Official Trackless Trolley Thread/Tracker

Seattle's TT system goes far beyond the transit tunnel. It's a pretty standard feature on the very hilly routes.

The MBTA would plain old just not allow it for the reasons stated above and others...liability, obligation to maintain once private vehicles use it- even if TT's don't, wire changing to public property, etc. And why would the MBTA give away the electricity that they purchase anyway ?

Seattle's system actually no longer goes in the transit tunnel. The tunnel routes now operate with hybrids that can operate on battery only at times. They took out the trolleybus overhead when the catenary was installed to the Central Link light rail. A number of surface only routes remain trackless, but on a visit last November they appeared to operate weekdays only.

Philly's routes are confined to three routes in the northeast centered out of Frankford Terminal. Easy to miss if you're not in the right part of town (just like the MBTA's tracklesses).

But we're wandering off topic now...apologies.

3rdrail wrote:The MBTA would plain old just not allow it for the reasons stated above and others...liability, obligation to maintain once private vehicles use it- even if TT's don't, wire changing to public property, etc. And why would the MBTA give away the electricity that they purchase anyway ?

Could the MBTA make some money off that electricity? And I was told somewhere else that Dayton once had trolleybuses operated by different companies sharing the same wires, each bus had onboard power metres for billing, who owned the wires in that case. Having different companies sharing the same wires would increase the benefit in being able to leapfrog! Have there ever been cases of ex

octr22 wrote:Seattle's system actually no longer goes in the transit tunnel. The tunnel routes now operate with hybrids that can operate on battery only at times. They took out the trolleybus overhead when the catenary was installed to the Central Link light rail. A number of surface only routes remain trackless, but on a visit last November they appeared to operate weekdays only.

Why did they replace trolleybuses with 'hybrids?' These should replace other buses which also supply on-board loads with on-board generation, not trolleybuses. Hybrid wood gas electric buses anyone?

But how far do the poles extend from the actual base? Private vehicles can be as long as six metres, like many 1960s Cadillacs, and maybe even the larget minivans today.

I think we'll sooner see the entire trackless system reconverted to streetcars, and run with newly manufactured Type 5's, than we'll have private citizens in their 1960's Cadillacs equipped with meters and trolley poles driving down mass ave and through the Harvard tunnel.

That said, if you have all of these things at your disposal (along with enough $$$ to pay off the DOT as well as the T) ....be sure to post the pictures here.

Type7trolley wrote: I think we'll sooner see the entire trackless system reconverted to streetcars, and run with newly manufactured Type 5's, than we'll have private citizens in their 1960's Cadillacs equipped with meters and trolley poles driving down mass ave and through the Harvard tunnel.

SSSHHH!!! That's supposed to be hush-hush. I heard that J.G.Brill has the contract and that Rex Trailer and Major Mudd are going to be in the first Type 5 to enter the tunnel ! Fares are going to be 15 cents.

15 cent fares are probably more expensive to collect than the revenue they'll provide. I bet the deficit would be lower if they charged no fares, and consequently had no revenue collection expenses.

Looking at all these old messages gets me to know how things were like in the 2000s since I was never aware of this stuff since I was a baby then.

Enjoy them while you can. Battery/hybrid technology is maturing very quickly, and it's sadly but inevitably only a matter of time until the twin wires are gone.

Time will tell. The MBTA clearly has the goal of rapidly eliminating all tracklesses (both North Cambridge based routes and the Silver Line tunnel operations), but in-motion charging (IMC) buses are making inroads here in North America. Dayton, OH has committed to them. These basically combine a battery bus with ability to operate off and charge from the existing TT overhead system. Rather than spending millions to rebuild North Cambridge as a battery bus garage, the existing infrastructure could be used to electrify a good chunk of the Harvard-based routes.

Establishing new trackless trolley lines on streets is pretty much impossible because of public opposition to new overhead lines. They may be possible on separated bus-only routes, but not on existing streets.

They should expand the TT model especially on the Silverline's private ROW in Chelsea.

Why is there a topic dedicated to busses/trackless trolleys on railroad.net???

Any word on enventually converting some of these lines into light rail routes?

Long story short, this thread has been here (and in years past very active!) since at least 2004. Perhaps look back through the 35 pages of posts in this thread; you might find here or perhaps elsewhere on Railroad.net, that your question has in fact been raised before. I remember it happening, and after some discussion and debate, it was determined by the moderators of this forum that discussion of trackless trolleys was an acceptable topic here, especially considering the history of the Cambridge lines and the fact that they still exist primarily due to their utilization of the former streetcar tunnel infrastructure around Harvard Square. Note however, same moderators did and do continue a policy of prohibiting discussion of regular buses on this forum except as mention in cases where they are tangential to rail operations (I.e. discussing a temporary bus diversion of rail service is OK, going on and on about make and model and fleet of same is not, nor is discussion of regular bus routes that permanently replaced former rail lines).

Pensyfan19 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 24, 2021 1:58 pmWhy is there a topic dedicated to busses/trackless trolleys on railroad.net???

The objection is overruled, this discussion may continue.

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