[PRCo] Re: Sound Transit - SEATAC line etc
richard allman
allmanr at verizon.net
Thu Jun 10 19:49:46 EDT 2010
no street running in Edmonton, John-all prw except few grade crossings. RICH
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Swindler" <j_swindler at hotmail.com>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Cc: "Philip Craig" <philgcraig204 at yahoo.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2010 8:43 AM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: Sound Transit - SEATAC line etc
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> Well, of course I care, Fred. (:>)
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> This is what?? your 3rd or 4th Circle trip??
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> Concerning Edmonton no longer having those 17 Duwag cars from late '70s,
> does Edmonton use salt on their streets in the winter?? Perhaps the
> underframes were starting to rust.
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> There is another fleet from that era that will be around for awhile - make
> that two fleets. The Kawasaki cars on the Broad St. subway are going thru
> a retrofit to replace the GE cam controllers with Kiepe chopper controls
> similar to the PCC2 cars. And I've heard comments that PATCO is planning
> another general overhaul of their cars.
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> The National Geographic cable channel will feature SEPTA tonight.
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> Likewise no plans to replace the Kawasaki LRVs, although there may be some
> fleet shrinkage. Several days ago 9017 plowed into a stopped LRV at
> elmwood and 72nd at about 20 mph. Both will be candidates for major
> structural work.
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> Cheers
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> John
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>> From: fwschneider at comcast.net
>> Date: Mon, 7 Jun 2010 00:10:41 -0400
>> Subject: [PRCo] Sound Transit - SEATAC line etc
>>
>> For those who care....
>>
>> I looked at both Seattle lines yesterday ... SLUT (now called the Seattle
>> trolley) and Sound Transit's line from Seattle down to the SEATAC (or
>> Seattle-Tacoma) Airport.
>>
>> I don't want a bunch of reply all messages going to the wrong people so
>> everything is sent out blind this time.
>>
>> The SLUT line (it was originally called the South Lake Union Trolley
>> until someone realized how the acronym could be pronounced) has three
>> unnumbered Skoda cars, the red one, the purple one and the orange one and
>> the run two of them. It results in about a ten minute headway. Was it
>> worth building? Probably not but it makes the city a little cleaner. I
>> was amazed by the number of tourists just riding it because it was there.
>> And you can get pictures of the monorail left over from the 1968 World's
>> Fair in the same picture if you get lucky.
>>
>> The Sea Tac line ... well, it is slower than the express buses were
>> because it goes all around Robin Hood's barn for political reasons.
>> Instead of going due south from downtown to the airport along Airport Way
>> (essentially the way the interurban did that was torn up in 1928), it
>> turns east and tunnels under Beacon Hill so that it can serve the
>> neighborhood on the east side of Beacon Hill. That takes it a mile out of
>> the way. Why? Hint. The street it follows is called Martin Luther King,
>> Jr. Blvd. Oh, the neighborhood must be full of blacks? No. It was been
>> gentrified. It is full of Chinese, Vietnamese and Koreans but not blacks.
>> Then when it gets down to the area near the airport it turns toward the
>> airport and totally misses a huge shopping center that makes South Hills
>> Village look like nothing. Instead there is a bus route that serves the
>> mall and everything around it ... the mall and the peripheral businesses
>> cover an area about 3/4s of a mile east-wes!
>> t by several miles north-south and you can't get there by light rail ...
>> a huge interchange where I-5 and I-405 come together separate the mall
>> from the car line. In spite of that, the load factors on Saturday were
>> around 80% with two trains with about 50% turnover in route. I was told
>> by the local who was with me .... Josh Coran who works for Talgo ... that
>> that was pretty typical. That would point to somewhere between 40,000 and
>> 50,000 riders on a weekday ... they have 7 1/2 minute headways in the
>> peak and 10 minute bases. Sunday is 15 minutes. Imagine what it would be
>> if it had a shopping center branch?
>>
>> I also saw the new Canada line in Vancouver this trip ... that's the
>> subway from downtown to LuLu Island ... splits as soon as you cross onto
>> the Island into two branches, one to serve Richmond proper as an elevated
>> on concrete piers and the other to reach the Vancouver airport. This gets
>> into the territory that was served by British Columbia Electric Railway's
>> last interurban line about 50+ years ago. Today its jammed with people.
>> Base headways on weekdays? About five minutes on each branch, half that
>> on the main trunk. They could reduce the headways if they lengthened the
>> trains ... they are only running two car trains.
>>
>> I also saw Edmonton's new University line for a few minutes last Sunday
>> ... was amazed that all the cars they bought in 1980 are now gone or at
>> least they don't run on Sunday if any are still around. The U-2 design
>> was still used in San Diego last year. I see this week if San Diego is
>> still using them. I've heard nothing to the contrary.
>>
>> Portland, Oregon ... well, that's where I am tonight. I can see the
>> southern terminal of the new Clackimus line from the hotel room. If the
>> Oregon Mist clears tomorrow, I'll take a few pictures before heading for
>> the Golden State.
>>
>> One last thought. I did see an old friend in Seattle on Friday. I picked
>> up William D. Middleton at his nursing home ... loaded his wheel chair
>> into my Volkswagen ... took him to breakfast ... drove him down to the
>> airport and back so that he could see the Seatac line ... had lunch with
>> him. By then Bill was pretty tuckered out and needed a nap. But he thinks
>> he can recover from his falls and regain the use of his legs. He has the
>> computer in his room and ready to start on the next book at age 82.
>>
>>
>>
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