Trolleybus Art

4th Annual European Trolley Bus Day from Trolleymotion Facebook Page

Concerning my home town, New York City, several generations of children do not know what a trolleybus or streetcar is  Perhaps we can get them to draw pictures of "stink buggies" , AKA "diesel buses".  Nice pictures from the Trolleymotion Facebook page.  Although not connected directly to this topic, many of you may know the "Jackie Gleason Show" with Jackie Gleason who plays the role of a  beloved bus driver.  It is a really funny show.  I am not sure if it is viewed around the world in various languages.  Nevertheless, I was told that originally before going on television in the 1950's, the Ralph Kramden role was not a bus driver in Manhattan but that of a streetcar motorman, perhaps from Brooklyn, but the script was changed.  Who knows if the streetcar conductor role was kept, and so many people love the "Honeymooners", perhaps there would have been less pressure for abandonment in the 1950's in New York City.  Just a thought.

Vienna's Underground Tram Sections

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnRbAJORz2g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMYPj24BLyA

 

A good friend also gave me the links to these two videos dealing wth the underground sections of Vienna's tram network.  Unlike the Volgograd Tram Subway whose purpose is to relieve the pressure on a parallel commuter train route, the Vienna Tram subway, which appears to be in various underground sections, is to clear up congestion at various points in the city on the surface.  If New York City retained streetcars, and if some routes needed underground sections, such as the 4th Avenue -Madison Avenue Line at 34th Street (as originally constructed, please see comments), the subway would have looked like the underground sections of the Vienna's Tram System.  Incidentally, some of the newer but traditional styled streetcar equippment  built in the 1930's for New York's Third Avenue Railway System were sent after the war to Vienna.

Here are some of my thoughts after viewing the videos:

• Unlike the Volgograd Tram Subway, construction in Vienna appears to be near the surface and cut and cover.  Notice that the two track tunnels, unlike New York, do not appear to have supporting vertical steel columns.
• Some stations in the Vienna network have staggered side platforms.  This can be found in some of the New York Subway IRT stations south of Grand Central on the Lexington Avenue Line and in some Independent 8th Avenue Subway stations.  For Vienna, I do not know if the purpose of this was to extended the area of the mezzanine for street entranceways or because the street above the station was narrow.
• You get to see the video that shows the station with a 90 degree two track crossing at grade.  This crossing is fascinating because it shows that the branchoff leads to an adjacent station at 90 degrees that is part of the station complex.  In modern New York track subway and elevated construction, this is very rare, but on some of the 19th Century Elevated track diagrams, this is not unusual where a branchoff is at 90 degrees with joining platforms.  I believe there was a location on the Lexington Avenue El in Brooklyn where such a configuration was found.
• You get to see various equipment passing over or turning unto this branchoff.
• You get to see an underground station that appears to be part of a mall.
• Enjoy the videos.  The 90 degree branch off is very cool.