The SLUT (South Lake Union Trolley) is a very short modern streetcar line which travels 1.3 miles north from the north end of Seattle's downtown through a light industrial area known as South Lake Union.  It began operations in December 2007 and is an interesting counterpoint to Portland's streetcar system, although I fear it will be less successful mostly because its goal appears to more to be to attract office development than residential development.  Also, most of its run is on wide high speed streets instead of Portland's much cozier narrow one-ways, which works to its aesthetic detriment.   

 

The line is so short they only currently have 3 Skoda vehicles (one red, one orange, one purple) as compared to the 12~ that Portland operates.  Traffic is so light that Seattle only runs two of the vehicles on the weekends at roughly 15 minute headways.  There are absolutely zero crossovers on the system so it runs as a loop, although there are turnouts to stubs at either end as opposed to Portland's true loop.  There are only four turnouts total for the entire system -- the two stubs, the turnout to the non-revenue shop track, and a turnout just outside the shops that leads to the two garage bays.  As a result, at the beginning and end of the day, one of the streetcars has to run completely empty all the way around the loop to simply get back to the shops.  It's a clumsy way of doing it but I'm sure doesn't cause any problems.     

 

This area is immediately adjacent to downtown, but due to its peculiarities won't be served by any future light rail expansion.  Also with light rail operations finally beginning later in 2009, this modern streetcar line will never be the big thing in town (as it would in Cincinnati's plans).  There are almost no restaurants or bars in this area, and only a mild amount of residential, so it has weak weekend ridership.  That's when I was there, so I never saw a full streetcar although it's clear with the many offices along its route that weekday traffic must be much more robust.  Also, with light rail opening later this year, traffic should increase. 

 

The line does not travel to the Space Needle but it shows up in the background of many shots:

 

The line terminates on the same block as the famous monorail -- I think the fact Seattle has gone with the modern streetcar when already having a tourist-oriented monorail is as good an argument as any that the modern Skoda vehicles are not tourist-oriented:

 

Beginning of the line:

 

Beginning of the line (streetcar staged on stub):

 

Beginning of the line (stub):

 

Stub:

 

Monorail & Space Needle at left, modern streetcar at right (tough to see, sorry):

 

Leaving downtown:

 

Leaving downtown:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The streetcars travel much faster on this street than they do in Portland:

 

 

 

The line deviates from 2-way traffic to running parallel at this point.  The tracks swing wide to reduce flange wear.  There is no noise from the flanges here:

 

Reverse angle and night shot of this stretch of track:

 

Northbound on one-way section (turnout to shops is near this point):

 

Northbound (line shifts from one-way on left curb to center running on two-way road):

 

Northbound approaching the lake:

 

 

Look at all those crains...

 

 

Look at all those wires, GAG!

All these threads have me really missing the Pacific Northwest right now.  Great to see they are moving ahead with rail transit, the one thing that Seattle was missing to be a truly great city.

 

As an aside, a few years back when the whole light rail/extended monorail debate was going on, a popular factoid was that the Monorail is the only money making public transit operation in the country (yes, I heard it from reputable sources but no I didn't fact check it).  The attendant joke is that it travels one mile and connects two food courts.

Seattle is light years ahead of Cincinnati is so many ways.  If Cincinnati ever wants to compete for the best/brightest young talent this country has to offer then we have to compete with the top dogs.

I like those Skoda cars; they're sleek and modern looking in a way that makes them amenable to all kinds of paint schemes.

 

It's interesting to me that a company that originated in what became part of the Soviet Bloc and produced many of the transit vehicles used there has become a predominant builder of buses and rail transit vehicles worldwide. Skoda stands as a testimonial to the long Czech heritage in progressive, well-designed technology.

You whore!

Best mass-transit acronym. I was hoping we'd get Columbus Urban Electric Express Rail.

I can't get over how visually stimulating the whole environment is. There's so much going on. In a way, it feels more intense than New York City. I think the topography gives you a sense that the city is more dynamic. There's ghost signs on old storage depots, then you have modern buildings and cranes, the streetcar. A friggin monorail. There's even some terminating vistas - even though they're corporate towers instead of government buildings, I think it adds a lot of aesthetic appeal.

I can't get over how visually stimulating the whole environment is. There's so much going on.

 

I agree.  When I visited Seattle about 2.5 years ago, I just enjoyed looking around at all of the great scenes.