New Seattle Streetcar Lines Proposed

Seattle passed $600 million city streetcar proposal that would add lines to Capital Hill/First Hill, Ballard, and the U-District. Of course there are opponents and proponents already, within hours of the vote, which is the Seattle way; nobody agrees on how to execute or even fund the work, so it ends up getting delayed and more costly. In the end Seattle will have the most expensive streetcar lines ever, because of warring factions.

Oh, did I go off on a tangient? Sorry...I just want to see more streetcars and few buses on the streets of Seattle!

Streetcars in Vancouver WA?

Streetcars of the past in Hazel Dell's future?

Even parts of Vancouver WA are thinking of putting track in the ground! A lot of people come to the same conclusion: you can have utilitarian transportation options like more buses, but streetcars bring interest back to a community. It's noted, tried, true, and tested.

Bring `em on!

Seattle's Waterfront Trolley Comeback Delayed

Originally the vintage Alaskan Way trolleys were to be back in service by Summer 2007. Now - according to this article - it looks like the earliest will be 2010...or beyond...or not at all. Facilities construction in Pioneer Square has been heavily delayed, and now the looming construction of the new Alaskan Way Viaduct would make any effort to get the trolleys back online short sited.

First and foremost, I was disgusted to see the original car barn torn down. Second, I had my concerns that the trolley would not be coming back to the waterfront. Out of sight, out of mind in a sense. It seems so backwards that we have a brand spanking new trolley system going to Lake Union, and we struggle to get the original back on the tracks. Thankfully the cars are stored and preserved out of the elements until such time that they are to be used again.

My thoughts? Someone needs to contract with Ballard Terminal Railroad, spruce up the right-of-way, and run through Ballard instead.

No streetcar for Everett, Mayor says

HeraldNet: No streetcar for Everett, Mayor Ray Stephanson says

He doesn't want it, but the city council does. Looks like we're in for some more "feasibility studies!"

Seattle ponders addition of more streetcar lines

More talk of more trolleys? This is getting good!

Seattle ponders addition of more streetcar lines

Local News | New streetcar suffers power glitch | Seattle Times Newspaper

First ball-bearings and now glitches!

Local News | New streetcar suffers power glitch | Seattle Times Newspaper

Someday we'll all look back at this and laugh...

Police investigate streetcar sabotage attempt

Man, the thing just started running and someone sabotages the tracks!

Police investigate streetcar sabotage attempt

While some of the comments are off-color, the Sound Off regarding this article has some funny points.

Seattle Streetcar Timeline

This is a wonderful piece of research that I want to share with you, and it goes back 120 years!

A funny bit in the timeline shows voters rejecting a plan to replace trolleys with busses, only to have the plan go forward anyway without a vote (sound familiar in our political history around here?).

Seattle Streetcar Timeline

Bike Meets Track, Then goes SMACK

South Lake Union Streetcar makes Test Run

The South Lake Union streetcar ran a test train yesterday; at the helm was Mayor Greg Nickels. The line has outlived the recent naming debacle that still has people talking. Maybe they should just consider giving it a tradition streetcar name like "The U-Line." It probably would have made things a lot simpler!

Seattle-Tacoma Interurban Railway

The Seattle-Tacoma Interburban Railway made its debut run on September 25th, 1902 - 105 years ago today. Originally it only ran between Tacoma and Seattle, but eventually expanded as far as Everett before it ran into financial trouble in the late 1920s. The final trains ran between Seattle and Everett no later than 1939. Much of the line has been reclaimed as a regional trail now. Thankfully a lot of the right-of-way remained, because it was shared with the power company. As a kid I remember riding minibikes over the old grade in places throughout Shoreline. Even back then we called it "The Interurban" without knowing why, other than some people knowing that a train used to run there.

As I write this, Sound Transit is bringing what used to be called "Interurban Transportation" back to the Puget Sound Region in the form of a light rail line that will eventually reach between Tacoma and Seattle. In some places, the new route and the old route are close enough to eyeball each other. In fact, at the Boeing Access Road in northern Tukwila, the new Light Rail line crosses over the old Interurban right-of-way. Was the Interurban ahead of its time? In my opinion yes, by about 100 years. In the early 1900s it was built to span the rustic distances between two urban centers. Now, the light rail spans the traffic congestion that is caused by having two urban centers, brought on by the cars that signaled the demise of the Interurban 70 years ago. While the focus is different, the result is the same - move people from one place to another.

Today we can sit back and celebrate rail history of our region by thinking about the Interurban and it's forward thinking mission to move people. I personally am looking forward to Light Rail, and hope to see it expand to my part of the region.

Ride the WHAT?

And this trolley line isn't even in service yet!

The South Lake Union Streetcar wasn't always called that; beforehand "Trolley" was used in place of "Streetcar." That made for a very unfortunate acronym - S.L.U.T. Not that SLUS is any better, but hey at least it isn't derogatory!

As a side note, a couple of regular joes are being overwhelmed with t-shirt orders for their special apparel