As I have endulged with my attraction to traction and trollies/street cars I have struggled with an idea for a layout of sorts. I like cars from many lines, with no focus on one certain company. So a museum line was one idea that came to mind, but how about we add a bit of a twist. If we take modern times into account, rising fuel prices putting the pinch on everyone and the fact that many small town still have their streetcar trackage. Its just under several layers of asphalt, only to be uncovered when streets are taken down several layers or dug up. So lets say the high cost of diesel is putting the hurt on a small midwestern town local school district. A town where that trackage is under just a layer or two of pavement. A town that happens to have a small but fiesty traction museum with a couple cars. In my little world, this town council, faced with massive fuel bills strikes a deal with the local museum to strip pavement off the rails in town, assit with restringing the overhead if the museum starts providing service again in town, for both residents and getting the kids to school. Since E learning is a thing, no worry about when the tracks are frozen over with snow and ice typical of a northern Indiana winter. The whole idea snowballs and becomes a whole town effort, from getting things ready for operation to pushing up the process to restore the other 2 cars in the museum's collection as the single car they have operational isnt gonna cut it. Tracks thru the neighborhoods and thru the small downtown area are stripped clear of pavement, volunteers with pick axes chip the remaining asphalt out of the flange ways of the 100 year old girder rail. A short connection line is built between the museum's trolley loop and the city's street trackage. Paid bus drivers, already cleared for school bus driving are retrained to operate the cars. Volunteers will only do special runs and the holiday specials. Many of the old timers in town, wonder why this wasnt done years ago or why they let the cars get retired decades ago. Electric street cars are quiet, no stinky diesel fumes or noise. Its a fun dream, in model form, the return of streetcar service in a small midwestern town using some vintage cars that have been restored.
Silly NT's, I have Asperger's Syndrome
Many trolleys were abandoned because the track structure was worn out, it would have to be rebuilt. Also utilities, gas lines, etc may have been installed under or cut thru the lines, and those crossings would have to be rebuilt and hardened. That is a big expense of prototype light rail construction. But as they say, it's your model RR, your rules.
In the early part of the last century, streetcars ran in many American cities. Slowly, the automobile and in some cases heavier subway lines took the place of streetcars. Sadly, most early trollies and traction cars were sold for scrap or parked in long-abandoned yards, overgrown with grass and weeds.
But, there was a savior for some of this equipment. The street transit system of San Francisco bought and beautifully restored cars from the junk piles of other cities, creating a living, operating museum of traction which operates every day, taking locals to and from work and carrying tourists everywhere. The conductors on these cars are well versed in their individual characteristics and histories, and serve as docents for these dynamic exhibits.
So, Mike, your idea is a good one. San Francisco is proof that old rails can rise again through the asphalt.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Not all lines were wore out, just in the red $$$ wise as the automobile took over and ridership dropped like a rock. Sustained higher gas prices will lead to some revival of the older lines or new ones to be built. But with the cost of everything be so much higher than it was back then, it will be a slow and expensive revival. But in the model world, we can set up the perfect storm. And not every line was cut thru when new sewer/water/gas lines are run. Many times they use "sneakers" to push lines thru under ground vs digging up the whole mess. A small town with tighter budgets, might do such a thing instead of a costly dig.
I read that in a small town in Wisconsin, they still run trolleys from back in the day as public transportation. Parts of San Francisco use old time trolleys as well. No one says you can't mix them in a modern layout time period.
Ah the 'joys' of travelling by streetcar. Those were the days.
When Leeds ran trams/streetcars, just after WW2 they had a shortage of them. They acquired a number from various towns and cities. Some from London and Sunderland to name two places.
Leeds then had an eclectic mix of new, old and really old trams.
In the UK trams are returning once again into the cities and towns.
As mentioned by others you could have a 'new' streetcar system. For modelers licence not enough cars have been built, (possible faults in them) so have had 'to find' older cars as an interim measure.
Whatever, there is Rule 1.
Sounds fun. Keep it that way.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
Philadelphia still has trolleys.
Philly still runs pcc cars in a cream and green. in the MOW department, they have pieces going way back to the early 20's that still get line time for mow.
Shane
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel
A realist sees a frieght train
An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space
emdmike... And not every line was cut thru when new sewer/water/gas lines are run. Many times they use "sneakers" to push lines thru under ground vs digging up the whole mess...
Those lines were put thru without any thought the trolley lines might be reactivated. All those pipelines might need to be replaced or otherwise hardened to withstand the compaction from now the weight of the reinstalled trolley line. As I said, utility mitigation is a major reason for the high cost of new light rail lines. being built.
Everything is high cost, from the new cars themselves, the track, the overhead and especially the labor costs to reinstall everything. Labor was cheap back at the beginning of the last century, when most lines were initially built. Lines were built that barely every made any money at all. Even today, most of those lines are still under several layers of pavement, many have few cuts or dug out sections that would have to be redone. The lightweight nature of most cars never really wore the rail to any great extent on the smaller lines. Now your big operations like the Pacific Electric, Chicago Surface Lines ect would have from sheer volume of use. I think many in Chicago wish the North Shore had survived like the South Shore did. And I am sure more and more of the younger generation that shun car ownership, wish the PE had survived to a greater level in California. Atleast those areas still have some light rail. I live closer to Indianapolis, which is hostile toward rail of any kind, they would rather have more busses, even battery ones now being installed.
Trollies are expensive to operate compared to a bus. The bus has essentially free right of way, the already existing streets and the incremental wear of a bus is negligible. On the other hand, the trolley has to have an expensive to build, expensive to maintain, exclusive right of way AND has to have an matching expensive to build, expensive to maintain overhead power distribution system. Trollies are less expensive to operate as far as fuel/electricity, but a more expensive to build new, are way, way more expensive to maintain if you include the cost to maintain the right of way (virtually zero for a bus) and the overhead electrical system.
Trollies are way less flexible than buses. Tollies only operate on fixed right of way's, they only run where the tracks and overhead is. If ridership changes, if there is new development, if the usage shifts, the trolley can't adjust without major cost to change operation. Trollies in the street are also only as fast as the slowest other vehicle in the street. To get the trolley faster requires some sort of separated right of way, either dedicated lanes (reducing capacity for trucks and cars) or a separated right of way (huge expense). On the other hand buses move with the traffic but can go around accidents, parked cars/trucks or maintenance.
Buses are way quicker to establish. On a small operation you could buy a bus today and be running a bus line tomorrow (assuming you had the legal stuff set up). Reality is you could order or refurbish buses in less than a year, maybe as short as a several months. Trollies take years of planning and construction for the track, power distribution system and overhead.
About the only thing a trolley has over a bus is ambiance and nostaglia.
All of the above is the real world, which of course, doesn't have to apply on a model railroad.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
I wanted to add a trolley operation to my big city but decided it was a bridge too far. I would have had to widen the streets and the run would have been too short. Pity. It would have been an interesting addition.
When I was in college back in the sixties, Boston's MTA ran PCC cars in an operation I then regarded as quaint. Today's Light Rail Vehicles have far less appeal, but they still run on the same tracks, through the same tunnels as their predecessors.
I built parts of my layout to remember those old PCC cars. I still run trolleys.
Every try at heritage operation is different. For example, the Fox River trolley line near Elgin, IL. started up on a former trolley line outside of town. A conductor told me that they wanted to expand with street running into town, but that insurance was unattainable. On the other hand, the McKinney Ave Trolley revival in Dallas received support from the city and is very successful.