Yaroslavl Double-decker trolley bus on Moscow streets
The red double-decker bus is the sign of England like Queen, Big Ben and football. But there was double decker in USSR! By the end of 30th of the previous century, there were two levels trolley buses YaTB-3 (ЯТБ-3, it's abbreviation of Yaroslavl Trolley Bus) on Moscow streets. They were made on Yaroslavl automobile plant. After 70 years there are no those trolley buses, no those plant which produced them (now it's Yaroslavl Diesel Engine Plant "Avtodiesel"). How did they appear and why did they disappear?
The first YaTB-3 was made on June, 22th in 1938 year and in four days — the second. Initially there were only two machines, but in 1939 else eight were produced.
The basis of a construction was two levels city trolley bus (the model of 1935 year) of England company "English Electric Company". At the first time the design was changed a bit for our conditions: the steering wheel was transmitted from the right side to the left side. English variant had only one back entrance, but YaTB-3 had both front and back doors. The trolley bus was 9,5 meters in width and 4,7 meters in height, could contain 72 sitting passengers (32 — on the first floor and 40 — on the second) and 28 standing passengers but only on the first level. The engine had 75 kilowatt (101 hp) and could reach 54 k/h.
At that time YaTB-3 had lot of new technical features: a ventilation, an electrical heating, a stylish cabin, an indicator board "There are no seat left". The trolley bus was all metal.
Unfortunately, experience suggested that it was very complicated to control this machine in our Russian condition. Also there were lots of disadvantages of the machine: high center of gravity, low height of the cabin, bad driving in the winter and others.
By the end of 1939 year Moscow government decided to discontinue the exportation of the trolley buses. Alack, there are no any example of those trolley buses — it was the only double-decker trolley bus which was produced outside England.
Addition materials concerning Yaroslavl double-decker on the Internet (all in Russian):
Thursday, May 14, 2009
in
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Anonymous
NOT the only double deck trolleybus produced outside England. Porto had some Lancias for a start.
August 5, 2013 at 1:44 AM
Anonymous
The "disadvantages" are nonsense. Britain used hundreds of double deck trolleybuses and still uses double deck diesel buses. The big advantage is the saving in road space in a congested city. The "problems" of driving can be overcome with experience and a bit of driving skill.
August 9, 2013 at 12:13 PM
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