Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) 5954
BVG 5954 on display in Street Car Hall.
The city of Berlin unified several street railway companies in 1920 to form Berliner Strassenbahn. To replace the many different tram types inherited from these firms, Berliner Strassenbahn hired Peter Behrens to design a standard two-axle car. The five hundred T24 type motor cars numbered 5701 to 6200 and five hundred B24 trailers numbered 1 to 500 featured steel bodies with truck-less construction and could carry sixty-four passengers (only twenty-four in seats). The Company split the large order among thirteen German builders for delivery between 1924 and 1926.
Berliner Strassenbahn became Berliner Strassenbahn Betriebs GmbH in 1923 which the city combined with bus and subway operations to form Berliner Verkehrs Aktiengesellschaft (BVG) in 1929. A cream color replaced the white and yellow tram fleet livery in 1934. Another name change in 1938 created Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe which kept the initials BVG. The post-war division of Berlin created two operating entities using the same name. In 1967 BVG accomplished a 1954 decision to end tram service in West Berlin.
Stadtwerke Karlsruhe-Verkehrsbetribe (VBK) acquired BVG 5954 and BVG 5964 to serve the Federal Garden Show of 1967 with "Old-Timer" trams from other cities. For this special operation along a one-kilometer route from Castle Park to City Park, VBK 5954 received blue-gray paint with cream scrolls on its lower body panels, crepe paper flowers along the ceiling, and striped-canvas window curtains. VBK 5964 received similar treatment with mint green paint and eventually went to a museum in Hannover, Germany.
The Museum purchased and moved VBK 5954 to Northwest Branch Park during the Spring of 1969. Restoration as BVG 5954 followed and this tram is on display in Street Car Hall in its cream-colored livery (color scheme).
Sister car BVG 5964 is located at the Hannover Tramway Museum in Sehnde, Germany. Fast forward to 4:02 to see the car in operation; this video features several minutes of an excursion on the car.