Jerusalem Light Rail and Nostalgia

[daveklepper]

I have been a passenger on J-light rail every day since public began riding Friday.    I could not help but recall the day age 6 in 1938 when sister Lillian and I boarded a new Broadway Manhattan "Huffliner" (double-end home-built Peter Witt car) and i enjoyed the big windows and fairly smooth and quiet operation.   Then that spring when cousin Marty took be on a Coney Island Avenue PCC car to go to Coney Island from his Flatbush home.    So in what ways in this finest of modern streetcars, which Jerusalem definitely has, better than the 1935-design PCC car?   Only the following.

Much longer, articulated, and running in two car trains with reasonable capacity of 500 people per train.

Air conditioning, unobstrusive, and capable of coping with 90F Jerusalem hot summer weather.   (But many PCC's still operating have been air-conditioned.)

Big big windows, even a bit better than the fine Slaughter Huff designed car on Broadway 1938-1946 sand sold to Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1947.

Low floor, matching platform height that is an extension of sidewalks exactly matching car floor height with gap of only one to 1-1/2 inches, with rollon of wheelchairs and baby carriages a snap.

The northern end of the line, with spectacular views, curves, and grades, reminds me of the best of Pittsburgh Railways.

Too bad forces combined to make most USA cities lack this fine form of street transportation for 50 years!  And will these beautiful Jerusalem cars still be running 50 years from now?   Like the Gerrard Avenue, Ashmont-Mattapan, Market Street-Fishermans Wharf, Kenosha Loop PCC cars?

[Stourbridge Lion]

Would love to see photographs if you have them!

[daveklepper]

I am still using an old Leica, not a modern digital camera, so it will be several weeks before the negatives (many not yet taken, on the northern end of the line) before the photos will be available to me in digital form.   I have lots of pictures of construction of the line and of test operations, the latter not in the most scenic spots however.   Contact me at daveklepper@yahoo,com, and I will attatche them to a return email.   I also give you a fuller report on the equpment and operations at the same time.   Not really appropriate for this forum.   However, comments on my nostalgia are most welcome here.

[Dragoman]

Maybe more appropriate to the "Transit" forum, but otherwise you may be underestimating people's interest!

Nostalgically speaking, the PCCs are still my all-time favorite.  They were my first streetcar experience, in San Francisco (when they were the entire fleet!), and have never found the newer "light-rail" cars near as smooth nor as comfortable.  Have ridden many streetcars & LRCs all over Europe, but never more excited than when I came to Sarajevo (in the late '60s or early '70s), to find its streetcar fleet to be made up of ... PCCs!  (Apparently ex-Washington DC)  There certainly something about their style & ride -- maybe that is what nostalgia is about!

Anyway, how about a bit more about J's equipment & operations?

[daveklepper]

I agree with you about the PCC.   But I think you would really like the Jerusalem cars.   The acceleration and quiet and general feeling, if you close your eyes, you could really believe you were traveling in a PCC on smooth track.   I had my first experience with emergency braking this morning, coming down to the City Hall station on the light rail.  A cyclist disobeyed a traffic signal and crossed in front of the train after the train had started from the Damascus Gate station and reached about 5 or 6 mph.   The stop was in about 1/5th of a second, smooth and fast.  Luckaly, the two-car train was not jammed, and all standees had handholds to grab if they were not already holding.

The line does not share lanes with general traffic, but there is only one grade separation, at the famous suspension bridge at the city's entrance.  So there are lots of road crossings.   But almost all track is paved with decorative paving, even on private right of way.  The exception is the grass area next to the Old City Wall.

 

The line is well worth riding and photographing from a railfan perspective, and the northern portion truly reminds one of Pittsburgh Railways.   I am a lot happier person now that I can ride it when I wish to do so.

 

The car design is similar to Dublin's LUAS, except they are mu and so far all operation has been two-car trains.

 

Five section cars  1.  Driver's cabin, single door each side, 16 cross seats over four wheels.   2. double-door, eight side seats (four each side of course) fold-up for wheelchair tiedown, double door, no wheels.   3.   16 cross seats over four wheels, no doors, no horizontal hand-holds, only four vertical posts, 4.  Repeat of 2.   5.   Repeat of 1 in reverse order for a double-end car.   I am unsure if all wheels are powered or whether, like LUAS, the center section wheels are unpowered.

MU and air connections between cars are not built into the coupler face, but are separate hoses and cables, like convenitonal classic USA MU cars.  However, the coupler pivots out of the way when not in use and a plate covers the opening.

 

One Faverly-type pantograph per car.

 

The interior and exterior show very thoughtful design, a real contrast with some of the ugly LRV's I have seen elsewhere. The only attempt at classisism is the electronic bell, which is a very good reproduction of a classic USA streetcar CLANG.   And it is used!

[daveklepper]

A Citypass engineer told me the line should be running its designed schedule, with all traffic priority signals working and adjusted by November 1st.

[daveklepper]

Nostalgia note:   A quick trip downtown had me sitting in a facing forward seat right behind the cab glass partition, and I found the view out front, with the angled windshield frame, most reminiscent of the similar view up front in an Osgood Bradley "automotive" 1929 car as ran in New Bedford, Scranton, and Altoona, and closed out New York State streetcar service on the Queensboro Bridge in 1957.