<HTML><HEAD></HEAD>
<BODY dir=ltr>
<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic'; COLOR: #000000">
<DIV><FONT size=4 face="Century Gothic"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Fred</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>What? Folks in the NOLA cemeteries are not riding the
cars?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Perhaps the transit agency there should rebuild one of the
Perley A Thomas cars into a funeral car.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Dwight</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV
style="BORDER-TOP-COLOR: #000000; BORDER-BOTTOM-COLOR: #000000; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 4px solid; BORDER-RIGHT-COLOR: #000000">
<DIV
style="FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: #000000; FONT-STYLE: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none; DISPLAY: inline">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt tahoma">
<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=fwschneider@comcast.net
href="mailto:fwschneider@comcast.net">Fred Schneider</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, 09 November, 2013 16:24</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org
href="mailto:pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org">Western PA Trolley
discussion</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Re: [PRCo] First Harmony Car Enters
Pittsburg</DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV
style="BORDER-TOP-COLOR: #000000; BORDER-BOTTOM-COLOR: #000000; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 4px solid; BORDER-RIGHT-COLOR: #000000">
<DIV
style="FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: #000000; FONT-STYLE: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none; DISPLAY: inline">Herb:<BR><BR>Are
you telling us that building a trolley line in the bottom of a fish bowl is "the
bright side?" :<) <BR><BR>The last time I looked at
the "other side" of Canal Street, many of the homes were still vacant after the
hurricane. The 2010 census showed that almost 30 percent of the
residents had not returned since the deluge. <BR><BR>The peak
population in New Orleans was the 1960 census (627,525). Then we
began telling the southern whites that they had to be nice to southern blacks
and they didn't take that very well. In the 1960s, New Orleans last 10% of
its residents. The western suburbs became white and eastern 'burbs became
black. By 2010 the city was down to 343,829. That 46% drop is
far from the worst
. Pittsburgh, Buffalo, St. Louis, Cleveland, Detroit are all
far worse but they happened because of industrial losses while New Orleans is
more related to racial and flooding issues. <BR><BR>Herb, I have no
idea how many people are riding the cars today compared to years
ago. But I can give you some schedule information. When
I first visited New Orleans in 1958, Canal Street required 50 cars in order to
provide a 45 second rush hour headway with standing loads. It was
basically a moving sidewalk. Off peak headways were around 3
minutes. <BR><BR>Today Canal requires 2 cars off peak for a 30
minute headway and 4 cars in the peak for a 16 minute headway. Now, to be
completely honest, we have to intermingle the Museum of Art - Canal cars that
also run every half hour with no rush hour additional frequency. So
the maximum demand is 6 cars where we once needed 50. <BR><BR>St
Charles required 35 cars in 1958. I think it had something on the
order of a 2 minute rush hour headway about 5 or 6 minutes off peak back in
1958-59. Today it's stronger than Canal. It takes an
hour round trip and runs a 6 minute rush and 7 minute off peak
headway. Might have something to do with people in a university are
more likely to ride than the people in the cemeteries and also the fact that
downtown retailing moved to the malls
Maison Blanche department store on Canal
St. is now a hotel. So it needs 10 cars for the rush
today.<BR><BR>The new Loyola line currently has two cars scheduled on weekdays,
every 20 minutes from 6 am to 9 pm and then they lengthen the layover at the
ends of the line to save the power bill
schedule drops to 30
minutes. They are running it all the way to Harrah's Casino rather
than turning it back at Loyola and Canal. Why? Probably
in the hope that someone might ride. My guess is they might be
hauling 800 people a day but there is nothing on line to confirm
.<BR><BR>There
is data in the APTA file that shows the New Orleans RTA is hauling fewer rail
passengers this year than they did before the new line opened. I did
not choose to look at the first quarter because the Loyola line opened in
January and that means February and maybe March could be disrupted.
I gave them a couple of months. What they reported to APTA shows
more bus riders in the 2nd quarter of 2013 than in the 2nd quarter of 2012 and
fewer trolley riders<BR><BR> 2012 trolley 3.550
million, total 8.504 million
trolley was 43.2% of the
total.<BR> 2013 trolley was 3.447 million, total
was 9.112 million
trolley was 37.8% of their total.<BR><BR>This could suggest
that the new car line is having little if any success. It could also
suggest that the flood neighborhoods on bus routes are also finally
recovering. <BR><BR>I wish, guys, that I would remember the title of
the book so I could recommend it to all of you. About a decade ago I
read a book on all the idiotic things man does like building homes on the side
of a volcano (Iceland was the example but Seattle and Portland and Honolulu fit
very well), building on earthquake faults (think most of California, Japan,
Alaska) and building towns that are absolutely going to flood (the example in
the book was New Orleans). This morning on PBS television, This Old
House had a great show on rebuilding homes in Point Pleasant, NJ after that last
hurricane. The thing that caught my eye was that in spite of global
warming and rising seas, the new building code is that homes must be built on
piles above the flood of the last storm
but worry about the next
one. You only have to keep the utilities, power lines, gas lines
above the 2012 sea surge. Are we dumb? (The link isn't
working now
might later.) <BR><BR>
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/tv/video/0,,,00.html<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>On
Nov 9, 2013, at 12:22 PM, Herb Brannon wrote:<BR><BR>> When John "Teaparty"
Kasich became governor of Ohio he thought the same<BR>> thing as this guy in
Cincinnati. His very first official act was to "can"<BR>> the high-speed
passenger rail system in Ohio. The US Govt had approved<BR>> money for some
of the Ohio rail lines and Kasich publicly stated that he<BR>> would be using
the money for "other things". Much to his surprise and<BR>> enlightenment,
the fed just moved the money to the states of New York and<BR>> California
leaving Kasich to find "corporate welfare" money elsewhere.<BR>> <BR>> On
the bright side, New Orleans has built and placed into revenue service<BR>>
the new Loyola Avenue line and will begin construction in early 2014 on
the<BR>> Rampart Street line.<BR>> <BR>> One the cloudy side, why
doesn't PATransit try to get money to extend some<BR>> of the Pittsburgh
lines? The PAT management doesn't seem too interested in<BR>> running a good
transit system. Service levels are no where near what they<BR>> were when I
worked at PAT.<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> On Sat, Nov 9, 2013 at 12:05 PM, PC
<pcc_sr@yahoo.com> wrote:<BR>> <BR>>> The new mayor of Cincinnati
won on an anti-trolley platform didn't he.<BR>>> The city council is now
tipped anti-trolley.<BR>>> While contract obligations cloud the picture
the future is definitely in<BR>>> doubt. The mayor elect has
already<BR>>> talked to administration officials in DC to use Fed money
for other<BR>>> projects. The mayor elect has been<BR>>>
invited to DC to discuss same. Of course this does not mean approval
does<BR>>> it. The discussions may be<BR>>> legal in nature to
see if the law would allow for such changes.<BR>>> <BR>>>
<<BR>>>
http://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/hamilton-county/cincinnati/whats-next-for-the-cincinnati-streetcar-project<BR>>>>
<BR>>> <BR>>>
<http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20131105/NEWS0106/311050179><BR>>>
<BR>>> <<BR>>>
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Cincinnati-s-new-mayor-puts-streetcar-in-doubt-4961243.php<BR>>>>
<BR>>> <BR>>> <BR>>> Ph<BR>>> <BR>>>
--------------------------------------------<BR>>> On Sat, 11/9/13, John
Swindler <j_swindler@hotmail.com> wrote:<BR>>> <BR>>> Subject:
Re: [PRCo] First Harmony Car Enters Pittsburg<BR>>> To: "Western PA
Trolley discussion" <<BR>>>
pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org><BR>>> Date: Saturday,
November 9, 2013, 8:37 AM<BR>>> <BR>>> <BR>>> FTA is still
spending big bucks. Charlotte is getting<BR>>> some for light rail
extension to Univ. North Carolina and an<BR>>> east-west streetcar
line. Something seems to be going<BR>>> on in Cincinnati, St. Louis
and Kenosha, but I just don't<BR>>> follow anymore as in years
past.<BR>>> <BR>>> Likewise maybe Minneapolis - line to
St.Paul. Might<BR>>> also want to check New Orleans, Tucson, San
Francisco<BR>>> central subway, and Los Angeles Pasadena
extension.<BR>>> Also saw a mention about Norfolk extension to
Virginia<BR>>> Beach, but might still be in talking/planning
stage.<BR>>> Atlanta and Miami??? Again, I don't follow as
in<BR>>> year's past.<BR>>> <BR>>> Here's a picture of the
blank wall in the North Shore<BR>>> extension tunnel for a right turn
towards East<BR>>> St./I-279. The current north shore alignment
curves to<BR>>> left thru vehicle. The blank wall to right is
for<BR>>> future extension.<BR>>> <BR>>> <BR>>>
<BR>>> <BR>>>
_______________________________________________<BR>>> Pittsburgh-railways
mailing list<BR>>> Pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org<BR>>>
https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways<BR>>>
<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> -- <BR>> Herb Brannon<BR>> *In
Pittsburgh...*<BR>> *......the Greatest City In The U.S.*<BR>> Let's Go
Pens<BR>> Let's Go Steelers<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> --------------
next part --------------<BR>> An HTML attachment was scrubbed...<BR>> URL:
http://mailman.dementix.org/pipermail/pittsburgh-railways/attachments/20131109/e4d13e48/attachment.html
<BR>> _______________________________________________<BR>>
Pittsburgh-railways mailing list<BR>>
Pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org<BR>>
https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>Pittsburgh-railways
mailing
list<BR>Pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org<BR>https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways<BR></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV>
</BODY></HTML>