Monday Streetcar Blogging

Perley A. Thomas car (vintage 1924), idling on Canal Street in front of Canal Station, waiting for the operator for the next shift:

(clicky the photo for a larger version)

932 had just completed a "switchback" operation. Because the operator was waiting for his replacement to come out of the station, he was idling on the outbound track. The new operator didn't come out right away, though, so 932 had to switch off to the inbound track. But then 971 was running down Canal inbound, so 932 had to switch back. We caught the 932-971 switch here.

The original Canal Station, built in 1861 by the New Orleans City Railroad Company, was torn down in 1994, to make way for the A. Phillip Randolph bus facility, built on the same spot. When the streetcars returned to Canal, a car barn was built behind the bus facility.

Canal Station is located in the Mid-City neighborhood of New Orleans, which has one of the most active neighborhood associations (the Mid-City Neighborhood Organization) in the post-storm era. Parts of Mid-City got as much as 5'-6' of water, and some sections are still a mess. The people of the area have worked hard to bring their neighborhood back to some semblence of normal. Their biggest obstacles are twofold: the bureaucratic mess that is city government after the storm, and crime. There is grave concern in Mid-City that gangs which used to haunt the Central City neighborhood are moving into Mid-City, because so much of Central City is deserted. Still, Mid-City schools, businesses, shops, pubs, restaurants, and coffee shops are returning, spurred on in part by the old, green streetcars running day and night along Canal Street and N. Carrollton Avenue.

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