[PRCo] Fwd: Re: Fwd: Fort Collins, Colo. - wandering Birney coming home!

[Fred Schneider]

Here is Bruce's answer to the Charlotte situation.   There was one  
PST St. Louis car down there which Dave Crawford had spent a bundle  
on ... it's sitting in a warehouse in North Charlotte stored at his  
expense after they kicked him out.   The body looks as nice as 14 at  
PTM.

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Bruce Bente" <bbente at bellsouth.net>
> Date: November 12, 2007 4:47:33 PM EST
> To: "John Swindler" <j_swindler at hotmail.com>, "Schneider, Fred"  
> <fwschneider at comcast.net>
> Subject: Re: [PRCo] Re: Fwd:  Fort Collins, Colo. - wandering  
> Birney coming home!
>
> The Charlotte Trolley group got screwed.  Initially, they preserved  
> a short distance of an abandoned Southern RR line to use as a  
> museum line.  Then the City of Charlotte decided to use their right- 
> of-way for the new LRV line, and bought new replica cars from  
> Gomaco and took over the line, effectively throwing the Charlotte  
> trolley group off the line.  They turned the historic line into  
> another division of the bus company, and CATS took over.  CATS  
> needed lots more space for offices and other bureaucracy, so they  
> took part of the track space in the  carbarn for offices, and  
> forced them to remove the PST St. Louis car.
>
> Then some bureaucrat decided that the only Charlotte car, 85, did  
> not meet their requirements for braking, and they forbade any of  
> the historic cars from operating on the line.  The only "old" cars  
> allowed out there are the 3 (2?) 3-year old Gomaco cars.
>
> Next, the lease on the carbarn was cancelled, throwing Charlotte  
> Trolley out on the street, so they might as well sell all their  
> cars, because they now have no line to operate on and no carbarn.   
> Isn't politics and bureaucracy wonderful?
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: John Swindler
> To: Bente, Bruce ; Schneider, Fred
> Sent: Monday, November 12, 2007 8:34 AM
> Subject: RE: [PRCo] Re: Fwd: Fort Collins, Colo. - wandering Birney  
> coming home!
>
>
>
>
> Is there more to the story about car 25 and the Charlotte Trolley?   
> What does Bruce have to say about the Charlotte Trolley outfit???
>
>
>
> > From: fwschneider at comcast.net
> > Subject: [PRCo] Re: Fwd: Fort Collins, Colo. - wandering Birney  
> coming home!
> > Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2007 21:45:10 -0500
> > To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> >
> > This is probably one of the more worthwhile projects out there!
> > \
> > On Nov 11, 2007, at 8:56 PM, James B. Holland wrote:
> >
> > > --- In Birney_Cars at yahoogroups.com, "Edward B. Havens"  
> <edhavens at ...>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > Fort Collins Municipal Railway Society has posted this press  
> release
> > > to its Web site, discussing the expected return of a 4-wheel  
> Birney
> > > that originally operated in the Colorado city:
> > > http://www.fortnet.org/trolley/car25.php
> > > Edward B. Havens
> > > Tucson, Ariz.
> > >
> > > --- End forwarded message ---
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>
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