[PRCo] Re: Lisbon in the 1990s

[Fred Schneider]

Bill:

What you did here was to prove to me that at least several people were "listening" when I posted some of those foreign videos.   It wasn't for naught.   It does have an audience even if this is a Pittsburgh website.

Let me tell you guys something else.   For years after I worked as a theater projectionist, I could not go to a movie theater without seeing every mistake the projectionist made ... focusing, framing, not coming in on cue.   

I was having a similar problem here ... I've been running trolleys so long that when I saw those views out the front of a Lisbon car, I couldn't enjoy it.   My eyes automatically looked at every pedestrian, every automobile near the clearance line, ever vehicle about to pull out in front of the streetcar, every switch point.   S--t. 

I went over there once in the 1990s with a friend who had a little problem with his mouth.   He did not quite understand that Europeans are linguists compared to us, and in particular, people in minority language countries like Portugal (or Norway or Finland or Sweden or Denmark) will study English as their escape language.  We were coming back from a tour of the car overhaul shop in Lisboa with a student motorman and her instructor.  My friend, a former motorman in a North American city,  was running at the mouth, commenting out loud on this lady's abilities as an operator.   I was trying to signal him to shut up.  I used several signals ... the finger over the mouth, the hand over the mouth, the finger drawn across the neck and finally, "Damn it all, Dick, shut your f-u-c-k-i-n-g mouth."   Nothing worked.   He simply figured she didn't understand English.   Well, half way into town the car stopped.  The instructor got off to use the phone.   The lady turned around, winked at me.   Then she looked at my friend and said, "Does my performance meet with your lofty expectations for me?"   You could have scraped him off the floor.   Literally.   He had a mini stroke later that day and collapsed on the street the next day.   Lesson ... do not assume because you are in a non English speaking country that people don't understand you. 

Your interest in Lisboa seemed to be concentrated on the two axle cars.

The articulados were coming on line when I visited the city:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gARMj2HfkKg&NR=1

Some of the earliest rail abandonments were caused by subway lines:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSBE2zCMS8Q&NR=1

Lisboa may be the only remaining place in the world (not sure ... welcome the correction) where you can ride a counter-balance trolley line.   They are called Elvador or Elvadoros in Portuguese.   There are three in Lisboa, the Gloria, the Lavra and the Bica. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgOX1cLOYRs&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-zuQxRu3fc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T9LIza7INI

Carris also operates a completely vertical elevator to the top of the mountain but I cannot find any videos of it.   




On Feb 23, 2011, at 8:15 PM, Bill Robb wrote:

> How about Lisbon in the early 1990s before LRVs on Route 15?  There were still 
> 1906 vintage bogies on the flat lines and single truckers on numerous hilly 
> routes with gauntlet track, single track operation and much more.  Today there 
> are still single truckers, LRVs and a tram museum at Santo Amaro depot.
>  
> Line 25 at the Aquas Livres Aqueduct, 1996 or earlier.
>  
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQyLxA7dZPo&p=5EE2361DE48E7CD6
>  
> Line 18 to Ajuda September 1991 (still running).
>  
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQsoUECZCV8&p=5EE2361DE48E7CD6
>  
> Central and east end lines, September 1991
>  
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88i2_bNdclE&p=5EE2361DE48E7CD6
>  
> Today on Tram 28 (runbys, window ride and cab ride).
>  
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0ZNvZHWQ9g&p=5EE2361DE48E7CD6
>  
> Bill Robb
> 
> 
>