Sometimes chance finds are simply some of the most beautiful discoveries. We actually wanted to go for a walk when we discovered the Vienna Transport Museum (remise – Transport Museum of the Vienna Lines). And then we were lucky, the museum was open and we could go on an exciting discovery tour.
History of the Vienna Tramway
The history of the Vienna tramway is over 150 years old. Today, Vienna has the fifth largest tramway network in the world.
It all began with a horse-drawn tramway that made its first journey in 1865. Horses pulled carriages standing on rails through the city. Regular service was first started from Schottentor to Dornbach. Vienna thus had the first tramway in the Austrian Empire.
The working conditions of the tramway drivers were very bad at that time. They had to sit on the driver’s bench for up to 19 hours with a break of just 30 minutes. In addition, they had to be liable for any damage to the streetcars themselves. If their train was more than a minute late, the drivers were assigned to punitive duties on their day off. In 1889, the employees finally went on strike and were able to achieve a significant improvement in working conditions.
In 1883, the first steam tramway line opened. The strams ran with a steam locomotive. The tracks were either on the street or in a separate track bed next to the street. It ran from the Viennese suburb of Hietzing to Perchtodsdorf. Over the years, an ever larger tram network developed.
In 1897, the first electric tram ran in Vienna on the route of today’s Line 5. Gradually, electric operation prevailed over the horse tramway and and steam tramway. In 1903, the last horse-drawn tramway passed through the city.
In 1907, the line designations were introduced, which are still valid today and consist of a number or a letter. Today, the longest line is about 15.8 kilometers long, and the shortest line is 3.4 kilometers long.
Visit to the Vienna Transport Museum (remise – Transport Museum of Vienna Lines)
We enter the museum’s locomotive hall and immediately my eyes begin to sparkle. Here are trams upon trams. The Vienna Transport Museum is the largest tram museum in the world. There are supposed to be a good 100 trams on display.
We stroll along between the individual carriages and even for a layman there are clear structural differences to be discovered. Fortunately, there are signs on the individual trams that describe exactly what can be seen.
There are very old tram cars in the exhibition hall. So I stand in amazement in front of a wagon that used to be pulled by horses. Here the passengers still sat in an open carriage. This is the oldest exhibit in the Remise – the transport museum of the Wiener Linien, a horse-drawn tramway from 1868.
But I also discover newer cars, like the “American”. This is a type of car that was originally manufactured for the tramway in New York and was used in Vienna from 1949 to 1969.
The “Wiener Schnauze”, a bus that travelled through Vienna after the Second World War, also stands between trams. The bus got its name because of its characteristic snout/cooler bonnet. I think it’s a great bus and if there was a sightseeing tour of Vienna, I’d be there in a heartbeat.
But you can also visit an underground, an articulated bus, rail maintenance vehicles and a bicycle trolley. It’s a pity that you can’t look inside the cars. I would have liked to see what the tram looked like from the inside.
At 17 stations, which are set up between the tram cars, you can learn a lot about trams and Vienna. The information is really well presented. At some points I really enjoyed the child-friendly approach to the topic and actively tried it out.
Address:
Ludwig-Koeßler Platz 3
1030 Vienna, Austria
Directions:
U3 Station Schlachthausgasse
bus 77A, 80A Station Ludwig-Koeßler Platz
tram 18 Station Schlachthausgasse
Opening hours:
Museum
Wednesday 9-18 h
Saturday, Sunday 10-18h
Holidays, when open 10-18 h
Shop
at the same time as the museum
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 9-15h
Admission fees:
adults: 8,-€
Discounts are offered.
Leave a Reply