Trolleys for the Bronx? Thonx!

Hi Folks:


http://www.welcome2thebronx.com/wordpress/2015/01/05/can-streetcars-make-a-comeback-in-the-bronx-nyc/

 Please look at this trolley proposal for the Bronx.  Interesting material here.  Will discuss in a few days.  Very interesting.  The area shown is the general area where the 3rd Avenue El was abandoned in 1973.  Will discuss hopefully in the future.  Also discusses the 167nd Street- Concourse trolley station.  Enjoy!

Montreal Also to get Trolleybuses by 2017?

This link was posted by WillD of subchat this week dealing with Montreal's 100% Electric Future.
Thank you WillD so much.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=aKx-WrdfzJY#t=0

Montreal's all-electric future

Posted by WillD on Thu Jan 1 08:58:53 2015 STM appears to be serious about electric surface transportation. Since New York City may bet some of its electric from Canada, why not New York?

Amsterdam to get Trolleybuses by 2017?

This is from the Trolleymotion website.

 I believe it states that Amsterdam will start to experimenting with trolleybuses in 2017.  The new lines will follow existing light rail lines because the overhead is already installed ( how about the extra wire for the return current?) and there will be off the wire battery capability.  This is very interesting.  I saw in a previous English translation of the article that Amsterdam only plans to purchase electric buses from now on.  Does this mean mainly trolleybuses or battery buses?
    While here in the United States years back trolleybus replacement meant the end of streetcars, I believe  in Amsterdam, that some diesel buses will be converted to trolleybus and not that some tram lines will be converted.  I hope so.  How about also in New York?


trolley:planung - Amsterdam plant Einführung von Trolleybussen
22.12.14 - Ab 2017 sollen in Amsterdam Trolleybusse einen Teil der derzeitigen Gelenkdieselbusse ersetzen, so äußerte sich Alexandra van Huffelen, seit 1. Juni 2014 Direktor der GVB (Gemeente vervoerbedrijf, Betreiber des städtischen Straßenbahn- und Busnetzes der niederländischen Hauptstadt) Anfang Oktober 2014 in einem Radiointerview. Der Austausch der ersten 40 Dieselbusse ist im Jahr 2017 erforderlich, um die Umwelt zu schonen, sollen nur elektrische Busse beschafft werden. Dabei sollen Trassen genutzt werden, wo Busse und Straßenbahn gemeinsam verkehren, hier soll Oberleitung für ... mehr

A Trip to Prague: Revisited

Hi Folks:

    Several months ago I posted a short video about a trip to Prague in 1960.  It had great music and the photography was something else, beautiful, taken at twilight.  The Prague video from 1960 showed older equipment and some PCC type modern trams.  I also posted below a video taken in 1958 which shows mainly new PCC equipment.

    In may father's trip to Warsaw in 1920's, he described that passengers would hop on and off streetcars.  In the 1960, you can see this very well and I forgot about this.  You can see at points that the streetcar would not stop at all and that people would easily jump on or off.  In fact, the cars at rush hour would have a lot of "hangers on".  In the great clip in 1958, you see less of this with the more modern PCC equipment.  You do see a man leaning out of  an open PCC car door while the car is moving. 

   Every age has a style to it.  Even though Prague was very isolated in the late 1950's and 1960's, you can see that there is a certain style that transcends cultures.  I remember seeing a film called "Desk Set" (1958?) and certain elements of that style can be found in the 1958 Prague Clip.

   In today's world, jumping on or off moving streetcars would probably be banned for the fear of law cases dealing with injuries.  And these were not low floor streetcars.  Enjoy both films, they are great to see.  I believe that the Czechs love their streetcars today while in New York, they have been gone for about 58 years.  Do not wait to see New Yorker's hanging on streetcars soon!


http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CB4QtwIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dg6xGeu609wQ&ei=aiGWVOFAz4o227eD0AQ&usg=AFQjCNE1f29q2Vuw9Vn333O3NS61qpNb-Q&sig2=uMy8_B1M11Teul6zpFg_qg


www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6xGeu609wQ


https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=5PkMd08hqzc#t=8

Interactive Map Test: Several Historic Points in Brooklyn

View Experiment: Transit Facilities in a full screen map

In the test below, I took some points along the 37th Street Corridor and Church Avenue and geocoded them. I then gave a description of the type of transit facility that was available. Thus at Church and McDonald, there is a subway station underground but this intersection had streetcar service until 1956. By moving west ( to the left ) on the map, you can see the remains of the historic railroad lines on the waterfront near 37-39th Streets.

This Brighton Beach is not in Brooklyn

This Brighton Beach is not in Brooklyn!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=NFxM1r9s3KM

It is funny to see a "Brighton Beach" sign on a trolley that is not on a subway car or trolley car in New York.  In fact, I am not sure in he heyday of streetcars in Brooklyn, New York, if a destination curtain had a setting for "Brighton Beach"  in the PCC era.  Since Coney Island was nearby, perhaps Coney Island was a more well know setting.  I think the PCC cars had a setting for Coney Island or West 5th Street Depot instead of "Brighton Beach".  "Brighton Beach" here in Brooklyn is very rich in transit history and probably there was a "Brighton Beach" destination on sign curtains earlier in the 20th Century on street railway equipment.  Of course on BMT subway equipment, such as BMT standards, Triplexes and modern equipment, "Brighton Beach" today and the past is an important terminal.






Enjoy the video from "Down Under".  The destination sign shown in this clip is not really a curtain but is a piece of wood painted with the destinations.


From " 1950's St. Kilda Tram to Brighton Beach" posted by Gezza1967




Tramway Null(0)

Tarrytown-White Plains-Mamaroneck Line

Source:  NYD Bulletin, ERA Linder, Vol. 37 No. 3, Page 5.
Additional map and narrative to follow some time in the future.


   There is another map to this line and hopefully I will post it soon.  The map not posted shows the line going south via Mamaroneck Avenue.  I am not familiar with the streetcars of Westchester Coun ty, which is the county just north of the Bronx.  According to Linder, the line started as an electric streetcar in 1895 and one branch ended service on November 17, 1929 and another branch on March 11, 1927.  The Mamaroneck service started on June 30, 1898.  Unlike streetcars in Brooklyn and Manhattan, the track layout shows a lot of single track with bypasses.  The line was on its' way to extinction as early as the late 1920's.  I hope to post more in the future.  Tramway Null(0)