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December 3, 2007
Feature Photo: Work at the Carrollton Shop
Von Dullen car 2021, fresh out of the paint shop, sits next to Perley A. Thomas car 903, which is up on the rack in the shop.
There are two components to Carrollton Station. The larger building is the streetcar barn, where the 900s operating on the St. Charles line have been stored and serviced for decades. The barn is open on either side--streetcars enter the barn from the rear, on Jeanette Street, and exit onto Willow Street. Next to the barn are two buildings that are accessible only from Jeanette St., and these are the shop areas. The purpose of the shops for years was to fabricate parts for the 1923-vintage green streetcars. The shops were heavily renovated in the 1990s, as their role changed from just parts and repair to being a full-blown streetcar fabrication facility. Both the 400-series Riverfront and 2000-series Von Dullens were built at Carrollton.
This photo shows the routine work done on the Perley Thomas cars as well as the progress being made on getting the 2000s back out on the street. All the red Von Dullen cars are being stripped, then re-painted, then wrapped in plastic until the re-design and re-build of their propulsion systems is complete.
Posted by YatPundit at 8:50 AM | TrackBack
October 27, 2005
Carrollton Station
One of the oldest streetcar barns in the country, Carrollton Station on Willow Street fared the storm pretty well:
The station, pretty much buttoned up. With those big doors pulled down and no flood waters in the Uptown area, the historic Perley Thomas 900-series streetcars were well protected from the storm. The wind was pretty intense in this area, though. Several of the big, roll-down doors on the back (Jeannette St.) side of the station were blown inward, off of their tracks.
A quick peek inside the station, before a security guard shooed me away. Yes, that's a San Francisco cable car in the barn. RTA got that car in exchange for a Perley Thomas car that was sent out to Market Street Railway, in a trade that's up there with the Cubs giving up Greg Maddux in terms of lop-sided.
Posted by YatPundit at 12:07 AM | TrackBack
October 26, 2005
Randolph SIS
I didn't get really good shots of Randolph. They were moving a bunch of buses around, and even though the security gate wasn't manned, I didn't want to go in without permission.
Looking in from the Bienville Street entrance. Three 2000-series and one 400-series streetcars are visible in the barn. It appears that the neighborhood got 4'-6' of water, which means all of the cars in the barn would have been flooded. Flooding to that extent means a lot of damage to the Brookville and Tatra trucks, as well as the electrical systems in general.
This PT Cruiser is parked on Bienville St., right outside the Randolph wall. The water line on the car goes up to the top of the tail lights.
Two homes across the street from Randolph on Bienville. You can see the water line on the houses, and it appears that the cars were almost completely covered. Now, visualize the streetcars sitting in that much water.