Note that the St. Louis line goialng east to Belleville and the AFB beyond certainly is an interurban as well as a modern light rail line. I have yet to ride it.
Riding Baltimore’s light rail iine, those in San Diego, and Portland, OR, I could imagine myself on LVT’s Liberty Bell. The LA Blue line is about 80% a recreation of a PE line.
Anyone have further thoughts?
I rode the line to Media, PA many years ago, it goes through some sparsly populated areas as well as the line to Morrisburg. Also the Croydon tram goes way out in the country south of London. You pass farmer’s fields and it ends up at a bus stop where you can travel to the famous Biggin Hill RAF base.
Denver RTD’s West (or W-Line) to Lakewood and Golden uses the right-of-way of the Denver & Intermountain interurban, designated Route 84 in the Denver Tramway family of services. The ride west of Federal Blvd. along Lakewood Gulch is surprisingly bucolic so close to downtown Denver.
http://www.rtd-fastracks.com/wc_134
Jeff Dunning
I am a baby boomer who missed the interurban era, and the closest thing to a classic interurban avalable was the CSS&SB, which I rode about 1990. Despite the modern commuter equipment, the street running and Michigan City shops gave me a feeling of how it must have been. The modern light rail lines I have rode, such as San Diego, seemed too urban, and the modern vehicles are too far removed from the interurban ethos.
South Shore has always pushed the limit of the definition of an interurban and probably crossed it a while ago. Consider the following: the route was built to steam road standards; the equipment, especially starting with the Insull-era MU cars, was steam-road size except for the length; there were numerous interchanges with steam roads; after WW2 the freight power was more appropriate to a steam railroad electrification and eventually dieselized; except for the overhead, the shops are quite similar to those on regional roads; steam roads have street running like Jack London Square in Oakland.
For a modern interurban, I would consider SEPTA’s Norristown High-Speed Line to fit the bill.
The Norristown line is pretty much as first built, with chianges being relatively minor. Most of us did not consider Media, a suburban trolley line, nor Norristown, a high-speed commutger railroad, as interurbans. Norristown does, after all, use third rail, whereas ven bascially third rail interurbans used overhead wire in towns, and high platforms, typical of heavy rapid transit.
Denver’s lines seem like good candidates. Pittsburgh’s South Hills Light Rail is almost entirely remains of former true interurban lines to Charleroi-Rosco and Washington, PA, so what remains still has the feel of interruban lines.
Try Metro’s Gold Line extension east of the Seirra Madre Villa station. Most of the stations built along this ex AT&SF ROW are spaced at least a mile apart and the trains can get up some speed.
We recently rode the Baltimore Lightrail from Lutherville to BWI airport. This covered a good part of the Hunt Valley to BWI line and took about an hour. The OW fare for seniors is 70 cents - what a deal compared to the RT tunnel toll of $8.00 for our family to drive us to BWI.
The ride was smooth traversing all kinds of areas: rural, industrial, suburban and some trolley - like street running in the heart of the city. Probably the best part was the convenience of the BWI station. The line ends just outside the airport terminal. It was just a short walk to enter the check in area. It was a little surprising that there were only a few riders who going to fly - maybe five or six of us in our car. It seems to be a great service.
At the height of the Interurban Era, the Dallas area had one of the largest electric interurban systems in North America.
The Texas Electric Railway, which began operations in 1908, ran from Dallas to Denison, Corsicana, and Waco. A predecessor company, the Denison and Sherman Railway, began operations between its end points cities in 1901. Subsequent mergers resulted in the formation of the Texas Electric Railway Company, which continued operations until 1948. It operated over more than 200 miles of track.
Dallas Area Rapid Transit’s (DART) Red Line from downtown Dallas to Parker Road runs over or parallel to much of Texas Electric Railway’s former right-of-way between Dallas and Plano. One of the preserved interurban cars can be seen next to the Downtown Plano Station. Another by the way can be seen at the Fort Worth Intermodal Transportation Center.
The Texas Interurban Railway Company operated over a 38 mile line between Dallas and Denton from 1924 to 1932. Apparently it ran on the Missouri-Kansas-Texas line, which had been electrified to accommodate the interurban vehicles.
DART’s Green Line from near downtown Dallas to the North Carrollton/Frankford Road Station runs over or parallel to some of the company’s right-of-way. Moreover, the Denton Country Transportation Authority’s A Train does likewise from the Trinity Mills Station to near downtown Denton.
DART’s and Denton County’s trains don’t look or ride anything like the interurban cars. But a ride on the Red Line to Plano or the Green Line and the A Tra
Does riding the LA Blue Li ne seem evocotive of riding PE’s Long Beach line?
I did find the ride quality of tlihe Baltimore ligh rail cars a fairly similar experience to that remembered from North Shore’s Electroliners, repeated for a while on Phili Suburban, but they were not typical interurban cars, just the very best ever built, in my opinion.
When I rode Vancouver’s Sky Train, even with its linear motors and very different equipment, I was reminded of New York and Chicago (still extant to some extent) classic elevated lines, inlcuding 3rd Avenue. Not an interurban, of course.
The cars are modern, but by riding the CTA Yellow Line, aka Skokie Swift, you can ride along a bit of the RoW of the North Shore Line’s Electroliners.
It’s a good and cheap, if not fast, $1.70 connection to the Baltimore airport. I’m always surprised that more people don’t use it, but there’s a serious anti-transit bias around here, which is one of the reasons that the local bus service is so bad, and more rail lines seem to be politically impossible to build.
Most of the locals don’t think of the light rail line as a feasible option to BWI, if it occurs to them at all, and pay vast amounts of money to take taxis or park for extended periods at the airport.
I would nominate the Portland MAX line out to Hillsboro and the western suburbs. It’s not like riding the North Shore or South Shore, but the illusion is there at times.
John Timm
Except for the DMU’s instead of electric, the NCTD Sprinter line between Oceanside and Escondido has an interurban feel to it.
And also doen’t the New Jersey Transit River Line between Trenton and Camden?
Again with diesel MUs.
yes the river line is very quasi light interurbanish. There appears to be significant Station to Station riding as well as traffic to end points (both ends are traffic generators). There is also some almost street running. Now that I think about it and free myself from the electrified constraint this is my vote.
I just thoght of this one that I rode about 5 years ago. The Belgian coastal tramway goes from the Dutch border to France parallel to the coast. It’s got street running and some rural areas are covered. In Holland it connects to tram lines that go further on, but I didn’t have time to do them. Lots of interesting places to see and drink Belgian beer in.
Rode the Belglian Costal Tram-- definitely one
I like the Metro Green Line Trains sitting on 4th Street at the St Paul Union Depot (SPUD). This street also hosted the TCRC streetcars on the Selby-Lake line until 1953.
I forgot to mention that the Metro Green Line follows the exact route of the first interurban electric line in the country, for 6 miles along University Ave between St Paul and Minneapolis, which was mostly open country when it opened in 1891. I rode many of these street car lines as a kid, including the Selby-Lake line. A lot of fun for young and old alike. I miss those old yellow cars on the city streets, but we can still see them running at Lake Harriet, including one of our original PCC’s!! Please visit the streetcar museum!!