A few years ago, one of my co-workers told me she really liked lighthouses. A couple of weeks later, I see a display of lighthouse related books in a bookstore. I can pick up a book on farm tractors easier than I can find a book on streetcars in a bookstore. Miniatures of lighthouses and tractors are everywhere. Why aren't trolleys and streetcars like that? Or did that happen already and I missed it? I've noticed that shuttle buses are being referred to as "trolleys" (probably to go along with those "disguised as trolley" buses). I think this diminishes what makes real trolleys special and creates confusion in the minds of the public.

Wouldn't it help the operators of vintage/heritage trolleys increase their funding and ridership if there were more public awareness? It might make it easier to get projects off the ground if more people were interested. Here in Detroit, things look to be to turning around downtown, but the city government and transit agency are dragging their feet with the trolley. I know some outside stimuli would light a fire under their collective butts.

I could contribute to a legitimate effort to elevate the awareness real streetcars and trolleys in the minds of the public. It would be nice to get those rubber-tired trolleys off the streets, but that's another cause. Oh, and no disrespect to you lighthouse and farm tractor fans out there. More power to ya!


wbaoffice@ameritech.net

The simplest answer is that fewer and fewer people even remember streetcars, Its rather hard to be sentimental about something you have never seen.

As for the antique tractor. amd farm machinery hobby more and more shows are de-emphasizing the early stuff, like steam, and early kerosene tractors in favor of the stuff from the 40's 50's and 60's. Much of it has to do with the amount of physical labor required to re-enact the early days of mechanization, and skills that are just plain being lost. It's a change that seems inevitable, but I personally find rather sad.

I must agree about the fact that most people have not had the chance to experiance a ride on a streetcar or interurban trolley. One chief complaint of this new generation against the trolley is the unsightly overhead catanery and supports. Most people don't realize that our nation's capital once had a magnificent streetcar system. Asthetics in the capital district was quite understandibly a major concern. They addressed that problem and operated safely for many years utilizing a trolley wire or rail buried in a trough beneath the street just as the cables for the San Francisco Muni cable cars are. The most noticable feature of DC streetcars was the lack of an overhead trolley pole. Instead, a shoe attachment to the underside of the truck filled that need.

As for me, I am not a wholly dedicated train enthusiast but more a transportation enthusiast and historic preservationist. I am just about equally interested in historic structures (particularly railroad structures and lighthouses), vintage airliners and smaller civil/military aircraft and large river and ocean going vessels as well as anything steam powered.

envlink@voyageronline.net

> The simplest answer is that fewer and fewer
> people even remember streetcars, Its rather
> hard to be sentimental about something you
> have never seen.

I was born in 1962 and steam engines had virtually disappeared from the mainline railroads by that time. My appreciation of stream engines grow out model railroad trains. You don't need to actually remember something to gain an appreciation for it. Unlike steam engine, streetcars didn't disappear completely and the number vintage/heritage trolley lines are growing. I think an interest in trolleys and streetcars can be cultivated in the minds of the public but an effort needs to be made to do it.

By the way, it's not steam powered tractors I'm talking about. The books I'm seeing contain some rather modern tractors.

wbaoffice@ameritech.net

San Francisco has been capitolizing on the trolley's ancestor, the cable car, for years. You can't go into a gift store there without seeing at least one CC souvenier.

ironbartom@aol.com

> San Francisco has been capitolizing on the
> trolley's ancestor, the cable car, for
> years. You can't go into a gift store there
> without seeing at least one CC souvenier.

I guess I should point out that the interest I'm trying to increase is an interest in real trolleys and streetcars. Increased sales in trolley merchandise is nice, but it's not that important. I think that It would make operating a vintage/heritage trolley line if public interest were at the same level as it is for lighthouses. I get tired of seeing rubber-tired fake trolleys and I think that calling shuttle buses "trolleys" creates some confusion in people's minds.

wbaoffice@ameritech.net

> By the way, it's not steam powered tractors
> I'm talking about. The books I'm seeing
> contain some rather modern tractors.

My point exactly....