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The air in Munich on this Saturday morning, October 17, 2026, was thick with anticipation, and the Maffeistraße and Promenadeplatz buzzed with an unusual energy. Camera lenses of every length, tripods reaching skyward, and clusters of photography groups – it seemed tram enthusiasts from all corners of the globe had converged. The occasion? The Munich Trambahn was celebrating its 150th anniversary with a grand jubilee parade.
A Journey Through Time: 150 Years of Munich’s Trambahn
Fifteen historic and new vehicles, manned by genuine tram drivers and equally genuine tram enthusiasts in period conductor uniforms, formed a procession that offered a glimpse into Munich’s past and present. A touch of nostalgia, and simultaneously a piece of Munich’s everyday history, cheered on by tens of thousands.
The Munich Transport Company (MVG) organized this impressive parade, and tens of thousands lined the streets for the nostalgic journey. The route led from Maffeistraße, through Maximilianstraße, across Max-Weber-Platz, and all the way to the tram depot on Einsteinstraße.
The ‘Ritzenreinigung’ Ladies: A Nod to History
In a fitting tribute to history, Doris Strehmann (MVG, Purchasing) and Sara Avramidu (from the MVG customer center at Hauptbahnhof) began the festivities by acting as Munich’s ‘Trambahnschienenritzenreinigungsdamen’ (tram rail groove cleaning ladies) for the photographers. The Munich folk actress and comedian Ida Schumacher (1894-1956), celebrated as ‘die Ratschkathl’, immortalized this profession with her unforgettable audio piece about the ‘Trambahnschienenritzenreinigungsdame’, who ‘gets along well with the tram drivers’. Only with the old Mr. Dirigl ‘on the 12er line’ did she have trouble: ‘Wann i do am scheenstn Rama bin, verlangt er vo mir, dass i do sofort auf’d Seitn spring ois wia a Gummiboi!’ In the coarsest Old Munich dialect, Schumacher mimicked the Line 12 tram driver: ‘Konnst jetz du ned aus’m Gleis rausgeh, oide Gurgl?’ To which the not-so-refined groove cleaning lady retorted: ‘Ja i scho – aber du net, du damischer Rollwagerladmiral!’
Strehmann and Avramidu, in front of a Type A tram built in 1901, used household brooms instead of actual metal groove scrapers. This didn’t bother anyone and served as a charming homage to a Munich women’s profession that once ensured safe tram operations but died out around 1935 when machines took over. Incidentally, women have only been driving Munich trams since 1965.
A City’s Identity: The Tram as a Symbol of Home
As the parade finally set in motion on sparkling clean rails – with a noticeable ‘clonk’ from the old carriages and distinctly different-sounding tram bells – Mayor Dominik Krause sat in the front of the horse-drawn carriage, enjoying the grand spectacle up to the Maxmonument. He waved tirelessly, smiling at the enthusiastic crowd. People lined the streets without a gap, all the way to Max-Weber-Platz, as if it were the Tour de France. And indeed, ‘Moritz’ and ‘Ramon’, two magnificent black Percheron cold-blooded horses from the land of the Tour de France, pulled his carriage.
When asked, Krause admitted to being an avid tram user, ‘because you see most of beautiful Munich from it.’ He also spoke briefly to the public at the beginning of the parade. ‘The tram is for many of us a part of our Munich identity, also a bit of a feeling of home, and above all, it is also a part of our urban development. 150 years ago, Munich was still a rather sleepy royal residence, but now we are a modern metropolis – and this growth has always been closely intertwined with the tram.’
Krause, born in 1990, did not shy away from mentioning the 70s and 80s, when there was discussion about whether to abolish the tram. ‘Other cities went this way, Hamburg, West Berlin; and I can say: Thank God we decided back then to keep our tram!’ He emphasized that it is an ‘important means of transport, especially for our tangential connections.’
Dedicated Volunteers and a Love for Trams
Both Dominik Krause and City Works Director Florian Bieberbach praised the tremendous voluntary commitment to the historic parade. Tram associations such as the ‘Freunde des Münchner Trambahnmuseums’ (Friends of the Munich Tram Museum) and ‘Straßenbahnfreunde’ (Tram Friends) were instrumental in making the old Munich horse-drawn tram, with a carriage from 1891, operational, as well as the oldest electric tram of type ‘A’. Eighty-five-year-old Franz Bieser, for example, helped restore the latter at the MVG Museum, simply for the joy of it.
Bieser is an example of true tram love. At the opening of the Munich MVG Museum in 2007, he immediately became interested in the Type A tram and was asked if he would like to participate in the association. Today, at the parade, Bieser, a retired Munich businessman, beamed as a conductor at the curious public and expertly answered all questions about ‘his’ tram. He revealed that the city of Munich had this successor to the horse-drawn tram built as an electric tram by the Rathgeber company between 1898 and 1902 ‘in the remarkable large series of 250 units.’
Later, at the Einsteinstraße tram depot, huge crowds queued to experience the ‘wood-class’ feeling of the Biedermeier era in the Type A tram. Bieser was back in his element, posing riddles for younger fans. ‘What is the grid for?’ he asked, referring to the grid at the front and back under the driver’s cab, hanging just above the tracks. A trunk? No – that was ‘person protection’. In the event of an emergency stop, the grid would fall down and prevent people from getting under the wheels. A kind of airbag precursor from the Rathgeber designers, circa 1900.
A Continuous Celebration and a Look to the Future
Later, historic trams and a few historic buses shuttled between the depot and the city center. The stops were adorned with garlands and balloons, and many groups of ‘tram spotters’ – fanatical tram photographers – still lingered in remote places like the wall of the Haidhausen cemetery to capture unique views of tram types like ‘D’, ‘M’, ‘R2.2’, or the current ‘Avenio’.
Some spectators even dressed in Biedermeier attire for the grand Munich tram event. For example, student Kevin Dickerson, who tipped his top hat to the mayor in front of the opera, or an elegant lady with a wide red hat and a nostalgic costume, who watched the more than 300-meter-long tram parade pass by at the Maximilianeum stop.
Irmgard Wojkowsky, who grew up on Sendlinger-Tor-Platz ‘and used to roller skate on Blumenstraße’, even remembers riding on the running board of the ‘A’ trams used until 1958. She fondly recalls those times and celebrates her Munich tram. ‘It’s something wonderful!’
In fact, the Munich tram is actually 165 years old. In the summer of 1861, a Munich coachman operated two horse-drawn carriages as the first public transport. Munich then had 140,000 inhabitants. But because that was more of an omnibus, the Munich Transport Company is now celebrating the 150th birthday of its blue tram. Because it has been running on its own tracks since 1876. With the tram west tangent, it is currently getting modern additions. And if the people of Munich remain as loyal to this favorite means of transport as they are for this 150th birthday, then there will be many more ‘Rollwagerladmiräle’ and ‘Rollwagerladmiralinnen’ in the future.
Further jubilee program: On Sunday, October 18, the large Munich tram depot at Einsteinstraße 148 will open its doors to the public between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. There will be, among other things: face painting for children, a look under raised trams in the workshops, a ‘fun tram’ with bell and photo opportunities, and tours of the driver’s cabs in various tram types.
Source: https://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/muenchen-trambahn-150-jahre-jubilaeum-mvg-li.3564131
