Re: Running Ws in service&old trams generally.>
Peter D. Ehrlich
Monday, December 3, 2001 1:07 PM
In a message dated 3 Dec 2001 @ 0354 PST, "P Bruce"
<[email protected]> wrote:
Peter et al,
Muni got it done through a lot of blood, sweat and tears--hard work by
dedicated and interested people both within Muni and without. The trolley
booster organization Market Street Railway was most influential in getting
the job done, but the support of neighborhood groups such as Castro Street
merchants, and also ones boosting downtown--the Chamber of Commerce, Market
Street Merchants associations, etc.
A lot of hurdles had to be overcome. One was the mindset within many layers
of Muni management to have nothing to do with old streetcars after their
retirement in 1982. In fact, the master plans at the time were to rip up
the tracks. Fortunately, they were still in place in 1983 when the first of
the summertime Trolley Festivals began. With the success of the Trolley
Festivals, and the support of a general manager who was a dyed-in-the-wool
railfan, the Mayor worked on a plan to line up funding for rebuilding the
Market Street tracks, obtain the cars needed for the service, etc. Still,
there was a lot of opposition within middle management, which stalled the
project as much as they could before political pressure forced these people
to see the light, begrudgingly. And after September 1, 1995, the rest is
history.
The other impetus was the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. It damaged the hated
(except by Chinatown interests) beyond repair. In 1992 it was demolished,
opening up the Embarcadero to residents. The project to create and rebuild
the Embarcadero Roadway included trolley tracks to Fisherman's Wharf was
substantially complete by March 4, 2000, allowing F-Line service to open to
the Wharf.
The original F-Line carried betwen 8,000 and 9,000 riders a day. In
February 2001, with the line now extended, over 19,000 riders packed into F
cars. The line has been instrumental in getting residents to ride to the
Northern Waterfront, whereas before the F line, the alternatives were to
ride slow, bumpy buses with a transfer required.
I wrote an article on the original F Line opening, which was published in
the now-defunct magazine Passenger Train Journal in June 1996. It describes
in detail how the process was done. I have been planning to make copies of
it, but have been reluctant to do so without contacting the publisher first
(even though it's MY article! LOL). If you're interested, e-mail me
privately at <[email protected]>.
You folks in Melbourne have a lot of work cut out for you to make it a
reality there. But it can be done. An organization similar to Market
Street Railway would be a big help in the process.
Milantram
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
<[email protected]> wrote:
I suppose there are two distinct issues here running modified Ws in service
and
being able to run the heritage fleet on the Melb. network.I keep hearing that
the former is going to happen eventually although the private operators seem
less than enthustiastic about it,I do hope it happens although modified Ws are
a bit like cold tea to me,better than nothing.Are Yarra and Mtram just
resisting this out of bloodymindedness?are they united about this?It should be
obvious that if you have a spate of rear ons that something unusual or new has
entered the equation.Is it inferior driver training?I always thought that car
ahead collisions were the tramway equivalent of a mortal sin,were the drivers
involved penalised?I'll have to talk to you Greg.In the meantime I might as
well post these unsatisfactory ramblings.Plenty of good ideas being chucked
around though.Yeah,and how did the Muni do it?Regards all,PBruce.
Peter et al,
Muni got it done through a lot of blood, sweat and tears--hard work by
dedicated and interested people both within Muni and without. The trolley
booster organization Market Street Railway was most influential in getting
the job done, but the support of neighborhood groups such as Castro Street
merchants, and also ones boosting downtown--the Chamber of Commerce, Market
Street Merchants associations, etc.
A lot of hurdles had to be overcome. One was the mindset within many layers
of Muni management to have nothing to do with old streetcars after their
retirement in 1982. In fact, the master plans at the time were to rip up
the tracks. Fortunately, they were still in place in 1983 when the first of
the summertime Trolley Festivals began. With the success of the Trolley
Festivals, and the support of a general manager who was a dyed-in-the-wool
railfan, the Mayor worked on a plan to line up funding for rebuilding the
Market Street tracks, obtain the cars needed for the service, etc. Still,
there was a lot of opposition within middle management, which stalled the
project as much as they could before political pressure forced these people
to see the light, begrudgingly. And after September 1, 1995, the rest is
history.
The other impetus was the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. It damaged the hated
(except by Chinatown interests) beyond repair. In 1992 it was demolished,
opening up the Embarcadero to residents. The project to create and rebuild
the Embarcadero Roadway included trolley tracks to Fisherman's Wharf was
substantially complete by March 4, 2000, allowing F-Line service to open to
the Wharf.
The original F-Line carried betwen 8,000 and 9,000 riders a day. In
February 2001, with the line now extended, over 19,000 riders packed into F
cars. The line has been instrumental in getting residents to ride to the
Northern Waterfront, whereas before the F line, the alternatives were to
ride slow, bumpy buses with a transfer required.
I wrote an article on the original F Line opening, which was published in
the now-defunct magazine Passenger Train Journal in June 1996. It describes
in detail how the process was done. I have been planning to make copies of
it, but have been reluctant to do so without contacting the publisher first
(even though it's MY article! LOL). If you're interested, e-mail me
privately at <[email protected]>.
You folks in Melbourne have a lot of work cut out for you to make it a
reality there. But it can be done. An organization similar to Market
Street Railway would be a big help in the process.
Milantram
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/