[PRCo] Re: New Railway Properties

[Fred Schneider]

The word about in the last line of the first paragraph should have  
been spelled "above" 40.

On Mar 14, 2006, at 5:43 PM, Fred Schneider wrote:

> 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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