bamfordsgarage Posted May 31, 2011 Report Posted May 31, 2011 But as you might imagine, it wasn't a post-war Mopar. My regular Monday motorman gig on the Edmonton Radial Railway took a pleasant turn today as a result of a serious malfunction with our regular service Japanese car yesterday. Driving partner Jim and I were commanded to report early this morning for training and certification on ERR 33, which has just been moved to the Bridge Division and is not yet in regular service. What a treat — this gorgeous original Edmonton car is still awaiting the final touches to cap a 17-year restoration that chalked up some 35,000 volunteer hours and consumed $150,000 in cash for materials and sub-contract work. We run three international streetcars on the High Level Bridge line (Japanese, Australian, German) but Car 33 is the first actual Edmonton car to run over the bridge after streetcar service was discontinued in 1951. Photos: ERRS 33 at the Jasper Avenue Terminus; 33 as found 18 years ago; 33 shiny and new in 1912; When streetcars were scrapped all the metal bits underneath were stripped and sold for salvage — what you see under the car now was largely fabricated by the ERRS in our shops; Rich interior detailing includes these wonderful period multi-filament lamps. Quote
JIPJOBXX Posted May 31, 2011 Report Posted May 31, 2011 Now that's history! Thanks for posting!!! So interesting! Quote
RobertKB Posted May 31, 2011 Report Posted May 31, 2011 Chris, now that is one I would really like to take over the 109th Street Bridge! Wow, what a super project to be involved with. Hard to believe it could be brought back from the state it was in in picture 2. Enjoy!!! Quote
greg g Posted May 31, 2011 Report Posted May 31, 2011 Nice looking chunk of history. gotta be fun. what voltage do they run on?? Quote
bamfordsgarage Posted May 31, 2011 Author Report Posted May 31, 2011 I should clarify that although I've been a member of the ERRS for many years, I deserve exactly Zero credit for this fine piece of work. Many members do not drive the street cars and prefer to volunteer in restoration, archives, administration, track and car maintenance, etc. Some, of course, wear many hats and there's a fair number who regularly log 1,000+ volunteer hours every year. I'm strictly a driver — there's never any shortage of fabrication and repair projects around Chez Bamford, so home is where I get my hands dirty. Greenbomb asked a few days ago about some pictures taken along the route. Here you go (our river valley is in full leaf now, so your name is a good fit with the predominate colour). Pictures: Northbound on the High Level Bridge, Provincial Legislature just to the right and downtown skyline beyond; View southwest from the HLB, University of Alberta on top of the bank with our modern LRT (Light Rail Transit) approaching the tunnel. The LRT uses the same overhead power (Greg: 600 volt DC) and rail gauge as we do — if we could somehow plunk our vintage streetcar on their track we could give the commuters at every station a big surprise; Approaching Strathcona terminus; Looking east from the bridge — follow the North Saskatchewan River far enough and you'll be in Hudson's Bay. At the extreme right just above the brown-roofed building is the playground where my beloved (and her two young children) had our first date; Speaking of whom, Lady Michelle, my dear Mom and your reporter on Car 33 yesterday. Quote
TodFitch Posted May 31, 2011 Report Posted May 31, 2011 ...The LRT uses the same overhead power (Greg: 600 volt DC) and rail gauge as we do — if we could somehow plunk our vintage streetcar on their track we could give the commuters at every station a big surprise.... I'm a little surprised that the LRT's overhead electrical system doesn't require pantographs on the cars. The modern light rail around here has its overhead wiring designed so that a pantograph is needed. So vintage equipment using trolley poles for their electrical pickup are limited to the downtown San Jose area. But they haven't run vintage equipment even in that limited area for years. San Francisco whose financial and manufacturing industries waned years ago survives largely on the tourist trade. They go out of their way to acquire, restore and run vintage street railway equipment in revenue service. Quote
bamfordsgarage Posted May 31, 2011 Author Report Posted May 31, 2011 (edited) Todd, you may well be right about the LRT overhead being pantograph-only. We operate two pantograph and two trolley cars on the High Level Bridge line, and part of the patter for #247, the Japanese car with pantograph, is that it could easily run on the LRT line. Our German car Hanover 601 is an LRT prototype built in 1970. It too has a pantograph and is compatible with Edmonton's LRT line. So our line accommodates both types but it makes sense for the LRT line to be optimized for pantographs only. Thanks — I'll try to sort this out one way or the other next shift. We get to San Francisco every year or two and I really enjoy seeing and riding the vintage trolley cars. Nice that they are still decorated in the colours and lettering of their previous cities. Edited May 31, 2011 by bamfordsgarage Quote
1940plymouth Posted May 31, 2011 Report Posted May 31, 2011 Chris thanks for the photos and history lessons, not to mention that it was nice seeing your Mother out and about Quote
kbuhagiar Posted May 31, 2011 Report Posted May 31, 2011 We get to San Francisco every year or two and I really enjoy seeing and riding the vintage trolley cars. Nice that they are still decorated in the colours and lettering of their previous cities. Agreed. Working in San Francisco can drive me crazy sometimes, but I am glad they decided to keep the old streetcars. Which, by the way was sort of an accident. Here's a link to the story: http://www.sfmta.com/cms/mfleet/histcars.php Quote
Don Coatney Posted May 31, 2011 Report Posted May 31, 2011 Market street in SF 1905. Interesting that most of the cars are right hand drive in this clip unless this is a mirror image. This is the exact route I took daily from my Hotel to where I worked at the Federal Reserve Bank 101 Market Street. Many buildings look the same today as they do in this film. And except for the horses the street traffic is also much the same. http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=NINOxRxze9k Quote
James_Douglas Posted May 31, 2011 Report Posted May 31, 2011 Ken, The SFMTA link is a load of crap! What really happened is this... A bunch of guys that were into old street cars formed a little non-profit outfit named after the long gone Market Street Railway. They are the ones that started restoring street cars here in San Francisco mostly just below the US MINT. When they had a couple of cars done, they begged and begged the MUNI and The City to allow them to run them on Sundays on Market Street. The planning department of MUNI and the rest of the Transportation Planning Establishment wanted to have nothing to do with surface street rail in the core of San Francisco. Finally the guys who restored some of the cars got permission to have the cars run. The cars were such a success that it took MUNI and the rest by surprise. People loved them. They added Saturday to the service and the loading numbers went to crush loads. The added cars and even more people rode on them. MUNI and The City saw the writing on the wall and the Gay Community in the Castro, the Eastern Terminus of the line pressed hard and The City then went into rebuilding old PCC's, with ADA compliance, for a proposed Market Street surface line. After a few years tourists started to ride in large numbers as well. After the Embarcadero Freeway was taken down in the wake of the 1989 Earthquake, the old belt line railway line was sitting there doing nothing and the Market Street Railway guys got The City to run a few cars along the Embarcadero. The tourists flocked to it and MUNI got $$$ in their eyes. So, the reality is that the transportation and city bureaucrats did nothing to make that happen. A bunch of Hobbyists made it happen. Best, James Quote
kbuhagiar Posted June 1, 2011 Report Posted June 1, 2011 Ken,The SFMTA link is a load of crap! What really happened is this... <snip> So, the reality is that the transportation and city bureaucrats did nothing to make that happen. A bunch of Hobbyists made it happen. Best, James James, Thanks for the clarification. I'm not surprised that the real groundswell of support originated with the railfans. At the time it was no secret that the City wanted to tear up the tracks after Muni Metro went into operation. Can't blame the bureaucrats for trying to take credit for it, especially within the pseudo-reality of San Francisco politics! Quote
Frank Blackstone Posted June 1, 2011 Report Posted June 1, 2011 When I was very young my mother made sure I took a ride on the last street car that ran on rails in Dayton, Ohio. The next day Dayton converted to soft tired wheeled electric buses. I believe it was the largest or one of the first fleets in the USA. Ironic since Dayton was a GM town and the buses signaled the demise of individual transportation. The rubber tires could never compare to the clank and grind of the metal wheeled on metal track of the Street Cars. I am glad you worked so hard and long to restore your history. We have several in our Carrilon Park Museum here in Dayton I am sure you would appreciate. Keep 'em Flying, Frank Quote
bamfordsgarage Posted June 7, 2011 Author Report Posted June 7, 2011 I'm a little surprised that the LRT's overhead electrical system doesn't require pantographs on the cars. The modern light rail around here has its overhead wiring designed so that a pantograph is needed. Hi Tod, I followed up on your surprisement today with the guys who know a lot more about this than me. You're right — the modern LRT overhead wiring is pantograph only, so our trolley cars would not be usable on the LRT lines. Of course, our pantograph cars would be fine on the LRT line and the one below, Hanover 601 (a 1970 Siemens LRT prototype car, was one of two and is now one of one) had a demo run on Edmonton's LRT line a number of years ago. Quote
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