In Memory of Kiev Trams + Photo Gallery of Trams and Trolleybuses:: Photo Galleries:: Trams:: M1: Less than ten

M1: LESS THAN TEN

(1101–1109)


Production of the M1 model got underway at the Kiev Electric Transportation Factory in 1938 (?). Another name, which was used even in official documentation, was "Tram of the 1101 series". The cars resembled the Moscow M-38 model, which were themselves rather similar to the PCC, whose popularity was of the rise. Their design and construction alike was quite modern for their time; in particular, they were the first cars in Kiev with fully automatic doors. However, soon after the war the production line was closed down.

Being the top of the line, it was quite natural, by Soviet standards, that the cars were to be found mostly in the central part of the town. Before World War II they mostly served route 4 "Ploschad Bogdana Khmelnitskogo — Kabelny Zavod". After the war, they got transferred to route 15 from Ploschad Bogdana Khmelnitskogo to the Dzerzhinsky factory (aka Kiev Electric Transportation Factory); when the Vladimirskaya line was abandoned, they moved over to route 6, along Brest-Litovsky Prospekt. At the beginning of the '60s, they were sold to other cities. A body of one of them is still rusting away in the tram depot in Konotop...

Despite all the years elapsed, pictures of all nine cars have been saved. Here they are.

1101At the Vokzal (railway station) loop, on route 6. Visible on the left in the background is the front of an MTB-82 trolleybus; behind the tram is a water-cooling tower, which existed until rather recently, of a heat power plant No. 3.
[Wolfgang Schreiner, 10.06.1961]
1102At the Ploschad Bogdana Khmelnitskogo loop. Trams have a little over two month to run. They are to be replaced with trolleybuses, which will be removed, too, when time comes...
[Raymond De Groote, Jr., 11.07.1959]
1103A rare shot of a prewar car with one headlight, before the refurbishment. The spot is the old around-the-block turning loop at Zavod Dzerzhinskogo; this is Ulitsa Zagorodnaya (Lyubchenko), short of the intersection with Gorkogo. This track was still in existence rather recently: a right turn led to Ploschad Dzerzhinskogo. The tram, on the contrary, is about to turn left and to complete the loop.
[Kiev Electric Transportation Museum, 1940's]
1104It is easy to recognize the intersection of Vladimirskaya and Bulvar Shevchenko, with the building of Centralna Rada, later Lenin Museum, presently Teacher's House in the background. Also in the frame are the first Kiev-manufactured "push-pull" tram 2001, two MTVs, a Pobeda and a brand-new UAZ pickup.
[State Photo Archive of Ukraine, 04.1956]
1105On the same street, a block behind; the square in front of the Opera house has hardly changed since then, except that the tram tracks are no longer present.
[Raymond De Groote, Jr., 12.07.1959]
1106Near the red University building on Vladimirskaya. The tram, bound for Ploschad Bogdana Khmelnitskogo, meets a lonely BMW. Chestnuts are blossoming in Kiev...
[Kiev Electric Transportation Museum, 05.1949]
1107The Stalinka (Goloseevskaya Ploschad) terminus. The appearance is still rather country-like... When tram tracks become a nuisance for the city, they will of course be removed. But that will only happen twenty years later.
[Raymond De Groote, Jr., 11.07.1959]
1108Vladimirskaya again, at the intersection with Lenina (Bogdana Khmelnitskogo). The tram discharges passengers right in the intersection! The building in the background is the Conference Hall of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences.
[State Photo Archive of Ukraine, 09.06.1957]
1109The last tram of the series, brand new at the Dzerzhinsky factory (or is this the Lukyanovka Depot?). This specimen had two headlights from the outset.
[Kiev Electric Transportation Museum, 1949]

 
© Stefan Mashkevich, Aare Olander, and authors of photos, 2006–2008
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Last updated 29 March 2008