Jax Not Dense Enough For Electric Railroads?

[Ocklawaha]

We hear it all the time. So just how dense was Los Angeles when the Pacific Electric Interurban ran across the County? Only a tiny fraction of our own. With over 4,000 square miles, and a population of about 1 million total! They had over 1,000 miles of electric railway, and another 500+ of narrow gauge electric streetcars in downtown Los Angeles "The Yellow Cars". Pacific Electric's were known as "The Big Red Cars". Why am I impressed with it? Don't know... Maybe it was that first train trip back about 1959 from Los Angeles - Watts - Dominguez - North Long Beach to Long Beach. The old Mainline South out of LA seen on the map. Sold out, cheated, a con job any freeway builder could be proud of, LA bought into the idea that we can always build enough highways to pave our way out of trouble. It very nearly killed the City of Angels. When investigation showed what the railroaders had been saying all along, that the oil companies, rubber, auto makers and highway lobby were behind the buy out and abandonments. Los Angeles sued and WON! For those of us that lived that nightmare, the movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" is more truth then fiction. It REALLY DOES tell a horrible tale of civic robbery and greed. Today, the old line I rode is back, the Light Rail "BLUE LINE" is setting world records for ridership. As one sails alongside the I-710 it's hard to resist waving to the poor fools sitting on the Worlds Longest Parking Lots. Next time you hear the MYTH, Jacksonville is too small, or too spread out, or not dense enough, show them this map. When they switch the argument to I'll never give up my car, Jacksonville loves it's automobiles too much, then show them this map again and explain the BILLIONS of dollars being spent to put it back in place. Tell them the Worlds most Automobile oriented society is abandoning their automobiles in record numbers for the fast, clean, electric railway... Tell them this was no imagined 6' tall rabbit story either, his name wasn't Harvey, it was Roger, and he knew what he was talking about!

Ocklawaha

[thelakelander]

What do Atlanta, Charlotte & Nashville have in common?  They all have some form of rail mass transit and they are less dense and more sprawled than Jacksonville.

What do Little Rock, Salt Lake City, Memphis, Buffalo and Trenton, NJ all have in common?  They are all US cities that have some form of rail mass transit in their community and are all smaller than Jacksonville.

Whoever claims that Jax is too small for rail transit, apparently has not looked at the US census.

[big ben]

i love that movie.  i memorized about the whole movie by the time i was eight.  i never realized it had a basis behind the judge wanting to build a freeway and buying out the rail companies.  mostly because i don't remember hearing a part in the movie about a link between him and oil, car, highway builders, etc.  maybe it was because i watched it mostly when i was a kid.

[Ocklawaha]

Hey Ben, Go rent it and watch it again, look in the background and you'll see:

A Pacific Electric "Hollywood Car" a special type of center door interurban used in Hollywood. Funny thing is, when the movie was done the producers were backing County Commissioner Baxter Ward and a plan to rebuild the system. There was NO car lines when the movie was shot, so they got one from a museum and mounted it on a truck so it could pass by in the background. I understand it is now happily back on rails at the Orange Empire Museum out in Orange County CA.

The references to the Trolleys, will be words like "The RED CARS" or "We had those Red Cars" or "Yellow Cars" those are the Interurban (red) and the Trolleys (Yellow) of LA! No kidding! The movie was a political master stroke for the Light Rail interests in Los Angeles. Wonder if we could get a sequel... "Who Framed Wally Gator... and the Green Cars of Jacksonville?"

Ocklawaha