Apart from using vehicles intended for carrying passengers, transportation companies worldwide use technical support vehicles to enable their enterprises to operate effectively. This was also the case in pre-war Breslau.
The BT-1 G-51 towing car originated from the redesign of a slow-speed tram car manufactured by Linke-Hofmann-Werke AG. The rebuilding was carried out in 1920 or thereabouts, in the workshop of Städtische Strassenbahn Breslau. The tram engine resulting from the redesign was used to serve the Wroclaw powerplant, among other things. The SSB tram network was used, and the engine was mostly used for transporting railroad cars carrying coal. The twin-axis riveted bogey was unmodified by the redesign, but the wooden/steel body was remade: the original steel frame, shortened by the platforms, was covered anew. The engine was controlled with a single controller placed in the centre of the cabin. The vehicle was equipped with two brakes: an electrodynamic one and a manual mechanical one, operated with a crank. The car was powered by two DC motors, which no longer remain. In their place, LT31 motors from N-type cars were installed. A single, railway-type, scissor pantograph was used to connect to the overhead catenary for power.
Between WWI and WWII the engine was designated as BT1 – Betriebs Triebwagen (service/freight car). The model presented is probably the only vehicle from Wroclaw of this type to survive WWII. After the war it took part in the campaign of clearing the post-war rubble in Wroclaw. The tram was operated in Lower Silesia until the 1970’s. It arrived in Krakow, at the Nowa Huta depot, in 1984, as car with rolling stock number G-051 (post-war denomination). It has been part of the Museum of Urban Engineering’s collection since 2001. In 2016, thanks to subsidies obtained by the Museum, a restoration of the car was carried out in collaboration with MPK SA. The first presentation of the towing car BT-1 no. G-051 from Wroclaw took place on 22 December 2016.