THE CITY
[as of 02.2007]
The city is situated in the Sverdlovskiy Region of Russia, 2096 km east of Moscow, and 443 km north of Ekaterinburg, the Sverdlovskiy region's capital. The original settlement was founded in 1759. Formerly known as Bogoslovsk [the early name translates as The Town of the God's Word], the town was renamed into Karpinsk in 1941 after a locally born famed geologist. The city boasted up to 50000 inhabitants during the heyday of the coal-mining industry in the 1950s. There were 37000 residents 1989, out of which only 29600 remained by 2007.
Despite its rich history, modern Karpinsk is rather reminiscent of a large village that has seen its better days during the times of socialist planned coal-mining industrial development. The city's economy has been in a freefall ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
HISTORY OF NETWORK'S DEVELOPMENT
(by Dmitriy Merzlov)
26.06.1946 - From Stantsia Bogoslovsk (the Bogoslovsk Railroad Station) to Pochta (the Post Office) via Sovetskaya Ul., Lenina Ul., Serova Ul. and Parkovaya Ul., single track with one passing point, total length 3,8 km.
1948 - From Pochta to Upravlenie Severnogo Razreza (the Northern Coal-Mining Pit Headquarters) via Parkovaya Ul. and ragged terrain, single track, total length 3,5 km.
1950 - From Stantsia Bogoslovsk to Bolnitsa Nomer 1 (the Hospital Number 1) via Sovetskaya Ul., single track, for total length 1,2 km.
06.1953 - From Parkovaya Ul. in Karpinsk to Vostochnaya Ul. in the neighboring city of Volchansk, via Stakhanovtsev Ul. and the Karpinsk - Volchansk intercity road, single track, total length 16 km.
1956 - Second track is laid via Lenina Ul. between Karla Marksa Ul. and the Depot for a total length of 800 m.
1958 - Second track is laid via Lenina Ul. between the Depot and Lesopilnaya Ul. for a total length of 800 m.
1959 - From Bolnitsa Nomer 1 to Pochta, via Sovetskaya Ul., Belinskogo Ul., Proletarskoy Ul., Suvorova Ul., Pochtamptskoy Ul., single track, total length 5,5 km.
22.04.1965 - The interurban line between Karpinsk and Volchansk closes.
1967 - The line from Pochta to Upravlenie Severnogo Razreza closes.
01.10.1994 - Tram operation ceases.
01.11.1994 - Tram enterprise closes.
NETWORK DESCRIPTION
While being built in stages, the system gradually evolved into one tramway line that circled around the city in a continuous loop. The system was mostly single-track, with the only double-track section via the main Lenina Ul.
There was a single track extension to the Northern Coal-Mining Pit Headquarters, operated between 1948 and 1967.
There was also an interurban line to the neighboring town of Volchansk, operated between 06.1953 to 22.04.1965. The line was disassembled in 1965 as the enormous dragline coalmining excavator was moved from the Karpinsk open-mining pit to the Volchansk open pit via the motor road. The tramline was never reassembled as by the 1960s buses were readily available to take over the Karpinsk - Volchansk intercity route.
The system was owned by the coal-mining corporation 'Vakhrushevugol'.
Built according to city development plans envisioned in the 1940s, the tram line went where most original town amenities were at the time of the tramway opening. The new town center developed during the 1970s in the geographical center of the circular tramway line, with trams literally running at the fringes of the town, but not serving its focal points. The 1989 plan to build a connecting line through the city center via Sverdlova Ul. and to operate trams via a one-way pattern in a shape of the figure '8', never materialized.
The network became the first tramway system in the former USSR to close after the collapse of the Soviet regime.
ROUTES
Pochta - Stantsia Bogoslovsk [operated 26.06.1946 - 1950].
Pochta - Bolnitsa Nomer 1 [operated 1950 - 1959].
Numberless route following the loop with clockwise and counterclockwise services [operated 1959 - 01.11.1994].
Pochta - Upravlenie Severnogo Razreza [operated 1948 - 1967].
An interurban service between Karpinsk, Pochta and Volchansk [operated 06.1953 - 22.04.1965].
SERVICE
The service is remembered as being unreliable and unpredictable. Car assignments for clockwise and counterclockwise services were often lopsided. Breakdowns were common.
The system was notorious for waits at passing points due to scheduling mismatches. One of popular local sentimental memories regarding trams involves passengers having to place an ear against the rail trying to determine whether the opposing tram was due to arrive at the passing point.
ROLLING STOCK
In 1946 the system opened with six two-axle cars. Two motor cars of type Kh (rebuilt from trailer cars of type M) were delivered second hand from Sverdlovsk (nowadays Ekaterinburg) (these in turn were delivered to Sverdlovsk second hand from Leningrad in 1943). Four trailer cars of type M were delivered second hand Moscow. (Motor cars of type Kh and trailers of type M were matching motors+trailers historically identified with different letters). In the 1950s all six cars were sent to Sverdlovsk.
Four 4-axle bogie MTV-82 cars numbered 1-4 were delivered in 1950. Six additional MTV-82 cars were delivered second hand from Sverdlovsk in 1969-1972. Trams of this type operated in Karpinsk until 1982.
Trains of 2-axle KTM+KTP-1 motor+trailer cars were delivered beginning with the early 1950s, and operated in the city until the late 1970s.
A homogeneous fleet of KTM-5M3 cars only was operated since 1982. By 1990s these trams deteriorated to mean shabby noisy boxes on wheels nicknamed 'dinosaurs'.
[01.11.1994]
KTM-5M3 cars:
1, 2 (1982)
3, 4 (1984)
5 (1987)
7 (1988)
14 (1979)
RIGHT-OF-WAY
The maximum length of city lines was 15,6 km. The interurban line to Volchansk was 16 km long. The track length upon system's closure in 1994 was 12,1 km. .
The city loop was mostly single track with 5 passing points. It was built entirely on the reserved siding .There was a double track section via part of the main Lenina Ul.
The Upravlenie Severnogo Razreza line was single track, built through ragged terrain.
The Karpinsk - Volchansk interurban line was single track, with one passing point at Lipovaya Gora. The line was built on the reserved siding via the Karpinsk - Volchanks highway.
THE AFTERMATH
[02.2007]
Trams were replaced with brand new buses in 1994, which, however, turned out to be short lived. The current transportation scheme is incoherent and rather vague. The general sentiment is that the loss of trams was a mistake.
