Pilsen’s historical 3Tr3 trolleybus under reconstruction in Žamberk

On the morning of December 22, 2010, the unique historical 3Tr3 trolleybus was moved from the repository of the Techmania science centre to Žamberk, where it will be for over one year as it is completely reconstructed and restored. Škoda 3 Tr trolleybuses started servicing Pilsen in 1941. The preserved trolleybus comes from the third line of this model.
Škoda started developing and manufacturing trolleybuses in the mid-1930s. The company applied all of its know-how and technology at the time in the third production series, which included this trolleybus. A total of 24 buses were produced in the series.

Only a single 3Tr3 trolleybus (bus no. 119) from 1948 was preserved and is owned by the Techmania science centre. This piece of technical heritage found in 1992 in a privately-owned garden in the Pilsen district, where it served as a garden shed. It was purchased in 1997 for the Škoda company museum, but its condition required fundamental reconstruction.

As part of the EU ROM Southwest structural funds, Techmania Science Centre received financing to put the trolleybus into a condition suitable for exhibition (CZK 5.8 million). So far, two original historical engines belonging to the same model have been rebuilt at a cost of CZK 1.3 million. The body and interior will be under restoration until May 2012 at Former, s.r.o., the company which took receipt of the trolleybus on December 22. The aim of Techmania is to protect the unique technical landmark from ruin, and ideally allow it to be put back into operation in the future.

“The trolleybus served the residents of Pilsen until 1967. After it is renovated, from looking at it one will be able to get an idea about what municipal public transportation looked like in Pilsen in the Fifties and Sixties,” explains Libor Kočí from Techmania.

The restoration of the trolleybus will complete a series of projects to salvage unique technical objects that Techmania carried out with ROP Southwest financing. The 3Tr3 will be placed in the science centre exhibition space alongside the oldest preserved electric locomotive manufactured at Škoda (the 2 Elo from 1928), the world’s first locomotive with a laminate body (the 32 E “Great Laminate” from 1963) and a MARX steam engine from 1909.

Source: Techmania press release from 21 December 2010