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February 07, 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

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January 23, 2007

San Francisco Photos...

OK, they're not New Orleans streetcars, but they're still fun to ride when I'm out here. Here are a few photos from a ride on the "F" line:

PCC 1062 (Louisville, KY), turning off of Beach Street at the end of the "F" line. I got on this one and rode down to the Ferry Terminal.

While walking around in the general vicinity of the Ferry Terminal on the Embarcadero, PCC 1010, one of the "Magic Carpets" passed going the other way. I keep telling folks at home that we should buy one or two of these double-ended PCCs and rent them to movie production companies filming in New Orleans. "Double-ended" means they can change direction, like the Perley Thomas cars that regularly run on Canal and Riverfront.

Milan tram 1845 came by after a few minutes, so I continued my ride on the "F" line. Further down Market, I got off of 1845 and took PCC 1055 back down to the Fisherman's Wharf area, but unfortunately I wasn't able to get a good photo of that streetcar. While walking around, however, I did take an obligatory cable car photo:

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December 29, 2005

FB&D #29 and PCCs in New Orleans

A shot from the mid-1990s, when RTA was evaluating the use of PCC trucks for the Riverfront line. You can see the PCCs next to and in front of Car #29, the last of the Ford, Bacon & Davis streetcars from 1895-1898. From Mark Kavanaugh of Kavanaugh Transit. Thanks for use of the photo, Mark!


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December 22, 2005

Streetcars make the Irish Times...

We're getting international press:

Streetcars and desire return to battered New Orleans Denis Staunton in New Orleans

The streetcars have come back to New Orleans - just two, in fact - old green trams trundling down part of Canal Street. They don't really go anywhere and, with only a fifth of the population back in the city, the streetcar is not much use to anyone.

Mr. Staunton is not quite right here. The 900s are running on the Riverfront, and that's the big tourist line. He's thinking in terms of the streetcars supporting commuters. That's not happening yet, but tourism support is a better role for the streetcars at the moment.

One other innacuracy in his article:

Until this year, New Orleans was the most popular convention venue in the US, attracting thousands of visitors on expense accounts for a few days on the wild side. A librarians' conference is coming in May and New Orleans is grateful for the vote of confidence but nobody is banking on bumper bar receipts that week.

Obviously, this man has never gone drinkin' with librarians. *snark*

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December 11, 2005

Feature Photo - Streetcars in the Mall?

Perley A. Thomas streetcar #952 makes its way through the "storm city" display at Lakeside Mall in Metairie. The display, created by Mr. Frank Evans of Gretna, has been a component of the mall's holiday decorations for 13 years, but this year, he's added some post-Katrina touches, such as blue tarps on the roofs of the model homes. Mr. Evans' additions this year stirred some controversy up, causing the mall to take the display down temporarily. Within days, however, the display was back up and the trains and streetcars once again circled the center of the mall.

The streetcar is a LGB model of the 900-series streetcars that run on the city's St. Charles Line. These 80-year old streetcars were safe in their barn at Carrollton Station during the storm. Mr. Evans' LGB streetcars are the same models that run in City Park's "Train Garden."

Here are some more photos of the Lakeside Mall display:

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December 10, 2005

900s to Canal?

Reports are that RTA will bring one of the Perley Thomas 900s to Canal Street on Monday for testing. I'll see if we can get pictures of the move.

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December 05, 2005

Letter from Skoda Electric to RTA...

via Alan Drake and his "Streetcars Desired Everywhere" group on Yahoo comes this "letter of interest" from Skoda Electric USA to RTA. Skoda proposes a partnership with RTA to provide the city with electric trolley buses. Here's the letter:


Mr. Reiss and Mr. Deville,

SKODA ELECTRIC USA is very interested in working with the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority and other interested parties to reintroduce Electric Trolley Buses to your transit system. This letter and its comments are offered as a statement of interest.

Hurricane Katrina caused major destruction to New Orleans infrastructure.. While this event has brought hardship to the citizens and commerce, it has also afforded New Orleans the opportunity to rethink many of the assumptions used to design the existing infrastructure and to improve the city as it is rebuilt.

One of these opportunities is public transportation. RTA was nearing a major bus fleet renewal before Katrina, which flooded half of the fleet. More streetcars arean obvious choice, but each line requires years of planning and building. Electric trolley buses and their infrastructure can be more quickly built and may recieve preferential funding from the FTA.

Skoda, the largest manufacturing company of transit equipment in the Czech Republic, proposes another direction for bus fleet renewal that compliments streetcars; electric trolley buses. Skoda has built 13,000 trolley buses already, a majority of the world fleet. Currently Skoda has approximately 440 trolleys running in the US in three cities, Dayton, Ohio, San Francisco, and Boston.

In broad outline, Skoda is interested in a three-prong deal.

One, RTA places a large order for electric trolley buses (each bus with an optional diesel backup). The larger the order, the more economical the purchase, of course. Skoda is sensitive to design needs and requirements of transit vehicles in the United States and is willing to work with New Orleans on a design which compliments the city.

Two, Skoda establishes a factory in Orleans Parish to assemble these trolley buses for New Orleans and other cities. The degree of local fabrication is a matter of discussion and further study. New Orleans RTA is unique among transit agencies in being the prime contractor for building the Riverfront and Canal streetcars. Skoda is very open to a similar arrangement and may prefer this option.

Three, Skoda will build the local infrastructure (DC rectifiers, overhead wires, and perhaps the electric trolley bus barn) on a turnkey basis for RTA. Skoda views the quality of the electric installation as essential to the proper operation of ETBs and wants to maintain control over this essential element. However, we recognize the expertise that RTA developed in redesigning the electricsupply for the St. Charles Streetcar Line and would like to make use of this local expertise and experience.

This proposal has several advantages for the future of the New Orleans region.

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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.

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November 19, 2005

Canal Streetcar Damage

Photo Gallery from Da Paper. Still waiting word from BMC about how bad the damage is.

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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.

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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

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.


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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.


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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.


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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.


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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.

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August 19, 2005

Streetcars of New Orleans: The Morris Cars

Named after E. J. Morris, who was Master Mechanic of the shops at Canal Station, these cars were built by the New Orleans Railways Company in 1902 and 1903. 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 NOCRR merged into the NO Rys. Co. in 1902.)

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.

Specifications:

* Builder: New Orleans Railways Company
* Date: 1902-03
* Trucks: Taylor Hi Speed “A”
* Wheels: 33”
* Motors: four GE 800 (25hp)
* Length: 52’ 0”
* Width: 8’ 5”
* Body Length: 40’ 8”
* Number of seats: 64
* Type of seats: cross
* Cost per car: $5,440.87

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"Bobtail" Streetcars

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 Stephenson cars operated by the New Orleans City RR Company on the Canal Line were painted red and white, while the Orleans RR Company cars (like the one in the above photo) were painted green for the Bayou St. John Line and Red for the French Market Line.

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November 21, 2004

Car 29 Restored

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.

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October 17, 2004

Not Your Grandfather's Streetcar

Not Your Grandfather’s Streetcar

On the old Perley Thomas 800- and 900- series cars, the operator controls the car with two handles, a throttle and a brake. The 2000-series Von Dullen streetcars are quite different, with a control panel that is similar in style to most modern light rail vehicles. The throttle that moves the car forward is just to the left of the main control panel.

Power for the 2000-series cars still comes from the 600-VDC power lines that have powered streetcars in New Orleans for over a century. So, in spite of all the modern features and controls on our new streetcars, they still move up and down Canal Street just like their predecessors. This is, of course, why they also easily merge onto the St. Charles Line to get back to the Carrollton barn. You’ll also notice that the new streetcars also have a key-lock, to keep someone from just jumping in and taking one down the street.

This control panel is inside car 2014, shot at the Canal Street stop on the Riverfront Line, just before turning for its outbound run up Canal.

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September 12, 2004

Streetcars in the Train Garden

Streetcars in the Train Garden

A green Perley Thomas car on the “St. Charles” line passes car 2002 on “Canal Street” on the train layout in the New Orleans Botanical Garden in City Park. Known to locals for decades as “The Rose Garden,” The NOBG is now a very important part of City Park’s splendor. The original Rose Garden dates back to 1936, when the Park was the beneficiary of a number of WPA projects (such as the lagoons and various buildings around the lagoons). The current Botanical Garden is a wonderful extension of the Rose Garden that offers a number of attractions. During the holiday season, the NOBG is the focal point of the walking tour portion of the “Celebration in the Oaks” light display in the park.

The Train Garden is a fascinating part of the NOBG. These aren’t just any train models. The layout is G-scale, which is four times larger than the typical HO-scale home train set. The track and cars are from LGB, a German toy train company. LGB makes a wide selection of G-scale engines and cars, among which is a model of a Perley Thomas streetcar. The hobbyists who have created the Train Garden’s layout took one of the standard green streetcars, painted it red, and numbered it “2002” to make it a Von Dullen car. They’ve also changed the running boards on one of the cars to show that car operating on the “West End” line.

The structures in the Train Garden are also quite interesting, because they’re not simply plastic kits. All of the buildings are made of botanical materials. The layout is loosely organized by neighborhoods, such as Uptown, the CBD, the Lakefront, and Gentilly. They even have a steam passenger train lettered for the “Pontchartrain RR. Co.” running as the “Smokey Mary” out to “Milneburg.”

The Train Garden is in the back corner of the NOBG, which is in City Park. Visitors who ride the Carrollton Spur of the Canal Line to the end of the line at Beauregard Circle can get to the NOBG by walking past the New Orleans Museum of Art and its lovely Sculpture Garden behind the Museum, into the center of the park, where they’ll see the entrance to the garden complex. The NOBG is open Tuesday through Sunday, closed Mondays, from 10am to 4:30pm. Adult admission is $5. (Admission to City Park itself is free).

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May 16, 2004

The French Market Terminal

The French Market Terminal


This is a shot of the new French Market Terminal. Originally stop #1 (Esplanade) on the Riverfront line, the downriver terminal for Riverfront has been expanded into a three-track station. The "A" and "C" outside tracks will service the Canal line, while the Riverfront cars will use center "B" track and continue to pull all the way to the original stop's shelter. To avoid confusion with the Esplanade bus line, as well as to promote tourism, the stop has been re-named to "French Market."

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April 04, 2004

The Von Dullen Cars

The Von Dullen Cars

Based on the classic Perley A. Thomas design, the 2000-series RTA cars are now out in full force, running the entire length of the Canal line and its Carrollton spur. With revenue service scheduled to start in two weeks, the cars are operating an aggressive schedule of training runs. This is important because auto drivers on Canal need to be aware that they can’t win a contest with a moving streetcar. Fortunately, there haven’t been any accidents yet, but it’s just a matter of time.

This photo is of car 2015 in the shop at Carrollton Station. The Von Dullen cars will call the barn in the back of the Randolph SIS facility on Canal Street home, but Carrollton is still the primary shop. RTA still hasn’t figured out just what to call the 2000-series. Trolley fans initially called them “Carrollton” cars, but RTA didn’t like that, since they run on Canal. They don’t like “Canal” cars, since they’ll use this design on Desire when that line is built. We prefer naming them after their creator, Elmer Von Dullen, who is the supervisor at Carrollton Station. There’s precedent to this, like the Morris Cars which were built in the early 1900s at the original Canal Station.

Two more weeks!

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