slumcat

I just posted about this under the transportation heading, go to mass transit and the Dayton RTA heading. There are just two trolleys running weekdays AM rush hour and two running PM peak hour. One takes an east-west route, the other a north-south route. RTA has recently invested a lot of time in training most of their operators on trolleys, and they are working on closing the gaps in the infrastructure network. RTA's own analysis favors trolleys from an economic standpoint due to lower "fuel" (for lack of a better word) costs, but still...the system seems constantly hassled by "stimulus" highway projects and I-75 construction...all resulting in the inevitable detours and diesel substitutions.

Thanks for info...I live by the line, I think that's the one that woke me up last night :lol: I did notice there was a train at a time when we don't usually hear one.

Anybody out there know if Norfolk Southern has started running double stack freights through its Dayton District (connecting Gest yard in Cinti. with Rickenbacker in Columbus)? The clearances along the Dayton District were supposed to be raised for double stack so this line could serve as a feeder to the much-praised Heartland Corridor project, which was essentially completed a year or 2 ago.

See my posting under the Dayton transit thread for the status of electric trolleys as of 2012.

Dayton RTA fans, anybody out there know why GDRTA isn't running their electric trolley buses, despite recently spending funds on filling in gaps in the overhead wire system. The most trolleys you see running currently are 2--thats two buses not two routes--in the AM rush hour and 2 in the PM rush hour. They say it's because of construction detours but that's not true with respect to routes 3 and 4. UPDATE: They just brought trolley routes 3 and 4 back on-line this week. :-D See my post under Ohio urban photos/Dayton Trolley thread.

Jeff: I too remember the 1991 attempt to dump Dayton's trolleys, actually I think a lot of it originated from RTA bus drivers themselves with the encouragement of then-director (who was since terminated). What saved the system at the time was the fact that the infrastructure improvements and new power stations had already been contracted with the Federal funds obligated, so they were really past the point of no-return with the system modernization. In 2009 they are talking about using Federal economic stimulus money to do some short extensions, probably routes 3 4 & 7. It will be very interesting to see how this plays out at this point as RTA has been very non-committal about the future of the trolly system.

"NOTE: The tally of U.S. electric trolleybus systems, earlier stated as three, has been corrected to four." This quote from the topic above is not entirely accurate. The five US ETB cities are: Boston, Philadelphia (system was partially dismantled for rebuilding but should be up and running by now) Seattle, San Fransisco, and Dayton. In Canada, Edmonton's aging fleet is being phased out but Vancouver still has a large, new fleet. Dayton will be interesting to watch, as the (relatively) new director seems to have an open mind about ETB's. Rumor has it that Dayton RTA is proposing to use economic stimulus dollars for some small extensions, probably routes 3,4, & 7. Dayton's big problem now seems to be deteriorating physical condition of the coaches (many need bodywork, peeling paint etc.) although the infrastructure is still in fairly good shape& much of it recently rebuilt. A few years ago Dayton RTA said they would do a cost-benefit and look at possibly eliminating the trolleys after the Federal interest in them expired, however they started backing away from this when diesel prices went up.