With no one from Amtrak to help sleeping car passengers any place to be found in the building and a long line at the ticket counter, I decided to walk to the Maison St Charles Quality Inn to get a room for two nights. The nice front counter lady gave me a rate of $62 a night. After putting my stuff in my room, I was off to ride the new Canal Street Streetcar Line.
Out in front of my hotel is the Erato Street stop of the St. Charles Streetcar Line which took me downtown to Canal Street where I got off to ride the new streetcar line.
The Canal Street Streetcar Line 12/20/2004
After just a few minutes wait, a Canal Street Cemeteries Streetcar took me out to City Park Avenue. The car would make a total of 24 stops along the route from the Waterfront to City Park Avenue.
For the downtown areas the tracks are in the cement median of Canal Street. All stops along this part of the streetcar route are on the right.
Once the grassy medians were reached, the stops were then on the left in the middle of the medians.
We came to the junction with the City Park Line {Carrolton Spur}.
The line ends at City Park Avenue with the above ground cemeteries, the 1840 Cypress Grove Cemetery and the 1852 Greenwood Cemetery.
The 1840 Cypress Grove Cemetery.
The 1852 Greenwood Cemetery.
The Canal Street Cars were built new in the shops and perform excellently. They are extremely quiet and comfortable to ride. My operator for my first trip was Richard Garnett and was very helpful pointing out things as well as giving information. I back tracked down Canal Street to Carrolton Street to wait for my next ride over some recently built tracks.
The Carrolton Spur 12/20/2004
This route starts at the east end of the Waterfront Streetcar Line then comes up Canal Street to Carrolton where it turns east to Beauregard Circle. Just as I had gotten off the Canal Car then a City Park Car pulled in. After a brief problem with a switch, we turned onto Carrolton Street. The line runs in the left hand traffic lane along a grassy median with palm trees growing down the middle. The route has five stops and at City Park Avenue runs single track to the end of the line where there is a two track station.
Pictures at the end of this line.
There is a statue of GT Beauregard 1818-1893 General CSA 1861-1865. Also here is a railroad in the park and Bayou St. John is to the east and is quite beautiful. Reboarding Car 2003, I returned to downtown and thought it would end at the Convention Center. Wrong, the streetcar kept going turning east on the Waterfront Line all the way to the French Market stop where I got off. Now I would wait for a Waterfront Streetcar to come to pick me up for a ride.
Car 460 pulled in and after changing poles, picked up three new riders with three already aboard and took off west leaving French Market. The operator gave us a fast ride skipping the Ursiline, Toulouse and Bienville Street stops. We did stop at Canal Street to let off those three passengers who had already been on.
The Poydras and Julia Street stops were just a brief pause before we reached the west end of the line at Churchill Chase. Here I got off and waited a few minutes for Car 463 which the 460 had followed to here. I took the 463 back to Canal Street where I walked a short block to a waiting Canal Streetcar which took me to Bourbon Street. Here I walked across Canal Street to a waiting St. Charles Streetcar which took me back to the hotel.
Another St. Charles Streetcar Ride 12/20/2004
After making some phone calls including one to Amtrak, I relaxed watching some television. I then rode a very full St Charles Line Streetcar out to the end of the line which I had not ridden yet on this trip. On the way back I rode the operator seat in the rear of the car which was really fun. We passed people waiting and they gave me looks like "Why did not you stop!" I would point down the track so they would see the one coming behind us in a few minutes.
I enjoyed a KFC dinner which I brought back to my room. I made a few more phone calls including one to Richard of Lets Talk Trains fame. I watched Inspector Gadget 2 before calling it a night.
Slept in late for me {7:30 AM} before walking over to Amtrak to exchange my ticket and the like. With the station store closed, I walked over to the Hyatt Hotel for some post cards. I stopped on a bench, filled them out and mailed them off at the Post Office on the way back to the hotel.
I went to the St. Charles Tavern for breakfast. The Tavern is on the northeast corner of St. Charles and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, a short walk from the hotel. Many St. Charles Streetcars rumbled by during my meal. I went to Walgreens for more Coca-Cola for the trip home before returning to the hotel for my camera.
A short walk to Lee Circle gave me a chance to watch the St. Charles Line in action. After many different pictures, I returned to the hotel for a day of rest as the weather was changing. Tonight an 80% chance of thunderstorms and severe weather was forecasted for tomorrow. After watching some television, I made an afternoon trip back to Lee Circle.
I gained some elevation for some of these pictures by standing on walkways of buildings built well above the street. I really do love the sound these old St. Charles Streetcars make. Back at the hotel, I watched episodes of MASH and made a trip to KFC to bring back dinner. I watched the movie Sgt Bilko with Steve Martin on the USA Channel. I got lucky on both nights with movies on the cable to watch that made me laugh. After the movie I called it my last night in New Orleans.
Back to Union Station 12/22/2004During the night it had only showered lightly so after checking the Doppler on the Weather Channel, I visited the St. Charles Tavern for some French Toast and crispy bacon. After packing up everything, I checked out and taxied to New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal. I dropped my bags off in the very warm and humid Magnolia Room, the first class lounge at NOUPT. I visited the gift shop and walked over to the Post Office to mail these cards. They came in and got all the passengers for the very late eastbound Sunset Limited that was going to Florida. With the heat and humidity in the lounge and since my train was open for the bus passengers from Florida and all points east of New Orleans, I asked if I could just wait in my cool room on the train. The attendant of the lounge told me to go ahead and have a great trip!
