Traction/Light Rail interest

[Anonymous]

Hi all, I am new to the board here and I have been wondering about something. As some may be able to tell by my signature photo and member name I am a big traction fan. I volunteer at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Me. and for a time at Shoreline Trolley Museum in East Haven Ct. My question is this, how many people in my age group (I am 34) are interested in pre light rail traction? I am way too young to remember most still running except for Toronto, Boston & New Orleans. My interest was planted by my father who volunteered at Shoreline--then Branford Trolley Museum for many yaesr, actually restoring the very car in my signature photo. Thanks for listening and hope to talk more .

Steve Loitsch

[trolleyboy]

Hello Steve welcome to the forum. I'm 34 as well and volenteer and operate on the Halton County Radial Railway museum in Ontario. So chat away. I do some restorations at the museum as well as operate the cars during our running season. Your welcome to visit the museum thread I have started and discuss your interests and musuem stories pictures etc there. You might want to cruise over to the Our Place Thread on this forum as well. Myself and a couple of the other members there chat about traction (vintage) regularly. Its a free form discussion topic there so we chat about steam and diesel railways and have a bit of fun doing it as well,check us out.

Rob

[daveklepper]

Well, Steve, welcome to this forum from an old friend of your Dad's living in Jerusalem. But I still get the Tripper and read about what you are doing and enthuse about the increase in membership and the sharp operations and the excellent relations with the community.

Maybe soon we will have a light rail system in Jerusalem for you to visit, and construction has indeed started.

Railway electrification is also planned, but I don't have technical details. The Jerusalem light rail cars are currently planned as three-truck articulateds, about 60 feet long, low floor or partial low floor. It will have a large bridge, at least one short tunnel, PRW, and also street running, probably on dedicated lanes shared with buses.

[Anonymous]

Hi Steve, you have "hit the jackpot" when Trolleyboy replied to your inquiry. I too am interested in the same era of traction and would like to invite you to the "Our" Place thread where all phases of railroadiana are discussed. We "wire heads" may be an "endagered speicies" on most of the Forums but if you care to join us at "Our" Place, you will have found sanctuary. "Come on down." [tup]

[Anonymous]

Hi Dave, so good to hear from an Isreali in the "old country." Please join Trollyboy, Steve and me at the "Our" Place thread where "light rail", traction, and standard railroading is the focus. There is a bit of good natured fun thrown in to keep the thread from bogging down under too much weight. I think you will find much in common among our members. L'chayim

[Anonymous]

I like anything on rails and would love to learn more.

al

[Anonymous]

Hey guys, I too volunteered at a Trolley Museum (Ft Smith, AR). Great Place and great guys (run by Dr. Martin). I help restore and operate. I'm active duty military and have moved away, though. I loved running the Birney Safety Car.

[artpeterson]

Hi FullParallel -
Glad to hear there's traction interest! Are your interests strictly the eastern properties, or do they extend to midwestern interurbans/streetcars and the west coast properties?

The Central Electric Railfans' Association in Chicago still publishes bulletins - their next one will be on the Chicago & West Towns, a streetcar operation from the near-west suburbs of Chicago. Also in the pipeline for future CERA bulletins is one on the Shore Line Electric of CT.

Another locally-active group is the Shore Line Interurban Historical Society. They publi***he magazine "First & Fastest" on a quarterly basis. It deals with the Chicago-area interurbans, streetcars and the "L", but also looks at the Wisconsin and Indiana properties. The Winter 2005-06 issue will include 16 pages of early color images of interurbans and streetcars, with 6 pages on the North Shore Line, plus coverage of the Chicago Aurora & Elgin, the South Shore Line, etc.

Both CERA and Shore Line are well worth the money! Let me know if you need website addresses, etc.

[daveklepper]

Art, I belonged to the CERA and IRM when I lived in the Chicago area. I assure you that I have been planning to rejoin both organizations when finances permit, but that may be some time. I broght my copy of the TM book with me to Jerusalem. I donated it to the Embassy sponsored library in Jerusalem because I did not see any other book in the library that would give Israelis a chance to understand how the electric streetcar developed USA cities. But after a couple of months the Librarian decided it was surplus and gave it away. Boy was I angry and dissapointed.

But I still have the two North Shore books plus plenty of memories. I should have kept the TM book and also the three CRT-CTA equipment books, which I donated to the ERA before moving here.

All the CERA bulletins have been worth far more than their purchase price. I have the Indiana - the Magic Interurban book now and had great plesure reading it and studying it, even though I was too young to have visited the system. Of course I got a small taste of what the Indiana Railroad was like by riding the Liberty Bell line of LVT with its ex-C&LE and one Indiana high speed.

I think it is great that both CTA and Metra have expansion plans. I hope they all go well. And now you have the Kenosha PCC car trolley line to ride!

[Anonymous]

Wow , so much to reply to here. Trolleyboy, I will wander over to the thread you mentioned. Dave, I am not sure you remember, but I operated a few times with you (I was the conductor, too young to operate for the public then) on one of the opens a few times while Dad was at Board meetings during the 85-86 season. I have been more active at Seashore for a few reasons, mainly it is 30 minutes away vice 3 1/2 hours for BERA. Theo I will check it the thread. Art, I enjoy anything electric but mainly Eastern and mid western. The North Shore is a one of my big interests . I have been collecting North Shore slides for about 3 years now. Wait a minute, now I think I recognize your name, I was buying duplicate slides from Al Chione (the lists suddenly stopped & I have not been able to dig up his address) and I thought I remember your name mentioned in the listings. Money is tight now, but when I can see my way clear I want to join the CERA, the bulletins are works of art......
I spent the last two days up at Seashore in the shop working on car heaters for Wheeling Traction Cincinnati Curveside car #639, a dirty but very fulfilling job.

Talk soon,
Steve Loitsch

[trolleyboy]

Aren't heaters a wonderfull thing to work on. I've spent several hours helping our shop crews get large Witt 2424's heaters reinstalled so we can use her for our three winter excursions. For some reason the general public likes being warm in december.She'll run with small Witt 2894, and PCC's 4000,4600 and W30. and as long as all goes according to hoyle L&PS #8 should be fired up and running under her own power as well.

I've spent most of my ,otorman time on the Witts and PCC's at the museum I usually conduct on the radial cars L&PS 8 and MS&C 107. O do like running the old TTC single truck grinder W28 as well, nice little Preston arch roof from 1917. Was TCR 57 when it ran as a passenger car.

Catch you all later. Rob

[artpeterson]

Morning all -

Yes, I've been working with Al Chione for a couple of years now on offering dupe slides of traction, transit and railroad material. When we started on the Chicago area sets, the first offering had some IR color, a bit of Northern Indiana (South Bend Streetcars) in color, plus Lafayette and Marion streetcar slides. That coverage was thanks to some real color slide pioneers like Frank Butts and Barney Stone, both of whom started shooting slides Pre-WWII. However, if you look how that set sold against a "similarly-aged" set of mainline RR slides, the results are disappointing.

It's a real serious challenge to get folks interested in traction today, whether it be an eastern, midwestern or west coast line, since other than the Norristown line or the South Shore Line, there's precious little for today's fans to relate to. Both CERA and Shore Line recognize this challenge (and they're not alone in this), by including current-day coverage of a given city's transit service (CERA bulletins, such as the Northern Indiana one) or by expanding to cover the Metra lines ("First & Fastest" over the past year or so).

[daveklepper]

Some of the modern light rail lines have a lot of the flavor of old interurbans. I was too young for the C&LE and Indiana Railroad, but I knew LVT pretty well and the three Chicago Insul lines, Baltimore and Annapolis, the Larual Line, West Penn, Pittsburgh Railways when even the Washington local lines were running, Waterloo Ceder Falls and Northern, and the Quebec line to St. Joaqim, and to me the Baltimore light rail line has interurban characteristics. Also parts of San Diego Trolley. I have heard that the St. Louis to Belleville line is "what the Illinois Terminal would have been if they had had the money." And of course, Portland Oregon. Two very different operations, yet! So it shouldn't be hard to create new fans.

[Bob-Fryml]

WARNING

Within the railfan community there are subspecies that could be characterized as diesel fanciers, steam nuts, traction phreaques, and the rapid transit lunatic fringe.

Heaven help you if your railfan sensibilities ever get trapped in The Twilight Zone that it is latter two categories. Of course as an unreformed, unapologetic, unrehabilitated "juice junkie," I wouldn't have it any other way!

[daveklepper]

I like the whole spectrum of steel wheels on two rails. I was nuts about the D&RGW narrow gauge when I had a chance to ride it. Running a steam locomotive was the highpoint of a South African business trip. I'm interested in the economics of freight operations, what the Staggars Act did, and of course when I was running streetcars at Branford I felt like I was in Heaven. I even miss my Metro North commutes with my standing next to the motorman's cab and watching the right of way through the glass ofthe front train door.

[artpeterson]

Hi Full Paralell -

You mentioned about Al's lists and address. His last list was #84 (probably came about a month or so ago). His address is: P.O. Box 279, Elizabeth, CO 80107. List #84 included sets with NSL cars 157-160, CA&E cars 141-143 and 300-308, IT 273-276, DSR PCCs and UER, SSRy and T-SU (ex-C&LE box motors still fully painted and lettered for C&LE right after they arrived at T-SU) subjects, plus many more mainline sets.

Art

[Anonymous]

I was allowed to join the BERA when I was 13 years old. I had a case of full blown railroad fever at the time, so any chance to work on something that had two rails interested me. Trolleys still fascinate me.

I can't think of any better way to get involved in 1:1 scale modeling and observation than to be a member of a railroad or trolley museum. Especially as a kid.

Erik

[artpeterson]

Hi Dave -

I was also going to react to your comment about the ease of attracting new fans. Again, the key thing seems to be being able to relate what one sees in Portland (or wherever) to practices that existed on LVT, etc. Without that it "continuum" it's very difficult to generate interest in those long-gone outfits. What's in short supply today are people like you who saw those operations and can bring them to "life" for today's fans.

Art

[trolleyboy]

Dave you will have tolet us know how your light rail endevours go in Isreal. An easy sell in the old county though I suppose. rail traffic electric and otherwise have never not gone out of fahion there.

Of coarse with energy prices as they are there is a real comeback over here slowly growing but there.

In Ontario Kitchener / Waterloo is in the final planning stages of an LRT line linkun gthe Two cities, likely to expand into Cambridge and some of the surrounding asreas as time and money allow. they are looking at using the same type of equipment as Calgary and Edmonton. I live close enough that I may get a job as a motorman ( person ) yet.

Rob

[daveklepper]

I cannot say that to date I have been terribly welcomed by either the railfan or the professional railroad community in Israel. I am modern Orthodox and studying at an Orthodox Yeshiva, and my impression is that the total railroad community is somewhat anti-religious, as evidenced by the railroad's deliberately not restoring service to the old historic Jerusalem station, within walking distance of the Old City and religious shrines of all three faiths, but instead building a structure at a modern shopping center on the outskirts with a promise of something better when the high speed line is finished. In my own profession, I was told by the noise control expert who did excellent work on Tel Aviv's Ayolon highway and rail connector that he had never been in a synagogue in his entire life. The current Jerusalem Mayor may find it advantages to involve me, however, but I am not holding my breath.

But work goes on with regard to the first Jerusalem light rail line, and I'll report whent he first steel is put down, in pavement or PRW.

Oh, before I forget. Of course I now remember you, Steve.
Also, there are plans for a rail link between Haifa and Aman, Jordan, in part reviving the old "Valley Railway" that once ran to Baghdad.