001, and a bus under an impressive number 20TR substituted. 1374 is on a longer route 3, which was changed, due to a closure of a portion of its line, in 1962, and survived until 1971. [11.07.1959]
	Now this is a unique one. The prototype LM-57 car 5001 was donated to Kiev as a gift from its manufacturer in Leningrad (St Petersburg), and, while another one never followed, it defined the enumeration of the Kiev cars for thirty years to come! Indeed, the Tatra T-2s and T-3s, which followed shortly thereafter, just started from 5002 upwards, eventually ending at 6032. The location here is the same Aleksandrovskaya St. [11.07.1959]
	A freight car V-15 (the sign atop says "Freight"), similar in appearance to a pre-war passenger vehicle, runs along the same line, on Aleksandrovskaya. Freight service was very widespread in Kiev before the war, there existed quite a few freight-only lines; but then, with a general decline of the network, it became less and less sensible to employ trams in this quality, and it was phased out. [11.07.1959]
Ploschad Stalina
	The square that holds the Kiev record on renamings, called Ploschad Stalina at the time, Evropeyskaya Ploschad today, was the upper terminus of the first Kiev tram line. The already-encountered Leningrad 5001 on the short route 5. The stop sign atop reads "3 5 B", and the route 16 stop was behind this one, enabling two cars to board simultaneously. [11.07.1959]
	Emerging from behind the previous one, MTV-82 1358, too, is heading upwards on an extension of the first line into the district of Pechersk, serving route 16 to Pecherskiy Most. That extension was destroyed in 1962, with the original line sharing its fate in 1977. [11.07.1959]
Ploschad Slavy
	1532, most probably at Ploschad Slavy, turning left from Suvorova into Yanvarskogo Vosstaniya towards Arsenal. [12.07.1959]
Naberezhnoe Shosse
	From Podol, it was possible (still is, so far) to go in three different directions: due north to Kurenevka and Puscha Voditsa, west to Lukyanovka and the railway station, and south to Naberezhnoe Shosse (Embankment Highway) towards the newly constructed Paton Bridge and the left bank. KTM-1 519 plus trailer KTP-1 119 on route 28 has started the long journey to the eastern suburb of Darnitsa across the river along this newly-constructed line. [11.07.1959]
	In a minute at the same spot, KTV-55-2 2019 on route 29 (which began at Pochtovaya Ploschad with a crossover between tracks, not a loop, hence the double-ended car). [11.07.1959]
	Same car at the same place in a slightly different view. Look at that enormous crowd of swimmers across the river, at Trukhanov Ostrov (Trukhan Island)! [11.07.1959]
	Further down the line, approaching Most Patona (Paton Bridge). Today not far from here, by the river, stands a monument to the legendary founders of Kiev. KTM-1 510 with trailer 110 is on route 28, bound for DShK (Darnitsa Silk Factory). [11.07.1959]
	At the very same spot, a training car which looks exactly like the KTV-55 but is apparently two-axle; most probably, rebuilt in Kiev itself from an older model. [11.07.1959]
	Not only are the local workers well aware of the photographer, they are greeting him indeed! [11.07.1959]
	Just short of Most Patona, a TP-2 (Tyagovaya Podstanciya, for Traction Substation) rebuilt from an older car is positioned by the tracks. [11.07.1959]