[PRCo] Re: New Railway Properties

[Fred Schneider]

It's all been a personal campaign, Bill, to get some of these people  
to look forward too.   But not all of the fifty plus systems look  
old.   I'm counting anything where the local government is involved  
in some way or another ...  a situation where politics looks at it  
and says its good for the community and the public uses it and it  
isn't just a museum.   If we use that definition, then there are also  
some old looking things that push the count about 40.

Nelson, British Columbia has a rebuilt Cleveland Railway wood car and  
a BCE Birney that run along the river and right through the Wal*Mart  
parking lot and the locals ride it.

I've watched locals get on the Birney in Fort Collins, Colorado to go  
to the park on a Sunday afternoon in the summer.

How about the McKinney Avenue Transit Authority in Dallas?   They  
actually fill a transit need and DART makes up their operating losses.

And when I said 50-plus systems, I'm including Muni, TTC, SEPTA, PAT,  
Nawlins RTA.  The latter has been around since 1835.

I can remember Electromobiles on Queensboro Bridge, in Scranton and  
Altoona.  I can remember West Penn's huge 700s.   I wished I hadn't  
missed the C&LE and the Indiana Railroad and the PE Catalina boat  
trains.   But I can honestly say of the new stuff, I've only missed  
Galveston in the U. S.    I've missed none of the British lines.   I  
think I've missed only one of the new French operations.   And I  
think I've only missed one Canadian operation:   the new one in get  
this ... White Horse up in the Yukon.   And in between, I've seen a  
lot of national parks, cathedrals, castles, gators, seals, bison,  
birds, and had a heck of a lot of good meals.

I should go into the tour guide business.....

On Mar 14, 2006, at 5:19 PM, Bill Robb wrote:

> Let's see I've ridden Baltimore's light rail, Spadina and  
> Harbourfront lines in Toronto, San Jose's light rail, the O-Train  
> in Ottawa (not traction but extensions maybe be), 2nd and 3rd  
> Riverfront lines in New Orleans, and demo car 2001 on Canal Street.
>
>   But I still find the old stuff, which for me includes 70s era TTC  
> rebuilds, PAT air rebuilds and mod paint of the 70s and SF Muni of  
> the 80s, more interesting because it's what I encountered when I  
> was old enough to go out on my own.  I find the younger fans like  
> the new stuff.  It's all they know.
>
>   I was in Toronto yesterday riding the Queen and Bathurst lines.   
> For me there are too many towering condos, too much graffiti, it's  
> much dirtier than I grew up with, mature trees seem to be rare and  
> there are too many cars 24/7.  Since the Skydome opened there's  
> been a night club district west of University Av and south of Queen  
> Street and now that's turned into a residential area. A residential  
> area with substanial weekend nosie and traffic.
>
>   Looking back at the slides of the 70s it's not just the  
> streetcars I see, but the buildings that are gone,  things like the  
> old orange Globe & Mail newspaper boxes that are gone, a time when  
> they're were plenty of mature trees (not just parking lots) and a  
> time when the streets were quiet on Sunday mornings and streetcars  
> had the streets too themselves.
>
>   Bill Robb
>
> Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net> wrote:
>   Just a Question....
>
> I have a slide show that I've put on for East Penn and for the
> Tractioneers in Washington of the newer Light Rail, Heavy Rail, ART
> and Heritage Lines.
>
> I started by asking how many had visited 10 of the new properties?
> 20? 30? 40? 50?
>
> Hey guys ... Are you aware that there are more than 50 urban railway
> properties in the United States and Canada today if we use the
> following definition:
>
> "Not a museum but includes subway, light rail, ART, heritage, and is
> supported in some way by the municipality for the good of the
> municipality and operates on municipal land."
>
>
>
>
>
> 		
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