In Memory of Kiev Trams + Photo Gallery of Trams and Trolleybuses:: Photo Galleries:: Trolleybuses:: T2 — from missiles to trolleybuses (version 2)

T2 — FROM MISSILES TO TROLLEYBUSES (version 2)

Part 1 (501‒510)

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Having tried it out with articulated trolleybuses, Yuzhmash switched to ordinary ones, which were duly called YuMZ-T2 (they were analogous to Kiev-11U). Thereafter, the T1 production line was closed down, and for about ten years the T2 was the only model in the works at Dnepropetrovsk.

These vehicles made their first Kiev appearance in 1996, in Depot No. 3. When making a decision on their fleet numbers, little creativity was exercised: The first available three-digit series was taken, which turned out to be 5** (not long before, it was in use by the Kiev-11U's of Depot No. 1). That's how trolleybuses 501–550 came into being. The first one of those was subsequently transferred to Severodonetsk, where it works under the same number, 501; in 2008, two others, 524 and 527, followed it to the same destination.

In May 2005, the YuMZ's played an indirect role in Eurovision-2005. Not in the song contest itself, of course, but in the show staged by Kiev City Hall. A majority of the MAZ trolleybuses from Depots No. 1 and 2 were temporarily assigned to route 3 in order to create a false impression with the foreign guests that all Kiev trolleybuses are modern low-floor ones. To compensate for the deficit, the YuMZes which normally served that route occupied the Goloseev line, where they can never be normally seen, since there aren't any in Depot No. 1. Some pictures commemorating this "event" are included in this gallery.

501501, the first trolleybus of this type to be delivered to Kiev and later on to leave it. Here it is seen turning from Bulvar Shevchenko onto Krasnoarmeyskaya, at Bessarabka Square. In 2001, due to construction in this area, the trolleybus line was shortened and the terminus moved two blocks up onto Tereschenkovskaya. Only in September 2008 was the overhead wire restored here, and routes 8 and 17 returned to their old alignment.
[Aare Olander, 16.05.1997]
502The first of the "MAZes are at the Eurovision" series. 502 on route 4 is depicted at the junction of Vasilkovskaya and Goloseevsky Prospekt, short of Vystavka (Exhibition).
[Anton, 21.05.2005]
503On Industrialnaya, short of the viaduct that the speed tram line runs on. In the far background one can see the TV tower (which is next to the sadly famous Babiy Yar).
[Anton, 04.01.2005]
504Ul. Olzhicha, a short stretch of routes 19 and 22 (in the past, 21 and 25) branching off the main line. The terminus of these two routes is just behind the buildings in the background.
[Stefan Mashkevich, 28.05.2005]
505Entering Depot No. 2 on Ul. Dovzhenko. The trolleybus does not carry any advertisement as yet and does carry the factory emblem. Going in the opposite direction is 371, also in the manufacturer's livery.
[Aare Olander, 10.05.1997]
506On an unusually empty Vozduhoflotsky Bridge, serving route 19 in the direction of Ploschad Kosmonavtov. Visible in the background are recent new buildings.
[Anton, 23.10.2005]
507On the once extremely popular, nowadaya truncated and deprecated route 9. In the background are the buildings of the Engineering and Construction Institute, nowadays called Construction and Architecture University.
[Anton, 29.03.2005]
508Turning from Saksaganskogo into Esplanadnaya (from 1997 through 2001 this was a tram line). Nowadays this is a one-way street in the opposite direction, so the trolleybuses use a different street. Note the huge number of trolley poles behind, obviously due to a traffic jam.
[Anton, 14.04.2005]
509Once again, on a "special mission" from Depot No.  onto route 4, by the Yuzhnaya bus terminal.
[Anton, 21.05.2005]
510On Ploschad Kosmonavtov (the Chokolovsky Bulvar line); the trolleybus is returning to the depot.
[Anton, 21.10.2005]

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© Alexander Chernov, Stefan Mashkevich, Aare Olander, and authors of photos, 2006‒2010
Any usage of materials found herein requires explicit permission from copyright holders.
Last updated 12 April 2010