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February 27, 2007
Feature Photo: Canal Street, 1905
A splendid Alexander Allison photo of Canal Street, looking lakebound from Camp Street. The large building in the background is the original Maison Blanche building, constructed in 1898 and torn down in 1910, to make way for the existing MB building (now the Ritz Carlton Hotel).
There's a lot of streetcar activity here! The larger, double-truck streetcar in the foreground is a "Palace" car on the Canal line. The smaller, single-truck streetcars are a mix of Brills and Ford, Bacon & Davis, running on the various feeder lines coming to Canal Street. There were four tracks running down Canal from Rampart to the terminal trackage in front of the Custom House. Canal trackage was scaled back to two tracks in 1958, ripped up entirely in 1964, and returned to two tracks with the return of the Canal line. The terminal trackage running from the Custom House to the foot of Canal consists of the two tracks that turn onto the Riverfront line, plus a third, center track, for reversing the direction of streetcars during peak hours.
Posted by YatPundit at 12:03 AM | TrackBack
February 19, 2007
Feature Photo - Hail Rex!
Hail Rex!
The King of Carnival on Canal Street. This postcard is postmarked 1912, but the original is a Detroit Publishing Co. photograph, so this Mardi Gras could be anywhere from 1900-1910.
What's particularly interesting about this photo is that the parade is going the opposite direction from photos of other years around the turn of the century. Usually Rex paraded down Royal Street, through the French Quarter, turned right (lakebound) onto Canal, then back into the Quarter at Rampart. This photo has the parade going riverbound. We've seen earlier photos of Rex turning riverbound from Royal in the days before electrification, but not one after 1895 or so.
From 1872 until the 1920s, Rex rode a float that matched the parade's theme. The classic "Rex float" recognized the world over wasn't used until after World War I. This particular king's float is styled as a chariot. Note the mules pulling the float, a far cry from the huge tractors that pull floats like the "S. S. Endymion" or the "Bacchu-gator" in today's super-krewes.
The streetcars in the Canal Street neutral ground appear to be mostly (if not all) single-truck models. The wide monitor deck of the Ford, Bacon & Davis model dominates the scene, but there are a few Brill single-truck models parked as well, waiting for the parade. The two most prominent buildings in the scene are on the updown (CBD) side of the street, the Godchaux building at the corner of Canal and Carondelet (center) and the Chess, Checkers and Whist Club building, one block back at Canal and Baronne. By the time of the Perley Thomas streetcars, the crowds coming downtown for Rex had grown to the point where NOPSI began to back the streetcars down past Rampart Street, so the people could use the entire neutral ground.
The folks in the crowd appear to be excited that the parade has finally arrived. The weather looks good, and it's not too cold, judging by the lack of outerwear. Everyone wore a suit or nice dress when going "downtown," even on Carnival Day, and there certainly was no showing of much of anything going on.
Happy Mardi Gras, everyone!
Posted by YatPundit at 1:37 PM | TrackBack
February 12, 2007
Feature Photo
Ever see tandem Ford, Bacon & Davis streetcars in operation? You would have had you gone out to the Krewe of Rhea parade yesterday in Metairie. Rhea is one of several parades in the area that use floats modelled on streetcars. Rex (The School of Design) started the tradition, rolling out "His Majesty's Streetcar" back in the 1970s. The Knights of Babylon also use a streetcar, but theirs is a faithful copy of a mule-drawn "bobtail" car that is actually pulled by a mule.
Additionally, there are a number of jazz bands that have converted trailers into "streetcars," usually giving them the look of a Perley A. Thomas streetcar. The float designer for Rhea, Barry Barth, Inc., decided to use the FB&D as a model, and that makes sense. It looks like they took a light truck or mini-bus chassis and built the F&BD around it. The FB&D was one of the most widely-used single-truck streetcars. Its smaller size made it a good choice for navigating the streets of the French Quarter.
Hope everyone is enjoying Carnival!
Posted by YatPundit at 7:23 AM | TrackBack
February 9, 2007
San Diego Electric Ry. Co.
an open double-truck streetcar in an exhibit at the San Diego Historical Society.
Posted by YatPundit at 6:06 AM | TrackBack
February 8, 2007
Train Thursday - L&N along the River, 1900
a Louisville and Nashville train rolls along the riverfront, ca. 1900. These photos were shot at Gravier and Front Street, as the train passed by the old Anheuser-Busch plant at that corner. The locomotive pulling this train is known as a "4-4-0." The L&N station was located at the foot of Canal Street, right across from the Algiers ferry landing.
Posted by YatPundit at 2:37 PM | TrackBack
February 7, 2007
San Diego Trolley
one of the San Diego MTS LRVs on the Green Line approaching Old Town Station.
same train, waiting for scheduled departure into downtown San Diego.
A general view of Old Town Station
Posted by YatPundit at 7:05 PM | TrackBack
February 5, 2007
Feature Photo: "Palace" car on Esplanade
One of a series of Charles Franck photos shot in 1921, showing Palace car 605 running down Esplanade Avenue, checking neutral ground clearances. The New Orleans Railway and Light Company (later NOPSI) usually hired Franck for legal-related photography, so these shots are most likely related to either a lawsuit or (my guess) a request to the City Council for permission to clear low-hanging branches that were interfering with the Esplanade Avenue ROW. Neutral ground operations were obviously preferred to running in the street alongside horse-carriage and automobile traffic, but this type of operation still had its complications, most notably the beautiful trees that grace many of our wide streets.
The note on this photo indicates that 605 is approaching St. Claude Avenue. Notice the very large "people catcher" (there weren't many cows in downtown New Orleans) on the Palace cars. The running board for this car says "West End."
The Palace streetcars were some of the most luxurious cars ever operated in New Orleans. They were much roomier than the Perley Thomas cars, which is why they continued to run on the Canal and West End lines until well into the 1930s.
Posted by YatPundit at 7:57 PM | TrackBack
February 1, 2007
Train Thursday...
Seaboard System special train that came down for Super Bowl XX, the last time Da Bears were in the Super Bowl (and most New Orleanians actually cheered for them, too). The train is leaving the Union Passenger Terminal. That's the pylon scoreboard for Da Dome in the background.
The last car of the train is called a "theater" car. It's an variation on the classic "observation" car, in that the entire rear is a window.
Photo by John Sita.