JULY 1959

An eyewitness account of an epoch long gone

[ Part 1, Part 2 ]



  Svyatoshino
 
Svyatoshino is a western suburb of the city, some 10 km away from downtown. This western terminus of the Brest-Litovskiy Prospect line existed until 1982. MTV-82 1273 is on route 6, departing for its inbound journey, and behind it on a short section of stub track used for layover is a KTM-1+KTP-1 train.
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KTM-1 502 plus trailer 102 are serving another long route, 23, bound for Bessarabka. Also visible in the background is a suburban bus station, which is in the same place today.
[12.07.1959]
Yet another MTV-82, 1267, route 6, has just departed from the same terminus and is speeding down Brest-Litovskiy Prospect. A few more cars, inbound and outbound, can be seen in the background.
[12.07.1959]

  Saksaganskogo
 
Service on this block of Saksaganskogo St., from Ploschad Pobedy (Victory Square) to Kominterna St., is to be shut down in less than a month from the date of the photo, making the latter all the more unique. Kh+M train 466+325 runs route 9 from Podol to Stalinka (nowadays Demievka) in the southwestern part of the city.
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MTV-82 1252 on circle route A, carrying some unidentified Soviet-style slogan, is on the same block. Clearly visible in the background is the circus building under construction.
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The head car 468 (trailer is 345) looking just like its sister 466 but in a different livery, this train turns into Saksaganskogo from Kominterna on the way from Railway Station to Stalinka, route 10.
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Half a block down the street from the intersection, MTV-82 1298 on route A meets a Kh+M on route 10. There were two circle routes, A (counterclockwise) and B (clockwise) running through downtown, Pechersk, and Podol. Needless to say, this is no longer possible...
[12.07.1959]
At the same spot, KTM-1+KTP-1 553+153 on route 9. Note, in the last two pictures, how intensive the tram traffic is! Saksaganskogo was, indeed, one of the main central tram arteries, linking the railway station and the districts of Lukyanovka and Podol with Bessarabka and Pechersk.
[12.07.1959]
Adjacent to the Saksaganskogo line was a short spur on Starovokzalnaya near Ploschad Pobedy (Victory Square). There is only one-way revenue service here, and service cars 858 and P2 are stored on the second track.
[12.07.1959]

  Kominterna
 
Branching off the Saksaganskogo line was a two-block run to Vokzal (railway station). MTV-82 1501 is on route 30 to Pecherskiy Most at the intersection of Saksaganskogo and Kominterna (Communist International Street; it is still called so!), and on the right, 1245 turns from the western part of Saksaganskogo.
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The loop at Vokzal used to be the endpoint of a huge number of routes. In this picture, MTV-82 1226 on route 2 is entering the loop, being followed by a Kh+M train 462+341 on route 10 and two more MTV-82s, 1532 and 1327. No time for layovers here! (The loop was single-tracked all the time up to its demise in 1996.)
[11.07.1959]

  Uritskogo
 
Also close to downtown (not quite apparent from this picture!) and Saksaganskogo was the single-track line on Uritskogo St., with route 8. This piece was special in one more way - trams ran in pairs here! With single cars, the capacity was less than needed, trailers could not be used because of a steep incline, thus such a nontrivial solution was resorted to. 1294 is on approach to the so-called Lower Passing, and in the background is its partner; the two will go through the passing together.
[12.07.1959]

  Vladimirskaya
 
The "centermost" line, since rails were lifted on Kreschatik in 1934, was, at the time, Vladimirskaya St. It is depicted here in its last months of operation: trolleybuses would be substituted on 2 October 1959. The terminus was at Ploschad Bogdana Khmelnitskogo (Sofiyevskaya). Car 1102 is one of merely nine of its type, the KTC (Kievskij Tramvaj Celnometallicheskij, Kiev Tram Wholly Metallic).
[11.07.1959]
On the opposite side of the loop at the same terminus, is a brand-new double-sided KTV-55-2 2015. It serves route 1 which doesn't even exist "officially" any more, but in fact still runs, ending with a stub track at University only a few blocks away.
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Another KTC 1105 three blocks from the terminus, next to the Opera House. In the background is a small park around Zolotye Vorota (Golden Gate). The tram is on route 15, bound for Stalinka.
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On the same spot but on a different day, is 1243 on route 8. The somewhat visible stop marker says "8 15" (as mentioned before, route 1 does not exist on paper).
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Two more pictures at the same location, both of KTC 1107: outbound ...
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... and inbound.
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  Dimitrova
 
The newly inaugurated route 24 links the central district of Bessarabka with the suburb of Stalinka, where also 9, 10, and 15 terminate. 1537 is seen here turning from Dimitrova St. into Korolenkovskaya St. near the Shevchenko Tramway Depot.
[12.07.1959]

  Stalinka
 
The next three pictures are at the Stalinka terminus just mentioned, the present Goloseevskaya Square. KH+M 478+311 on route 9, from Podol (cut back to Moskovskaya Square in 1980, discontinued in 1996)...
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The same type of train, 453+331, on route 10 from the railway station (cut back in 1980, liquidated, together with the line, in 2001)...
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KTC 1107, which we have seen before, on route 15 from Ploschad Bogdana Khmelnitskogo. Its line would be dealt with in four stages: Vladimirskaya in 1959, the extension to Goloseevskaya Square in 1980, the University spur in 1987, and the final curtain on 20 May 2001.
[11.07.1959]

  Etc.
 
The emblem KTZD on one of the cars. Apparently, it means Kievskiy Tramvayny Zavod Dzerzhinskogo, or Kiev Dzerzhinsky Tram Factory.
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[In Memory of Kiev Trams | Historic gallery]

© Stefan Mashkevich, 2003
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Last modified 16 December 2003