Streetcars and Railroads

[MCL_RDG]

You didn't...

...tell us what you thought Tom!

I grew up in Manayunk and remember distinctly the trundle of PCC trolleys in the streets downtown and waiting for them to pass as we headed over to Strawbridges'. I see the electric buses in the northeast.

What do you think about streetcars tangling with rail traffic.

By the way, the guys wanna know- since you mentioned "her" car- is she a babe or a trainwreck in the making???

Mark

 

[TomPM]

Mark, you asked for it.

My thoughts on streetcars tangling with rail is would prefer not to happen. I do realize that is some cases because of circumstances a grade separation cannot be constructed. In those cases there are measures that can be taken to ensure safety like stopping the trolley before it proceeds across the railroad as the Route 10 does.

Do you remember the Penn’s Landing trolley? It actually used the same tracks as Conrail along Delaware Avenue (oops) Columbus Boulevard. The trolley which was a tourist attraction ran during the day and the freight trains ran at night.

I don’t like streetcars sharing the roadway with vehicular traffic. The streetcars can delay vehicular traffic and vise versa. I can remember one morning riding the Route 10 having to wait 30 minutes for a delivery truck to move off the tracks. Also I hate driving on State Street in Media when a trolley is coming. One of these days I am going to lose a side mirror. Of course on the other hand having the streetcars in the street adds to a certain element of charm and tourist attractablity. When I was attending Temple I meet two men from Germany who were riding the Route 23 trolley because it was the longest trolley line in the world at that time.

When I was growing up my mom used to take me on the Route 74 bus on Chester Pike to Sharon Hill. There we would board the Sharon Hill trolley for the trip to 69th Street Terminal and a day of shopping. That was back when Red Arrow was running the Brill Liners.

Mark do think they will ever get the Route 15 Trolley running again?

As far as the Mayor of Darby goes, major train wreck and mean as a snake from reading the newspaper articles about her.

 

[rcwatkins]

I would say build a tunnel but since this is New Orleans we are talking about, this now becomes a much harder situation to solve. What if they did the opposite & built a viaduct instead?

 

[Vic]

Streetcars were generally 5 foot gauge. Standard trackage is 4ft 8 & some odd inches. Doubt that there's anyone left on the railroads that knows how to build a dual gauge crossing. Guess us modelers have got "one up" on them We can just go buy one

 

[Bywaterrailroad]

interior of a st charles car

St Charles line cars were the prototype for the new Canal line cars, just add air conditioning and ADA requirements

 

[Bywaterrailroad]

St Charles exterior

traveling in traffic in the downtown business district on st Charles

 

[Bywaterrailroad]

riverfront line

a rebuilt car, when the orginal canal line was taken down in 1960's cars were sold or donated to other trolley museums in the country, this car and a few other riverfront cars were rebuilt using parts gathered up from those disbursed cars

 

[Bywaterrailroad]

1900 car and riverfront car

only one 1900 era car remains, it is used as a work car, single truck style, here it and a rebuilt riverfront car are at rest in the carbarn on willow st.

 

[Bywaterrailroad]

canal st line 1880's

canal and st charles streets the converging point of many lines at the time. note the small turntable located in front of the small ticket hut, the track looping around the statue of henry clay (removed about 1900). The present st charles line still makes its one block run on canal in front of the building marked H.B. Stevens, before heading back uptown.

 

[Bywaterrailroad]

turn off canal to st charles

this turn is still made today by the st charles line heading back uptown, just as it was done when this photo was taken in the 1880's

 

[Bywaterrailroad]

canal st turntable

note how all the lines converge to the center turntable so the bob tailed (one directional) horse car can be turned around for the return trip

 

[Bywaterrailroad]

dual gauge line

this photo shows the street car line in the fore ground to have to right hand rails...a dual gauge photo after electrification of the line in he late 1890's

 

[Bywaterrailroad]

another shot of a dual gauge

photo post 1900

 

[rcwatkins]

Where did you find the old pics?

 

[interurban]

OOOOMMMMAAAAANNNN
Those are sweet.
Thanks a bunch for making me drool
Looking forward to seeing the new streetcars running.
When you post them

 

[Bywaterrailroad]

FEW MORE STREETCAR PICS

here is a new canal line car rolled out of the paint shop part way through construction

 

[Bywaterrailroad]

new canal line car at the willow street car barn

 

[Bywaterrailroad]

line up at the willow st car barn with the green 1923 era st charles car on the left and two rebuilt and overhauled riverfront cars. The riverfront cars were rebuilt from old parts of 1923 cars but have modern ADA accomodations as required with federal money.

 

[Bywaterrailroad]

the portion of the canal line that connects the riverfront and st charles ave line has been in operation for a few years, about 10 city blocks. here is a canal car working on that portion of the line. the new canal line is now several miles long.

 

[Bywaterrailroad]

here is a line up of various cars along willow st on the tracks leading to the carbarn. Foreground is a canal car, obvious in this view are the fake clerestory windows that hide the a/c equipment on the roof, next is a riverfront car followed by 3 green st charles ave cars. orginal 1923 design has no heating much less a/c. What a great place that little gray house would be to live in for a rail fan or any house facing the car barn.