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November 28, 2004

Maison Blanche, 1890s

The first building to occupy the corner of Canal and Dauphine Streets was the original Christ Church Episcopal church. The church’s chapter sold the property to Isidore Newman in the mid 1890s and built the lovely cathedral that still stands at St. Charles Avenue and Sixth Street. Newman demolished the original church building and constructed his first Maison Blanche department store on the site. This is that first store building. This building remained on the corner from 1898 until 1910, when it was demolished to make way for the second Maison Blanche building, which now houses the Ritz-Carlton hotel.

The streetcars in this photo are an interesting mix. On the left-hand side is one of the unpowered trailers used on the West End excursion line. Single-truck Brill cars are operating on the inside tracks, and a Ford, Bacon & Davis single-truck car is on the right-hand outside track. You can tell the difference in the single-truck cars by the size of the upper deck--the Brills have a much smaller upper decks than the FB&D car. The FB&D car is the same type as RTA streetcar #29, the subject of last week’s feature photo.

Notice all the horse-drawn carriages and wagons pulled up in front of the store. Angle parking on Canal Street lasted long after automobiles replaced the horses, into the 1930s.

Credit for this photo goes to H. George Friedman’s wonderful Canal Streetcar history site.

Posted by Edward J. Branley at 08:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 21, 2004

Car 29 Restored

Streetcar #29, the last 1898 Ford, Bacon & Davis single-truck streetcar in existence, fell victim to a controller fire several months ago. The damage was extensive enough that the craftsmen at Carrollton Station decided to do almost a total re-build of the car. This photo, taken two weeks ago, shows #29 just out of the paint shop and almost ready to resume her role as the “sand car” on the RTA trackage.

There were originally about 350 FB&D streetcars working the rails in New Orleans. The single-truck design enabled the FB&Ds to maneuver on the secondary lines where the larger, double-truck carw would have encountered difficulties. So commonplace were the FB&Ds that they can be found in many of the photos of Canal Street in Ed’s book. While the “Palace” and Perley Thomas cars worked the main Canal Line, the FB&Ds can be seen popping onto Canal Street on the outside tracks for a block or two, before returning on their outbound runs to the outskirts of town.

All but one FB&D streetcar were scrapped by the 1930s. Streetcar #29 was kept on by NOPSI as a rail grinder car, then later was equiped to deposit sand on the rails to improve traction on wet days. Number 29 also gets a lot of work at Carnival time, running slowly in front of the 900-series streetcars, checking the St. Charles Avenue trackage after parades.

Posted by Edward J. Branley at 08:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 14, 2004

Good Morning!

Three Von Dullen cars in the three-track terminal at the foot of Canal Street at about 7:30am on a weekday morning. The car on the left is approaching on the outbound track. The center car is stopped, and the operator will soon change the trolley poles to head outbound. The Canal Line’s schedule is modified during peak hours to keep more streetcars running on Canal Street itself, rather than making the turn onto the Riverfront Line to go to the French Market. There just aren’t that many tourists at 7:30am, so the focus is getting people to and from work. The car on the right will most likely continue through the turn onto the Riverfront Line tracks.

Behind the right-hand car, you can barely see a RTA supervisor, keeping an eye on the flow along the line. Unlike many cities where streetcar lines are historical or novelty operations, the streetcars on the Canal Line have fully assumed their responsibility as the hub line for New Orleans’ public transit system.

The World Trade Center rises in the background, with Harrah’s on the right.

Posted by Edward J. Branley at 08:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack