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November 30, 2005
Jefferson Parish Transit Plans on Hold; Councilman still wants rate increase
This article in Da Paper is two weeks old, but the news is still current:
Transit plans to be delayed More time wanted to evaluate ridershipStill unsure of Hurricane Katrina's impact on Jefferson Parish's public transit riders, the Parish Council is expected to delay votes today on increasing fares, slashing routes and possibly hiring a new manager to oversee bus routes and point-to-point van service parishwide.
The proposals had been postponed several times before the Aug. 29 storm as the council awaited estimates of how much money each option might save the cash-strapped transit department, which faces a potential $1.5 million operating loss this year because of escalating gasoline and insurance prices.
It's good to see that one Parish Councilman is thinking outside the box:
Furthermore, the proposals, due in June, do not reflect changes in public transportation needs prompted by Katrina, possibly rendering them useless, Councilman Louis Congemi said.Congemi said he might encourage the council to request new proposals, asking firms to consider such anomalies as an influx of riders from St. Charles and St. John the Baptist parishes whose jobs have relocated to Jefferson from Orleans Parish or other hurricane-ravaged areas.
"Those additional riders might help you compensate for increased costs, because that was one of the problems that we faced in Jefferson is ridership," Congemi said. "If you increase the number of people that utilize the system, that may help the system. At this point in time, we don't know that."
While another is not:
Despite the uncertainty, Councilman Chris Roberts said he would encourage his colleagues to vote today on the fare increases, first proposed in February. They include a jump in the Base Fare from $1.10 to $1.50, exceeding the cost of a regular New Orleans Regional Transit Authority Basic Bus Line ticket by a quarter. Four other Jefferson bus ticket types would be raised under the rate proposal
I'm with Congemi. This is a time to re-evaluate. Maybe it's time to really put the "Regional" into RTA.
Posted by YatPundit at 09:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 29, 2005
Boycott Ruth's Chris
(xposted to YatCuisine)
The sign says:
Remember:
When the bodies from
Katrina were still being
collected.
When we needed
FAITH & HEROISM..
Ruth's Chris FLED
to Orlando:
Forgive them, Ms. Fertel. WE WON'T.
From World Class New Orleans.
Not to mention that they've never had the best steak in town, anyway. Still, those of you in cities where there are Ruth's Chris restaurant, give some thought to going somewhere else. I know someone who lost her job because she chose to rebuild her home to re-locating to Orlando. Don't give these people money.
Posted by YatPundit at 06:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 27, 2005
Feature Photo - CKD/Tatra Car in New Orleans
In the late-1990s, the plan to return streetcars to Canal Street was kicking into gear. The team at Carrollton Station was tasked with fabricating a series of LRVs in the style of the 900-series Perley A. Thomas cars. One of the possibilities they considered was to use the trucks and propulsion system of the PCC-style cars from CKD/Tatra of the Czech Republic. This photo is of the demo car that CKD sent over for Elmer Von Dullen's crew to evaluate, parked in the Carrollton barn. The car made a number of runs out of Carrollton Station, down St. Charles to Canal Street.
While it was only a few demo runs, the CKD car marked the first time a (sort-of) PCC streetcar ever ran on Canal Street. RTA acquired several PCC cars in the mid-1990s, when they were planning the 400-series Riverfront streetcars. They didn't go in that direction, however, choosing to use CKD trucks for the first update the Perley Thomas streetcars since the 1000-series was built. One of the PCCs was taken out for a couple of runs from the Carrollton barn to Lee Circle and back, but that was the extend of their use in New Orleans. The acquisition of the 800, 900, and 1000-series streetcars was
Even in their heyday, NOPSI never considered using PCC streetcars. The primary reason was the company's financial committment to the Perley Thomas cars. They were viewed as a 50-year investment when purchased, and by the 1950s, the company was pushing to discontinue the use of streetcars altogether. Additionally, most PCCs are single-ended, which meant that a number of modifications to the existing track system would have to be made to allow them to turn around. While researching the book I found a diagram of some of those changes that NOPSI included in a presentation to the City Council to convince them that the best course was discontinuing streetcar operations.
One of the things that that's happening in the aftermath of the storm is the thought streetcar fans are giving to possibilities for streetcars in New Orleans. Rest assured that there are folks from RTA that read this newsletter and our website, as well as monitor the various trolley/streetcar mailing lists out there. Keep the ideas and discussion coming!
Posted by YatPundit at 09:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
PCC Cars in New Orleans
George mentioning that PCCs have never run in New Orleans reminds I've been meaning to post this diagram here for ages. This is from a 1960s dog-and-pony show presented by NOPSI to city government, trying to convince the powers-that-be of the time that discontinuing streetcar operations in New Orleans was the best route for the city. It was organized in a spiral-bound booklet as a page of text, then a photo or diagram, then another page of text, etc. I suspect that, had this been presented today rather than in 1960, it would have been a PowerPoint presentation.
In the presentation, this diagram followed some text which talked about how, by 1960, PCCs were aging and would not be a good replacement for the Perley Thomas cars. NOPSI also argued that, since most PCCs are single-ended, they'd have to make the following track modifications to accomodate single-sided cars.
Here's the diagram:
Now cropped by section. Top left, an indound-to-outbound turnaround from Canal onto Crozat, returning via Iberville and Treme.
Wye switch on N. Roman St.:
Another wye on David St., one block off Carrollton:
Cemeteries Terminal:
PCCs would turn right onto City Park Avenue outbound, right on Bienville St., right again onto N. Anthony, then left to merge back to the inbound track on Canal. The cars would have to go all the way to Bienville because Iberville does not go through to City Park Ave. Odd Fellows Rest and St. Patrick #2 cemeteries front City Park Ave.
Posted by YatPundit at 09:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 22, 2005
The 900s on Canal - Dangerous Precedent...
Perley A. Thomas Streetcar 914 on Canal Street (operating on the West End line)
The New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (RTA) finds itself in a curious dilemma post-Katrina. Of the three streetcar lines in the city, two have minimal track/catenary damage but major streetcar damage. The third, the St. Charles line, has no streetcar damage whatsoever and serious track/catenary damage. Under most circumstances, the solution would be pretty simple: move the streetcars that run on St. Charles over to Canal Street and resume operations on Canal and on Riverfront.
There's one small catch to this plan: by law, the 900-series Perley A. Thomas streetcars that operate on St. Charles Avenue can't be moved from that line. Both the streetcars and the line itself are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Briefly, some background: The company operating streetcars in New Orleans from 1922 to 1983 was New Orleans Public Service, Incorporated (a division of the company that later became Entergy). In 1964, NOPSI, with approval from city government, discontinued streetcar operations on Canal Street, in favor of bus service. The deal was a compromise of sorts. NOPSI wanted to discontinue streetcars altogether, but preservationists, historians, and the residents of Uptown howled. The St. Charles Line is the oldest operating streetcar line in the country, and the citizens didn't want to lose it. Canal Street, on the other hand, is the transit hub of the city and the main street of downtown. Its streetcar right-of-way was ugly, unkept, and NOPSI pitched a serious marketing campaign to residents in Lakeview and Gentilly to entice them into accepting air-conditioned buses over the semi-convertible streetcars. In typical New Orleans fashion, a citizens group formed to try to save the Canal line, but it was too little, too late.
Preservationists got their compromise, and on May 31, 1964, the last streetcar to operate on Canal for almost forty years turned onto a preserved St. Charles line. Streetcar enthusiasts and uptown residents alike didn't trust NOPSI at all, and with good cause, so they continued to take steps to assure the continued preservation of the St. Charles line. Congress helped out in 1966 by creating the National Register, and by 1971, the St. Charles line was added to the Register.
A quick glance at the regulations governing the National Register reveal that it's set up to deal more with physical buildings, or neighborhoods of historic significance rather than moving property. The sections that deal with changes and revisions, as well as removal of properties from the NR appear to be written with the idea that, once a property is on the NR, very extraordinary circumstances have to happen for changes to be made.
The closest provision in the regulations I can find that's appropriate to post-Katrina New Orleans is the section on moving property:
(1) Properties listed in the National Register should be moved only when there is no feasible alternative for preservation. When a property is moved, every effort should be made to reestablish its historic orientation, immediate setting, and general environment.
While I understand and appreciate the sentiment involved with wanting to get the streetcars back up and running, we should all approach re-location of 900-series operation with great caution. For openers, the current situation doesn't fit the criteria set forth by the NR for changing location. The St. Charles line will indeed be repaired and restored to its pre-Katrina operations. It's not like St. Charles is vanishing and there's no place for the 900s to go.
It's important to remember that Canal Street is not a heritage trolley line. It's a major urban transit line. The 2000-series Von Dullen cars, in spite of their outward similarities to the 900-series cars, are modern LRVs. They're designed to handle the high volume of riders on Canal Street. They're ADA-compliant, with wheelchair lifts on both sides. In short, they're not your grandfather's streetcars.
The other issue with changing anything having to do with the St. Charles line is the notion of trust. There was a time when NOPSI couldn't be trusted to look out for the best interests of the city. They were a for-profit company, heavily regulated, and always at odds with city government. Replacing their management of transit with RTA was one of the best moves the city/state ever did. We should not forget that history, however. One of the reasons preservationists in the late 1960s took steps to lock the St. Charles line into stone via the NR was to make sure someone thirty or forty years down wouldn't mess with the character of the line. I personally believe that RTA's goals and motives are more than in the best interests of the city and the streetcars, but then again, a lot of people in Rome thought naming Caesar dictator was a good idea at first, too.
So, what to do? I suggest the following:
1. RTA should obtain a waiver from the NPS to operate the 900s on the Riverfront line. Riverfront was envisioned in the mid-80s as a tourist attraction. The original idea was to have a small excursion line that would make it easy for conventioneers attending shows in the Morial Convention Center to get to the French Quarter. In fact, until the Canal streetcars returned, Riverfront was not even integrated into the RTA system. You had to pay a separate fare to ride the 400-series cars, and no transfers were available. In spite of the overwhelming popularity of the Riverfront line and its subsequent expansion, the line's mission never changed. It's all about tourists. It will be a lot easier to obtain waivers from both the NPS and the DoJ to operate the 900s on Riverfront. Since disabled folks don't rely on Riverfront as essential transportation, RTA won't have to go another fifteen rounds with the DoJ over ADA-compliance.
2. RTA should acquire some double-ended PCC cars to restore operations on Canal until the Von Dullen cars can be repaired. Bus service on Canal will have to continue until a majority of the 2000-series are complete, but streetcars of any kind would be good as a tourism promotion. Riding a streetcar of any design from the CBD to Mid-City and City Park would be more fun than a bus. Perhaps a trolley museum or two could loan a couple to RTA.
3. RTA should be thinking out of the box, just like the rest of New Orleans. With all the re-building and re-thinking that's going on in New Orleans, expansion of streetcar use should be always be considered. The guys at Carrollton Station spent most of last year re-building car #29, the last Ford, Bacon & Davis single-truck streetcar. It wouldn't be that hard for them to build new replicas of that model. Single-truck streetcars wound through a lot of neighborhoods in the city until the 1930s. They're small and easily to maneuver. What better time to rip up streets to lay down streetcar track than when nobody's living there anyway? This is an idea off the top of my head while sitting here, but it's an example of the sort of brainstorming everyone should be doing.
Posted by YatPundit at 03:43 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 21, 2005
Neighborhood Meeting this Wednesday (30-Nov)
The Faubourg St John Neighborhood Assn has invited members of MCNO and Mid-City residents to attend a meeting with Jackie Clarkson and possibly Jay Batt, along with representatives of Entergy, Bellsouth and others involved in the recovery
effort. The meeting is Wednesday, November 30, 7 pm at Holy Rosary school on Esplanade. Please forward this message to anyone who may be interested in attending.
Posted by YatPundit at 04:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Business Spotlight - Hartwig Moss Insurance Agency
(from this week's newsletter)
Getting New Orleans back up and running has been a major challenge for everyone in the metro area. While the CBD, Quarter and Uptown have been the areas with the strongest life signs, Canal Street businesses are returning! One of these is the oldest independent insurance agency in town, Hartwig Moss Insurance Agency. A German, Hartwig Moss (the great-grandfather of the current president of the agency), started the business in 1871, on Carondelet and Union Streets downtown. They moved to Baronne Street in the 1960s, and then to their current building in Mid-City, at 2626 Canal Street.
The company evacuated in the face of Katrina, then set up temporary shop in Mandeville. They've repaired the Canal Street building, and are now back home.
Hartwig Moss Insurance represents companies such as Travelers, Zurich, Chubb, Farmers, as well as a number of others, selling both business and personal lines. Robby Moss is the current President.
Posted by YatPundit at 11:37 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Feature Photo: Perley Thomas Streetcars on Canal Street
Perley A. Thomas streetcars 910 and 928, waiting to depart on the outbound leg of their current run on the Canal Street line, one afternoon in the early 1950s. These two cars have circled around Liberty Place and are now queued up in the 100 block of Canal. The billboard clock dominating the background reads 4:35. It's peak time for streetcar operation, as you can see three additional streetcars waiting behind these two. Canal Street had four-track operation. Streetcar 910 is on the outside, outbound track, which was normally used by the various lines that terminated their runs on Canal. Lines such as Desire, St. Charles and Magazine would run inbound to Canal Street via a one-way street. They would discharge passengers, turn onto Canal, run for a block or two on Canal, then turn back onto a side street to pick up passengers and begin their outbound run. 910 will merge onto the same track as 928 for the trip to the Cemeteries.
Four of the Union Metal Company light poles that line Canal Street in the CBD are visible behind the streetcars. These poles and their distinctive three lamps are still on Canal Street today, having survived a number of hurricanes since their installation in 1931. The long covered walkway in the right background of the photo is the pedestrian walkway that leads to the ferry landing. The railroad tracks of the New Orleans Public Belt RR Co. are right under that walkway, and it wasn't safe for pedestrians hurrying to catch the ferry across the river to be running across them.
The numbers on the right-hand side of the route sign indicate the order in which the streetcars left the barn that day. Streetcar 910 was the sixteenth that day, and 928 was the fifteenth. The streetcars used two-man operation at this time, employing both a motorman and a conductor. Passengers boarded at the rear and paid their fare to the conductor, exiting at the front. Since the conductor handled the money and could make change, exact change was not required. The fare at this time to ride a NOPSI bus or streetcar was seven cents.
The buildings on the left-hand side of the photo have all been torn down over the years, and now they are the location of One Canal Place, which is an office building, hotel, and shopping mall. Note the "JAX" sign in the left foreground, marking the entrance to a local watering hole and advertising Jax Beer. Jax Beer was made around the corner, at their brewery on Decatur Street. That building was empty for most of the 1970s, and was subsequently converted into a shopping area along the lines of Ghiradelli Square in San Francisco.
(Clicking the image takes you to a much higher-res version of the photo.)
Posted by YatPundit at 09:56 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 19, 2005
Canal Streetcar Damage
Photo Gallery from Da Paper. Still waiting word from BMC about how bad the damage is.
Posted by YatPundit at 06:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 17, 2005
Evacuation and Protection of the Streetcars
(crossposted on CanalStreetcar and YatPundit)
Since yesterday's article in the NYT, I've been asked two questions numerous times, enough to merit replying here rather than individually.
The first question is, why didn't RTA use more buses to evacuate people from the city?
The answer is simple: that wasn't the plan.
The city's hurricane plan has essentially two stages, voluntary evacuation and mandatory evacuation. When the Mayor calls for a voluntary evacuation, the idea is to encourage those with the ability to leave town and the means to support themselves away from town to get out. This allows municipal services to focus on those without means and ability.
When a mandatory evacuation is ordered, two things happen. First, the police and other volunteers go through the more affluent neighborhoods, announcing the mandatory evacuation. This is usually not very significant, because either people bailed voluntarily or they've decided to ride the storm out. Second, plans kick in to get anyone who can't leave the city to the Superdome, which is the "shelter of last resort." RTA buses and operators were indeed used to get people to Da Dome, per the plan.
There's never been a plan to evacuate those in the "last resort" category, because nobody ever anticipated that there would be NO IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE after the storm! Under normal circumstances, the LA National Guard would be staged just outside the impact area of the storm, and would roll into town right on its heels with water, ice, food, and medical assistance. The debate on who is responsible for the fact that this did not happen still rages, but the bottom line is that the city's plan worked--up to that point.
The second question was why didn't RTA move the streetcars to higher ground? The answer was simple--RTA thought that the car barn at the Randolph SIS facility on Canal Street was indeed high enough and safe enough. It's important to remember that flood planning and protection in New Orleans is based on what has to be done to protect the city from storm surge coming in from Lake Pontchartrain. Levees and floodwalls were built high enough that the surge from a Category-3 to Category-4 storm would be held off, and that a Cat-5 storm would still only push water into the subdivisions close to the lake. The Randolph SIS facility (and Mid-City as a whole) flooded as a result of the breach in the levee/floodwall on the 17th Street Canal and the subsequent failure of the pumps. The storm itself didn't damage the streetcars, a poorly designed levee/floodwall did. Had that floodwall held, Katrina's storm surge would not have reached Mid-City.
Like the issue of the delays in relief, the cause of the canal breach will be debated in public and in courtrooms for a decade. Still, RTA's decision to keep the streetcars where they are was sound, based on what they knew about the storm and the conventional wisdom about our levees.
Posted by YatPundit at 10:30 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 16, 2005
New York Times Article about New Orleans' Streetcars...
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/16/national/nationalspecial/16streetcar.html?pagewanted=print&oref=login
Posted by YatPundit at 02:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Welcome New York Times readers!
If you're a streetcar enthusiast, please contact your representatives in Congress and the Senate and encourage them to support returning the New Orleans streetcars to operation!
Posted by YatPundit at 01:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 13, 2005
City Park Botanical Garden Wishlist
The Botanical Garden at City Park took a pretty bad hit in the storm. They've compiled a Wish List of plants they lost and need to replace. If you're in a position to help out, please consider doing so. At the very least, you can give cash, or a gift certificate to Jackson & Perkins, Nor'East Miniature Roses, etc., and that would go a long way in terms of helping them replace the plants.
Posted by YatPundit at 07:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Feature Photo: 2000-Series Construction
From 2003: Von Dullen car 2015, on Jeanette Street, behind Carrollton Station. The streetcar has painted and detailed, and now is being moved into the main car barn, where the interior and electrical system will be installed.
This scene will no doubt be repeated before the Von Dullen cars are returned to service on the Canal Line. With the car barn on Canal Street taking up to 2' of water, the trucks and motors were flooded, and the paint jobs on all the 2000-series and 400-series streetcars were damaged. It's unclear yet whether or not the motors were permanently damaged; they're built to get wet, of course, from rain and standing water on the tracks, but being totally immersed for days is not what the designers had in mind.
If the streetcars can return to Carrollton Station under their own power, they still have obstacles to hurdle--literally. The damage to catenary and electrical poles on St. Charles and Carrollton Avenues is extensive. That may mean the "red ladies" will have to be trucked back to Carrollton Station for repairs and a fresh coat of paint.
Photo shot with a Nikon EM and a 35-75mm lens.
Posted by YatPundit at 01:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 12, 2005
re-building the Von Dullen Streetcar Section...
I've just finished re-building the pages documenting the 2000-series construction. They needed to be converted to MovableType to fit with the site's new format. It's also appropriate to re-present these photos, because a lot of this work will have to be done again to repair the cars.
Repair of the 2000-series is going to be tricky, however, because the cars won't be able to get back uptown to Carrollton Station on their own. They'll most likely have to be trucked individually from Randolph back to Carrollton.
Posted by YatPundit at 11:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
2000-Series: Final Assembly
The faux-upper windows are installed on 2002, to conceal the a/c and resistor packs.
The finished product. 2002 turning from Willow to Carrollton, heading to Canal Street for testing.
Posted by YatPundit at 11:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
2000-Series: Propulsion
Control Panel on care 2015. Gone are the old-style throttle and brake handles.
Control panel on 2014. Note the throttle handle on the left.
Samico A300 Propulsion System.
Brookville Equpiment Corporation trucks on 2015.
Posted by YatPundit at 11:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
2000-Series: Electrical
Car 2015 has just been pushed out onto Jeanette Street from the fabrication building. It’s being moved to the main service facility, where it will be completed.
Another view of 2015.
 |
2012, with doors, a/c units and electrical installed. Note the red forklift on the left. It is used to move the 2000 cars from track to track.
Posted by YatPundit at 11:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
2000-Series: Assembly
Electrical. Car 2002 gets her electric poles on the roof.
Handicap access. The lift door in the center of the car is installed. This is a radical departure from the 900-series cars, but a must in today’s world. The other radical modernization is the air conditioning unit, which is visible on the roof. It will be hidden by the faux-Brill-style window bays.
Posted by YatPundit at 11:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Paint Shop
When the body is completed, the car is pulled off of one of the fabrication tracks and moved to the paint shop track. The paint shop is a closed area so the car will dry properly.
2023 after its initial coat of paint.
2015, freshly painted, dried, and moved back to an assembly track.
Posted by YatPundit at 10:59 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Building the 2000-Series - Body Fabrication
The bodies of the 2000-series were fabricated at the shops at RTA’s Carrollton Station in 2003 and 2004. The design is loosely based on the Perley A. Thomas 900-series cars.
2024 during initial assembly.
2015 assembly. The trucks have been added. The next step for this car is the paint shop.
Posted by YatPundit at 10:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Prototype Car, 2001
2001 on Canal Street, Summer, 2003
The design of the new streetcars is loosely based on the classic Perley Thomas cars running on the St. Charles line. The prototype car, 2001, was scratch-built at Carrollton Station in 1998 and 1999. RTA wanted to maintain the look of the arch-roof, 900-series cars, but had two complications: The cars had to be ADA-compliant and the Canal cars also had to be air-conditioned. Unlike the Riverfront line, Canal is a primary commuter line, and one of the arguments for getting rid of the streetcars in the early 1960s was their lack of air-conditioning.
The air-conditioning unit is on the roof. The bulge it makes is very unattractive, so the Carrollton team decided to make the room look like the old Brill semi-convertibles that were a mainstay of New Orleans street railways prior to the arch-roof cars. On the original Brill cars, the roof was raised, and the upper sets of windows provided better air flow through the car.
Original propulsion for the prototype car consisted of PCC-derivative trucks from CKD-Tatra in the Czech Republic The photo above is the streetcar that CKD-Tatra loaned to RTA so they could field-test the trucks. These trucks have been in use now for some time on the Riverfront cars.
After the line became operational in 2004, the prototype car was taken out of service and re-fitted with the BMC trucks and control equipment of the production cars, so now all 24 cars are essentially identical.
Another view of 2001, on St. Charles Avenue, heading to Canal Street from Carrollton Station.
Posted by YatPundit at 10:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 07, 2005
Feature Photo, 6-Nov-2005: "Palace" Cars at the Barn
"Palace" car 012, parked on one of the outside storage tracks at Canal Station. Made by the American Car Company of St. Louis, the luxurious "Palace" cars ran on the Canal and West End lines, as well as the Canal Belt and Esplanade Belt lines. 012's route sign indicates that it's running on the Canal Belt, dating this picture at somewhere between 1915 and 1925.
The "Palace" cars were roomier than the 800/900-series Perley Thomas streetcars that replaced them. The broad monitor deck on the roof also provided excellent airflow throughout the streetcar. The "Palace" cars were acquired by the New Orleans City RR Co., and were merged into the NOPSI fleet when that company was created in 1922. They continued in service until 1935.
Posted by YatPundit at 10:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 05, 2005
Updates to system...
Still adding things here to the MovableType configuration, please bear with me.
Posted by Edward J. Branley at 07:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack