We are back in Europe for today’s instalment of Around the World in 18 Trams as we visit Gent in Belgium.
Gent 39 is a PCC tram and was one of 54 trams built in La Brugeoise with this particular example being completed in 1972. Gent is a metre gauge line and we see 39 turning into the loop outside St Pieters station – the main station for Gent although it is quite a way from the city centre. The tram was seen as it was working route 21 to Zwijnaardebrugge. The date of the photo is 4th September 2007 at a time when 39 was carrying an all over advert.
Photograph by Tony Sullivan
The thing that struck me about riding one of those trams was how high up it seemed. The view from the tram was much better than from the newer vehicles.
It was good to see a relatively small city still having faith in its trams.
Gent is still very interesting in terms of trams, using a mixture of the older PCCs, HermeLijn (Siemens & Bombardier consortium) plus Flexity 2. Unlike Blackpool’s Flexity 2 trams, these are narrower, longer and rattle free!