In this video you can see the last and only Tatra T3M tram in Bratislava, the 7733+7734 ❤💛
Before I demonstrate what a rarity this is, a brief history of the type. This was the first attempt to modernise the classic Tatra T3 trams in the second half of the 1970s. It follows that this is the closest to the original T3, and that the modernised machinery installed back then is also pretty retro today. In fact, the creation of the type consisted in replacing the accelerator in the original T3s with a TV1 type thyristor wiper. In In Bratislava, the full pantograph was replaced by a half pantograph. In addition, the rubber flooring and the "chimney" under the seats in the interior have been removed.
And why is it a rarity?
Well this tram is at the very end of the vehicle release order. It's not even always released during school days on weekdays, and when it is, it's practically always a morning-peak-only reverser. And never as a backup vehicle (ZV-E). Well, on 26 January 2024, this tram ran an all-day service, which, moreover, was not taken off, it worked all day. Now that's something that's good to happen every few months. On top of that, there was no T3M in service between 4 October and 18 December 2023, but then this tram was brought back to life.
Okay, but that still doesn't illustrate the rarity of the type itself. Apart from this one set of T3Ms in Bratislava, there are only 2 sets of T3Ms on the Prague 23 retro line and 7 cars in Kharkov, Ukraine. Although the latter is a pre-war data, I don't know how many of them are still in service. In addition, in Brno and Liberec the heritage fleet includes 1-1 cars, which are sometimes used on special days. Apart from a few cars converted for operational use, that's it.
But there are many T3 variants still running somewhere, which are at least similar in appearance. Or do they? In service, you can only find this original egg-seated interior on this tram, and on the 6 Tatra T3Gs in Bratislava, on the retro line 23 in Prague, and on tramways in Ukraine and Russia. The situation is similar when looking for the original red and butter colour livery. But the situation is better here because, unlike in other cities, the T3Ps in Prague have kept this livery, and 297 of them are in service in the Czech capital.
Maybe it's understandable that when I was originally heading to Mosonmagyaróvár for the GOX-117, and saw in online that the 7733+7734 was an all-day service, I thoughtlessly stayed on the RailJet and headed for Bratislava from Hegyeshalom. Of course, there was a chance that they would take it out of service and replace it with something else, but I was extremely lucky, so that didn't happen. On my previous two visits to Bratislava, neither a T3M or T3G had been is service, but on the third attempt it just came together. This not only checked an item off my bucket list, but basically made a dream come true. Of course, since then, I also visited the GOX-117 :)
For the T3M, probably only a few months remaining in service, as the new Škodas are being released to service at a rapid speed. It's got to the point where only Škodas are running on line 9, and the Tatras are no longer in service there. It's really shocking, in January, half of the trams on line 9 were Tatras. Obviously this has an impact on the other lines. Obviously when the scrapping starts, this single T3M and the 6 T3G units will be the first to be scrapped. Whether it will be followed by the T3P, or the T6A5, or maybe the K2G/K2S type, I don't know.
It is important to note, however, that the current Škoda purchase is needed to cover the extra vehicle needs of the Petržalka extension, but that 3.8 km extra will not require 30 extra trams, so there will obviously be Tatra scrapping.
So if you want to visit the last Tatra T3M and the remaining T3Gs, firstly hurry, secondly preferably get there by the morning peak, thirdly good luck 🙂