[PRCo] Re: PITTSBURGH-$18 MILLION IN FEDERAL FUNDS FOR STAGE II

[Kenneth Josephson]

Jim Holland wrote:

>  Say what one will about them, but  *TrolleyCar--Fans*  called this
> one right!

Especially when the trolley fans happened to be transit professionals, i.e., Harold
Geissenheimer, Mr. Swift, Paul Weyrich, Bill Lind, etc. ;-)

Gotta love Richard DeArmond's definition of the difference between a trolley line and
light rail.

Trolley Line: Find a viable route, secure franchises, rights of way & equipment,
remove the necessary paving, grade, lay ties & rail, repave, string trolley wire and
start operations.

Light Rail: Spent millions on studies of proposals, condemn half the city (especially
neighborhoods most likely to provide riders), delay construction until projected costs
are doubled, spend millions more on additional studies, find destinations nobody wants
nor needs to travel to, realign streets, existing railroads, freeways, underground
utilities and if possible, waterways, build cathedrals and other edifices for use as
stations, commission unknown "artists" to create sculptures and murals to perplex
riders, design power distribution as a test bed to see how many times one can rectify
electrical current between AC and DC between the power house and the cars' motors,
string catenary capable of bowing the overhead support structures on the Northeast
Corridor, order cars from inexperiencesd builders and deck them out with all sorts of
unnecessary (and unproven) electronic options, spend six months testing them, another
six months training operators and then begin service.

By the way, spending two days with Fred Schneider had no effect upon me
whatsoever....... ;-)

K.