Another blast from the past (this time from our old webpage ventotto.info). In 2008 we published a post detailling the history of the Peter Witt cars of ATM Milano. Yes, all except one car have been modified with a rear door for a very long time and thus are no longer true Peter Witts. We enclose the original fleet list (please note that the data is from 2008 an no longer accurate today!). Alberto Jori provided much of the 2007/2008 allocation data. For the first time we have added a large number of photos to this post (most of these photos were taken before the repainting into the original white & yellow (“canary”) livery took place – we may add more recent photos eventually.
This is how the old website looked like:
Below is the original post: (we are still adding more photos, so far only 1500 series has been done)
A short historic review of the Peter Witt cars in Milano: The ultimate Ventotto story was written by Guido Boreani of Milano (published in Italian as “Un tram che si chiama Milano” by Calosci Cortona in 1995), unfortunately this is a little difficult to find now.
In the late 1920s Milano needed to replace it’s old fleet of short two axle (single truck) tramcars of the Edison type (500 motor cars and 300 trailers built between 1895 and 1910). They looked around the world and found the so-called Peter Witt design (named after the man himself, he worked for the streetcar company in Cleveland/Ohio, USA). By 1912 Cleveland had built the first prototype of this car which featured passenger-flow. Passengers entered at the front and paid on leaving through the centre doors (a sitting conductor operated those doors). There were no doors at the back of the car but plenty of seats (the front of the car only had longitudinal seating and lots of standing room). Local company Carminati e Toselli in via Procaccini was ordered to build two prototypes in 1927. The first had General Electric equipment and the other Westinghouse.
The tests with those two cars were successful and a large order was placed with 6 builders in 1928. Carminati & Toselli were to build 110 cars (1503-1612), Ernesto Breda (Milano) another 110 (1613-1722), Officine Meccaniche (Reggio Emilia) 50 cars (1723-1772), OM Milano another 110 (1773-1882), Tallero (Milano) yet another 110 (1883-1992) and Lodigane (Lodi) the last 10 cars (1993-2002). The new class of tramcars received two names: 1500 class or “Carrello” (Italian for bogie/double truck). As mass production started in 1928 they also received the name “Ventotto” (Italian for 28). One of the Breda cars went to Frankfurt in Germany in 1929. It operated (equipped with a pantrograph) on route 23 between Heddernheim and Schauspielhaus. It was not a success there and returned to Milano (nobody seems to know for sure which car this was!). Breda also built an additional car for Brussels in Belgium. It arrived in 1929 as ran as no.5001 on route 15 between Nord and Midi. Instead of ordering these cars from Italy the Belgians used it to build their own fleet of class 5000 cars instead, the Ventotto was renumbered 5000. The car was sold to Madrid in Spain in 1935 where it ran on route 71 Ventas – Rosales (as their no. 1001, later as no. 1000 and in the end again as 1001). It survived until 1965.
By 1932 502 “Carrelli” operated in Milano. Somehow the passenger-flow did not quite work for the people of Milano, the car was always full at the front but few people rode in the back of the car. So in 1932 cars 1529 and 1530 were rebuilt with a single door at the back (keeping the seats in the back). In America some Peter Witt cars had been built with this feature as well. In 1929 car 1529 was rebuilt again, this time longitudinal seats replaced the regular setas in the back of ther car and this became the “smokers saloon”. Later all cars were rebuilt and received double doors at the back, entrance was at the back and exit through the centre and front doors. The conductor was moved to sit by the back doors.
During the second world war a lot of the Peter Witts got damaged and some even ran as non-motorised trailers (behind Peter Witt cars or behind 600 series two axles cars). Nearly all the cars were rebuilt after the war and today none of the fleet numbers match the original builder. They used what they had to get those cars back into service, even if they had to build completely new underframes and bodies, 204 cars were completety rebuilt!
In the 1970s the Venttos were equipped with pantographs in addition to the trolleypoles (called “Perteghetta” in Milano) they had since new. Also the two-tone green livery they had received since the 1930s (only very few cars ran in the old white and yellow livery when they were young!) was replaced by the country-wide “transit orange”. The 1970s also saw the first scrapped cars. More modern and longer trams had been introduced and the number of “Carrelli” slowly but steadily decreased. By the 1980s the trolleypoles disappeared.
1984 not only saw the first low-floor car in Italy (built by ATM using two Peter Witt cars) but also the first of many Ventotto to be sold abroad: car 1834 went to San Francisco! 100 years of electric trams in Milano was celebrated in 1993 by repainting car 1723 into the old two-tone green livery.
1500 SERIES
1501 dem 1502 fama 1503 ssp 1504 mess 1505 dem 1506 dem 1507 sfo
1508 fama 1509 dem 1510 dem 1511 mess 1512 dem 1513 dem 1514 dem
1515 sfo 1516 dem 1517 dem 1518 dem 1519 dem 1520 dem 1521 mess
1522 zuretti 1523 dem 1524 rescaldina 1525 dem 1526 acc 1527 leon
1528 dem 1529 dem 1530 mess 1531 leon 1532 gomaco 1533 acc 1534 dem
1535 dem 1536 dem 1537 dem 1538 dem 1539 mess 1540 dem 1541 acc
1542 dem 1543 dem 1544 mess 1545 acc 1546 dem 1547 dem 1548 dem
1549 dem 1550 dem 1551 dem 1552 leon 1553 dem 1554 dem 1555 dem
1556 sfo 1557 fama 1558 dem 1559 dem 1560 dem 1561 fama 1562 dem
1563 dem 1564 leon 1565 mess 1566 mess 1567 dem 1568 dem 1569 tici
1570 dem 1571 dem 1572 dem 1573 dem 1574 dem 1575 fama 1576 dem
1577 dem 1578 cons 1579 tici 1580 bagg 1581 dem 1582 mess 1583 dem
1584 dem 1585 leon 1586 dem 1587 dem 1588 sfo 1589 acc 1590 fama
1591 leon 1592 tici 1593 dem 1594 dem 1595 dem 1596 leon 1597 acc
1598 dem 1599 dem
1500 Series photos:
1600 SERIES
1600 leon 1601 dem 1602 leon 1603 dem 1604 dem 1605 leon 1606 dem 1607 dem
1608 dem 1609 leon 1610 dem 1611 mess 1612 japan 1613 acc 1614 dem 1615 dem
1616 dem 1617 dem 1618 dem 1619 dem 1620 dem 1621 dem 1622 dem 1623 leon
1624 dem 1625 mess 1626 bagg 1627 dem 1628 dem 1629 dem 1630 dem 1631 acc
1632 dem 1633 dem 1634 mess 1635 acc 1636 mess 1637 dem 1638 dem 1639 dem
1640 st.louis/us 1641 mess 1642 dem 1643 dem 1644 dem 1645 dem 1646 dem
1647 dem 1648 acc 1649 dem 1650 leon 1651 dem 1652 leon 1653 dem 1654 dem
1655 dem 1656 mess 1657 dem 1658 leon 1659 dem 1660 dem 1661 mess
1662 mess 1663 dem 1664 dem 1665 mess 1666 dem 1667 dem 1668 dem 1669 dem
1670 leon 1671 leon 1672 dem 1673 acc 1674 dem 1675 dem 1676 dem 1677 leon
1678 dem 1679 dem 1680 dem 1681 dem 1682 dem 1683 dem 1684 dem 1685 dem
1686 mess 1687 leon 1688 mess 1689 mess 1690 dem 1691 dem 1692 sydney/aus
1693 dem 1694 fama 1695 dem 1696 dem 1697 dem 1698 dem 1699 acc
1600 series photos:
1700 SERIES
1700 dem 1701 dem 1702 ssp 1703 mess 1704 mess 1705 dem 1706 dem 1707 dem
1708 mess 1709 dem 1710 dem 1711 dem 1712 don orione 1713 dem 1714 leon
1715 dem 1716 dem 1717 ranco 1718 dem 1719 leon 1720 dem 1721 dem 1722 dem
1723 ssp 1724 cons 1725 mess 1726 leon 1727 dem 1728 dem 1729 dem 1730 leon
1731 san vincenzo 1732 mess 1733 dem 1734 dem 1735 dem 1736 mess 1737 leon
1738 mess 1739 dem 1740 dem 1741 dem 1742 dem 1743 dem 1744 leon 1745 leon
1746 leon 1747 leon 1748 dem 1749 leon 1750 dem 1751 dem 1753 dem 1753 dem
1754 acc 1755 dem 1756 mess 1757 leon 1758 dem 1759 fama 1760 dem 1761 dem
1762 dem 1763 dem 1764 dem 1765 dem 1766 dem 1767 dem 1768 cons 1769 dem
1770 dem 1771 tici 1772 dem 1773 leon 1774 dem 1775 dem 1776 dem 1777 dem
1778 dem 1779 dem 1780 dem 1781 dem 1782 acc 1783 dem 1784 tici 1785 mess
1786 dem 1787 tici 1788 leon 1789 acc1790 dem 1791 dem 1792 dem 1793 sfo
1794 tici 1795 sfo 1796 dem 1797 dem 1798 mess 1799 leon
1700 series photos:
1800 SERIES
1800 leon 1801 dem 1802 leon 1803 bagg 1804 cons 1805 dem 1806 dem 1807 dem
1808 dem 1809 bagg 1810 dem 1811 gomaco 1812 fama 1813 mess 1814 sfo
1815 dem 1816 dem 1817 dem 1818 sfo 1819 fama 1820 dem 1821 leon 1822 acc
1823 dem 1824 dem 1825 mess 1826 fama 1827 tici 1828 dem 1829 dem 1830 tici
1831 dem 1832 dem 1833 tici 1834 sfo 1835 bagg 1836 mess 1837 cons 1838 dem
1839 dem 1840 dem 1841 mess 1842 bagg 1843 tici 1844 dem 1845 dem 1846 fama
1847 acc 1848 dem 1849 pavia 1850 dem 1851 mess 1852 mess 1853 mess
1854 fama 1855 risto tram 1856 dem 1857 mess 1858 leon 1859 sfo 1860 tici
1861 mess 1862 tici 1863 leon 1864 dem 1865 dem 1866 mess 1867 fama 1868 dem
1869 dem 1870 leon 1871 dem 1872 leon 1873 dem 1874 tici 1875 dem 1876 dem
1877 leon 1878 acc 1879 tici 1880 tici 1881 leon 1882 dem 1883 acc 1884 dem
1885 dem 1886 mess 1887 dem 1888 dem 1889 dem 1890 fama 1891 dem 1892 acc
1893 mess 1894 dem 1895 mess 1896 dem 1897 bagg 1898 leon 1899 tici
series 1800 photos:
1900/2000 SERIES
1900 dem 1901 mess 1902 leon 1903 dem 1904 monza 1905 dem 1906 st.louis/us
1907 dem 1908 dem 1909 dem 1910 dem 1911 sfo 1912 dem 1913 dem
1914 dem 1915 acc 1916 mess 1917 mess 1918 dem 1919 dem 1920 mess
1921 mess 1922 leon 1923 acc 1924 leon 1925 dem 1926 mess 1927 fama
1928 dem 1929 bagg 1930 fama 1931 leon 1932 dem 1933 dem 1934 dem
1935 leon 1936 mess 1937 dem 1938 dem 1939 dem 1940 tici 1941 dem
1942 dem 1943 dem 1944 mess 1945 mount pleasant/us 1946 dem 1947 dem 1948 tici
1949 ssp 1950 leon 1951 leon 1952 dem 1953 dem 1954 leon 1955 prec
1956 leon 1957 ssp 1958 dem 1959 dem 1960 mess 1961 dem 1962 dem
1963 mess 1964 dem 1965 dem 1966 ssp 1967 dem 1968 leon 1969 dem
1970 risto tram 1971 dem 1972 dem 1973 dem 1974 leon 1975 dem
1976 leon 1977 dem 1978 mess 1979 sfo 1980 bagg 1981 dem 1982 bagg
1983 dem 1984 mess 1985 dem 1986 fama 1987 dem 1988 dem 1989 fama
1990 bagg 1991 dem 1992 dem 1993 leon 1994 leon 1995 dem 1996 gomaco
1997 fama 1998 dem 1999 mess 2000 mess 2001 san jose/us 2002 mess
1900/2000 series photos
codes used:
acc = withdrawn or accident victim
bagg = stationed at depostio Baggio
cons = survives in a museum
dem = scrapped
des = stationed at deposito Desio
fama = stored at metro deposito Famagosta
leon = stationed at deposito Leoncavallo
mess = stationed at deposito Messina
prec = stationed at deposito Precotto (or stored there)
sfo = San Francisco/US
ssp = special car
tici = stationed at deposito Ticinese
var = stationed at deposito Varedo
note: other codes may describe out of town or foreign locations
