Is This a Real Trolley Type?

[Retro Spectator]

I know this is a silly question, but is this a real trolley type? I had a dream last night, and in the dream was an image similar to this. A line of cars, which I have no idea if it is a real type of car or not, and a line of trolleys, which I also do not know if they are a real type. I must admit, I am not a very good artist, so this is the best I could possibly draw. I only drew one of each. There was a whole line of the trolleys. Some were red, and some were yellow. One that stood out was the one I drew, with the blue. The grey around the blue is supposed to be chrome. Not all the trolleys in the dream had the same chrome.

There was an ad in the ad place, but I did not remember what it was. Feel free to laugh at my bad drawing! ound:

 

[1930artdeco]

Areal trolly if I understand correctly, would have the little wheel 'the trolly' at the end of a long pole where it get electricity from the overhead wires. I could be wrong, which is entirely possible.

Mike

 

[Retro Spectator]

I believe in the dream there were wires. However, I have omitted them in the drawing, as I cannot draw too well.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Brooklyn trolley, c. 1950

 

[Retro Spectator]

It looked a lot like the Brooklyn trolley, but it had a different paint job. I guess my dream had a made up trolley line.

I wonder if the car is made up too.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Looks like the classic "Red Rocket" streetcars used in Toronto from the thirties to the seventies.

They were built to a design called the President's Conference Committee. This was a design laid down by an association of streetcar operators, built by different builders in slightly different forms, and used in many cities in the US and around the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCC_streetcar

You came up with a sort of generic streetcar or tram of a classic pattern.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Your car is a sort of generic fifties convertible with GM style rear fender trim and 1959 DeSoto tail lights. Cadillac had a mock chrome air intake something like that. Oldsmobile and others had a chrome rock shield with the half round shape but only at the bottom of the fender not all the way up.

 

[Stanley Doble]

I don't know what your dream means. It seems you were trying to conjure up a street scene from the fifties. In an actual city all the trams or street cars would wear the same livery (color scheme). Unless there were 2 companies and they would not both be operating in the same neighborhood.

The street cars resembled real street cars but perhaps fancier (with the chrome) and more streamlined. The car is a sort of pastiche of fifties styling cues like hooded headlights, tail fins, and wraparound windshield.

What it means I can't guess. Unless it evinces a desire to go back and live in the fifties or maybe you have been spending too much time on the Fedora Lounge lol.

 

[Stanley Doble]

My hat is off to you for having such vivid detailed dreams. And being able to remember them. I seldom dream and when I do it is pretty drab humdrum stuff, basically reviewing memories of the previous 2 or 3 days.

 

[Retro Spectator]

Thanks! I can usually remember my dreams. However, most of the time it is total nonsense, like talking crows, and the like.

This isn't the first time I had dreams set in the Golden Era. I assume I have the dreams because I am very interested in the Golden Era.

 

[Stanley Doble]

The talking crow dream probably means more than the trolley dream if you could figure out what it meant.

 

[LizzieMaine]

[video=youtube;s35puUhqQJc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s35puUhqQJc[/video]

 

[fashion frank]

In Providence where I used to live they are going to spend 3 Mil. on bringing back street cars for the main routes out of the city .
I cant wait to see how that will work out because back in the day when they had them in most cities cars were like my 1931 Model A narrower than todays cars and the street cars were placed in the middle of the road and cars were traveling on either side left and right .
I'm not sure how thats going to work out but its going to be interesting to see.

http://www.shorpy.com/node/7136?size=_original#caption

All the Best ,Fashion Frank

 

[Stanley Doble]

Seriously, trolley cars were obsolete by the 1920s. They never would have been built if rubber tires had been invented. Trolley buses are much better. In fact today battery technology has advanced to where we could have battery electric buses. They could keep the trolley wire on top and just have contacts at the bus stops so they could get a quick charge while dropping and picking up passengers.

The Swiss Oerlikon company built an electric trolley bus along these lines in 1950. It used a giant flywheel for power storage, they did not have the super batteries we have.

http://photo.proaktiva.eu/?pict=trolleybus/gyrobus_demo_yverdon&cat=transport>other>gyrobus&next=on

 

[Stanley Doble]

Many cities still have trolleys or streetcars but all are subsidized by the government. Diesel buses are cheaper to run but smelly and noisy. I think it is time to look into electric buses. The hold back has always been the batteries but today we have way better batteries than in the past.

 

[davidg]

Yes!

 

[AdeeC]

Seriously, trolley cars were obsolete by the 1920s. They never would have been built if rubber tires had been invented. Trolley buses are much better. In fact today battery technology has advanced to where we could have battery electric buses. They could keep the trolley wire on top and just have contacts at the bus stops so they could get a quick charge while dropping and picking up passengers.

The Swiss Oerlikon company built an electric trolley bus along these lines in 1950. It used a giant flywheel for power storage, they did not have the super batteries we have.

http://photo.proaktiva.eu/?pict=trolleybus/gyrobus_demo_yverdon&cat=transport>other>gyrobus&next=on

Here in Melbourne, Australia we still have a complete mature tram system and the largest in the world. No co-incidence roads and districts served by trams are the most vibrant, popular and people friendly areas of the city. Resists the traffic sewer and community degrading effect evident in other Australian cities where trams were removed and allowing cars and buses to dominate and choke the life out of cities. Electric buses aside from less polluting will add nothing else to the community and turn people friendly areas into more traffic sewers if they replaced trams. Not surprising Melbourne always figures in the top few most liveable cities lists in the world year after year.

 

[emigran]

Watch the salami sandwiches before you go to bed...!!!

 

[Stanley Doble]

How do you figure trams are not traffic? What is the difference between a tram and trolley bus in service? I really want to know. To me an electric bus could take the place of a tram but be more versatile, cheaper to build and run, more flexible, and eliminate the costly and dangerous tracks from the streets. Am I missing something?

Toronto, 70 miles from here, has an excellent transit system that uses street cars, electric trolley buses, diesel buses, and subway as appropriate. All have their place. But, if a city doesn't have a street car system I can't see the point of laying down tracks when you can get the same or better results easier and cheaper.

 

[tonyb]

An argument I've often heard from rail transit (light, heavy, streetcar, whatever) boosters is that people looking to invest in certain districts prefer the inflexibility of the routes that rail all but insures. You know, you can change a bus route right this minute and bypass that combination retail/apartments/office development that went in last year, but if the rail line runs right to it, well, you COULD abandon that track and those stations, but you aren't likely to.