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EvergreenRailfan

Jun 17 2012, 11:14 PM

As the construction on the replacement tunnel for the Alaskan Way Viaduct is ramping up, Alaskan Way itself is now a mess. South of Madison Street, only taxis and metro buses serving the Ferry Terminal is the traffic. Only confirming one of my fears, that we may not see the Waterfront Streetcar resume anytime soon. The last time I was down there, was last Tuesday, on my way to Colman Dock to take the ferry to Clearwater Casino for my birthday, and I noticed the track has been taken up, and the wires are now taken down.

Seattle Times

QUOTE

Their chance for survival is precarious. The elegant streetcars, painted green and cream, constructed with beautiful Tasmanian mahogany and white ash, have been described as "capturing the elegance of travel in a bygone era."

These days, they don't easily fit the new vision for this city.

"I guess they went out of fashion with the powers in the city and the county," says Ira Sacharoff, 54, now a real estate-agent, who was conductor on the streetcars for their entire time.

"They gave a little bit of eccentricity, a little bit of individuality, a little bit of quirkiness to Seattle."

KevinKorell

Jun 18 2012, 12:13 AM

Reasons why Waterfront Streetcar (or shall I still call it the George Benson Waterfront Streetcar?) may never return:

That pesky Sculpture Park that a local museum thought would look great sitting in the streetcar's right-of-way, thus severing the line from its storage/maintenance facility.
The buses that they painted to "look like" the streetcars are no longer in that livery.... and in fact no longer run parallel to the rail line in both directions. The route was turned into a loop so that by running nortbound on First Ave., they would better interface with other routes and be only 2 blocks from the downtown tunnel where the Sound Transt LINK is.
South Lake Union Streetcar is very successful, and it serves a different niche of the city.
First Hill Streetcar is being built now, obviously focusing attention on different neighborhoods of the city.
With work only just starting on the Alaskan Way Viaduct, and given how long Boston's Big Dig took (a similar project), a revived Waterfront line would still have to overcome the other obstacles already presented here. It probably could not start until Alaskan Way is fully buried underground, giving the rail line more breathing room.

And there are more that surely our Seattlites will offer.

Lightning

Jun 18 2012, 08:07 PM

The article drips of cynicism. The Olympic sculture garden gets a lot of flack. It is a great addition to the waterfront and was built--after extensive soil remediation--on the long ago site of an oil tank farm. The streetcar car barn itself, surrounded by a parking lot on three sides, was a corregated iron piece of junk, an eyesore, basically. There was a plan to save the line by building a new car barn in Pioneer Square, on the lower level of a building on the site of a....parking lot, on the edge of Occidental Square. The developer wanted to build just a tad higher, but this being Seattle, the idea was rejected and the developer walked. This was over a decade ago and the parking lot is still there. In any event, the line would have been shut down already with the viaduct/waterfront redo. The tracks have already been removed along most of the line. Perhaps, as the article states, a new line could be built in 2019. 2019 in Seattle terms is almost tomorrow. For now, I'd rather see extensions built elsewhere in the city for what is slowly emerging as a streetcar network and worry about the waterfront in a few years..

EvergreenRailfan

Jun 18 2012, 11:40 PM

I wold like to see the major transportation hubs connected, and an extension of the First Hill line to Madison St and Alaskan Way would help, to connect King Street Station and Colman Dock, although running a streetcar up 1st Ave could do that trick, with the existing overhead walkway between the Dock and 1st Ave. Also, the proposed arena in SODO, being around 1st and Holgate, would be between 2 LINK stations, and 3 blocks to the west. Perhaps that could have been a good idea for an extension.(I know, I am putting the cart before the horse on that one, we don't have a basketball team for it, yet).

KevinKorell

Jun 19 2012, 12:23 AM

When we were there in 2010, I noticed that some of the station shelters were still there. They were visible from the Empire Builder and Cascades trains just north of the tunnel. Are they now gone too?

EvergreenRailfan

Jun 19 2012, 12:50 AM

Not sure, I think the shelters and platforms may have been taken down, at least the two closest to Colman Dock.
IPB Image

EvergreenRailfan

Jun 19 2012, 01:16 AM

Seattle Times

QUOTE

Now it turns out that if you're interested in buying them — yes, getting them out of here — Metro will give you a showing.

Go ahead, make 'em an offer.

Just last week, Doug Campion, project manager for the Loop Trolley in St. Louis — a $43 million project that will run vintage streetcars, and is set to begin construction later this year — came to town to look them over.

EvergreenRailfan

Jun 20 2012, 12:04 AM

Seattle Times Danny Westneat column

QUOTE

Even the St. Louis trolley czar who is angling for them thinks we're clueless.

First he talked down the relics, saying other cities are "virtually giving them away." But then he let slip the truth.

"The streetcars will be an attraction all by themselves," he enthused.

Ya think?

Here's an idea. It came to me while watching an old video of our trolleys in action. They were clanging along, glinting green-and-gold. Looking kind of like a Sonics train.

Hey! We're about to build a half-billion dollar basketball palace in Sodo, to bring back the Sonics. Why not shoehorn a night shed on that property and run the trolleys again along the waterfront, through Pioneer Square and then through our stadium district?

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