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May 12, 2008

CanalStreetCar/NOSRA Update

Perley A. Thomas streetcar 962, running on the Riverfront segment of the Canal line.

A bit of an update as to what's going on with CanalStreetCar (dot com) and the New Orleans Street Railway Association.

First of all, welcome to everyone who has made their way here because they saw Angus Lind's piece in Da Paper! Thanks for stopping by, please join the CanalStreetCar (dot com) mailing list, which is returning to production this week.

It's been a wild beginning of 2008 for me personally. I've been traveling again, teaching computer classes for Hitachi Data Systems. (Take a look here for a description of the sort of stuff I teach.) Being out of town during the week for the classes has slowed down progress on developing the nonprofit, and the project is further behind than I'd like it to be. Still, I'm committed to getting it moving and we'll press forward.

If you've arrived here by going to nosra.org, you'll see that the regular NOSRA server is currently down. It suffered a hard disk failure and needs to be rebuilt. I plan on doing that in a week and a half when I'm home long enough to do that properly. Some links to photos in the NOSRA wiki won't work properly until that's repaired.

In the meantime, both sites will point here. I'll have more thoughts on where both CanalStreetCar and NOSRA are going on this site in the next few days.

Posted by Edward Branley at 10:56 PM | TrackBack

April 23, 2008

Feature Photo - 2012 in the Paint Shop

In the wake of the storm, all of the Von Dullen streetcars have been stripped and are getting new paint jobs. This was 2012's turn in the paint shop. Carrollton Station has a full paint shop, which is one of the reasons I'd love to get NORTA a PCC streetcar or two. PCC streetcars could easily be painted to meet the needs of movie production companies that come to town to film.

All of the Von Dullens now look great, and we're waiting for BMC to get the first of the new propulsion units and trucks down here.

Posted by Edward Branley at 9:10 AM | TrackBack

January 9, 2008

Streetcars, Regulations, and Carnival

After the very-successful ride of the Phunny Phorty Phellows on Monday night, a number of folks in Mid City wondered aloud (and on line) why this couldn't become a regular event, where the PPP start by City Park and end up somewhere Uptown. The short answer has three letters:

ADA

That's the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA has opened many, many doors to disabled folks that would never have been accessible to them without direct legislative help. It's complicated our streetcar lines a bit, though. Here's how it works:

St. Charles - The St. Charles line, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The strict interpretation of this designation is that the line must be preserved in the state it was when it was listed, in 1971. That means the route is from Carondelet and Canal Streets to S. Carrollton and S. Claiborne Avenues. The 35 900-series Perley A. Thomas streetcars that were operating in 1971 have been preserved and continue to operate on the line. NORTA (and NOPSI before them) is charged with making sure the line and the streetcars stay in good shape and operating.

ADA mandates that public transit be handicap-accessible, but this conflicts with the basic design of the 900s. They were built in 1923-1924, and wheelchair access wasn't an issue then. NORTA just can't cut holes in the sides of these vintage streetcars, so the line is exempt from the requirements of ADA.

Riverfront - The original Riverfront line opened in 1988, prior to ADA. It used three 900-series streetcars rescued from other places in the country after the Canal line was converted to bus operations in 1964. The line also used two Melbourne W2 cars that have center-opening doors. The stops on Riverfront are raised platforms, so a rider in a wheelchair could go up the ramp and board one of the Melbourne cars. When the line was re-worked in 1997, it was expanded to double-track and converted from standard (railroad) gauge to wide gauge. The changes were so significant that the line came under the ADA microscope. ADA activists were not satisfied with every other streetcar on the line being handicapped-accessible and insisted that all cars be in compliance. That meant the vintage 900s could not be used. NORTA decided to design a new class of arch roof streetcars. The 400-series Riverfront streetcars look very much like their green cousins, but they're equipped with wheelchair lifts.

Canal - The 2000-series Von Dullen cars also have wheelchair lifts on both sides, making them fully ADA-compliant.

The storm disrupted regular streetcar operations. Because of the severe damage to the ADA-compliant streetcars in the NORTA fleet, there's just no way to offer proper service until the 400s and 2000s are rebuilt. ADA isn't the only thing in suspended animation at the moment. Since the wiring and track on St. Charles were damaged by the storm, the 900s couldn't return to service on the historic line immediately. NORTA received approval to run the 900s on the Canal line, where the infrastructure was essentially intact in spite of the flooding in Mid City. So, for the last two years, the streetcars have been operating in an environment of regulartory anarchy.

NORTA anticipates that the the Von Dullens will be back on Canal this summer. When that happens, the regulatory limbo that currently exists goes away and the pre-storm rules have to return. That means green streetcars on St. Charles, red ones everywhere else. Last Monday's PPP ride can't happen under the pre-storm rules. Under those rules, the 900s that the PPP boarded at Beauregard Circle can't operate on "revenue runs" off the St. Charles line. They're not ADA-compliant, and the Canal line must maintain that compliance.

The 400-series Riverfront cars have wheelchair lifts, so they can operate on revenue runs on Canal. When they get to Carondelet and St. Charles, however, they run into a problem. The 400s didn't operate on the St. Charles line in 1971, so they're not on the NRHP list. If NORTA operates a 400 on St. Charles for money, the line would lose its ADA exemption. That would create a situation similar to what happened on Riverfront, and the 35 vintage 900s would no longer be able to operate on the line.

So, even though there now are track and electrical connections between the three streetcar lines, that connection between Canal and St. Charles exists solely for the purpose of streetcar maintenance. Once the Von Dullens return home to Canal Street, the 900s will go back to their barn on Willow St. The red cars will be able to switch onto St. Charles to return back to the shop at Carrollton Station, but they can't do it for a buck

.

I have a modest proposal for the people of Mid City: If the Phunny Phorty Phellows decide to return to their traditional Uptown ride next year on Twelfth Night, charter a 400-series car and have one of your own! My guess is that the PPP will consider imitation to be the sincerest form of flattery. They're folks who like streetcars and like Mid City. Even if the party run was just from Beauregard Circle to the Canal barn, it would return some of the "neighborhood" feel of Carnival back to the area. The days of true "neighborhood" parades are long gone, as NOPD and City Hall have jammed almost every krewe into Uptown routes. Endymion still gets a pass on this, but Endymion is so huge that it has a life of its own. A Twelfth Night streetcar run on Carrollton and Canal would be something fun for everyone in Mid City, and we at CanalStreetCar (dot com) would gladly work with y'all to make it happen.

Posted by YatPundit at 9:36 AM | TrackBack

December 24, 2007

Feature Photo: Christmas Twofer!

Von Dullen 2001, the CKD/Tatra test car, and 963, all on Canal Street at Christmastime.

The prototype Von Dullen car, 2001, on the street in December, 2000. NORTA was evaluating PCC-style trucks from CKD/Tatra, and the Czech company sent over a streetcar to test. Earl Hampton caught 2001 and the CKD car on Canal Street and got this photo right as 963 is beginning an outbound run on the St. Charles line.

Merry Christmas!

Posted by YatPundit at 12:39 PM | TrackBack

December 17, 2007

Heading back into town...

clicky image for a larger version

Perley A. Thomas streetcar 922, departing Beauregard Terminal.

New Orleans streetcars in operation today are "double-ended" cars. When they reach the end of the line and are ready to go back, the front becomes the back and vice-versa. At the end of the line, like Beauregard Circle near City Park in this photo, the operator will pull the streetcar into the terminal, stop it, and then change the trolley pole from which the streetcar gets power. The one in what was the rear of the car coming into the terminal is pulled down so it doesn't make contact with the electrical wire overhead. The pole at what was the front of the streetcar is released, so it makes contact with the wire. The poles are wired to the motors on the streetcar such that the motor will turn one way or the other depending on which pole is active. When the switch is made, the streetcar is powered back on, and the operator will leave at the scheduled departure time.

Beauregard Circle is where City Park Avenue, Wisner Blvd., and Esplanade Avenue come together. The circle also feeds into City Park, to the New Orleans Museum of Art. The streetcar terminal at this location was constructed in 2002-2003. In the early part of the 20th century, streetcars ran on the short stretch of City Park Avenue seen above, when the Canal and Esplanade lines ran as belt service.

Riding the streetcar to Beauregard Terminal is one of the best ways to get from downtown to City Park to see the lights of "Celebration in the Oaks," or in the spring, to get over to the Fair Grounds racetrack for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

Posted by YatPundit at 7:48 AM | TrackBack

December 3, 2007

Streetcar Update...

St. Charles: The weather has been pretty good, so things are moving along in terms of the power upgrade. Riverbend by Christmas is still a real possibility. The electric wire has been re-run up Carrollton to Jeanette (the back of the barn). Approximately half of the 900s are in service daily, on all three lines. Transfers at Napoleon from streetcar to bus and vice versa appear to be going smoothly.

The 900s are being housed at the SIS at Randolph. Two of them are at Carrollton, though, undergoing repair work for streetcar-versus-auto collisions. Both cars sustained a bit of damage, but it's one of those "you should have seen the other guy" situations.

Canal: The Von Dullen cars are being worked through the paint shop at Carrollton. All the 2000-series cars except for 2023 are at Carrolton, being cleaned, stripped, and repainted. There have been a number of issues with getting the Von Dullens back on the street. For some critical parts, there was a one-year lead time to ramp up fabrication. NORTA had spares, but not enough to rebuild the entire fleet. Additionally, problems with the 2000's propulsion system are being addressed in the rebuild. NORTA is looking at Tatra propulsion now for the 2000s, with the units being built by Brookville.. These delays have pushed back the return of the 2000s until some time next summer.

Von Dullen 2023 is up at Brookville. NORTA sent it there immediately after the storm. There's been some talk that all the work on the Von Dullens would be done at Brookville, and it appears to have come up once again this weekend at the APTA meeting in Tampa. While Brookville will certainly be involved in the work, it's not likely they'll do all of the re-bulid. If they were going to send the cars north, it's not likely they would have re-painted them until after they came back. So, why is 2023 at Brookville? Because they're experts on those trucks and propulsion. It's just like when you get in a auto accident and you take your car to a body shop. The surface damage might not look so bad, but a little digging can reveal much more serious problems. It was a very prudent move on part of NORTA to get 2023 (as well as one of the 400-series cars) up to Brookville so they could start looking them over.

Posted by YatPundit at 8:11 AM | TrackBack

October 15, 2007

Cemeteries Terminal: Early Map

This is the earliest map I've found that shows the trackage at the head of Canal Street:

This is from the Robinson Atlas, plate 28, courtesy of the New Orleans Notarial Archives. The track is indicated as turning left from Canal Street, onto City Park Avenue, then right at the New Basin Canal, to head out to West End. This atlas is from 1881, so the Canal line was operating with mule-drawn "bobtail" cars and West End with steam locomotives.

Funny how you notice one thing while researching something else. This map lists the "Half Way House" as being on the other side of the New Basin Canal (basically where the Semolina's restaurant was before the storm). What is now the abandoned Orkin building and usually referred to as the Half Way House is listed as a "Road House." Interesting, and will merit more research.

Posted by YatPundit at 8:46 AM | TrackBack

October 11, 2007

Cemeteries Terminal - Traffic at Canal Blvd. and City Park Avenue

When I posted all of the Cemeteries Terminal stuff earlier this week, I also put a pointer to it up on half a dozen streetcar/trolley mailing lists that are out there on Teh Internets. While many streetcar enthusiasts are historians or amateurs (or both, in my case) a lot of the people involved in street railway preservation are transit professionals. So, who better to get some feedback from than folks who do/did this stuff for a living?

My instincts were right and well rewarded. Bob Diamond of the Brooklyn Historic Railway Association read over the stuff on the website, as well as the alternative proposal, and has these thoughts:

***Bob's Analysis***

I see one of the primary design challenges arises from Canal being "dog legged" where it crosses City Park Av. I have some rough draft traffic control solutions for you. If you want to see more, let me know, and we can lay out a sketch for you showing phases.

One solution that comes to mind, is a grouping of traffic signals (located at both of the dog leg intersections or "S Curve Ends") which would be preemptively controlled by the movements of the streetcars. The streetcars would have to be given traffic control priority over automobile traffic at these two intersections.

Here's what we have in mind:

When a streetcar is at a certain precalculated distance or time from the "S Curve", a simple sensor circuit in the track (completed by the axle of the streetcar) would trigger the "yellow" and then "red" phases of the traffic lights at both ends of the S Curve.

All automobile traffic at both ends of the S Curve would be completely stopped by red traffic signal phases. Then, a "Streetcar Only" green phase pathway would be lit, permitting only streetcars to travel through the two S Curve intersections.

If you wanted to get just a little complex, the red phases at "north and south" ends of the S Curve could be delayed a few seconds apart, permitting the standing automobile traffic contained within the S Curve to "drain out" before the streetcar enters the S Curve.

For example, relative to auto traffic travelling "north" (as per the map on your website) on City Park Av, the red phase stopping auto traffic at the south end of the S Curve would occur first. The green phase at the north end of the S Curve would continue a few seconds longer, allowing time for autos in the north bound lanes of City Park Av inside the S Curve to drain out.

Similarly, traffic travelling south along City Park Av would be red phased first at the north end of the S Curve, the green phase for south bound autos at the south end of the S Curve would continue a few seconds longer, permitting autos in the S Curve travelling south to drain out,

For that matter, the traffic light phasing triggered by the streetcars could be further simplified:

1. At the southern end of the S Curve intersection, for autos travelling on City Park Av
Northbound lanes- Red Phase (prevents northbound auto traffic from entering S Curve )
Southbound lanes- Green Phase (permits "drainage" of southbound autos from S Curve)

For Canal "Dog Leg" (South End of S Curve)
Eastbound lanes- "Streetcar Only" Left turn City Park into Canal
Westbound lanes- "Streetcar Only" Right Turn from Canal into City Park Av

2. At the northern end of the S Curve intersection, for autos travelling on City Park Av
Northbound lanes- Green phase (permits "drainage" of northbound autos from S Curve)
Southbound lanes- Red Phase (prevents southbound auto traffic from entering S Curve)

For Canal "Dog Leg" (north end of S Curve)
Eastbound lanes- "Streetcar Only" right turn from Canal Terminal into City Park Av
Westbound lanes- "Streetcar Only" left turn from City Park Av into Canal Terminal

***

It's no surprise that I got a response of this depth. I've no doubt that RTA has considered a lot of these factors (RTA aren't amateurs when it comes to streetcars, either), but maybe there's something new for them in here as well. While the depth of the analysis didn't surprise me, I was surprised that Bob thought the Canal Blvd. extension could be safe. I wrote back a reply, with the simple question, "so, this can be done safely?" Here's his response:

***reply***
Hi Ed,

Yes, in my opinion, it certainly CAN be done safely.

I also recommend, at least in the beginning (until commuting motorists on City Park Av get used to it), well publicized, high- profile, traffic enforcement at these 2 key intersections.

This could include both N.O.P.D. traffic control officers observing these intersections for the first couple of weeks of operation, and then by video cameras installed at both intersections.

The way the "red light cameras" work here in NYC, they automatically record the license plate of any motorist blowing through red lights.

About three days later, they get a $115 ticket in the mail. The "red light cameras" work very well, we've had them for about 15 years or so.

Around here though, the City's concept is to keep the cameras hidden, so they can use them as a way to raise money. In N.O. however, I suggest the presence of these particular cameras be well publicized as a "deterrent".

I would even put up signs at the two intersections: "Motorists- Obey Traffic Lights- You Are Being Video Recorded".

***

We can debate the pros and cons of traffic cameras, of course, but the reality is that they've come to the area. They're up in Jefferson Parish now, most notably at the intersection of Clearview and Vets.

Thanks again to Bob and BHRA for this great analysis. Go throw something in their tip jar, please!

Posted by YatPundit at 7:07 AM | TrackBack

October 9, 2007

Google Earth shot of Canal Blvd.

The badly-drawn red lines are the extension of the line proposed by RTA to tie the streetcar with the existing bus terminal. The area on either side of Canal Blvd. is more visible here, so you can see that the neighborhood association's argument about the terminal being a disruption is pretty hollow. The turn, however, is still the issue--it's a very cramped area, and mixing streetcars and autos here is a bad idea.

Posted by Edward Branley at 7:30 PM | TrackBack

Cemeteries Terminal - Clarification on 100-120 City Park Avenue

Some questions arose concerning Adrian and Johnny's proposal to loop the streetcar through 100-120 City Park Avenue, then exit via Banks Street, specifically that the map wasn't very clear. I pulled up this part of City Park Avenue on Google Earth, and here it is:

The red line (pardon my lack of skills with GIMP) shows the extension of the Canal line into 100-120 City Park. The yellow is the tie to Banks Street. Banks Street runs right up to the back of the Half Way House, so tie the track from the empty lot next to the 911 call center to track running on Banks.

In Adrian and Johnny's proposal, track runs down Banks to S. Bernadotte. Turn left onto Bernadotte, cross Canal and go out N. Bernadotte to Orleans. Left turn on Orleans, up Orleans, then left turn on City Park Avenue to pass in front of Delgado Junior College. Continue on City Park Avenue back to Canal Street.

When I looked at the sat photo of the area, however, it looks to me like there may be enough room for a stub terminal similar to what exists already on Canal, or possibly a double-track terminal like at Beaureguard Circle or Carrollton and Claiborne. That might breathe life into the off-street proposal agian.

Posted by Edward Branley at 6:27 PM | TrackBack

The Cemeteries Terminal - A New Alternative

NOTE: Scroll down to the beginning of this series for background

RTA is really caught between a rock and a hard place on the terminal issue. None of these plans is a good idea, and their current proposal, the Canal Blvd. location, has the neighborhood howling. It's pretty much a lose-lose at this point.

Going back to the initial proposal, 100-120 City Park, Adrian Bruneau and Johnny Adriani have proposed a modified version of this plan that factors in the presence of the Orleans Parish Communication District's new 911 Call Center facility. Their proposal is to loop around the call center and back out onto City Park Avenue. It's similar to the original off-street, City Park Avenue proposal, but it now includes the OPCD facility.

Their proposal is available as a PDF here.

Please have a look at this proposal, particularly those of you who are in the transit business in other parts of the country/world. I'd like to see your thoughts and comments on it. While I think that Adrian and Johnny are a bit harsh in their criticism of RTA, they raise very valid concerns about the Canal Blvd. proposal.

Props to Adrian and Johnny for putting this together. Adrian Bruneau is a candidate for State Representative for District 94, which includes Lakeview.

(NOTE: CanalStreetCar (dot com) is not affiliated with the Bruneau campaign, and we can't vote for him, since we don't live in District 94.)

Posted by YatPundit at 11:28 AM | TrackBack

The Cemeteries Terminal - RTA's Current Proposal - Canal Boulevard

Now faced with 100-120 City Park Avenue unavailable and an alternate plan that is totally unsafe, RTA has developed a third proposal for the Cemeteries Terminal, to move it to the first two blocks of Canal Boulevard:

The right side of this drawing is the head of Canal Street at City Park Avenue. The proposal calls for the streetcar track to continue into the City Park Avenue intersection, turning right, then turning left onto Canal Blvd. Once on Canal Blvd, the streetcar terminal would merge with the existing bus terminals:

From the perspective of rider/pedestrian safety, it doesn't get much better than this. The problem with this site isn't with riders, though, it's with automobiles.

This is a ground-level view of City Park Avenue at Canal Blvd:

The shelter in the foreground is where Jefferson Transit buses for the Veterans and Metairie lines currently terminate. Streetcars would turn onto City Park like the truck in the background of this photo is doing. The tracks would cross the traffic lanes to the inside line so they could do a reverse-S into the Canal Blvd. neutral ground.

The streetcars would turn just behind where the white car in the center of this photo is turning.

The above photo illustrates the biggest problem with this proposal - automobile traffic. There are traffic signals at City Park Avenue and Canal Street, but just stop and yield signs at City Park and Canal Blvd. To allow the streetcars to leave Canal Street, turn onto City Park, then turn into the Canal Blvd. neutral ground, traffic signals would have to be installed at Canal Blvd. and City Park. They'd have to be synchronized with Canal Street and City Park, and the streetcars would have to have their own cycle long enough for them to pull out and make the two turns.

There are more things that can go wrong with this configuration than when a football quarterback throws a pass. I'm no traffic engineer, though, so I invite comment from others on what this looks like to you.

The Lakeview Civic Improvement Association (LCIA) is the most vocal opposition to this proposal. (Memo to LCIA: tell the folks in your group who use the phrase "those people' to stay home when you have your next meeting on this issue. They don't make a very good first impression on visitors.) The group opposes this plan on the grounds that the construction will disrupt the intersection too much, and the teminal's location will be a huge disruption to the Lakeview neighborhood. They also argue that it will increase crime in the area, ostensibly because "those people" will be in their neighborhood. News flash for y'all: They're already there:

This is the existing bus terminal on Canal Blvd. The Esplanade/Jackson line, Canal Blvd line, and the Louisiana line terminate here. Canal streetcar riders disembark on Canal and walk around the corner to catch the inbound Esplanade bus near the JeT shelter on City Park Avenue. If there's a bad element amongst those riders, they're already in your neighborhood.

I also don't buy the "neighborhood disruption" argument. Greenwood Cemetery is to the immediate right in the above photo. I don't think the residents of Greenwood much care if the streetcar parks next to them. On the left, from the corner, is an empty lot (the old gas station), an abondoned commercial building, The Bulldog pub, a convenience store, and more abandoned commercial property (the old K&B/Rite Aid drugstore). Unless the neighbors think that the streetcar will drop off rowdies who want to have a beer at The Bulldog, there's really not much here to disrupt.

Still, the traffic concerns trump everything as far as I'm concerned. This proposal is questionable on that basis alone.

NEXT: Another possibility?

Posted by YatPundit at 11:16 AM | TrackBack

The Cemeteries Terminal - Original Proposal #2

A terminal located in the Canal Street neutral ground was developed for the Canal line's Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) along with the City Park Avenue proposal:

While it looks OK on paper, this proposal is probably even worse than the existing arrangement, because it moves all the bus traffic from Canal Blvd. and City Park Avenue up to this position. With St. Anthony of Padua (K-8) on the left side of this map and Langston Hughes (5-7) on the right side and one block down, this configuration would put a lot of children and parents in the path of a lot of transit vehicles. The unpredictability of children running across the street, combined with the wide turns made by buses make this a very, very dangerous idea.

In the current debate over what to do with the Cemeteries terminal, the only advocates for this idea are some of the members of the Lakeview Civic Improvement Association. Their NIMBY perspective is so strong that they don't consider the safety factor. Cooler heads will prevail on this, no doubt.

Posted by YatPundit at 10:33 AM | TrackBack

The Cemeteries Terminal - Original Proposals

There were two original proposals for streetcar/bus terminals at the end of the Canal line. RTA's desired plan was to build an off-street terminal at 100-120 City Park Avenue that would look like this:

The streetcars would make a left-turn from Canal Street onto City Park Avenue, just like the old West End Line used to do. Instead of continuing west, then turning north, however, the streetcars would make another left turn into the 100-120 City Park Avenue property and loop around the big oak tree that's growing there.

This was the best solution to the problem, but RTA and the owners of the property, the Firemen's Benevolent Association, could not come to terms on a lease. Now, four years and two hurricanes later, the Benevolent Association has leased the property to the Orleans Parish Communications District, so they can place a new 911 call center for the city there. OPCD says they have a 50-year lease on the site, with five 10-year options after that, so they have it locked up into the next century.

OPCD representatives invoke security concerns when asked about the new building, arguing that it's a potential terrorist target. I can't help but wonder, if it's such a juicy target, why is it being placed in an area that is not only historically valuable to the city, but along one of the busiest intersections in the metro area?

We'd point you to the OPCD's online presence, but as of now, 1017 on 9-October-2007, www.911nola.org is off the grid. Going to that address points you to a Network Solutions-hosted error page.

NEXT: The Extended Canal Street Terminal proposal.

Posted by YatPundit at 10:25 AM | TrackBack

The Cemeteries Terminal Problem

When the plans for the Canal line were developed, one of the stickiest problems was what to do about the terminus of the line at the head of Canal Street. Two proposals for ending the line were developed. The first was to build an off-street, intermodal terminal at 100-120 City Park Avenue, and the other was a terminal in the neutral ground on Canal, between Bernadotte and St. Patrick Streets. The neutral ground terminal was generally regarded as a bad idea (and still is to this day) because it puts a lot of bus traffic right in front of two schools, Langston Hughes Charter School (using the Marshall Middle buildings) on one side and St. Anthony of Padua on the other. The off-street proposal was RTA's preferred solution, but RTA could not come to an agreement with the Firemen's Benevolent Association, the owners of the property, on a lease.

To keep the Canal project moving, RTA punted, constructing a temporary terminal at the head of Canal:

The inbound and outbound tracks merge to a single stub terminal track. The streetcar in the stub is separated from automobile traffic turning onto Canal Street from City Park Avenue by concrete barriers. To depart for its inbound run, a streetcar waits while a traffic signal stops auto traffic. The operator then pulls the streetcar out of the stub, into the left traffic lane. The streetcar travels a block and a half in the street, then returns to the neutral ground for the remainder of the 4.3 mile run to the river.

From a streetcar operations perspective, there aren't any real problems with this terminal. From a rider/pedestrian safety perspective, it's a nightmare. Disembarking riders must get off in the middle of one of the busiest and most complicated intersections in the city. Some must cross left to the western side of Canal Street (left in the photo) to get buses stopping in front of the cemeteries. Others must cross to the eastern side of Canal to make other bus connections on City Park Avenue.

To illustrate how much of a dangerous situation this is, let's zoom in on the fencing constructed to protect riders:

The idea is that riders disembark behind the fencing, then cross the street. Unfortunately, at least one auto has hit the fence right where riders cross the street. This is just a lawsuit waiting to happen, and it's got to go.

RTA has $10 million left in FTA funds from the original Canal project budget. That money has always been intended to build a decent terminal at the head of Canal Street, but the situation is now even more complicated than when RTA originally put off the decision. We'll examine the possibilities for re-locating the terminal in succeeding entries. One thing is for certain, though--take a look at the photo above again. The existing terminal MUST be re-located.

Posted by YatPundit at 10:05 AM | TrackBack

September 24, 2007

Feature Photo - 832 on Canal Street

From 1963, Perley A. Thomas streetcar 832, running outbound on the Canal Line to the Cemeteries Terminal. 832 is approaching Galvez Street. The Canal Street neutral ground transitions from concrete to grass just past Claiborne Avenue.

The 800-series streetcars were essentially the same design as the 900s, with one major exception. The doors on the 800s were manual, and the 900s were automatic. The manual doors weren't a problem for operations, though, because the city required NOPSI to operate streetcars with 2-man teams, a motorman in the front and a conductor in the back. NOPSI howled about two-man operation for decades, arguing that the system doubled their labor costs and that streetcars could just as easily be operated by one person.

Some little details in the photo: Notice the crowbar-like tool that's mounted on the front of the streetcar, right over its number. This is the tool the motorman used to throw the manual switches at crossovers along the line and at the terminal. The route sign indicates he's operating on the Canal line (at the time, the only line running on Canal Street, of course), and that particular streetcar was the 40th run to leave the barn that day.

When streetcar service was discontinued on the Canal line in 1964, the 800-series streetcars were scrapped. A few were saved by trolley museums in other parts of the country.

(Photo courtesy of Earl Hampton)

Posted by YatPundit at 12:42 AM | TrackBack

September 17, 2007

Feature Photo: Shift Change

Perley A. Thomas car (vintage 1924), idling on Canal Street in front of Canal Station, waiting for the operator for the next shift:

(clicky the photo for a larger version)

932 had just completed a "switchback" operation. Because the operator was waiting for his replacement to come out of the station, he was idling on the outbound track. The new operator didn't come out right away, though, so 932 had to switch off to the inbound track. But then 971 was running down Canal inbound, so 932 had to switch back. We caught the 932-971 switch here.

Posted by YatPundit at 8:43 AM | TrackBack

Shift Change!

Streetcars don't need to go back to the barn for fuel, so shift changes usually take place along the line. Here's one that took place recently on Canal Street, in front of the station.

Perley A. Thomas car 971 is heading inbound:

But he encounters 932, who shifted via the Canal Station crossover, to the inbound track. 932's operator was ending his shift, but his replacement hadn't come out of the station yet. He was blocking 904 from continuing outbound, so he switched to the inbound track. Now he's blocking 971.

So, he switches 932 back to the outbound track.

Where he can wait a few minutes more for the next shift's operator.

One last look at 932:

Posted by YatPundit at 8:37 AM | TrackBack

September 16, 2007

Why things aren't moving along quickly...

On several transit-related mailing lists, there have been a number of questions regarding the slow pace of restoring transit service, particularly repair and/or expansion of the streetcar lines in New Orleans. A number of suggestions have been made, and unfortunately, there's always one or more "gotchas" to what appear at face value to be very good ideas. Here are some of them, and why they're problematic:

Military Options: In the immediate aftermath of the storm, NBC's Brian Williams (who rode the storm out in the Superdome, btw), went on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and remarked about how, when he was in Iraq, if the Army wanted a bridge, they called up an engineering unit, and there was a bridge where they watned it. It amazed him that the same army that can do that couldn't get relief to New Orleans. Trolley enthusiasts have wondered as well why Army Engineers or SeaBees couldn't come in and help with building/rebuilding roads to get the trolleys running. Williams illustrates the problem in his own statement, though, by saying "when I was in Iraq." The US Army is all but totally in Iraq. Even though the Louisiana National Guard units rotated home after the storm, they were required to leave the bulk of their equipment behind.

FEMA Assistance: FEMA is financing the bulk of the reconstruction of New Orleans' transit infrastructure. There are two big problems when it comes to dealing with FEMA. First and most obvious is that funds coming from FEMA come to the NORTA in dribs and drabs. One of the reasons that the St. Charles line is progressing is that the funding for most of that work is based in a FTA project that was approved before the storm. The other problem is that FEMA funds are targeted at re-building, not re-designing. That means there will be money to repair the Riverfront and Von Dullen streetcars that were flooded, but none to buy/build more of these vehicles. If ever there was a time to take a step back and examine the possibility of expanding light rail in New Orleans, it's now, but the money being sent to the city will be earmarked to replace buses.

New FTA projects: This was a pipe dream even before the storm. The Canal line was financed at an 80/20, federal-to-local ratio. The Bush Administration changed that to 50/50 in 2004. I suspect that funding the Iraq and Afgan wars played a big part in that change, and the military are spending even more money today than they were in 2004.

Labor: Everything is slow in terms of the construction business in New Orleans. The reason is obvious: The amount of construction work is overwhelming. From Metairie, where 6" to 1' of water in homes meant people had to cut out drywall up to 4' high (so you could easily rebuild the walls with 4' sheets), to parts of the city where homes got 10+ feet of water, there's a lot going on. The city's largest road construction firm (and the company that built the new Canal line) is Boh Brothers. They're wrapped up in a huge upgrade to I-10 in Jefferson Parish that started before the storm and won't be finished until next year.

What really slows down the municipal contracts is the residential and private commercial work. Businesses that needed to re-open as quickly as possible after the storm, as well as homeowners who needed to be back in their houses are willing to pay top dollar to general contractors. Those contractors in turn are able to offer much better wages to their crews than Boh Brothers can for street work, re-building St. Charles Avenue, or other low-bid municipal projects. Over 200K people have not returned to the metro area, and that drop has really put a hit on the pool of semi-skilled laborers. Sure, we've got a lot more Hispanic workers in the area (here both legally and illegally), but even they aren't enough to keep up with demand.

To sum it up, it's not as simple as fixing one issue or adding one ingredient to the gumbo to make transit projects in New Orleans click smoothly. As a local, I'm simply happy that we were fortunate enough that the Canal line trackage and wiring was essentially undamaged, and the 900-series streetcars were safe in Carrollton Station, so we at least have them running.

Posted by YatPundit at 4:42 PM | TrackBack

September 3, 2007

Feature Photo: Perley A. Thomas on N. Carrollton

clicky photo for larger version

Perley A. Thomas streetcar 969 heading inbound on N. Carrollton Avenue.

Prior to the return of the Canal line in 2004, streetcars had never run on N. Carrollton Avenue. The Canal Belt line ran along City Park Avenue to Wisner, then across Bayou St. John to Esplanade Avenue, and the Esplanade Belt line ran in the opposite direction. The City Park line made its way through the neighborhood to City Park Avenue, N. Carrollton Avenue itself never had streetcar trackage.

The idea of the Carrollton Spur was to entice visitors who stay downtown to venture into Mid-City. Attractions such as City Park, the New Orleans Museum of Art, as well as a number of neat restaurants and interesting pubs await those who want a break from Da Quarters.

Since the storm put the Von Dullen cars out of commission, the 900s have been pressed into service once again outside of Uptown. Seeing the Green Ladies in Mid-City is a treat for the streetcar fan, since almost every photo of these streetcars in the neighborhood from the 1940s and 1950s is in black-and-white.

Posted by Edward Branley at 11:31 AM | TrackBack

August 27, 2007

Adding a "Loyola Loop?"

At a time when RTA's ridership is about 15% of its pre-storm numbers, the notion of adding more streetcar service to the city sounds just crazy, but that's just what the Regional Planning Commission is suggesting. They want to look at the possibility of a "Loyola Loop" off of the Canal line:

Under the Regional Planning Commission proposal, streetcars would turn from Canal Street onto Elk Place and then Loyola Avenue, passing near City Hall and the storm-damaged Hyatt Hotel, which is scheduled to reopen next year. The cars then would turn onto the Union Passenger Terminal grounds before heading down Howard Avenue to Carondelet Street, where they would follow the St. Charles line's tracks back to Canal.

The idea isn't new, as streetcars used to run on Loyola prior to their post-WWII phaseout. Tying the Union Passenger Terminal more directly to the RTA system makes a lot of sense in terms of moving towards commuter rail that would feed in from the west, particularly the airport. Still, RTA is barely back on its feet, and the agancy is struggling to provide basic service. Not to mention that the RPC is advocating the expansion of a streetcar line that doesn't have its regular operating streetcar fleet. The 24 2000-series Von Dullen streetcars are currently being re-built after receiving major flood damage.

Still, this is a very forward-looking project that deserves serious consideration.

Posted by YatPundit at 8:32 AM | TrackBack

January 6, 2007

Twelfth Night!

The Carnival season officially begins on the Twelfth Day of Christmas. The private side of Carnival's kickoff are all the King Cakes that will be consumed starting today. The public side of Twelfth Night is a streetcar event, the annual ride tonight of the Phunny Phorty Phellows. The PPP usually would ride the St. Charles line on two chartered streetcars, but this year they'll be on the Canal hybrid line.

Additionally, there's a parade tonight! The Krewe of Zeus marks their 50th anniversery by rolling down their original Metairie Road route. That route brings a lot of great childhood memories back for me. My dad was very active in American Legion Post 175. Their hall is on Metairie Road, and they'd always erect a small reviewing stand out front for the kids. We used to have so much fun there.

The more formal side of Twelfth Night will be celebrated at the bal masque of the Twelfth Night Revelers. Carnival krewes have events year-round these days, but the formal balls usually start on January 6th.

Happy Twelfth Night!

Posted by YatPundit at 2:25 PM | TrackBack

January 2, 2007

Water main break causes service outage...

The hybrid Canal Streetcar line was out of service last week, from Tuesday to Saturday. A water pipe broke at Canal and Gayoso Streets, which is right in front of the Randolph SIS facility (the location of the car barn on Canal Street). Canal and Gayoso is right where the streetcar tracks enter the Randolph facility, as you can see on our aerial photo.

RTA switched the Canal line from streetcar to bus service until the pipe was repaired on Saturday. The 900s are back rolling.

Posted by YatPundit at 11:19 AM | TrackBack

January 1, 2007

Feature Photo: Hope for the New Year

Tradition has it that you always want to start the new year off on a positive note. Since seeing the "red ladies" back on Canal and the Riverfront this year would be a huge positive for the city, here's a shot of Carrollton Cars 458 and 463, along with Von Dullen car 2019 at the French Market from 2004.

Both the 400s and the 2000s sustained water damage from the canal breaches in the aftermath of the storm. In September, the 400s were moved by truck from Randolph to Carrollton, and work has begun on rebuilding them. FEMA has given RTA $21.6 million to repair our streetcars. RTA estimates that it will cost between $800K and $1million apiece to get them back on the street. Even the 400s require extensive repairs because of the wheelchair lifts in the cars.

The 2000-series Von Dullen cars are more complicated. While they have the arched roof of the 900s and 400s, the internals of the 2000s have more in common with modern Light Rail Vehicles (LRVs) like you see in San Diego or Baltimore. The flooding really messed up their electronics as well as the propulsion and trucks. RTA is working with Brookville to work out a plan of attack for their repair. It'll take longer for the 2000s to return to Canal, but hopefully the 400s will be operational this year.

Happy New Year!

Posted by YatPundit at 11:54 AM | TrackBack

January 8, 2006

Feature Photo: Canal and Royal, c. 1895

Carnival Time at the turn of the 19th century. A parade is coming up Royal Street and turning lakebound on Canal Street. This was a common route for parades at the time. (Parades no longer go through the Quarter because the crowds are too large and pose a fire hazard to the old buildings.)

Electrifying Canal Street has brought a few changes to downtown. The wires all over make for busy photographs, to be sure. The higher poles are carrying power to the buildings, and the lower wires are for the streetcars.

The monument to Henry Clay, which occupied the entire Canal Street neutral ground between St. Charles Ave. and Royal Street has been cut back dramatically. The massive round base of the monument was an obstruction to streetcars. The old mule-drawn cars could easily maneuver around the statue, but the electric streetcars need to follow their wires, so the monument had to be altered. Even with the cutback of the base, the statue was still a problem for streetcars, because they barely had room to pass. In 1901, the city decided to remove the statue from Canal Street and relocate Mr. Clay to Lafayette Park, where he remains today.

Posted by YatPundit at 9:41 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

January 3, 2006

PPP

Just got a reply from Errol Laborde, and the Phunny Phorty Phellows will roll on Friday night, but their streetcars will take the hybrid Canal/Riverfront route rather than their traditional run from Carrollton Station to Lee Circle and back. They leave Canal and Crozat at 7pm.

Posted by YatPundit at 11:20 AM | TrackBack

December 25, 2005

Feature Photo: Mr. Bingle

Jingle, Jangle Jingle,
Here comes Mr. Bingle...

Mr. Bingle is back on the Canal Line, well, sort of. The little snowman was the Christmas spokesman for the Maison Blanche department stores. For decades, moms would take their kids down to the Maison Blanche store on Canal and Dauphine Streets to see Mr. Bingle in the front window. In the late 1950s and early 60s, Mr. Bingle did TV commercials for the store on the before-school children's shows.

By the 1980s, Mr. Bingle was gone from both TV and the front window display on Canal Street. He was still the Christmas icon of the MB chain, and the store commissioned a giant Bingle that they hung on the front of the store. After Maison Blanche was acquired by Dillard's in the 1990s, that chain displayed the big Bingle on the side of their store at Lakeside Mall, but it just wasn't the same, and they eventually put the snowy guy into storage.

Dillard's brought the big Mr. Bingle out of storage last spring, this time to donate him to City Park. He was a bit worn out, but the park raised funds to restore him to make Mr. Bingle a part of the annual "Celebration in the Oaks" display. The storm wiped out a lot of the park's buildings, forcing the park to severely scale back the size of this year's display. "Celebration in the Oaks" usually has two components: one is a "driving tour" around the park where you drove around and viewed large light displays on the ground and in the trees. This component was cancelled this year because of the storm. The second segment, the "walking tour," went on as planned, with Mr. Bingle a part of it. The train garden is back operating as well, lit up for Christmas and sporting both classic green and 2000-series red model streetcars.

Mr. Bingle is a wonderful memory for many adults in the city, and an important symbol of our desire to bring our town back.

Posted by YatPundit at 10:59 PM | TrackBack

December 23, 2005

Merry Christmas

Jingle, Jangle Jingle
Here comes Mister Bingle
With another message from Kris Kringle.

As we launch this Christmas season,
Maison Blanche brings Christmas pleasin.
Gifts galore for you and me.
Each of them from...MB!

Obviously this is an old photo. Mr. Bingle done quit at the Carlton Ritz because he can't reach da buffet. :-)

We're going to City Park tonight. I know that Dillard's donated the big Bingle to the park, but I don't know if he's up for this year. We'll see!

Posted by YatPundit at 7:39 AM | TrackBack

December 22, 2005

Canal Street, 1915

Another postcard that's really too small of a scan to be a "feature photo." This is Canal Street around 1915. The photographer is standing on Canal, in between St. Charles and Carondelet. You can see the "new" MB building in the background.

The streetcars are "Palace" cars of the New Orleans City Railroad Company. At this time, the NOCRR ran the "Palace" cars and the New Orleans & Carrollton Railroad Company was beginning to try out a new semi-convertible from the St. Louis Car Company, designed by Mr. Perley A. Thomas.

Posted by YatPundit at 6:22 AM | TrackBack

December 18, 2005

Feature Photo: Service Returns

Perley A. Thomas streetcar #930 at Canal and Liberty last week, in the first test run of a streetcar since the storm. Decorated for the holiday season, 930 was pulled by a pickup truck from Carrollton Station on the St. Charles tracks to Canal Street. There the streetcar was powered up and initially ran to the three-track terminal at the foot of Canal. Satisfied that the overhead was working properly, RTA allowed the streetcar to continue up Canal Street to Liberty Street, where it switched back to the inbound track.

The testing went so well that RTA approved limited operations of six Perley Thomas streetcars on a hybrid line consisting of the Riverfront trackage and a portion of the Canal line. Regular streetcar service returned to New Orleans this morning (18-December) at 7am, when 930 left the French Market terminal for Canal Street.

The 900s will run on the hybrid line at least through March of 2006 for free.

One of New Orleans' most important icons is back. Things are improving.

Posted by YatPundit at 4:25 PM | TrackBack

December 12, 2005

930 on Canal - Video

This is my first attempt at video with this little digital camera, so be gentle:

930 heading inbound towards the foot of canal

930 heading outbound from the foot of canal

Continuation of outbound run

Posted by YatPundit at 2:44 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Canal Street Line Test

RTA brought Perley Thomas streetcar #930 from Carrollton Station to Canal and St. Charles this morning to test the Canal trackage and wiring. I watched as they ran 930 from St. Charles to the foot of Canal, switched to the outbound track, then ran down to the crossover at Liberty. I had to get on with my day from there, but it appears that the test was a success, at least to that point.

930 waiting for the media event to be choreographed:

From the uptown side of the street:

more photos follow...

Operator's station:

trucks:

at the foot of Canal, switched to the outbound track:

Passing me by at the foot of Canal:

Approaching Dauphine on the outbound run:

At Liberty, preparing to switch back to the inbound track:

Posted by YatPundit at 2:41 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

November 27, 2005

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 9:01 PM | 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 3:43 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

November 21, 2005

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 9:56 AM | 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 6:42 PM | TrackBack

November 13, 2005

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 1:11 PM | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 it