Aruba's Oranjestad Streetcar. Twilight For
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
ARUBA’S ORANJESTAD STREETCAR. TWILIGHT FOR WESTERN EUROPEAN PCCS. GRANADA METRO FOLLOW-UP. HEADLIGHTS 2017 headlights 2017 The Magazine of Electric Railways ARUBA’S January–December 2017 Volume 74, Number 1–12 ORANJESTAD E Electric Railroaders’ Assoc., Inc. Founded in 1939 STREETCAR P.O. Box 3323, Grand Central Station New York, NY 10163-3323 RON YEE https://erausa.org Staff 4 Editor and Designer Sandy Campbell Associate Editor John Pappas TWILIGHT Contributors Ron Yee, John Pappas, Randy Glucksman, Sandy Campbell FOR WESTERN Printer Innovative Technologies in Print EUROPEAN Membership Headlights is published annually and sent free to all ERA members. PCCS Back Issues JOHN PAPPAS Digital editions of every Headlights since 1996 are now available for purchase online at erausa.org/bookstore. 26 Contact Us To contact the ERA, visit erausa.org/contact. Cover: Antwerp PCC train 7151 and G RANADA 7080 depart from the loop in front of imposing Antwerp Central Station. john pappas, may 17, 2017 METRO Right: Ghent Hermelijn car 6319 on Sint Niklaasstraat. john pappas, may 17, 2017 FOLLOW-UP ERA Headlights copyright © 2017 Electric Railroaders’ Assoc., Inc. All rights reserved. RANDY GLUCKSMAN Published December 2017. 92 2 ARUBA’S ORANJESTAD STREETCAR RON YEE 4 TWILIGHT FOR WESTERN EUROPEAN PCCS JOHN PAPPAS 26 G RANADA METRO FOLLOW-UP RANDY GLUCKSMAN 92 headlights 2017 3 aruba’s oranjestad streetcar 4 ARUBA’S ORANJESTAD STREETCAR By Ron Yee Aruba has a tourist-oriented tram line in the capital all photography by ron yee, may 2017 city of Oranjestad. Running over a 1.7-mile-long route, Left, blue double-level with loops at both ends of the line and a two-car-long tram, nicknamed the “Blue Car,” at Plaza Chipi-Chipi. passing siding near the eastern end of the route, it connects the cruise ship terminal area on the western end with the nearby downtown shopping zone. Known formally as the Downtown Oranjestad Streetcar System, the tram line is operated by Arubus, the agency in charge of Aruba’s public transport bus system. But, unlike local buses with a $2.65 fare, riding the Oranjestad Streetcar is free. headlights 2017 5 aruba’s oranjestad streetcar Retro Styling Expertise All four Aruba cars are designed to look like vintage trams from 100 years ago, sporting authentic touches like brass railings and trim, old-style controls, and lots of hand-crafted wood all around, including wooden flip-back bench seating on the single-deck cars and the lower levels of the double-deck cars. TIG/m had previous experience building retro-look trams with their original offering of a double-deck, battery- powered trolley for The Grove, an outdoor mall linked to Farmer’s Left, detail of the blue Top, red car at Plaza Right, upper deck Market in the west part of Los Angeles (see the car’s custom made Chipi-Chipi. of red car. back cover of Headlights, January–June 2005). solid brass headlight. They followed that up with an open-bench motor tig/m (instagram) Above, red and orange and trailer that runs along a third-of-a-mile loop cars at Plaza Bon Bini passing siding. through The Americana at Brand, a hometown- style outdoor shopping and residential complex in Glendale, California. 12 headlights 2017 13 aruba’s oranjestad streetcar Johan de Wittstraat Van Leeuwenhoek Van Straat Avenida Alo Tromp Hugo de Grootstraat Car Barn Ranchostraat Miraflorweg Weststraat Spinozastraat Erasmustraat Rancho John G. Emanstraat National Schelpstraat Archeological Visstraat Museum Arubus Aruba John G. Emanstraat Emmastraat Port Terminal Aruba of Call Plaza Museo Hendrikstraat Cruise Elleboogstraat Welcome Windstraat Terminal Plaza Weststraat Royal Waterweg Plaza Plaza Middenweg Chipi Chipi Caya Havenstraat t Kleistraat Caya G.F. Betico Croes a Betico Croes a Kruisweg Plaza Zandstraat L.G. Smith Boulevard Bon Bini Klipstraat Dwarsstr Plaza Renaissance Nicky Mall Rifstraat Korteweg Plaza Hospitaalstraat Comercio Steenweg Nieuwstraat Schoolstraat Oranjestraat Nieuwstraat olstraat o van Walbeeckstraat City oststraat Oude Sch Hall O Arnold M.Schuttestraat Wilhelminastraat Columbusstraat Wilhelminastraat Rietveld Zuidstraat Park estraat n Zoutmanstraat Ire Historical Museum Oranjestraat Oranjestad ARUBA Caya Ernesto Harmstraat Caribbean Sea 22 Johan de Wittstraat ORANJESTAD Leeuwenhoek Van Straat Avenida Alo Tromp STREETCAR Hugo de Grootstraat Car Barn map designed and illustrated by sandy campbell Ranchostraat Miraflorweg Weststraat Spinozastraat Erasmustraat Rancho John G. Emanstraat National Schelpstraat Archeological Visstraat Museum Arubus Aruba John G. Emanstraat Emmastraat Port Terminal Aruba of Call Plaza Museo Hendrikstraat Cruise Elleboogstraat Welcome Windstraat Terminal Plaza Weststraat Royal Waterweg Plaza Plaza Middenweg Chipi Chipi Caya Havenstraat t Kleistraat Caya G.F. Betico Croes a Betico Croes a Kruisweg Plaza Zandstraat L.G. Smith Boulevard Bon Bini Klipstraat Dwarsstr Plaza Renaissance Nicky Mall Rifstraat Korteweg Plaza Hospitaalstraat Comercio Steenweg Nieuwstraat Schoolstraat Oranjestraat Nieuwstraat olstraat o van Walbeeckstraat City oststraat Oude Sch Hall O Arnold M.Schuttestraat Wilhelminastraat Columbusstraat Wilhelminastraat Rietveld Zuidstraat Park estraat n Zoutmanstraat Ire Historical Museum Oranjestraat Caya Ernesto Harmstraat headlights 2017 23 26 TWILIGHT FOR WESTERN EUROPEAN PCCS By John Time marches on in the transit industry as it does in the Pappas rest of human endeavor. A scant 80-plus years have now all photography by john pappas passed since the President’s Conference Committee completed except as noted Ghent 34 rests on the their plans for a radically new streetcar which would change tracks of the former Route 22 at Gentbrugge carbuilding and many of the long-held ideas on how most Pirennelaan awaiting its trip to the scrapyard. components of streetcars should be designed. Eighty-one years arvo vander mersch, october 2017 have slipped by since the first commercial order was delivered and put in service — 100 cars for Brooklyn & Queens Transit. Yet the PCC is still with us. Two major cities, Boston and San Francisco, still provide regular line service with PCCs. One more city, El Paso, is about to be added back. PCCs can be enjoyed in regular appearances in Dallas, San Diego and Kenosha, Wisconsin. They also operate semi-regularly in Toronto and maybe soon on the Newark City Subway. And that doesn’t even count trolley and rail museums where examples are active. headlights 2017 27 Twilight for Western European PCCs | brussels 38 Far left, a view of the main railway station) complicated junction in the where there is an across- pre-metro subway looking the-platform transfer to south from Lemmonier the Metro. This scene will Station. Route 51 will turn radically change in coming left here and leave the years as the subway is subway after a short trip upgraded to full metro from where it entered just operation, which will south of Albert Station. result in shutting down The tracks turning to the Lemmonier and reducing right behind the car lead the number of flat into Gare du Midi (Brussels’ junctions. may 18, 2017 In a quiet neighborhood northbound trip to Stadion, in the Moensberg section 9.6 miles away. STIB has just north of the Brussels announced it will order 175 administrative limits, cars this year which will be artic 7905, top, boards for expansion, but also to passengers at the Van replace the PCCs starting Haelen terminal for its after 2019. Route 81 short-turn the city for those who wait car 7944 has off-loaded for the next car. Scheduled passengers at Meir, turnbacks are rare. This bottom, a traffic circle appeared to be the result next to Parc Astrid, which of several line delays, not affords a track layout that surprising on a 7.5-mile allows turning around route that crosses the city in either direction. The on the surface with only a route continues five stops short visit to the pre-metro onward to Marius Renard subway to serve the Gare at the southwest corner of du Midi Station. headlights 2017 39 Twilight for Western European PCCs | brussels STIB 7165 is seen amid track work at Boulevard de Smet and Rue Jules Lahaye on the busy cross-city route 18. joe saitta, april 29, 1993 46 headlights 2017 47 Twilight for Western European PCCs 48 Antwerp De Lijn Antwerp 7001 A city of commerce and shipping for centuries, coming (left) and going Antwerp is also the center of diamond trade. The (right). The car was rehabbed back to its metro area has a population of close to 800,000. It original look in 2009 and, has a major tram system, second only to Brussels as of May 2017, continues in Belgium. There are 13 routes and around 270 to run in service. It was trams on their 50-mile network. Transit operation delivered in 1960 as part in the Dutch-speaking Flanders region of Belgium of an order for 61 single- ended PCCs, numbered is under the management of De Lijn (The Line) 2000 to 2060. Unlike the which operates bus and tram systems in several Brussels fleet, it bears the cities through the northern and western part of classic La Brugeoise front the country. Besides Antwerp, they operate trams end design, a modification in Ghent and the Coastal Tramway (Kusttram) of the postwar American blueprint, which seems to which runs for 42 miles along the Belgium coast. fit this narrow body style more harmoniously. The fleet was renumbered into the 7000–7100 series in the early 1990s. Antwerp has the largest remaining fleet of first generation Belgian PCCs. According to De Lijn’s 2016 Annual Report, 150 of the original 166 cars were active as of the end of 2016. Since then they have taken delivery of 38 100 percent low-floor LRVs. In the meantime, Antwerp has seen regular expansion of lines and a third pre-metro tram subway opened, but no full metro. headlights 2017 49 Twilight for Western European PCCs | ghent Top left, this is a of the U.S.