McKinney Ave Trolley otherwise known as the M-Line. Runs a series of restored traction along McKinney Ave. This car known as Rosey was brought from Portugal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hmmj9obQz-c
Ya know, that trolley line just looks so nice and unobtrusive. Modern lightrails seem to be in a competition to see how many hunks of concrete, lane dividers, mega-super crosssing signals, and giant ugly stations they can squeeze into one area.
And here you have a nice track laid down in the street, or on the shoulder, simple wire, a few signs (like trolleys of olde). Maybe if modern light rail systems resembeld that, oppostion wouldn't be as much? Maybe? A little?
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.
Esthetics is just a cover for the real reason for opposition. The locals will oppose any form of public transit (express bus, trolley bus, light rail, etc.) because they fear that it will allow undesirables to invade their little corner of Hades.
No doubt. The NIMBY's seem to forget that "those people" have plenty of other ways to get around besides light rail and trolleys.
But on a lighter note...
I posted this on the "Classic Trains" Forum a few months back. Instead of a ride on a 100 year old trolley, how about a 100 year old trolley ride?
Before you click the link, take a deep breath, because for the next eight minutes you're going to be in the company of ghosts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqCZG2zXRsM
Some modern light rail systems are planned with esthetics in mind. The modernization of Blackpool's system is one good example, see the Jack May Britain and Baltic thread on this Forum. Most of the Jerusalem system fits well into the urban environment, and you can visit my old posting on that. Boston's Beacon Street and Commonealth Avenue lines are also good in this respect. Of course, the Boston lines are hardly new. While St, Charles, New Orleans, is the oldest streetcar line, it was by no means the first to electrify. The portion of the Beacon Street Line between the St. Mary's Street subway portal and Coolidge Corner (Harvard St,) was electrified in 1888, and is the oldest electric railway still operating in North America.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.