The Central Business District

There has always been some streetcar trackage on Canal St. in the CBD. The turnaround from Carondelet St. back to St. Charles Avenue was never ripped up. In 1997, the Riverfront line was expanded to run down Canal and tie into the St. Charles line’s trackage. This allows the Riverfront line cars to now go back down St. Charles and return to Carrollton Station. When the Randolph SIS on Canal Street is complete, both the Canal and Riverfront cars will be stored there.

In the photo above, St. Charles car 953 has made the turn from Carondelet to Canal. This piece of track was all that remained after the Canal line was discontinued in 1964. Riverfront car 458 follows behind. 458 will switch from the St. Charles turn track to the Canal line trackage to run down to the river.

953 has gone around the turn. 458 is now ready to switch to the inbound Canal track.

458 switches to the inbound Canal track.

Cars on the inbound Canal track can also switch onto the St. Charles turn track just after Baronne and before Carondelet.

Baronne St. crossover. To get back to Carrollton Station, a car on the outbound Canal track would go past this crossover and hop over to the inbound track. Once on the inbound track, the car then crosses over to the St. Charles trackage and turn like the St. Charles cars do for the trip uptown.