Savannah, Georgia - River Street Streetcar

Savannah is about to launch a short streetcar line using a former Norfolk Southern track (now owned by the city) that runs down the middle of River Street. This is a popular tourist destination, with shops and restaurants all along the street, views of the river, and old stone-block paving.

Equipment is a single car from Melbourne, Australia, renovated and outfitted with an electric generator that uses biodiesel fuel. No overhead wires. The plan is to collect used cooking oil from River Street restaurants and use it to produce the car's fuel.

The car made its public debut as part of a Climate Action Parade earlier this month, followed by a day of free rides a few days later. Regular service begins sometime in January.

I stopped in Savannah briefly yesterday on my way home from a Christmas trip and got a few pictures of the car, which is kept in a fenced-in area on the track:

http://web.presby.edu/~jtbell/transit/Savannah/

this has go to be some of the best news out of georgia.. this is something atlanta has been trying to do for what 10 years now.?
found some youtubes.. I live in CHicago now, and could be california bound in the fall, so next time I am down I'm making a little 200 mile jaunt to savannah.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxJKt9B9f-I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5K3IHlw ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV33RaJu ... re=related

it appears that this thing is capable of some notable speed...

I havent been to savannah in 2 years now, so I never heard much about the happenings of this, but where is the car going to be stored? did they build a shop or are the somehow going to use the railroad museum roundhouse. IF so what is the track routing to get it to the roundhouse? I love savannah, and I see this as a bright light in a state that seems to kill anything transit related. I hope this leads to the development of some sort of heritage streetcar system in savannah.. this is far fetched, but having rail all the way to tybee again?

The car is stored out in the open, on a fenced-in section of track west of the end of the line. See the pictures on the page that is linked from my original post. I don't know if there are definite plans for a more permanent location.

are there any future plans for this streetcar to continue running south of riverstreet to roughly the area where that new mixed use development is? Those tracks go several miles east or south of downtown into some residential areas.

According to the Savannah Morning News, the streetcar will start regular operation next Wednesday (February 11).

The line did start service yesterday. Here's a report from WSAV TV with a video that includes an interview with a guy whose father was a Savannah streetcar conductor way back when.

Two questions for anyone with the answers.

The press reports say the streetcar runs on a biodiesel engine.
Is it diesel electric, diesel mechanical or what?

Maps show River St. as one way.
Do they eliminate vehicle traffic when it is running
or does it run against traffic?
Looks big, I'd get out of its way if I saw it coming.

Nice touch, leaving the trolley poles on it.

AndyB

It's (bio)diesel-electric, from what I've read.

The street is narrow, but wide enough for cars to pass the streetcar when it's running counterflow, provided that the city can keep people from parking cars or delivery trucks along the opposite curb. I've driven along that street. You can't go much faster than walking pace because of the rough stone-block paving and pedestrians crossing randomly.

I'm on spring break, so I may be able to make a day-trip down there later this week... keeping my fingers crossed that nothing comes up to prevent it.

I went to Savannah a few years back and I walked along these tracks. I thought it would be perfect for a trolley service and even said that when i was down there. Intresting to see that it is trolley service now.

I did drive down to Savannah yesterday. Some of the pictures are now on my web page:

http://web.presby.edu/~jtbell/transit/Savannah/

The weather was very nice. This might be the first really good warm weekend since the line started running. Lots of people and traffic. At one point on my westbound ride (against the flow of one-way traffic) the conductor had to get off for a few minutes and direct traffic so as to clear some space for the streetcar.

like i had stated before, I hope this leads to expansion and more streetcars in savannah... I know the track the city owns goes several miles in either direction of river street... in particular the stretch that runs along US 80 through residential and to my knowledge a very large mixed use development to the east of downtown.