The Vienna-based specialist publisher for scientific literature Phoibos presents an remarkable book about an interesting part of Austria’s local public transport history. After an introduction to the situation of the tramway companies after the Second World War, the book deals in detail with the development and distribution of contemporary tramway models, which were to a large extent based on the large-capacity and articulated trams developed in Germany by the Düwag company and manufactured under licence by the local industry, because for many years the import of foreign vehicles hardly seemed possible due to numerous import regulations to protect the local industry. Naturally, the description of the development in the capital Vienna takes up a particularly large amount of space, if only because of the number of vehicles and vehicle types in use. But the other Austrian tram companies are not neglected either, and in addition to the numerous new trams built up to the 1980s, the imported trams in Graz and Innsbruck, among others, are also described in detail. In addition, there is a description of the whereabouts of the trams sold abroad, especially to Eastern Europe.
Various tables complements the comprehensive work of the author, who has well-known as publicist and connoisseur of local public transport in the country since the 1960s and was able to describe the development of the Düwag-based tramway models with many individual details.
Recommendable.
Author: Ernst Lassbacher
Editorial: Verlag Phoibos, Wien 2023
252 pages
295 color and b/W photos, format 29.7 x 21 cm; hardback
ISBN 978-3-85161-290-5
16.05.2023
