Railroad Forums 

  • MARTA Atlanta Light Rail Streetcar & Beltline Project

  • General discussion of passenger rail systems not otherwise covered in the specific forums in this category, including high speed rail.
General discussion of passenger rail systems not otherwise covered in the specific forums in this category, including high speed rail.

Moderators: mtuandrew, gprimr1

 #861066  by JamesT4
 
I am shocked it's going to happen, I will hopefully be on it when it opens up.

I wished it would had connect with the Five Points Marta Station since when I ride MARTA where I get off at, but Peachtree Center Marta will do, and it is long needed in Downtown Atlanta to my view.
 #861320  by superbad
 
hopefully this leads to a line up the part of the city that most desperately needs it: marietta street. I have not completely looked at the map yet, but I think it ends someplace near little 5 points on one end.
 #861711  by jtbell
 
I'm glad Atlanta finally got something off the ground, or at least has the money to get it off the ground. I won't be 100% convinced until the shovels start digging, though.

Whatever happened to the project for a Peachtree Street line? I always thought the section between downtown and the Arts Center was questionable because of the MARTA subway running along that corridor, but the section from Arts Center northward through Buckhead to Lenox seemed like a no-brainer to me. That stretch of Peachtree has very dense (for Atlanta) commercial development, and the bus route that currently serves it had (I think) the highest frequency of any bus route in Atlanta the last time I visited several years ago.
 #863103  by superbad
 
atlanta applied for tiger grants for the peachtree line, but had no local funding, they wanted the fed to fund it all.. the fed did not like that.. the circulator streetcar is much shorter and cost much less, but at least will get it into the face of people. this circulator line has potential to serve parts of the city greatly under-served by anything.. namely the NW side. and little 5 points the peachtree streetcar will come eventually... i wont believe it until i see a shovel hit the ground either.. I think I read early 2012..

Also read that Cobb county has light rail plans, but they make absolutely no connection to marta rail.. but i think it would be a success anyway.
 #879425  by aline1969
 
This is exciting news. Two New England trolley museums have old 1920's streetcar/trolleys.

Seashore Trolley Musuem has a body and Brandford Trolley Museum has a complete car. Both cars are the same vintage.
 #880507  by wigwagfan
 
goodnightjohnwayne wrote:Well, this photoshop does a good job of depicting a streetcar as an impediment to vehicular traffic.
That's a nice Photoshop job of a Portland Streetcar not in Portland...

The best that we have is the center-island platform on the S.W. Harrison Roadway where the street is one traffic lane in each direction, plus a bike lane and wide sidewalk:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... .6,,0,3.13

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 54,,0,5.17
 #881613  by aline1969
 
mtuandrew wrote:The car at Shore Line Trolley Museum, Branford, CT: Georgia Power Co. #948 I can't find a link to any Atlanta car at Seashore, but it's probably there somewhere.
The Atlanta car is of the same series as 948 at Branford, but the # is unkown. The car had a 2nd and 3rd life. It served in Korea for a while. The car is kept in the museum's Fairview Car House.
 #882376  by superbad
 
I believe this why the city went for this one instead of the peachtree streetcar.. this one will not have a tie-in, but it gets close to where it would tie-in. I think the other reason this line was chosen is that on the north end of it, in the future could be extended a mile or so into the heavily congested NW part of atlanta... marrietta street in particular has a lot of high-density housing of which a good precentage are students at GA tech and GA state..
 #909948  by Patrick Boylan
 
I hate to split hairs, or at least I hate myself for enjoying to split hairs, but I think that Light Rail Vehicles that run in street traffic are streetcars. Do you mean that the Atlanta Streetcar will use modern style streetcars instead of antique or replica vehicles made to look like antique streetcar?