(619) 699-8690 August 2005

Check us out at our web site: TROLLEY LINES www.sdera.org

th We Loved a Parade – in Coronado on July 4 ! Inside this issue: Jim Price

Thanks to the efforts of Coronado Parade 1 SDERA member, Jim Roamer, we combined The Vienna Cars Really 2 forces with the Coronado Are Coming! Lion’s Club for a joint entry Excursion 2005 on SD 2 in the Coronado Parade on Trolley Green Line A Independence Day. Our Major Success! original intention had been SDERA Hosts TRAC 3 to use our VW Streetcar-on- Meeting and Public Wheels, a.k.a. “Herbie,” but Forum mechanical problems prevented that. So we Upcoming Events 3 chartered a “trolley” bus “Herbie” is Ready for His 4 from Old Town Trolley Second Annual National Tours. City Car Show

A number of Lion’s Club Urgent Call for Help at 4 and SDERA members rode National City Depot in the parade with “Clang, Original SDERy Driver Ed Herold and Old Town Trolley Driver Clang, Clang Goes the Norm Niles before Coronado Parade Photo by Chris Higgins Trolley” playing over loudspeakers. SDERA’s name was mentioned a number of times during the parade route, and our literature was distributed at the Lion’s Club table. Thanks to Jim Roamer and Tom Matson for working the logistics of this San Diego Electric Railway event. It should Association be noted for · Jim Price, President future reference · Mike Reading, Vice President that Old Town · Chris Higgins, Secretary Trolley Tours · Tom Matson, Treasurer really went the · Directors: Gene Calman, Gary Johnson, Jim Papulas extra mile for us · Chris Higgins, Webmaster – very friendly · George Geyer, Bookstore and cooperative. · Jim Price / Chris Higgins, Newsletter Editor(s) Tom Matson, Ed Herold, and Tim Higgins Photo by Chris Higgins Page 2 SDERA TROLLEY LINES

THE VIENNA CARS REALLY ARE COMING, REALLY SOON! - Jim Price

We have an official move date for the 3 Vienna streetcars: Saturday, August 6. We have contracted with Star Towing to move the cars, and the San Diego Trolley folks are preparing the cars for removal from their yard. Meanwhile Mike Reading has used his skills with a forklift to move our better track pieces to the rear of the property, and to load a flatbed truck with scrap material (for which we’ve been paid by Pacific Steel just up the street from the depot). Next up will be moving the pieces of “snap track” to accommodate the 3 Vienna cars plus the Birney car body that we already have (former Old Spaghetti Factory). Prior to the monthly meeting on August 13, we’ll open up our Vienna cars for all to see – sitting in our yard! Come down and have a look. You’ll be impressed with what you see. If you’ve ever wanted to help restore an historic streetcar to operation, now is your chance!

EXCURSION 2005 ON SD TROLLEY GREEN LINE A MAJOR SUCCESS!

On June 25th, SDERA once again provided streetcar lovers everywhere with a ‘sneak preview’ of the next segment of the San Diego Trolley a full two weeks before the public got to ride. We started off with a tour of the SD Trolley shops downtown. We then rode out on our charter train to see first hand the new stations on the extension of the Green Line between Qualcomm Stadium and Grossmont Center. Plus we rode out to and back from line’s end at Santee. Over 100 people enjoyed the beauty and comfort of the new S70 cars as well as witnessing photo run-by’s of the new cars at new stations. MEGA-thanks to Jim Papulas who put this event together, and to the many others who helped, including Gary Johnson, Tom and Mayra Matson, and Chris Higgins. Special thanks to John Tarantino from MTS for being our host on this special occasion, trolley driver Barry Sporfera, and Andy Goddard and Tom Duggan (MTS) for helping with the arrangements. This was intended to be a fund-raising event, and Photo by Chris Higgins guess what: we made some money! AUGUST 2005 Page 3 SDERA HOSTS TRAC BOARD MEETING AND PUBLIC FORUM —Jim Price July 16 saw a large crowd of interested train riders assembled in the National City Depot. The Train Riders Association of (TRAC) held their Board meeting in the depot in the morning, and then conducted a public forum in the afternoon. Linda Culp of the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) spoke about the transit projects planned for San Diego County the foreseeable future. Patrick Montague, a member of the Board of the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP) then discussed the Large Crowd Interacts with TRAC Board and Reps from SANDAG and NARP many activities in which that Photo by Jim Papulas organization participates as advocates for those of us who ride trains. As usual there was good news and bad news in both talks. SDERA’s President, Jim Price, gave a short presentation about SDERA. Mitch Beauchamp then rounded out the afternoon with a brief discussion about the Coronado Belt Line and its potential. All in all, over 50 people were at the NC depot during the day, some from as far as Northern California, and many of whom had never been in the depot before. We picked up at least a couple of new members, and got a lot of visibility with kindred spirits. TRAC President Alan Miller thanked SDERA profusely for hosting the meeting. Thanks to the SDERA members who attended the meeting, and especially to George Geyer, Jim Papulas, Pete Pearson, Mike Quigg, Jim Anderson and others who assisted in hosting the event.

Upcoming Events August 6 – Vienna cars move to NC Depot (see Angeles streetcar operations on article on Page 2). Glendale / Burbank Line and Los Angeles Transit Line (LATL). August 7 – National City parade and car show at Kimball Park (see back page). September 10 – monthly meeting: John Koschwanez, a local gent who Tom Matson met Monthly Meetings are held at 7:30pm on the recently, will show slides he took of San Diego 2nd Saturday of the Month at the National City Electric Ry (1947 & 1949) and Pacific Electric Depot. Join us at 5:00 for an optional no-host operations (Balboa Line & ). dinner at Keith’s Restaurant—3rd and National City Blvd. October 8 – monthly meeting: Jim Price will discuss his recent experiences of riding restored August 13 – monthly meeting: Don Brown streetcar lines in Dallas, TX; Little Rock, AR; will show slides of the latter days of Los and Memphis, TN. Non Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID San Diego, CA Permit No. 2606

ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED San Diego Electric Railway Association PO Box 89068 San Diego, CA 92138

SDERA is at the historic National City Depot, off I-5 at Mile of Cars Way — take Bay Marina Drive West to Marina Way, then right. Open every Sat. and Sun., 12 noon — 4 PM. Depot phone: call (619) 474-4400

We’re on the Web: www.sdera.org

“HERBIE” IS READY FOR HIS SECOND ANNUAL NATIONAL CITY CAR SHOW

You may recall that last year, we made a major push to get our VW streetcar-on-wheels, a.k.a. “Herbie,” ready for the National City Car Show. Thanks to many hours of volunteer work, scotch tape, bailing wire, and some prayers, we made it to the show. And boy, did we get the publicity, including with Mayor Inzunza!

Well, amazing but true, it’s that time again. “Herbie” will be in the NC car show again – this year on August 7 at Kimball Park. We need volunteers to “person” our booth between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Please contact Jim Price at 619-787-4148 if you can help.

Urgent Call for Help at NC Depot! The doors on the west side of the depot are in need of refinishing. The sun has taken its toll on the finish. We are looking for someone with experience doing this type of repair. Please contact Jim Price ([email protected]) or Tom Matson ([email protected]) if you can help.