WhiteRiverProductions Hal Carstens
Railfan for Life
Enjoy a rich journey across the American railroading landscape through the lens of Hal Carstens!
by flooding from Hurricanes Irene and San- dy. A $10,000 grant from the H. Albert Webb Memorial Railroad Association Award helped in its reconstruction period. The first Post Of- fice trolley began service in St. Louis in 1891; next was Brooklyn in 1894, followed in 1895 by New York City and Boston. Many other cit- ies also followed suit after seeing the success of this now greatly appreciated piece of histo- ry. Thanks to the Branford Electric Railway Journal of May 2014 for the information.
Everything is Up to Date in Kansas City
The 2.2-mile-long Kansas City Downtown Streetcar Line is being updated with new and up-to-date fixtures and features. In or- der to be the core of a Smart City collection of high tech services, the streetcars will be equipped with the vital input of Sprint and Cisco Systems. The streetcar line will feature wifi, cameras, smart lighting, sensors, and 25 interactive kiosks that provide informa- tion about local businesses and events. Sen- sors along the line will provide information for monitoring traffic patterns and will help in planning. The system is expected to begin service on March 1, 2016. There is doubt that Rodgers and Hammerstein knew, back in 1943 when “Oklahoma” originated, just how up to date Kansas City would become. Thank you to James Asplund for the information.
Flashes In New York City, the 7 LINE extension from
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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Times Square West to 11th Avenue and the south to 34th Street opened on September 13 despite extensive delays. One source of problems is singular; the 34th Street Station requires an inclined or diagonal elevator for the last 84 feet of the station below street level. Angular elevators have been used at the Eiffel tower since 1889 and Washington Metrorail at its Huntington Station so the idea is not a new one. Maspero Elevatori of Italy is manufacturing the angular lift after the inclined elevator failed a test in 2001. The incline angle is 27 degrees and the elevator is 172 feet long. The elevator is to move at 100 feet per minute for the two-minute trip and the car will hold 15 standing passengers or five wheelchairs. Although there was con- tinuity, the lack of a firm opening date also provided an unavoidable issue. Adding to the complications, the project administrator wanted the software and other components to come from U.S. companies. Thomas A. Burg of Merrill, Wis., sent me a
story regarding a contest about JACK THE TROL- LEY DOG. The facts reported in the March 12, 1909, Advocate provides a story about a dog named Jack who rode the streetcar to visit his girlfriend on the other side of Merrill. The Merrill Railway & Lighting Company operat- ed a streetcar system from 1890 to the very end of 1919. Every day, Jack waited on east Main Street for the trolley, boarded, and rode to Larsen where he got off, called out, and was joined by his lady friend who emerged from an adjacent alley. As it de volved, Jack would board a car bound for the east side of town where he alighted at Park Street. A Mr. D.M. Phiney, a very smart traveler, was the human companion of Jack. Many thanks for the in- formation to Mr. Burg, who writes that there is a contest in Merrill to select a model of Jack from entries of dog photos. The selected photo
will become the model for a mural of a dog on the streetcar to be painted on the side of the Merrill Historical Society. The slow-to-get-going LOS ANGELES STREETCAR
has moved ahead by hiring a project manag- er, the URS Corporation. That company has experience with Portland, Ore., and Tampa, Fla. For Los Angeles, URS will work on plan- ning the project, estimating costs, and work- ing with the Department of Engineering in the city Department of Transportation. The 3.8-mile line is not expected to be in service for a number of years. Thanks to the late John A. Lee for the news. State funding was recently made available
for the EL PASO STREETCAR. It was part of the dis- tribution of $2.8 billion dispensed by the Tex- as Transportation Commission to El PAso, San Antonio, Dallas, and Houston. About $97 million is to be given to El Paso for the estab- lishment of the 5.2-mile El Paso Trolley. At about the same time, the El Paso city council voted to start renovation of six PCC cars that have been stored at the El Paso Internation- al Airport. Thanks to Ronald Dutton for the good news. D. Martin sends news that, slowly but
surely, approvals for the CALIFORNIA HIGH-SPEED BULLET TRAIN are being heard. Part of the issue, however, is local connecting transit systems have to be upgraded in the state in order to meet the needs of rail travelers and to help initiate and complete their journeys. The DELAWARE RIVER PORT AUTHORITY operates
several bridges and the PATCO rail service between downtown Philadelphia and Lin- denwold, N.J. The level of deferred mainte- nance on the rail line is very high and the Port Authority never has had money divert- ed to support all the mainetenance required. Failure to renew the tracks on the Benjamin Franklin Bridge and to keep the rolling stock in first world shape will result in many ser- vice interruptions. A new top executive at the Port Authority may help the sad situation. The service upgrade would keep passengers happy. Thanks to M.R. Seidelmann for the news. In the Los Angeles region, financing is to be
raised in order to convert the ORANGE LINE bus way into a rail line. The Orange Line is the busiest bus line in the San Fernando Valley. Looking ahead, when the Orange Line was constructed, bridges were engineered to be able to handle rail service. The line itself was constructed on an old streetcar right-of-way, with sufficient infrastructure already in place to help reduce the cost of a light rail line. Con- verting the Orange Line to rail would take two or three years and cost between $1.2 bil- lion and $1.7 billion. Consequently, the new light rail line’s eastern terminal would be at the Red Line subway in North Hollywood and the western terminal would be at Chats- worth. Frank Bauer was the kind provider of the news. Mr. Bauer also sent encouraging news
regarding the streetcar proposal in ORANGE COUNTY that would connect the Santa Ana Re- gional Transportation Center in the east with a new regional transportation center and sta- tion in Garden Grove at Harden Boulevard on West Minster Avenue. The estimated cost is $250 million. Part of the line would follow the right-of-way of an Old Pacific E lectric rail line. Let us see if this project comes to fruition.
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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