Spårakoff
Encyclopedia
Karia HM V
HM V is a class of two-bogie four-axle tram operated by Helsinki City Transport on the Helsinki tram network. All trams of this type were built by the Finnish tram manufacturer Karia in 1959....
type tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
converted into a bar
Bar (establishment)
A bar is a business establishment that serves alcoholic drinks — beer, wine, liquor, and cocktails — for consumption on the premises.Bars provide stools or chairs that are placed at tables or counters for their patrons. Some bars have entertainment on a stage, such as a live band, comedians, go-go...
in Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
. Known as the pub tram, the bright red vehicle does circular tours of Helsinki picking up passengers for an additional fee during summer months.
Claimed to be the only one of its kind in the world, the pub tram is immediately distinguishable in the Helsinki traffic by its vivid red colour and PUB destination board. Normal trams operated on the Helsinki tram
Helsinki tram
The Helsinki tram network forms part of the Helsinki public transport system organised by Helsinki Regional Transport Authority and operated by Helsinki City Transport in the Finnish capital city of Helsinki. The trams are the main means of transport in the city centre. 56.6 million trips were made...
network by Helsinki City Transport
Helsinki City Transport
Helsinki City Transport or HKL is the official city-owned public transport company in Helsinki, Finland. It operates the Helsinki metro, Helsinki tram and ferry boat traffic...
are green
Green
Green is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nanometres. In the subtractive color system, it is not a primary color, but is created out of a mixture of yellow and blue, or yellow and cyan; it is considered...
and cream
Cream (colour)
Cream is the colour of the cream produced by cattle grazing on natural pasture with plants rich in yellow carotenoid pigments, some of which are incorporated into the cream, to give a yellow tone to white. Cream is the pastel colour of yellow, much like as pink is to red. Cream is used as a skin...
. A tour ("pub crawl
Pub crawl
A pub crawl is the act of one or more people drinking in multiple pubs or bars in a single night, normally walking or busing to each one between drinking.-Origin of the term:...
") takes approximately 40 minutes, travelling around the streets of Helsinki while its passengers enjoy their drinks.
Operation
The name "Spårakoff" comes from the Helsinki slangHelsinki slang
Helsinki slang or stadin slangi is a local dialect and a sociolect of the Finnish language mainly used in the capital Helsinki...
word spåra [tram] and the beer brand KOFF
Koff (beer)
Koff is a brand name used by Sinebrychoff to market a range of lager type beers. Koff, alongside Karhu is one of the most sold beer brands of Sinebrychoff and Finland...
, produced by the Sinebrychoff Brewery
Sinebrychoff
Sinebrychoff Brewery is a Finnish brewery and soft drinks company. It was founded in 1819 in Helsinki, Finland by Russian colonist Nikolai Sinebrychoff , and is one of the largest breweries in Finland today. It has since become part of Carlsberg Breweries A/S....
—Finland's largest and most famous beer brewery. Spårakoff was given the number 175 to honour Sinebrychoff’s 175th Anniversary, and began operating as a pub tram on May Day Eve in 1995. Operation of the tram is by the Finnish restaurant chain S-Group
S-Group
The S Group is a Finnish retailing cooperative organisation, founded in 1904. It consists of 22 regional cooperatives operating all around Finland in the markets for groceries, consumer durables, service station, hotel and restaurant services, agricultural supplies, and car sales...
.
Schedule and prices
Regularly scheduled tours between 19 May–29 August 2009. No tours on Thursday 21 May (Ascension Day) or Friday 19 June–Monday 22 June (MidsummerMidsummer
Midsummer may simply refer to the period of time centered upon the summer solstice, but more often refers to specific European celebrations that accompany the actual solstice, or that take place on a day between June 21 and June 24, and the preceding evening. The exact dates vary between different...
weekend). Departures Tuesday–Saturday from the Rautatientori
Rautatientori
Rautatientori is an open square in central Helsinki, immediately to the east of the Helsinki Central railway station. The square mostly serves as Helsinki's secondary bus station...
square in front of the Fennia building at 14:00, 15:00, 17:00, 18:00, 19:00 and 20:00. Spårakoff can also be boarded at Linnanmäki
Linnanmäki
Linnanmäki is an amusement park in Helsinki, Finland. It was opened on May 27, 1950 and is owned by non-profit Lasten Päivän Säätiö . Linnanmäki has 44 different rides of different sizes...
, the Opera House
Finnish National Opera
The Finnish National Opera in Helsinki is the leading opera company in Finland. Its home base is the Opera House on Töölönlahti bay in Töölö which opened in 1993, and is state-owned through Senate Properties...
, the Old student House
Vanha Ylioppilastalo
Vanha ylioppilastalo , colloquially called Vanha , is the former student house of the Student Union of the University of Helsinki, located in central Helsinki, Finland, near the crossing of Aleksanterinkatu and Mannerheimintie.The building was designed by Axel Hampus Dahlström and was completed in...
and the Helsinki Market Square tram stops. The tour takes about 40 minutes.
, the price of the tour is €8. With a S-Bonus card: €6, or €4 for children under twelve. Drinks priced separately. Brochures are available from the Spårakoff pub tram and the Helsinki City Tourist and Convention Bureau at Pohjoisesplanadi 19.
Route
RautatientoriRautatientori
Rautatientori is an open square in central Helsinki, immediately to the east of the Helsinki Central railway station. The square mostly serves as Helsinki's secondary bus station...
, Linnanmäki
Linnanmäki
Linnanmäki is an amusement park in Helsinki, Finland. It was opened on May 27, 1950 and is owned by non-profit Lasten Päivän Säätiö . Linnanmäki has 44 different rides of different sizes...
, Oopperatalo, Aleksanterinkatu and Kauppatori
Sights
The Spårakoff pub tram’s route passes many of Helsinki’s most notable sights: The Central Railway Station, Ateneum Art Museum, Pitkäsilta bridge, Hakaniemi Square and its market hall, the Kallio Library, the Linnanmäki Amusement Park, Töölö Bay, the Olympic Stadium, the Opera House, Finlandia Hall, the National Museum, the Parliament House, the Kiasma Museum of Modern Art, the Mannerheim statue, Old Student House, the Stockmann department store, the Market Square, the Presidential Palace and the Senate Square.Private occasions
You can book the Spårakoff pub tram for private functions. Chartered trips 19 May – 18 Jun 6. and 31 Jul – 29 Aug from Tuesdays to Saturdays, provided that the trip ends no later than 13:00 or begins after 21:30 on Sundays and Mondays at any time. Route according to your preference. Hourly charge.Technical information
The tram has two bogies and was originally constructed in 1959. The conversion for pub use (including addition of a toilet) was in 1995.- Width: 2.3 metre, height: 3.6 metre
- Track gaugeRail gaugeTrack gauge or rail gauge is the distance between the inner sides of the heads of the two load bearing rails that make up a single railway line. Sixty percent of the world's railways use a standard gauge of . Wider gauges are called broad gauge; smaller gauges, narrow gauge. Break-of-gauge refers...
: 1 metres (3.3 ft) - Total mass: 20 tonnes (44,092.5 lb)
- Top speed: 60 kilometres per hour (37.3 mph)
- Capacity: 24 seats, 6 standing places, one flush toiletFlush toiletA flush toilet is a toilet that disposes of human waste by using water to flush it through a drainpipe to another location. Flushing mechanisms are found more often on western toilets , but many squat toilets also are made for automated flushing...
(WC)
The tram is staffed by one driver and one waiter/waitress serving customers.
See also
- Colonial Tramcar RestaurantColonial Tramcar RestaurantThe Colonial Tramcar Restaurant is a restaurant which operates from a converted fleet of three vintage trams in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....
in Melbourne, Australia. - Trams in Helsinki
- Trams in FinlandTrams in FinlandTrams in Finland go back to a horse-drawn Turku tramway network, which opened in 1890. Electric tramway traction started in Finland in 1900, and the horse-drawn trams last operated in 1917....
External links
- Sinebrychoff pressrelease
- Tram Travels/Sporvognsrejser: Raitiovaunu Spårakoff
- Genuss mit den VBZ, restaurant trams in Zurich, Switzerland.