In what can only be a good sign, streetcars were rolling down St. Charles yesterday. With yellow "Not in Service" signs stuck to the front of them it was clear they were just testing the newly repair track and new electric lines installed since Katrina.The entire line has been out of service since the storm. In the spring the city started rebuilding the overhead electric line system.
Assuming all turns out well in the testing, it will be good news for the uptown area and restore one of New Orleans most famous attractions -- that tree-shaded leisure drive along the crescent of St. Charles Avenue and it's huge, graceful mansions.
The losers in all this? The joggers who had taken over the "neutral ground" where the street cars used to run.
--steve buser
13 comments:
So glad that this progress has been made for your beloved city. And, I bet that both the joggers and the trolley can co-exist. Wonderful news!
Great to see the infrastructure is getting back online.
Your thumb mail was on the first page. I didn't even see your name, I saw only the trolleys. It was a patch put on a little rip of my heart. I went to Loyola for a dental degree and took home a city. Is the Desire trolley running?
Are you one of those "losers" ;-)
I love the feel of this photo!
So happy to see things are beginning to be up and running. Thats such an important line to get back in service.
Great photo! Glad to hear that things are progressing and more & more of New Orleans is coming back to normal!
I am so glad they are coming back...the cars are such a part of the New Orleans flavor!!
My 100th post is Saturday...come for a visit!
I remember when the city started methodically removing all of the "old-fashoned" streetcars in order to replace them with modern air-conditoned busses. The citizens along St. Charles had to fight hard to keep that one streetcar line running. They finally got that one surviving line placed on the National Register of Historic Places some time in the 70s in order to protect it from "progress."
that's really nice...
and we are planning to take a road trip to NO this Thanksgiving ....it still in the pipeline stage..nothing's fixed as of now but we are hoping it works out, Steve :)
Oh this is wonderful news! I wish we had these trolleys in Montego Bay. It would make life so much easier and would ease the pedestrian and vehicle traffic.
The tenacity of the people of New Orleans is admirable. Good to know
that slowly but surely things are coming back up. Thanks for your visit and your kinds words of encouragement. I appreciate it.
So glad it they will be back in business. It is such a charming way to discover your beautiful city.
A few month ago one of these streetcars was in Times Square to promote N.O. tourism.
I've been hearing horrid things about the recovery on NPR. I hope more progress is made.
Post a Comment