It is very interesting to see ridership grow in the LA area on Metrolink as gas is well over $3.50 a gallon. If the price continues to go up [as I believe it will] the people around here will just “love” mass transit.
A view that several persons have said is very cynical is:
If gasoline prices do increase as some say the demand for mass transit will be so great that the present “apparent” opposition to funding it may evaporate.
The politicians will then say since we must fund this transit you taxpayers will have to pay more in taxes to fund it. "We (politicians) could have cut taxes except for this requirement. Unfortunately many in this country may believe such a statement??
While I don’t think opposition will evaporate, the higher costs of gasoline will certainly help bolster the need for mass transit. It will mean an easier time selling. Oil states and very sparsely populated states certainly won’t agree but urban and more peopled states will certainly be feeling the sting enough. The real question is whether this is going to be an all governement pitch or if business and transportation companies will joining in. Politicians will only give in when the votes are not there otherwise. As long as big oil and big business secret big bucks their way, they will hold the course.
Johnny found this text and photos for You on the posted link below:!
Here is the linked piece; (Scroll don to see the photos (after the NOPSI Car Roster)
http://www.cs.uiuc.edu/~friedman/app3/Page__w.htm
FTL:“…A real streetcar named Desire, car 898 is at the outer end of the Desire Line at Tonti and France Streets, taking break time before leaving on its next upbound (inbound) trip. Car 884 is arriving in the background. — Collection of George Friedman…”
And while I’m at it; an additional link on The plans for the RTA to extend current services:
Linked @ : http://www.heritagetrolley.com/TNERJNewOrleans1.htm
FTL:'…The worst kept secret in New Orleans is that RTA planners don’t want to stop at rerailing Canal. There are two likely possibilities:
·Desire. Yes, there might again be a “Streetcar Named Desire”, although its route might not closely resemble the old line, abandoned in 1948. For one thing some residents in the Frenc
Sam, thanks for the link and the item about Desire. If the line goes out to Poland, it will cross Desire Street going out and coming back. However, it should be named “Poland,” since it would not run on Desire at all. I expect tht if I really sea
Deggesty:
"Sam, thanks for the link and the item about Desire. If the line goes out to Poland, it will cross Desire Street going out and coming back. However, it should be named “Poland,” since it would not run on Desire at all. I expect tht if I really searched, I could find the route that the Desire car followed. "
Johnny, the Desire street car zig-zagged on many different streets, and only a small part of it was actually on Desire St. From the book, “The Streetcars Of New Orleans” by Louis C. Hennick & E. Harper Charlton published by Pelican Publishing Co., Inc.:
“Opened: Oct. 17, 1920”
“Last car: May 30, 1948”
“Original route: …from Canal and Bourbon, down Bourbon, Esplanade, Decatur, Elysian Fields, Chartres, Desire, Tonti, France, Royal to Canal. On May 6, 1923, the Desire Line was re-routed, from Canal and Bourbon, down Bourbon, Pauger, Dauphine, Desire, Tonti, France, Royal to Canal.”
This book is a very thorough history of the N.O. streetcars. I was amazed at how frequently tracks were pulled up and re-routed in the early days. It was apparently not a big deal to them.
In the 80’s through 1995 I used to work in that neighborhood, and I enjoyed following the cracks in the pavement at the edges of the old track bed. When they dug out and repaved Royal St., I was disappointed to lose them, but in a few months,the cracks re-appeared. You can’t get rid of hiistory that easily.
Paul, thanks for the information. I had never thought about the route followed by the Desire car until “A StreetcarNamed Desire” popped up on this thread. When I have the time, I will print a map showing the area, and trace the routes that the Desire car followed.
Back to the subject at hand. I lived in New Orleans in my teens, and though I’m living about 50 miles away now, a big part of me is still there. Back in the '50’s I think N. O. had a fantastic transit system. For seven cents you boarded and received a transfer good for four or five consecutive transfers to other lines. Headways were such that if you were a half a block away and saw the streetcar leaving the stop, it was no big deal; by the time you walked to the stop, another car was there. We (like most of our neighbors) did not have a family car and got around quite easily.
Now, the RTA seems to see the streetcars as a Disney-like ride for tourists rather than as providing a useful transportation service. The proposed line on St. Claude Ave. makes no sense. For one thing, they haven’t been able to strike a deal with NS to cross their tracks just past Franklin Ave., and as planned, anyone going anywhere will have to transfer to a bus after a very short streetcar ride, or the buses will run parallel along the same streets, which makes the streetcar just a tourist ride.
By the way, thanks, Sam for those informative links.
Paul, Appreciate the coment! Thanks!
NOLA is one of my favorite town since my first Mardi Gras in the 1960’s and having my mom live there(in Jefferson) for about ten years was a bonys. I had my reserveds parking place, under the South end of the Causway across from Micky D’s. Nobody ever bothered my rig whenparked there!
Was reading in Railway Gazette and found the folingf article:
http://www.railwaygazette.com/nc/news/single-view/view/new-orleans-tram-project-approved.html
"New Orleans tram project approved"15 February 2011
FTL: “…USA: The Regional Transit Authority in New Orleans has approved moving ahead with final design on the French Quarter tram loop from Canal Street to Press Street via North Rampart Street and St Claude Avenue…”
and it looks like the RTA is working hard and their hearts are set on having “A Street Car Named Desire” if it only justin the neighborhood! [*-)]
*FTA, [also:] “…*In addition, a 1·9 km spur would be built on Elysian Fields Avenue to a connection with the Riverfront tram line at Esplanade Avenue. The $90m project, to be equipped with replica heritage rolling stock,…”
Paul and Johnnie:
Found this link and thought you guys might enjoy seeing it:
NOLA RTA Cars :
http://brookvilleequipment.com/
"New Orleans RTA Canal Street Project"
Thanks, Sam. Interesting. When they started building the new cars, they used the trucks from scrapped Philadelphia PCC cars, but I guess they used Brookville equipment on some of the later ones.
[quote user=“samfp1943”]
One Billion,two hundred and twenty-eight million dollars.
Forgive me! but these figures jump out at me from today’s TRAINS Newswire. What is that amount of a mix of Federal dollars and local tax dollars going to buy?
For startrs in Minnesota you are going to get 11 miles of light rail connecting Minneapolis and St. Paul with a modern version of the old street cars. I am guessing it also gets you some cars to carry the paying passengers on; the prediction is for 41,000 people on a weekday day to ride the system. They have already spent some $145 million dollars on engineering, ROW purchases and construction costs. They are now going to Congress expecting that the US Congress will fund at least half of the Remaining Costs of #957 Million.
New Orleans is wanting to expand its current existing system by 2.5 miles. expanding into neighborhoods not currently served. From the French Quarter Canal Street out Rampart to St Claude and branch down Elysian Fields ( which was where Tennessee Williams: A Streetcar Named Desire was set) This little expansion is expected to cost $45 MIllion from Federal Funds and $79 million from Sales Taxes.
The few time I have ridden on NOPSI Cars they were a long way from being full, although, I am sure at times they are S.R.O. mostlty, they don’t seem to be so the $79 m seems to be overly optimistic, but sures that would never be with politicians in New Orleans.
Video of NOPSI Car # 836 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Az0P7KNP4_Q&feature=related
oR tHIS LINK OF NOLA Trolley cars:
Sam,
Rampart Street runs along the lakeside border of the French Quarter which is the highest ground in the city. There is no proposal to build a streetcar line into the ninth ward.
If the Federal Grant is for a streetcar line the city does not have the option to use it for other things. The extension you describe may reach Elysian Fields Avenue but at two and a half miles it will not cross it.
Please excuse me now. Blanche just got out of the hospital. We have a date.
PS. The new line runs down Loyola Avenue. Loyola Avenue is an extension of Rampart Street but on the (sort of) uptown side of Canal Street, not remotely near Stella and Stanley. If you meet me there we can to to Union Terminal and play the pinball machines.
I guess you know what it means to miss New Orleans.
John, yes, New Orleans is more than a place.
By the way, Loyola Ave. is actually an extension of Basin St. Rampart St. runs parallel a block away. Also, by the way, the last block or so of Loyola before it meets Canal St. is actually called Elk Place, then at Canal it becomes Basin St. (For some reason New Orleans likes to take short stretches of streets and rename them.)
Sampf1943:
“– after a number of delays, including the relocation of power and utilities when workers found a petrified cypress log and an old underground ice house no one knew existed.”
Thanks for the update. I had missed it in the newswire. Every time there is a construction project around here, they usually dig up surprises; often it’s human skeletons.
Now that you remind me I remember it all. I used to work at 701 Loyola Avenue which is right next to Union Terminal. At lunch I would go over and play the pin ball machines.