BusTalk

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

(SEE PREVIOUS POST)

In 1958, electric rail rapid transit in the Bay area finally expired, seemingly for all time, only to be revived a decade later, in the form of BART......talk about a major-league turnaround.......

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?16124

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?19599

(courtesy: ncvsubway.org)

["A"]

[Cyberider]

NYO,

To me, the bridge units still looked modern and they looked like trains. The BART cars looked like giant "people movers." Even worse than the R-40 "Slants!"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

[Cyberider]

NYO:

If they had painted the original BART cars pink, we could call them "Pink Pearl" erasers.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here is an interesting (and quite detailed!) page on BART rolling stock, past and present.........

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_Area_Rapid_Transit_rolling_stock

Note the interior photos of the new "D" and "E" Series cars; note how the interior walls "angle in"; this reminds me of the rolling stock used on the tubes (Underground) in London.

Note, also, that straps are furnished for standees; the last new subway cars built for New York to be equipped with straps were the "R-42" BMT/IND cars of the early 1970s.

The last cars in operation to still be equipped with straps were the iconic "Redbird" IRT cars, the last of which were retired in 2003...........

"NYO"

["NYCTA"]

["BART"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Ironic..........

IN 1958, the last KEY "Bridge Railway trains made their final runs; a decade later, construction was well underway for what would eventually become today's complex, far-reaching rapid transit network, BART.

In Los Angeles, the last trains on the former PE's Long Beach line disappeared in 1961; two years later, the last streetcar routes in the city were converted to buses.

After a neatly two-decade absence, electric rail transit (light rail) returned; today, Los Angeles operates both light rail and heavy rail rapid transit.

How odd (and most ironic) that electric rapid transit made a big return in both cities, only after after the once-complex systems that had served millions for decades had been destroyed.......

"NYO"

["KEY SYSTEM"]

["PACIFIC ELECTRIC"-

["BART"]

["M"]

[Cyberider]

The private systems folded because they weren't allowed to charge enough fare to cover costs. The new quasi-governmental agencies have huge taxpayer funded budgets to build and operate expensive new systems at the taxpayer's expense, most of whom don't even use the system but, nevertheless, are paying for them. Fares, when collected, don't come close to covering costs. My opinion!

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Articulation..........

It would have been interesting had BART decided to "jump start" articulation when their original "slant nose" equipment was being designed.

Interesting, too, as the KEY's "Bridge Units" were the ONLY articulated rolling stock in use in the Bay Area; PE, of course, never experimented with articulation, although several interurbans did roster articulated equipment.

In New York, along with several experimental articulated units, the BMT rostered a number of "production model" articulated trainsets, the "D"-Type Triplex (1925) and the Multi-Section units (1936/1937); the last were retired in 1965.......

"NYO"

["BMT LINES"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

BART trains serving Marin?

This is an interesting "what if" article with a number of good illustrations.

Recall, the NWP's electrics (and connecting ferryboats) served Marin until 1941.

What might have been.............

https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/How-BART-almost-connected-to-Marin-by-way-of-the-16309661.php

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Also............

Image of the abandoned "Bridge Railway" tracks on the lower level of the Bay Bridge had survived long enough to have the old ROW incorporated into the new BART network?

Just thinking.............

"NYO"

["ba"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Came across this interesting page (there are also a few historic "KEY" photos)

"TRAFFIC ENGINEERS VS TRANSIT PATRONS"

See:

www.trainweb.org/mts/ctc/ctc03.html

["A-SAN FRANCISCO"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

See also..........

https://eastbayyesterday.com/events/what-happened-to-the-key-system/

["167"]