(rshsdepot) UP TO THE MINUTE N. O. Street Car lines/barns UPDATE

[<sbramson_@_bellsouth.net>]

Friends:

From Stephen Scalzo on the Midwest Interurban list, comes this almost 
up-to-the-minute report of the street car situation "there."  It looks like 
things may be less of a disaster (relating to the electric rail situation) 
then had been originally feared.


Information learned from news wire photographs and satelite images from New 
Orleans indicate that the St. Charles streetcar line has been dry since the 
hurricane, except for sections around Canal Street and possibly the end of 
the line on Carrolton.  However, because of all of the big trees that line 
St. Charles, not much is known on damage to the overhead because of broken 
and fallen branches.  The Carrollton Station and Shops also is dry but the 
surrounding streets have some water.  When the Carrollton Station was 
rebuilt about 10-15 years ago, rollup doors were installed on all of the 
tracks on both sides of the building which previously had been open, and the 
station is now completely closed to house all of the St. Charles streetcars.

The Canal Street trackage and automobile lanes (including the Carrollton 
branch trackage and street) were flooded from its northern terminal at the 
Cemeteries all the way south up to Claiborne Avenue (where Interstate 10 is 
elevated over that street and neutral ground).  South of Claiborne Avenue, 
the water is mainly in the automobile lanes on Canal Street up to about St. 
Charles and Bourbone Streets, but most of the higher neutral ground that is 
concrete and contains the tracks remained water free.  Because the overhead 
is new and there are not may trees (new palm trees were planted just before 
streetcar service started) on Canal Street, the overhead looks to be in good 
condition.   The Canal Station (the official name is the William Randolph 
Facility) was flooded, but even from the satelite photographs, it cannot be 
determined how much water damage was sustained by the streetcars (which are 
all parked under the covered in the carbarn that has open ends, with 5-6 
cars poking their heads out of the north side of the structure). 
Additionally, a large group of the RTA's diesel buses were also stored in 
the yards; however, here again, nothing is known about damage there.  The 
RTA Internet website still remains down, so nothing is officially known.

The Riverfront line from satelite photos looks to be completely water free; 
however, nothing is known about the condition of the overhead.  The 
streetcars for the line are all housed at the Canal Station.

With most of the citizens of New Orleans having been evacuated, I doubt that 
there will be any rush to resume public transit until the water is pumped 
out, major streets and highways are cleaned up and repaired, and 
reconstruction begins.  Additionally, a lot of RTA employees probably have 
also been displaced and evacuated.  Electricity is gradually being restored 
as are other utilities; however, here again, nothing is known about water 
damage to the streetcar substations.

Thus, the only New Orleans streetcar that will be running currently (and 
some time in the future) will be the one in San Francisco which the RTA 
loaned for the historical streetcar service operated by MUNI.


Attached are six news wire photographs taken this last Tuesday showing 
different areas of the Canal streetcar trackage and overhead.  The first 
scene shows the Canal Street river three track terminal area across from the 
casino which police were using as a staging area, the second one shows a 
scene on Canal just south of St. Charles/Royal, the third scene on Canal 
from I 10 looking south, the fourth scene on Canal from I 10 looking north, 
the fifth scene on Canal near Carrolton, and the sixth scene on Carrolton. 
I have posted these scenes previously on other yahoogroup sites, but not 
here.  Thus, these scenes will give you some indication of the flooding on 
the Canal streetcar line and the problems facing restoration of service. 
Streetcar trucks and electrical equipment that has been under water will 
need to be disassembled, cleaned, checked out and reassembled before they 
can be used again.



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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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