[PRCo] First Harmony Car Enters Pittsburg
Dwight Long
dwightlong at verizon.net
Mon Nov 11 16:32:10 EST 2013
Fred
Elmer was just a kid, or barely more than a kid, back then, but I guess he learned well from those years.
Dwight
----- Original Message -----
From: Fred Schneider
To: Western PA Trolley discussion
Sent: Monday, November 11, 2013 3:10 PM
Subject: Re: [PRCo] First Harmony Car Enters Pittsburg
Might be popular on Halloween, right? If my calculations are correct, they have more than enough cars. They have something like 60 cars and need about 30. That leaves a few to convert. NOPSI, back in 1958, had 88 cars and scheduled 85 … that left one in the shop and one spare in each of the two barns.
On Nov 11, 2013, at 12:48 PM, Dwight Long wrote:
>
> Fred
>
> What? Folks in the NOLA cemeteries are not riding the cars?
>
> Perhaps the transit agency there should rebuild one of the Perley A Thomas cars into a funeral car.
>
> Dwight
>
> From: Fred Schneider
> Sent: Saturday, 09 November, 2013 16:24
> To: Western PA Trolley discussion
> Subject: Re: [PRCo] First Harmony Car Enters Pittsburg
> Herb:
>
> Are you telling us that building a trolley line in the bottom of a fish bowl is "the bright side?" :<)
>
> The last time I looked at the "other side" of Canal Street, many of the homes were still vacant after the hurricane. The 2010 census showed that almost 30 percent of the residents had not returned since the deluge.
>
> The peak population in New Orleans was the 1960 census (627,525). Then we began telling the southern whites that they had to be nice to southern blacks and they didn't take that very well. In the 1960s, New Orleans last 10% of its residents. The western suburbs became white and eastern 'burbs became black. By 2010 the city was down to 343,829. That 46% drop is far from the worst …. Pittsburgh, Buffalo, St. Louis, Cleveland, Detroit are all far worse but they happened because of industrial losses while New Orleans is more related to racial and flooding issues.
>
> Herb, I have no idea how many people are riding the cars today compared to years ago. But I can give you some schedule information. When I first visited New Orleans in 1958, Canal Street required 50 cars in order to provide a 45 second rush hour headway with standing loads. It was basically a moving sidewalk. Off peak headways were around 3 minutes.
>
> Today Canal requires 2 cars off peak for a 30 minute headway and 4 cars in the peak for a 16 minute headway. Now, to be completely honest, we have to intermingle the Museum of Art - Canal cars that also run every half hour with no rush hour additional frequency. So the maximum demand is 6 cars where we once needed 50.
>
> St Charles required 35 cars in 1958. I think it had something on the order of a 2 minute rush hour headway about 5 or 6 minutes off peak back in 1958-59. Today it's stronger than Canal. It takes an hour round trip and runs a 6 minute rush and 7 minute off peak headway. Might have something to do with people in a university are more likely to ride than the people in the cemeteries and also the fact that downtown retailing moved to the malls … Maison Blanche department store on Canal St. is now a hotel. So it needs 10 cars for the rush today.
>
> The new Loyola line currently has two cars scheduled on weekdays, every 20 minutes from 6 am to 9 pm and then they lengthen the layover at the ends of the line to save the power bill … schedule drops to 30 minutes. They are running it all the way to Harrah's Casino rather than turning it back at Loyola and Canal. Why? Probably in the hope that someone might ride. My guess is they might be hauling 800 people a day but there is nothing on line to confirm….
>
> There is data in the APTA file that shows the New Orleans RTA is hauling fewer rail passengers this year than they did before the new line opened. I did not choose to look at the first quarter because the Loyola line opened in January and that means February and maybe March could be disrupted. I gave them a couple of months. What they reported to APTA shows more bus riders in the 2nd quarter of 2013 than in the 2nd quarter of 2012 and fewer trolley riders
>
> 2012 trolley 3.550 million, total 8.504 million … trolley was 43.2% of the total.
> 2013 trolley was 3.447 million, total was 9.112 million … trolley was 37.8% of their total.
>
> This could suggest that the new car line is having little if any success. It could also suggest that the flood neighborhoods on bus routes are also finally recovering.
>
> I wish, guys, that I would remember the title of the book so I could recommend it to all of you. About a decade ago I read a book on all the idiotic things man does like building homes on the side of a volcano (Iceland was the example but Seattle and Portland and Honolulu fit very well), building on earthquake faults (think most of California, Japan, Alaska) and building towns that are absolutely going to flood (the example in the book was New Orleans). This morning on PBS television, This Old House had a great show on rebuilding homes in Point Pleasant, NJ after that last hurricane. The thing that caught my eye was that in spite of global warming and rising seas, the new building code is that homes must be built on piles above the flood of the last storm … but worry about the next one. You only have to keep the utilities, power lines, gas lines above the 2012 sea surge. Are we dumb? (The link isn't working now … might later.)
>
> http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/tv/video/0,,,00.html
>
>
>
>
>
> On Nov 9, 2013, at 12:22 PM, Herb Brannon wrote:
>
>> When John "Teaparty" Kasich became governor of Ohio he thought the same
>> thing as this guy in Cincinnati. His very first official act was to "can"
>> the high-speed passenger rail system in Ohio. The US Govt had approved
>> money for some of the Ohio rail lines and Kasich publicly stated that he
>> would be using the money for "other things". Much to his surprise and
>> enlightenment, the fed just moved the money to the states of New York and
>> California leaving Kasich to find "corporate welfare" money elsewhere.
>>
>> On the bright side, New Orleans has built and placed into revenue service
>> the new Loyola Avenue line and will begin construction in early 2014 on the
>> Rampart Street line.
>>
>> One the cloudy side, why doesn't PATransit try to get money to extend some
>> of the Pittsburgh lines? The PAT management doesn't seem too interested in
>> running a good transit system. Service levels are no where near what they
>> were when I worked at PAT.
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Nov 9, 2013 at 12:05 PM, PC <pcc_sr at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>>> The new mayor of Cincinnati won on an anti-trolley platform didn't he.
>>> The city council is now tipped anti-trolley.
>>> While contract obligations cloud the picture the future is definitely in
>>> doubt. The mayor elect has already
>>> talked to administration officials in DC to use Fed money for other
>>> projects. The mayor elect has been
>>> invited to DC to discuss same. Of course this does not mean approval does
>>> it. The discussions may be
>>> legal in nature to see if the law would allow for such changes.
>>>
>>> <
>>> http://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/hamilton-county/cincinnati/whats-next-for-the-cincinnati-streetcar-project
>>>>
>>>
>>> <http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20131105/NEWS0106/311050179>
>>>
>>> <
>>> http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Cincinnati-s-new-mayor-puts-streetcar-in-doubt-4961243.php
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Ph
>>>
>>> --------------------------------------------
>>> On Sat, 11/9/13, John Swindler <j_swindler at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Subject: Re: [PRCo] First Harmony Car Enters Pittsburg
>>> To: "Western PA Trolley discussion" <
>>> pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org>
>>> Date: Saturday, November 9, 2013, 8:37 AM
>>>
>>>
>>> FTA is still spending big bucks. Charlotte is getting
>>> some for light rail extension to Univ. North Carolina and an
>>> east-west streetcar line. Something seems to be going
>>> on in Cincinnati, St. Louis and Kenosha, but I just don't
>>> follow anymore as in years past.
>>>
>>> Likewise maybe Minneapolis - line to St.Paul. Might
>>> also want to check New Orleans, Tucson, San Francisco
>>> central subway, and Los Angeles Pasadena extension.
>>> Also saw a mention about Norfolk extension to Virginia
>>> Beach, but might still be in talking/planning stage.
>>> Atlanta and Miami??? Again, I don't follow as in
>>> year's past.
>>>
>>> Here's a picture of the blank wall in the North Shore
>>> extension tunnel for a right turn towards East
>>> St./I-279. The current north shore alignment curves to
>>> left thru vehicle. The blank wall to right is for
>>> future extension.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Pittsburgh-railways mailing list
>>> Pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org
>>> https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Herb Brannon
>> *In Pittsburgh...*
>> *......the Greatest City In The U.S.*
>> Let's Go Pens
>> Let's Go Steelers
>>
>>
>>
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