Dec 19, 2008
Come On, It's Lovely Weather For A Streetcar Together With You
By: Kevin Buchanan
The reach of Fort Worthology sometimes surprises even me. A reader named Alex, from Seattle, sent me this cell phone video he shot near his home in Seattle’s urban core. It shows the South Lake Union streetcar merrily rolling along in a frozen, snowy streetscape, seemingly unfazed by the weather. While it’s hard to see in the video, Alex tells me that off in the background, one of Seattle’s conventional buses can be seen sliding around on the ice and snow, failing to get anywhere.
He also writes of the performance of transit in the ice & snow:
No bus is on time. 0% on-time performance on all routes in the past hour according to Metro – except for route 98: South Lake Union Streetcar. All bus service into and out of my neighborhood is cancelled due to current conditions.
In fact, he points out that over 120 bus routes were shut down due to inclement weather, but the South Lake Union Streetcar is not only up and running, but maintaining at least some level of on-time performance.
While Fort Worth’s winter weather doesn’t often reach the level of Seattle’s, we absolutely do have our problems with ice storms during the cold months around these parts. It’s reassuring to know that the modern streetcar is as versatile and capable in foul weather conditions as this.
Icy weather is one of the few times you will see the McKinney Avenue streetcar operate around the clock. Running the cars keeps the ice from building up on the overhead wires. Keeping the ice off keeps the wires from collapsing under the weight of the ice (unlikely but a possibility in a heavy event) and keeps the line serviceable for normal operating hours. The ice can build up to a point where it insulates the wire and prevents the streetcar from getting any juice. Regular operation keeps the line open.
Nothing is more fun when operating a streetcar than to blow away a DART bus trying to start from a stoplight. The streetcar is oblivious to the ice on the rails and accelerates pretty close to normal (especially with the built in sanders). The primary concerns when operating in snow/ice is the switches getting packed up and malfunctioning and also dodging all the rubber tired vehicles slipping around on the road. If I have to be out in the ice, there’s no place better than on a streetcar.
Yet another reason to get some streetcars since the corporation I work for won’t let us close on snow/ice days anymore. I could get to work on those days without dying.