Vintage trolley is putting smiles on the faces of San Diegans

[JeffreyS]

Vintage trolley is putting smiles on the faces of San Diegans

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/aug/18/vintage-trolley-putting-smiles-faces-san-diegans/


The Silver Line trolley rolled into the main station on Imperial Thursday after giving riders an inaugural spin through downtown. â€" Peggy Peattie / Peggy Peattie

There was a moment during the inaugural run of the Metropolitan Transit System’s newly refurbished 1946 streetcar when its true purpose was unveiled: To put smiles on the faces of San Diegans.

It was most obvious on C Street near Fifth as the streetcar lurched to a halt in traffic. The faces outside the window were lit up, really lit up. People were smiling, grinning, dropping jaws, arching eyebrows, pointing, snapping photos with cell phones.

It isn’t everyday that the past comes rolling down C Street.

Although, you can expect more of it in the future.

For San Diegans long used to the bright red Trolleys, the vintage 50-seat Art Deco streetcar â€" with its kelly green, plum and crème coloring and artful chrome accents -- is a head-turner.

Thursday marked its official debut on the tracks of San Diego.

There was a late-morning ceremony at the 12th & Imperial Transit Station, from which Trolley No. 529 will roll on weekends and holidays, after which the first official run on the Silver Line took off at 11:47 a.m.

With Trolley operator David Neri, 47, at the wheel, the streetcar pulled out from the transit Center and headed up Harbor Drive toward America Plaza. Neri is one of eight Trolley drivers who have been trained to drive the vintage car.

Neri acknowledged that the ride in the transit system’s modern Trolleys is a lot smoother.

One passenger who found the run “a little rough” was Eddie Herold, who sat in the seat closest to Neri.

He should know. The 92-year-old Herold drove the last San Diego streetcar into the old Adams Avenue Car Barn in 1949, followed by a fleet of shiny new buses that was to replace the rail cars. On Thursday, he wore his original clay-green-gray transit uniform and it fit him perfectly.

Herold said that the streetcar rides will get smoother, with practice. “They just need to make a few adjustments,” he offered.

The El Cajon resident said that the ride Thursday, “really brought back some memories.” A San Diego streetcar driver from 1940 to the end, the El Cajon resident called April 24, 1949 “the saddest day of my life.” That was the day the city retired the streetcars for good.

The ride stirred memories in Harry Mathis, too. He’s the chairman of the MTS board but inside he’s still a little kid riding cars like No. 529 around the streets of San Francisco. Which, by the way, is where No. 529 spent the prime years of its career before nearly rusting away in a Lake Tahoe field.

It was Mathis who spearheaded the effort to bring back vintage streetcars to San Diego. He picked up three in the Tahoe field in 2005 and three more from across the country. All in need of major restoration and some modernization.

So far, restoration has largely been a volunteer effort by 44 streetcar-loving volunteers but it has not been inexpensive. The first cost about $850,000 to bring on line.

“I hope you all brought your checkbooks today,” a grinning Mathis told the assembled dignitaries and politicians on Thursday. “We want them all operating.”

During the inaugural ride, Mathis talked excitedly of the day when the restored cars might run between Downtown and Balboa Park and the Zoo and perhaps through the beach communities.

For now, No. 529 will run only on weekends starting Aug. 27, and select holidays on a single round-trip loop called the Silver Line that starts at the 12th & Imperial Transit Center and travels up Harbor to C Street the east to City College before returning to the transit center along Park Boulevard. It’s a $2 cash only ride, strictly for the nostalgia, for now.

Like Mathis said, “This is a gift to the public, from the past.”




Photo Gallery
http://www.signonsandiego.com/photos/galleries/2011/aug/18/vintage-trolley/

[thelakelander]

It put a smile on my face when I saw it running past a restaurant I was eating in last week on the same tracks as LRT.  The first person I thought about was Ocklawaha.  Here are a few pics I took:

[Ocklawaha]

With Trolley operator David Neri, 47, at the wheel, the streetcar pulled out from the transit Center and headed up Harbor Drive toward America Plaza. Neri is one of eight Trolley drivers who have been trained to drive the vintage car.

This line absolutely cracked me up... WHAT WHEEL, ITS ON RAILS!  Sort of makes you understand where stupid statements like the one from our own past SPAR director, "Jacksonville doesn't need streetcars, we already have trolleys," come from. The late Chairman Mao once said, "tell a lie long enough and it becomes truth." Guess this applies to PCT CARS (potato chip trucks painted to look something like fake trolleys) everywhere. BTW, on an electric rail vehicle the proper term would be "...at the controller."

The article confirms what I've been saying for 30 years, "America has a love affair with vintage streetcars that no faux trolley, Skyway, train or bus can match. People will drive 1,000 miles to ride a "new" vintage streetcar system because unlike any other mode of transportation, a streetcar is often a destination in itself."

OCKLAWAHA

[dougsandiego]

I rode the "new" streetcar on one of its inaugural trips around Centre City yesterday. It was fun watching all the pedestrians gawking and pointing and whipping out phones and cameras to photograph to us as we passed by them.

The last trolley operator from 1949 was on the first streetcar; in his original uniform which still fits at age 92!

The group has five more streetcars to restore, and there are movements afoot to extend the streetcars along some or our busiest bus routes which were originally streetcar lines.

Jacksonville can do this too. I believe from reading your blog, that you have more unused railway lines through your city than San Diego ever had.

[thelakelander]

I rode the "new" streetcar on one of its inaugural trips around Centre City yesterday. It was fun watching all the pedestrians gawking and pointing and whipping out phones and cameras to photograph to us as we passed by them.

While they were not in service last week, a number of people in the restaurant I was in, did the same exact thing as a couple of them passed by.  However, I think I was probably the only one to leave my food/table and run outside to get better images.

[Ocklawaha]

So far, restoration has largely been a volunteer effort by 44 streetcar-loving volunteers but it has not been inexpensive. The first cost about $850,000 to bring on line.

That price tag seemed terribly expensive for a vintage car until I figured out they are counting $600,000+ as donated labor. Check this out:

The all-volunteer restoration of the first streetcar has been taking place under the guiding hand of David Slater, president of the San Diego Electric Railway Association. According to MTS, 43 volunteers have donated 10,000 hours to the project since 2006.

Harry Mathis, MTS board chairman who also sits as chairman of Vintage Trolley, said volunteer labor has been valued at as much as $600,000. The group has also raised $244,000 in public contributions for the restoration effort.

So far, no MTS funds have been consumed in the acquisition and restoration of the streetcars. The first ones were acquired with a $50,000 grant from the Centre City Development Corp...

...Initially, MTS expects the first streetcar to operate 110 days a year, weekends and holidays, and first-year operating cost is projected at $36,000 â€" plus $120,000 worth of vintage spare parts.

How quickly the others come online and where they might be deployed depends a lot on how much the public embraces this first entry and how much can be raised in public contributions.

As their experience grows, say MTS officials, the operation of the first streetcar could be extended.

Mathis acknowledged that a single vintage streetcar will be something of a novelty, rather than a solution to the area’s transit needs. But he sees that as a strength, too.

“We find that the public really loves these vehicles,” he said. He sees the vintage streetcar as the prefect introduction to trolley service for first-timers and tourists alike.

http://web.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/may/29/san-diego-streetcar-will-take-route-past/

OCKLAWAHA

[JeffreyS]

Lake this pic of yours gives us a very could image of what the Streetcar would look like in front of the Fidelity buildings.


Streetcar Now!!!!1

[Dashing Dan]

Is it air conditioned?

[Ocklawaha]

I don't think it has AC because they restored the roll-up windows. Many vintage cars have been restored with AC including the fleet that runs in Dallas, so it's totally feasable. The coast of Southern California doesn't really need AC most of the year, ocean currents are cold, air is bone dry.

OCKLAWAHA

[JeffreyS]

I doubt the AC because it is 79 degrees there everyday.

[Dashing Dan]

I think you'd need A/C to attract riders here on a year-round basis, although waiting at the stops would be bad too.

For the stops I'd like to see those fans that spray a water mist into the air, like one or two of the restaurants have along St. Johns Avenue.

[JeffreyS]

We would need AC here for sure.  San Diego not so much.

[L.P. Hovercraft]

Lake this pic of yours gives us a very could image of what the Streetcar would look like in front of the Fidelity buildings.


Streetcar Now!!!!1

Heh, notice the nice, urban 7-Eleven in the background too?  If we weren't busy teabagging ourselves with our collective heads up our @$$es (to mix metaphors), this photo could have been taken in Jax, maybe even in ah-VON-da-le.
Man, vintage streetcars AND 7-Elevens?  That is some weird, wild stuff those San Diegans have got going on out there!

[JeffreyS]

+1

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Not only the urban 7-11 (nice pickup by the way), but to go along with the Fidelity/Everbank Building that is repped, check out the Firestation / (W)Health center on the left.  Way to re-use & re-vitalize.