Washington and New York both had ground level power for their streetcar systems.
How are they going to do heritage streetcars? Are they going to stick with Baltimore Cars? Replicas? And what track gauge are they going to use? If they go with the Baltimore wide gauge, they can use some of the original cars now in the Baltimore Streetcar Museum.
Btw, the last two pictures from the baltimore gallery are from the Trolley Museum off Falls Rd. I don't know if it is still open or accessible as that section of Falls Rd has been closed for a while. I should check and see if it is open and take a walk down.
Personally a Trolley down Charles would be helpful. I was chatting with a friend who lives in Charles Village but works in DC and takes the MARC from Penn Station. She mentioned that on numerous occasions she has to catch a cab to make her train since MTA buses down Charles are frequently not on time.
Personally I'm dubious if a street car down Charles will happen. There is enough traffic at rush hour in the evening that I don't see it happening.
The Baltimore Streetcar Museum web site:
http://www.baltimorestreetcar.org/
doesn't say anything about being closed.
I don't like heritage trollies, and can't stand the dumb little faux-trolley buses like they run in Bethesda.
The problem is they send the wrong message. They say the same thing the Disneyland monorail says: Transit is a cutesy tourist thing, but not anything we ought to be concerned about in real life.
BeyondDC, I think I've seen you make that point before, and I've thought about it, and I disagree. I don't think it sends that message, or at least that's not the dominant message. I think the dominant message is that this city has a history, and streetcars were a major part. I think the reason the Disney Monorail and the Old Town Trolley give a tourist message is because they're designed for tourists and go to places that only tourists go.
If you put a heritage trolley on a line that has nothing to do with tourists (like the Mattapan-Ashmont line in Boston) then I don't think the dominant message is that transit is cutesy tourist thing.
I agree more with Reid than with Dan on this one. However, I just rode the streetcars in New Orleans and while they look cool, I hate to admit they weren't that comfortable.
On the other hand, had I been able to ride them on St. Charles Street, rather than the ugly Canal Street or on the rail corridor behind the French Market, maybe I would have felt differently.
In any case, in the Dr. Transit set of links on the right, I have started adding links to transit technology producers. For awhile I've listed Skoda, but since I've added Inekon, Alstom, Gomaco--producer of heritage replica streetcars, and Van Hool.
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