WhiteRiverProductions Hal Carstens
Railfan for Life
Enjoy a rich journey across the American railroading landscape through the lens of Hal Carstens!
generally recognized in the industry. In favor of the trolley buses is the lack of noise and diesel exhaust at street level. King County Metro in Seattle decided to stick with trolley buses when research showed that diesel-hy- brid electrics cost more than trolley buses to operate, and have higher greenhouse gas emissions and total energy consumption. Se- attle is now buying New Flyer Trolley Buses with a Vossoleh-Kieps electrical system. Se- attle is paying $900,000-$1.3 million per ve- hicle, depending on size, to replace its current fleet of 159 trolley buses. For a Sunday drive many years ago, my
parents would take a route that went east from Southwest Philadelphia to South Phil- adelphia. We often drove along Oregon Ave- nue and noted the pioneer trolley bus line of the Philadelphia Transportation Company. Thanks again to Richard Bierau for the news.
Bike Sharing in Los Angeles
The Los Angeles Metropolitan Transporta- tion Authority is developing a large-scale bike-sharing program to complement its rail and bus services. Initially, the bike-sharing program is slated for Los Angeles and Pas- adena; if successful, it will be expanded. A $2.2 million federal grant will help establish the program. Similar programs have been successful in San Francisco, New York City, Indianapolis, and Washington, D.C. It will be interesting to see if the City of Angels moves ahead with the program. Another experiment to make travel by tran-
In this all-new collection, you’ll enjoy more than 100 pages of color photos selected by our editors spanning Hal’s trackside adventures from the last sixty years. From coast to coast, from steam to diesel (and trolleys, too), from main lines to short lines and everything in between!
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sit more convenient is personalized cell phone messages called the Beacon Project, which will be placed in Los Angeles Union Passen- ger Terminal (okay, now officially Los Ange- les Union Station). The messages will guide people to commuter rail, subway, light rail, or bus services. It is called a beacon service, and it is deemed a highly effective and effi- cient means of providing information. Some beacons will be associated with bus stops for bus services. Many thanks to Frank Bauer for the information.
Sacramento Street Car
Sacramento, Calif., has an excellent light rail system that has been growing steadily for more than 30 years. Now, the city is planning on bringing back streetcars. The planned line would link Sacramento and West Sacramento with a 3.3-mile route that is expected to cost about $150 million. On February 17, 2015, property owners near the proposed streetcar line voted by mail to help finance the proj- ect by a 66 percent approval rate. A setback occurred in May, however, when 3800 regis- tered voters living within three blocks of the planned streetcar had the chance vote yes or no on financing the line by establishing a financing district; 67 percent of the voters needed to support the line, but only 48 per- cent voted yes. The city still plans to move ahead with the project by seeking alternative funding sources. The streetcar supporters are seeking $75
million in federal funds. Supporting the proj- ect is $7 million from the Sacramento City Council; West Sacramento has committed $25 million, the state has been requested for $10 million and the county supervisors, $3 million dollars. The Streetcar line between Sacramento
and West Sacramento will serve Raley Field and the Bridge District in West Sacramento. In Sacramento, the streetcars are to serve old Sacramento, the old downtown rail sta- tion, the Sacramento Kings basketball are- na, the State Capitol, the convention cen- ter, and several major hotels. The streetcar project would require the light rail line to be moved from K street to N Street with a price tag of $17 million dollars. Sacramento is a great town in which to visit the California Sate Railway Museum and ride the Light Rail system. Thanks to Robert Doyle for the information.
Flashes
Frank Bauer sends news from the LOS ANGE- LES region — the Orange Line bus rapid tran- sit line that connects with the Red Line sub- way in north Hollywood has been averaging about 30,000 passengers per day and serious consideration has been given to expanding be- yond north Hollywood. The UNITED RAILWAYS & ELECTRIC COM-
PANY was the streetcar service operator in Baltimore in the 1920s. At the time, the company had purchased new cars and had a surplus of old streetcars from the earliest days of the electric railways in Baltimore. The company placed seven of the old surplus cars or, “Jolly Town Trolleys,” in playgrounds for children to play on. However, over the course of time, weather and vandalism took their toll. The single four-wheel truck from the last car — Brownell-built Car No. 134 — has been preserved at the Baltimore Street Car Museum. It would be interesting to know how many Brownell cars or parts still exist. Thanks to the museum’s excellent newsletter The Livewire for the information. The PORT AUTHORITY TRANS-HUDSON
(PATH) rail service links Northern New Jer- sey with Manhattan and suffers from large, and growing, deficits. PATH, the old Hudson & Manhattan rail line, was taken over by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey. The Port Authority subsidizes the rapid tran- sit service from its highly profitable revenues from tunnels, bridges, and airports. Fares and cross-subsidies might be added to money from the general public in the form of a sales tax and property taxes to reduce the deficit. Thanks John Spychalski. There is interest in developing a street-
car line joining Astoria in QUEENS with Red Hook in BROOKLYN by way of Long Island City, Williamsburg, and Fort Green. The pro- posed line would join bus, subway, and com- muter rail lines, as well as improve connectiv- ity in Brooklyn and Queens. New York mayor, Bill DeBlasio, apparently likes the idea and therefore, its future looks promising. Thanks to Harry Ros s for the news. SAD NEWS — long time correspondent
John Allen Lee has passed away. Also, Da- vid E. Crawford, a friend for over 70 years, passed away in the fall of 2014. Dave Craw- ford bought Red Arrow Lines No. 14 (St. Lou- is Car Company) and intended to restore the car and put it back into operation. Dave, Jack Boorse, and I made many trips on the Lehigh Valley Transit rail lines. There was also a memorable trip to New York City to ride on the Third Avenue elevated, not long before it was abandoned. James Batford and Bill Crawford forwarded the sad news.
PLEASE SEND light rail, transit, and commuter rail news items and correspondence directly to Prof. George M. Smerk, P.O. Box 486, Bloomington, IN 47402.
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