For proto city rail transit enthusiasts and modellers, this sent to me today in an email from an MR buddy nearby to me on V. Island.
It is taking place in downtown Toronto, on Spadina Ave., pronounced “spuh-DINE-uh”.
http://stevemunro.ca/?p=8275#more-8275
Crandell
Wow, and we get a little bent over some minor pothole repair delay!![;)]
I saw a time lapse video online somewhere taken from the window on the fourth floor looking down on the intersection of a job just like that - the video was twelve minutes from start to finish … wish I could find it again …
Mark.
Selector,
It’s 2013 all right – there are many clues in the photos that make it 2013 such as the workers’ hard hats and reflective vests, the vehicles, thermite welding, and other things that did not exist in 1913.
I wonder if Fastracks had anything to do with this job?? [swg]
Thermite welding is still the only way to weld high use rail like this. Still used to join long sections of “ribbon rail”, too.
Richard
Actually, what gave it away for me, Chuck, was the colour imagery. [swg]
It was not so much the people and vehicles, but the intricate trackwork on a major city intersection. It’s kinda nice to see a modern city where electric street cars are still being widely used.
Crandell
Ever been in San Francisco? It’s one of the few cities in the US that never scrapped its trolley system. The San Francisco Muni also operates a number of historic streetcars from other cities (even overseas cities),
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xFbhNgMqng
And then there are the cable cars and trolley buses, a trifecta of urban transportation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tweJ13YhEBE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8UjmeQp62w
Andre
Same with Boston. The trolleys run underground in the city center, and run in the streets or median strip further out. They used to have trolley busses in Cambridge in the 60s, but no longer. Boston’s original trolly cars in teh 1800s were horse drawn; can you imagine how the tunnels smelled??? [;)]
Andre and George, for many years Vancouver, with which I am most familiar, had electric buses, and trolleys before that. I don’t see many nowadays, but the catenary is still evident in some places.
I have spent little time in TO, but don’t recall seeing trolleys during the last two vists. That may say more about my memory or powers of observation than anything. I am glad to hear that such rail transit is still popular in several USA cities. I know it is still found in EU.
Crandell
New Orleans is another US city that never gave up streetcars.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NhBvl6KkoQ
Andre
Here is an old video of Vancouver from a streetcar. In the opening the car goes down the hill right towards the old CPR station.