The Russian proverb making the title of this gallery -- literally meaning "people use to disregard reasonable opinions of their own compatriots" -- often turns out to be true in a wider, indirect context. The KTV-55 (Kievskij TramVaj, model of 1955) cars used to be manufactured by the Dzerzhinsky Kiev Electric Transportation Plant (Kievskij Zavod Elektrotransporta, KZET, formerly Dombal Plant). There were three modifications: the KTV-55 proper, single-ended (11** series), the KTV-55-2, double-ended (20** series), and the KPV-55 trailer (10** series). Many more trailers than single-ended cars had been manufactured, which is why they used to be coupled not only to the latter but also, in large quantities, to the MTV-82's. A separate big role was assigned to the KTV-55-2, which had replaced the Pullmans as the only type of double-ended cars and therefore were to cover all the stub routes remaining. However, in 1968 their production was wrapped up due to USSR's Council of Mutual Economic Aid obligations, which doomed those routes and cars alike. The last stub route, number 8 (see "The Unforgettable Eight"), was shut down in 1987, and the one-time perspective of Kiev's providing its own tram cars for itself -- was buried forever.

	The predecessor of the KTV car was the KTC (Kievskij Tramvaj Celnometallicheskij -- Kiev Tram Wholly Metallic), whose production was interrupted by the war; all in all, only nine (1101-1109) came out. One of them, 1103, is depicted here as it serves route 15 "Bogdan Khmelnitsky Square -- Dzerzhinsky Plant". (Photo from the Kiev Electric Transportation Museum)
	In 1955, the plant switched over to producing the KTV, whose enumeration continued the 11** series. The 1119 is in its original livery (black bottom, cream top). (Photo from the Kiev Electric Transportation Museum)
	A similar car from route 29 above the pit in the Lukyanovka depot. (Photo from the Lukyanovka depot museum)
	Another car in the same depot. Note it number, 2020. We are to meet it again a little bit later... (Photo from the Lukyanovka depot museum)
	Unless one notes the serial number and the absence of a bow collector, this car might be thought to be an MTV-82. In fact, it is the first variant of the KPV-55 with MTV-style windows (to be precise, GM-bus-style, but that's a different story). (Photo from the Kiev Electric Transportation Museum)
	The similarity in styles is noticeable here as well (Lukyanovka depot): In the foreground, a KPV-55, surrounded by a "flock" of MTV-82s. (Photo from the Lukyanovka depot museum)
	Mr Lenin can definitely be proud of his country! In Soviet times, unlike (alas!) now, tram cars were in ample supply. All those without bow collectors here are KPV-55s. (Photo from the Lukyanovka depot museum)
	And here, an all-Kiev train: head car, KTV-55 1114; trailer, KPV-55 1014. The trailer is no longer MTV-styled, but rather similar to the head car. The train is about to leave the Svyatoshino terminus (nonexistent since 1978), heading downtown on route 23. (Photo from the Kiev Electric Transportation Museum)
	The same hear car, apparently with the same trailer and on the same route, going in the opposite direction (outbound), along Zhadanovskogo (now Zhilyanskaya) St., near Ploschad Pobedy (Victory Square). (Foto © Kiev Electric Transportation Museum and Constantin Antonenko)
	Route 23 on the same spot (picture taken from almost the same point), inbound, but the car is double-ended -- the KTV-55-2. The source mentions that these cars served routes 23 and 16, which is rather inaccurate. On the 23, with loops at both termini, double-ended cars were not the rule but a rare exception, happening to be captured here. (From "Tramway Systems of Eastern Europe", vol.2, 1977)

	Route 16 along Aleksandrovsky (Vladimirsky) Descent ran on the first Russian tram line. In 1992, the year of its 100th anniversary, a memorial sign was erected at the bottom of the descent, but the line itself at that moment had been gone for fifteen years. (Photo from the Kiev Electric Transportation Museum)
	Good mood in European Square! It's the beginning of the 70's, and the square is still named after Leninsky Komsomol. Apart from car 2016 on the stub track on the upper end of the first tram line, note how many trolleybuses of various colors are in the background. Not a single trolleybus route runs on Kreschatik anymore. (Photo courtesy of Alexander Shanin)
	The next last route with double-ended cars was the 30. The spot picked for the photo session is at the beginning of Mechnikova St., across the road from Oktyabrsky Hospital. Nowadays, the place looks like this... (see "Dead Lines"). (Foto © Kiev Electric Transportation Museum and Constantin Antonenko)
	The 2016, which we already encountered, at the Railway Station loop, at that time the terminus of routes 2, 10, 13, 25, 30 and night-time intermediate stop of the 9. Clearly, the car has its back, not front, facing us! Needless to say, the loop does not exist... (Photo © Irgi Indra, courtesy of Alexander Shanin)
	The last one to go was the 8. Here, though, it's a long time before its closure... August 1961, the KTV-55-2's still carry two bow collectors, and trains (!) serve route 8. The corner of Tolstogo and Vladimirskaya is already a terminus (the train in the picture is about to start moving right), but the second track is not lifted yet (up until 1959, the line turned left into Vladimirskaya, and in the last years, only one stub track remained, in the place where the train is standing in the picture). (Foto © Kiev Electric Transportation Museum and Constantin Antonenko)
	Route 8 in a later period, near the railway overpass between Tolstogo and Uritskogo streets. (More KTV-55-2 photos are available in "The Unforgettable Eight" gallery.) (Photo © Irgi Indra, courtesy of Alexander Shanin)