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Capital Transit in Washington, DC

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Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, February 17, 2021 2:37 PM

daveklepper
One more scanned and reopaired:

image.png

Gone - Error 410

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by daveklepper on Wednesday, February 17, 2021 12:20 PM

One more scanned and reopaired:

image.png

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Posted by daveklepper on Sunday, January 10, 2021 9:32 PM

 

 

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Posted by daveklepper on Saturday, January 9, 2021 8:38 PM

 

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Posted by daveklepper on Friday, January 8, 2021 7:18 AM

And more:

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Posted by daveklepper on Thursday, January 7, 2021 2:34 PM

Mure:

 

 

 

 

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Posted by rcdrye on Thursday, January 7, 2021 7:28 AM

The last photo illustrates one reason why many cities with excellent streetcar systems were still pro-bus.  The person waiting to board 1344 is only a foot or so away from the Ford in the left lane.  Pedestrian accidents were common, and safety islands only helped a little - in cities that still have them they frequently get struck by vehicles.

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Posted by daveklepper on Thursday, January 7, 2021 2:48 AM

And another:

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Posted by pennytrains on Wednesday, January 6, 2021 6:54 PM

So many of those could be "Anytown U.S.A." and if we had our way they still would be!  Wink

Big Smile  Same me, different spelling!  Big Smile

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Posted by daveklepper on Wednesday, January 6, 2021 4:30 PM

And more:

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Posted by daveklepper on Wednesday, January 6, 2021 7:40 AM

And one more:

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Posted by daveklepper on Wednesday, January 6, 2021 4:22 AM

recently scanned:

 

 

 

 

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Posted by daveklepper on Saturday, August 8, 2020 5:06 PM

Hello Mr. Klepper,

The National Capital Trolley Museum acquired an original PCC streetcar recently and arranged for me to take photos of its beautifully preserved conduit plow carrier still attached to the rear truck. It even has the insulating material intact! I hung a conduit plow from their collection in the carrier and photographed it in position. I wanted to plug in the leads, but they wouldn’t go in the sockets of the plow. The leads do not appear corroded, so I suspect the collet-like parts of the sockets are too stiff from disuse. For those who may not know, the plow weighs over fifty pounds, and needs to be lifted to shoulder height when one stands in the plow pit. I tried to imagine doing that every few minutes, all day long. This is not to mention of course, being constantly exposed to inclement weather and high voltage.
The photos were mostly taken from the maintenance pit, which is deeper than the plow pits, so I actually had to heft the thing above my head to get it in position. I understand now why the plow pits were so shallow–you have to be able to reach the leads easily, in case the plugs are balky!
Please post these images on the blog, they are my work and I release them for non-commercial re-use.
 
 
Thank you!
 
 
Gratefully,
 
Paul Pallansch
Dot-Connector, Dioramist,
Up-Close Realism

cell: 240-277-8887
facsimile: 301-649-7525
 
 
 
 
 
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Posted by daveklepper on Thursday, March 19, 2020 11:53 PM

 On 3/19/20, Jack May <jackmay135@gmail.com> wrote:
> Nice work.  Thanks.
>
> We were in Georgetown on M Street on February 29, visiting our older
> grandson, who's a freshman at the university.  We drove around the
> neighborhood and remembered exactly where the route 20 cars went on O
> and P Streets.  The fact that the tracks are still there helped!  The
> old DC Transit headquarters (ex Capital Traction) is still extant, and
> it is now a Georgetown University building, called the Georgetown Car
> Barn: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgetown_Car_Barn
>
> By the way, the campus is now closed because of COVID-19 and this past
> weekend Alex packed up and returned home to Manhattan by Amtrak.
>
> Jack
>
> Here are views from Google Maps showing the tracks today.  They do add
> some ambience to the area, but then, I'm prejudiced.

The p;hoto I am posring now is not directly fron Google Maps but could be at a different time with different weaher conditiohs at the same location as one of their photos.  Oudtside of Londoh, is there any other place in the World where condouit streetcar track can sstill be seen?

 

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Posted by daveklepper on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 8:10 AM

I posted the first photo some time ago, showing how Capitol Transit maintained service with a single-track temporary bridge through a construction zone. The second, just restored, shows the temporary single-track operation with a photo through a PCC windshield:

 

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Posted by daveklepper on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 3:28 AM

Here are two additional photos at the Peace Monument (?) just rediscovered and requiring relatively little effort to make presentable.  I think from Spring 1947, age 15:

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Posted by U-3-b on Monday, January 20, 2020 3:01 PM

My parents took me and my sister to quite a few concerts there, before the jets got too loud and they stopped them. We loved running up and down the steps while the music played.  

Fond memories.

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Posted by daveklepper on Monday, January 20, 2020 1:46 PM

Henry Desutsch supplied this 1960 postcard photo of Union Station with PCCs in front:

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Posted by daveklepper on Tuesday, October 29, 2019 1:26 PM

And here is another at the Junction of the lines to Kennelworth and Seat Pleasant

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Posted by daveklepper on Wednesday, October 16, 2019 11:40 AM

Another rainy-day picture.  Also 701 was single-ended, previous photo, 731 remained double-end:

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Posted by daveklepper on Tuesday, October 15, 2019 10:39 PM

Thanks!

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Posted by rcdrye on Tuesday, October 15, 2019 1:27 PM

Before the WB&A terminal between 11th and 12th was opened (1921), WB&A cars changed ends in the street at the crossover at New York and 15th.  The WRy&E was financially involved in the WB&A terminal as it greatly reduced congestion on New York Avenue.

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Posted by daveklepper on Tuesday, October 15, 2019 11:57 AM

Yes, it was raining.

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Posted by daveklepper on Tuesday, October 15, 2019 11:38 AM

With blind-side doors, 701 obviously was once a double-end car.  I suspect this view is on 14th Street.

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Posted by Miningman on Sunday, October 13, 2019 4:10 PM

From Mike:

Dave's streetcar shows an ad for Aida, scheduled for Aug. 4, 1948 at the Water Gate on the Potomac River near the Lincoln Memorial.

 
 
 
 
 
Geez... .90 cents for the cheap seats, easier to sneak out for a smoke or biological break... Vince
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Posted by daveklepper on Sunday, October 13, 2019 8:05 AM

A few minutes after the previous picture was snapped, the ex-Preovidence lightweight ran throught the crossover to return to the Benning crossover beyond the change to trolley-wire operation:

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Posted by daveklepper on Saturday, October 12, 2019 6:49 PM

Richard Allman agrees:

I see the Treasury Building in the left background so I suspect it is New York Avenue @ 15th Street where the WB&A cars turned back. I think in the right background the White House is visible.
 

 

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Posted by U-3-b on Saturday, October 12, 2019 3:17 PM

Dave,

I am pretty sure that is the US Treasury Building in the back and that would make it 15th and New York Ave.

Steve

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Posted by daveklepper on Saturday, October 12, 2019 1:47 PM

From Richard Allman:

Per John Merriken’s book Every Hour on the Hour about WB&A, the terminal was at New York Avenue and 12th Street. The cars came west on New York Avenue, turned south on 12th Street, turned left onto a 3-track terminal around H Street, then north onto 11th Street and then eastbound on New York Avenue. Did they at some point simply reverse and cross over on New York Avenue? Merriken’s book is sketchy about it. There are couple photos of cars turning back at the Treasury at New York Avenue and 15th Street, several blocks in from the terminal.

Isn't that the location of the above photo?  --Dave

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