Electric Trolley Busses

Trolley buses are still with us in San Francisco, Seattle, SanRemo, Italy (pictured above) and many other places. They are quiet, have great pickup, don’t have any diesel exhaust and have low maintenance costs. I once asked a friend in the GE transportation products business in Erie, PA (where the GE locomotives are made) why there aren’t more trolley buses out there in many cities. He said that when one sells a trolley bus, he has to make his profit on the sale of the bus. There will be little profits in spare parts and maintenance supplies after the sale. But when one sells a diesel bus, he makes his profit on the maintenance supplies, so the initial selling price of diesel bus need not include much, if any, profit. Since everyone today buys on first cost, the diesels get all the business. Now that the price of oil is going up, and the availability of oil is subject to the whims of the Mid-East, the trolley bus may yet become very popular. It doesn’t pollute and the electrical energy to drive it can be produced economically, without pollution, from nuclear energy. In fact, it would be feasible to put wires over the interstate highway system and use electrically propelled tractors and buses rather than diesels. SanRemo, Italy (pictured above) and many other places. They are quiet, have great pickup, don’t have any diesel exhaust and have low maintenance costs. I once asked a friend in the GE transportation products business in Erie, PA (where the GE locomotives are made) why there aren’t more trolley buses out there in many cities. He said that when one sells a trolley bus, he has to make his profit on the sale of the bus. There will be little profits in spare parts and maintenance supplies after the sale. But when one sells a diesel bus, he makes his profit on the maintenance supplies, so the initial selling price of diesel bus need not include much, if any, profit. Since everyone today buys on first cost, the diesels get all the business. Now that the price of oil is going up, and the availability of oil is subject to the whims of the Mid-East, the trolley bus may yet become very popular. It doesn’t pollute and the electrical energy to drive it can be produced economically, without pollution, from nuclear energy. In fact, it would be feasible to put wires over the interstate highway system and use electrically propelled tractors and buses rather than diesels.

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Electric Railroads

New Haven Electric Locomotives

NYNH&HRR 11kvac/600vdc
1907-14 New York, New Haven & Hartford RR
1912 New York, Westchester & Boston RR
New Haven was 25Hz from Cos Cob.
NH under PC was 25 Hz from Cos Cob.
ConnDoT/MN was 25 Hz from Cos Cob, until they switched to 60 Hz.
In the New York City area, the catenary voltage changes from the ex-PRR 11kV/25 Hz to the ex-NH 11kV/60 Hz about 174st Street in the Bronx.
This oversimplifies.
MOST of NH trackage was fed from Cos Cob.
Some bits used commercial power but, I think from NYC RR, who used 25 Hz to run the rotaries that ran the third rail.
I’d have to check to see which powered NY Connecting.
That location was also the feed for the NY Boston, and Westchester RR.
As far as I know the substation still exists to this day.
Location is near the CrossBronx Expressway and the former NH tracks.
This location by the way fed from Market (hunts Point Yard) to possibly Port Chester and the connection to Williams Bridge on the Harlem Division of the NYC at the power change point (NR tower).
After the PC merger with New Haven, GG1s started going to New Haven.
At Shell (Saugatuck), operation is to COAST ACROSS the bridge and pick up the wire on the other side.
NH pans would not go above a certain limit and would run under the rewiring horns.
The PRR pans on the GG1 could, and DID go higher (high enough to be ABOVE the rewiring horns on the far side….

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Electric Railroads

California: Connecting With High Speed Rail

This map from ACE shows the future connections with ACE to future High Speed Rail, San Joaquin, Capitol Corridor, Caltrain and BART. The future ACE route will be on the UP right of way with a separate track for ACE passenger trains. The UP will be able to use this track when there are no passenger trains using it to relieve UP freight congestion in the San Joaquin Valley.

The D&H at one time connected with two railroads in Oneonta

The first was the Catskill Mountain Branch of the New York Central, later Penn Central; the second was the Southern New York Railway, an interurban which ran from Oneonta to Mohawk, NY, on the Mohawk River.

Another neaby railroad that did not connect was the Unadilla Valley.

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The Southern New York Railway

Winter Travels

Bella Green

I’ve been extremely lucky this year to have already gone on two holidays. Visiting new places and doing new things is really important to me. There is a whole world out there with different food, buildings, history, scenery and lifestyle that should be experienced.

For the past two Christmases me and my sister have not bought each other a present, but instead booked a long weekend away. Last year we went to Budapest and this January we visited Warsaw.

In Warsaw we stayed in the most amazing apartment (Old Town Snug), we arrived quite late and the apartment owner Chris had stayed up to welcome us and give us a great overview of what to do in the city. I’d definitely recommend staying at Old Town Snug if you were to visit Warsaw, it was great value for money, in the best location and the facilities were top…

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