Moldovan Trolleybuses

Having temporarily run out of contributor's pics to publish a morning post with I was thinking what I could use for my morning post today and for some unknown reason Moldova sprung to mind. I have had a lot of view from Moldova in the past - Lord knows why - and thought I'd do a quick search to see what's out there. Well it seems Trolleybuses are the order of the day in the capital, Chisinau. There are a lot of them, and having recently featured trams we may as well do trolleybuses too.

A bit of research (luck in clicking on the right pic) and I managed to find out a little of the vehicles used, but first a pic of the old type of trolleybus that is being phased out of service in Chisinau. This pic is by Clay Gilliland, whose Flickr page you can access here.

One of the older trolleybuses being replaced by newer models.    pic by Clay Gillikand

There seems to be a main manufacturer of trolley buses in that part of the world. I'll quote from the Flickr page of Dmitry

Belkommunmash is Belarusian manufacturer of public electrotransport. The enterprise was founded on basis of the repair tram-trolleybus factory which was opened in 1974. Today it is the leading industrial enterprise in Belarus in the field of manufacture and major overhaul of a rolling stock of city electric transport. Trolley buses of Belkommunmash's manufacture are operated in 7 cities of Belarus and 32 cities of Russia, Mongolia, Moldova, Latvia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia.

So let's see a few more examples of Belkommunmash's handiwork. This pic is by mostlybytrain and if you click on the link to his flickr page you'll be in for a surprise! You can access it here.

In the Main Square Chisinau.      pic by mostlybytrain

 I confess I've never been on a trolleybus outside of East Anglian Transport Museum, so I have absolutely no idea what these are like. Wonder what happens with temporary traffic lights!

Here are two examples of the newer trolleybuses, and a couple of things strike me about them - firstly the wheels look huge - bigger than standard bus wheels, and secondly two sets of doors in the rear unit looks a slight overkill to me. Both pics are by Pieter van Marion, whose Flickr page you can access here.

 

On Line 8 in the Main Square Chsinau    pic by Pieter van Marion

 

And Line 22       pic by Pieter van Marion

No idea where tomorrow morning's post will be from - I'm hoping for some presents in my inbox today to help me out!!