Canal Streetcar (dot com)

« July 2004 | Main | September 2004 »

August 29, 2004

Beauregard Terminal

The Carrollton Spur comes to an end at Beauregard Circle. This is the intersection of Wisner Blvd. with City Park and Esplanade Avenues. It’s named for P.G.T. Beauregard, who was a Confederate general as well as a leading citizen of Louisiana after the Civil War. Just to the left of car 2016 in this photo is the traffic circle, with a statue of Beauregard mounted on a horse.

The building looming in the background of the photo is the Parc Esplanade apartments, which are actually on the other side of Bayou St. John from the streetcar terminal. This area is no stranger to streetcars; the Canal and Esplanade Belt lines ran past here, and there used to be a car barn on the other side of the bayou, across from where the apartment building now stands.

The Beauregard Terminal is an important stop on the Canal Line, because it enables folks attending the annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival at the Fair Grounds racetrack to ride from downtown to this point, walk up Esplanade a few blocks, and turn into the Mystery Street entrance of the track for Da Fest. Sure, you could have taken the Esplanade bus from downtown, but the streetcars make the ride so much more fun. In addition to going to Da Fest, riders can go to City Park with all its attractions on a daily basis, as well as walking up to St. Louis Cemetery Number Three and Degas House on Esplanade, or over to Pitot House on Moss Street, along the bayou.

Unlike the Cemeteries Terminal, Beauregard Terminal is a two-track terminal. It’s different from the end of the St. Charles Line at Claiborne Avenue, however, because the two tracks from Carrollton Avenue merge to one for half a block, then split out into the two terminal tracks. The reason for this is that there is a large oak tree just out of view to the right of the photo. Rather than rip up a beautiful old tree, RTA re-designed the run up to the terminal. The two-tracks-to-one configuration can create some slowdowns when there are a lot of cars working the spur (such as at JazzFest time), but this isn’t an issue on a daily basis.

Posted by Edward J. Branley at 07:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 22, 2004

The "Bobtail" Cars

The very first streetcars to operate on the Canal Line were built by the John Stephenson Car Company of New York. The cars were designed for one-man operation. The rounded front end was for the driver; passengers boarded from the rear on a set of “bobtail” steps.

We don’t have any builders’ specifications on these cars, but they appear to be similar in length to a 7-window, single-truck electric car. That puts their length at approximately 28’. They most likely seated 26-28 passengers.

The Stephenson cars were usually horse-powered, but mules were the primary power for the cars in New Orleans. Mules are tougher workers in New Orleans’ summer heat and humidity.

The photo above is of an Orleans RR Company car, running on the Bayou St. John Line. While it’s not a car on the Canal line, it’s one of the best photos available showing detail of the Stephenson car. The car is sitting on top of a turntable. Since these were single-ended cars, the operator would pull the mule and spin the car around on the turntable for the return trip.

Stephenson cars running on the Canal Line were painted red and white, to distinguish them from the cars on other lines. Since these first streetcars on Canal were red, running red streetcars on the modern Canal Line isn’t a stretch historically.

The Stephenson cars ran on Canal from the line’s opening in 1861 until its electrification in 1894. They were brought out of retirement during the snowfall of December, 1865, because the animal-powered cars could navigate the snow and slush better than the new electric cars.

Posted by Edward J. Branley at 07:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 15, 2004

Busy Afternoon!

I was early to pick up my son from Brother Martin High School out in Gentilly last Thursday, so I passed by the Cemeteries terminal to see what was going on. I caught three Von Dullen cars maneuvering at end of Canal Street. On the left, car 2011 has just pulled out of the single-track terminal. Notice the low, yellow barriers on either side of car 2012. Those barriers separate the neutral ground from the street. This illustrates clearly how the beginning of the inbound track is actually in the left-hand traffic lane of Canal Street. The city wisely installed a traffic signal (visible just above car 2011 on the left) so the car operators can stop auto traffic turning onto Canal from City Park Avenue, allowing the riverbound cars to proceed out of the terminal track onto the inbound track.

As 2011 pulls away, car 2020 is waiting to take its place on the terminal track. The operator has already unloaded passengers during the wait for the terminal to clear. He’ll pull the car onto the single track, switch the trolley poles, board passengers, and pull out to return downtown. Then the third car, 2012 (on the right in the foreground) will follow the same process.

It’s unusual for three streetcars to be bunched at the terminal like this. Car 2011 was definitely behind schedule, because there was a RTA supervisor at the terminal, telling the operator not to dawdle and to move out. The time was around 4pm, so the supervisor naturally wants things to run smooth during rush hour.

Posted by Edward J. Branley at 07:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 08, 2004

The Morris Cars

This week, we’re kicking off a new section of CanalStreetCar (dot com), “The Streetcars of the Canal Line.” We’re starting with the Morris Cars because they were the first streetcars built here in New Orleans. The craftsmen and mechanics who worked for the New Orleans City Railroad company at Canal Station had experience with building trailer cars (essentially non-powered streetcars), and the Morris Cars were the next logical step for them. The cars are named after E. J. Morris, who was Master Mechanic of the shops at Canal Station. The cars are listed as being built by the New Orleans Railways Company, because The NOCRR merged into the NO Rys. Co. in 1902. The design of the Morris cars was based on the Barney & Smith cars in use by the New Orleans City R.R. on the West End line.

The Morris cars were 52 feet long and just over 8 feet wide. They seated 64 riders. Originally they were built with open platforms on either end. They were numbered 046 to 057, following in sequence behind the original “Palace” cars.

This photo of car 055 shows it running on the Canal Belt line. The open platform indicates that the photo was shot before the Morris Cars were re-fitted with closed platforms in 1904. The Morris Cars were renumbered 513 to 524 in 1917. Cars 519-524 had their motors removed in 1918 and pulled by powered cars as trailers on the Canal-Cemeteries line. The motorized cars were removed from service and scrapped from 1921-24, with 518 being kept on until 1931. The trailers were scrapped from 1930-32.

Posted by Edward J. Branley at 07:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 02, 2004

Heading Back Downtown

This shot of Car 2002 crossing Bernadotte street heading back downtown provides a good contrast between layout of the Canal Street neutral ground on the old line as shown in last week’s feature photo. Unlike the large, wooden telephone poles that used to support the overhead catenary wire which powers the streetcars, the new streetcars get their juice from steel poles set in the neutral ground. This combined with the new landscaping running from Prieur St. to the cemeteries has reinvigorated the look of Canal outside the CBD.

This photo also gives a good view of the design of the Von Dullen cars. It’s clear when viewing the cars from the end that the monitor deck on top the roof is strictly ornamental; on standard semi-convertible cars, the monitor deck actually had working windows. The 2000-series upper deck simply hides the air conditioning unit from view. The arch roof design has been continued in the new cars, as is seen here.

The route signs on this run are set as follows: In the center is the name of the line on which the car is running, “CANAL.” On the left side of the photo (the operator’s right), is the destination of the car. This says “CEMETERIES.” Since the car just left the Cemeteries Terminal and is heading riverbound, the operator should have changed the sign to say “FRENCH MARKET.” The sign in the right-hand side of the photo (the operator’s left) is the number of the run. Since it says “12,” that means car 2002 was the twelfth car to leave the barn that morning.

Posted by Edward J. Branley at 07:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack