Also called boutet welding. In fact there's a company in Ohio with that name which specializes in rail welding supplies: http://www.railtechboutet.com/

Last night one of the TV reporters kept mispronouncing Over-the-Rhine.  That is the level of blockhead we're dealing with in this town. 

 

How does one mispronounce Over-the-Rhine? Say the h or something?

 

I get it when the new guy from Carolina or some place gets Cheviot or Versailles wrong, but Over-the-Rhine is pretty straight forward.

O'er?

Maybe they said Hrine. Y'know, like some people say "hwat"?

"Oer-Da-Ryan?"

Hweat Thins.  ;)

 

Was it McKey?  I could have sworn unheard him say "The Over-The-Rhine".

^ Some of the weirder preservationists do that (no offense). I've seen some people on this board say that, or "the OTR". Maybe it was a historic thing to always say "the" before a neighborhood name? Or it's just weird.

^That's exactly what he was doing, he kept saying The Over-the-Rhine, then, hes, i, tat, ing through the sequence of words.  It's like hearing someone confuse terminology in New York City and keep calling it The Brooklyn, or perhaps what an American sounds like saying Stratford-on-Avon to English ears. 

Posted without comment:

 

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/politics/2013/10/16/why-this-is-the-most-decisive-mayoral-and-council-election-in-years/

I'm going to write to the feds for their 2 cents and hopefully get a warning from them to Cranley /Cincinnati media about stopping them project . Probably won't get a response but It's worth a shot.   

 

 

Work is now moving north of 14th Street:

 

 

 

Rail being laid between 12th and 14th Streets:

 

 

 

Ready to pour more concrete:

 

When standing next to the street, it looks like the top of the rail is at the same level as the concrete.  This makes me think that when they put the cobblestones back un the rail will be below the top of the cobblestone.  I'm sure it's an optical illusion or something, but it's driving me crazy...I can't wait to see the finished product.

When standing next to the street, it looks like the top of the rail is at the same level as the concrete.  This makes me think that when they put the cobblestones back un the rail will be below the top of the cobblestone.  I'm sure it's an optical illusion or something, but it's driving me crazy...I can't wait to see the finished product.

 

There are lots of optical illusions in these photos. Also, the rail will be raised higher before they pour that section of concrete.

Another genius letter to the Enquirer

 

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/letters/2013/10/16/a-new-moniker-for-streetcar/?fb_comment_id=fbc_172106809652616_255349_172223909640906#f346adf854

 

Its hard to believe that someone took time out of their lives to right this tripe

Don't forget that a lot of them are fake.

Can we get a number of reasonably written letters saying rail is in the ground. It could cost $80 million to cancel it. Let's all get on board to make sure it's a success.

 

Remember. We want to show the moderates(swing voters) we're the reasonable ones and this is going to happen so let's make it good.

 

4-5 positive concise letters.

>Another genius letter to the Enquirer

 

I hereby declare that the I-471 bridge shall be called "The Big Mac Bridge".

The streetcar track claimed their first 2-wheeled victim tonight:

Work is now moving north of 14th Street:

 

]http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2890/10318698123_708a495ed0_c.jpg

 

 

Rail being laid between 12th and 14th Streets:

 

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3833/10318523544_684ffd0b18_c.jpg

 

 

Ready to pour more concrete:

 

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3786/10318605345_4bfd55fcaa_c.jpg

 

From the outside perspective of this Clevelander, as an urbanist, as someone who has studied transportation and geography in college, and has seen lots of rail transit services in the US, Canada and Europe (both western and eastern), let me just say that this is a wonderful built environment along Elm. That street is PERFECT for a streetcar, which should do VERY WELL in that setting.

 

I am looking forward to seeing this in person and getting a tour of it from John Deatrick on Oct. 26 at the All Aboard Ohio Fall Meeting. http://allaboardohio.org/2013/09/26/fall-meeting-streetcar-stroll-oct-26/

How much rail will be in by November 4? About 800-1200 ft? Even that is a blow to a certain mayoral candidate :)

 

EDIT: I think lots of visible progress in the next two-three weeks will make Cranley look like an even bigger idiot.

How much rail will be in by November 4? About 800-1200 ft? Even that is a blow to a certain mayoral candidate :)

 

EDIT: I think lots of visible progress in the next two-three weeks will make Cranley look like an even bigger idiot.

 

And he won't take office until Dec 1 if elected, then he has to get 5 members of congress to stop it...That's more time of construction

Congress?

Congress?

 

Lol whoops.  Meant Council

God help us all.  The LTE and comments regarding the streetcar are about to go to new extreme levels.  Nobody, and I mean nobody, messes with his red sweater vest

 

^LOL.

Now, now, we got rid of Tressel but we don't do anything like throw people onto train tracks.

Here's a list of construction going on along the streetcar route right now:

 

Rail Installed

 

Elm- 12th to 13th

 

Trench Dug

 

Elm- 13th to 15

 

Maintenance Facility

 

Race and Henry

 

Utility Work

 

Elm and Libery

Elm and Green

Elm and Elder

Elm and Findlay

Elm and Henry

Race and Findlay

Race and Elder

Race and 12th

12th and Republic

12th and Vine

Central Parkway and Walnut

Main and 12th

Main and Central Parkway

Main and Court

Main and 7th

Walnut and 8th

 

Streetcar's economic impact likely far greater downtown than in Over-the-Rhine

Chris Wetterich Staff reporter- Cincinnati Business Courier

 

Last week, in a blog entry about the potential sources for revenue for the second phase of the streetcar, I noted that there’s considerable disagreement between streetcar supporters and opponents on its role in Over-the-Rhine’s development.

 

At least some of the purchase and redevelopment of property along or near the streetcar line in OTR is because developers are anticipating the line being a draw, according to the pro-streetcar side. The anti-streetcar people say that business and residents’ mere presence in OTR without a streetcar shows the area is being revived without it.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/blog/2013/10/streetcars-economic-impact-likely-far.html

 

 

Streetcar's economic impact likely far greater downtown than in Over-the-Rhine

Chris Wetterich Staff reporter- Cincinnati Business Courier

 

Last week, in a blog entry about the potential sources for revenue for the second phase of the streetcar, I noted that there’s considerable disagreement between streetcar supporters and opponents on its role in Over-the-Rhine’s development.

 

At least some of the purchase and redevelopment of property along or near the streetcar line in OTR is because developers are anticipating the line being a draw, according to the pro-streetcar side. The anti-streetcar people say that business and residents’ mere presence in OTR without a streetcar shows the area is being revived without it.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/blog/2013/10/streetcars-economic-impact-likely-far.html

 

 

Exactly. We're not going to be seeing any 20-story towers in OTR. Maybe in Corryville some day...

Rubber boot installed:

 

Streetcar's economic impact likely far greater downtown than in Over-the-Rhine

Chris Wetterich Staff reporter- Cincinnati Business Courier

 

Last week, in a blog entry about the potential sources for revenue for the second phase of the streetcar, I noted that there’s considerable disagreement between streetcar supporters and opponents on its role in Over-the-Rhine’s development.

 

At least some of the purchase and redevelopment of property along or near the streetcar line in OTR is because developers are anticipating the line being a draw, according to the pro-streetcar side. The anti-streetcar people say that business and residents’ mere presence in OTR without a streetcar shows the area is being revived without it.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/blog/2013/10/streetcars-economic-impact-likely-far.html

 

 

Exactly. We're not going to be seeing any 20-story towers in OTR. Maybe in Corryville some day...

 

Yea this article brings up a good point I hadn't thought about.  There is alot more vacant space for bigger buildings downtown.  And in terms of livability, the street car makes it easier for people living downtown to get to findlay and up to the restaurants and shops in otr.  That is pretty crazy that the estimates for the increase in value of buildings downtown will go up that much.

>Another genius letter to the Enquirer

 

I hereby declare that the I-471 bridge shall be called "The Big Mac Bridge".

 

I would have added "proposed"

 

I hereby declare that the proposed I-471 bridge shall be called "The Big Mac Bridge".  --- high light the fact that its already being built, but she is from blue ash so maybe she has never gone on the 471 bridge

Random construction question: are the rubber boots reusable (for subsequent sections of track)? Somehow I thought of that...no idea why. EDIT: unless I'm crazy, I'm guessing that they will be :)

^ The rubber boots are a permanent aspect of the trackway. They insulate the rails so stray currents do not erode the re-bar and water pipes and iron storefronts along the alignment.

Thanks, John! I misunderstood their purpose...I thought they just covered the track for concrete pouring. I guess I'm thinking of something else...

I bet that's important in Portland with all of the iron buildings there.

Stray currents were initially a problem in Houston in a low-lying area near the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. I guess the ground just would never dry out and was very conductive. Not sure how they solved it, but I haven't heard anymore about it for several years now.

 

By the way, I've heard that Cincinnati's old streetcar system was apparently only one of two in the nation -- the other being Washington D.C. -- which had an overhead scheme which, instead of completing the circuit through the wheels to the rails, a second overhead wire was installed to close the circuit -- Cincinnati always having to be different, you know.

 

This doubled the visual clutter and made the overhead structure carrying the wires much more massive. i'm convinced that this is one reason people who are old enough to remember Cincinnati's old streetcars hate the idea of reintroducing them to our streets.

 

The new wires are very small. When I take people to Portland (next trip is 11/11, 20 people already signed up, let me know if you want to go, airfares under $300 now), after an hour or so on the tour, I ask if anyone has noticed the single thin wire supplying power to the cars. The usual response is, "Oh, hey, yeah, look at that, I see it now. Huh."

Just got back from walking by the tracks.  The streetcar is going to be great for this city.  Can't wait

http://www.wlwt.com/news/local-news/cincinnati/streetcar-supporters-give-tour-of-route-ahead-of-mayoral-election/-/13549970/22495838/-/8ojrs0z/-/index.html?absolute=true&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=wlwt

 

Cranley still babbling about his hell simply use streetcar funds to pay for roads

 

Such BS.  He needs to be called out

comment #2 - Would have been a better article with a map of the planned route.

>a second overhead wire was installed to close the circuit -- Cincinnati always having to be different, you know.

 

Kilgour built and owned both the streetcar system and the telephone wire network.  It was his decision to have the two-wire streetcar system, and it was done ostensibly in order to avoid the leakage of stray current into the telephone wires.  If so, it might have been done in order to avoid digging up earlier telephone wire, and so cheaper initially but more expensive over time.  Or it might have been done because a different (cheaper) type of telephone wire could be used as the streetcar system expanded.  Or it might have been done in order to avoid envisioned litigation after either the phone or streetcar system was sold.  I have never read a convincing explanation of why the decision was made. 

There were supposedly complaints that when streetcars went by it caused static on nearby telephone lines.  Hardly an earth-shattering problem, but people were very spooked by electricity back then. 

 

Also, many horsecar lines and some cable car lines had been built throughout the city before electrification, and the rails were not electrically bonded (much easier to achieve today since they're in longer sections and welded together).  So when a horsecar or cable car line was converted to electricity, they'd have to pull up the pavement around every rail joint to install a bonding wire.  Not only were the street railway companies responsible for maintaining good paving between and to a certain distance around their rails, but they were also restricted by city ordinance from disrupting that pavement too much as well. 

 

Whatever the reason, it only took a small installation at the start of the electrification process to become the standard throughout the city, just for simplicity's sake, most of which happened during an injunction that prevented using the rails to carry return current anyway.  Even though the phone company argument didn't hold up, the two-wire system was already mostly in place by the time the injunction was lifted.  It definitely had a big visual impact on the system, especially at turns and crossings.  The one advantage, I suppose, is that it made the system a natural fit for trolleybuses.  One need only look to Dayton to see what that looks like. 

 

http://www.jjakucyk.com/transit/streetcarinfo.html

Heard a commercial on the buzz where alicia Reese said 'Democrat John Cranley'  about 5 times then said he will use the streetcar money for neighborhoods and safety.  This has become his central theme now. 

 

Hoping Qualls,  Cfp and the rest counter with what John said in that wlwt article.  The consequences to the operating budget and cops ff will be huge.  There's no way the media can ignore that

 

Hes now promised streetcar money to mlk interchange,  reading road,  potholes,  viaduct, neighborhoods, cvg  and now safety

 

We gotta start calling him out on this if the media wont

That reminds me...

 

Guys. It's 19 days to the election. THE MEDIA IS NOT GOING TO CALL HIM OUT.

 

Volunteer for two hours a week for Roxanne for the next 3 weeks. That's the only thing that'll do it.

Serious question -- Since the "stop the streetcar" issue was defeated twice at the polls, do you really want to call Cranley out on his claim that he can stop the streetcar? Let's take him at his word that he will stop it.

 

So maybe a better approach is to use "the subway strategy" -- we already have one unfinished rail transit project in Cincinnati. But we often forget about it because it's below the streets and largely out of sight. If Cranley is elected, a canceled streetcar project will be a visible, everyday reminder that Cincinnati can't finish what it starts. It will be known as the city that's so torn politically that it stops projects in mid-construction because it lacks determination. There is already more than $60 million worth of private sector investments popping up along the streetcar route and more coming. Let's not stop the momentum in its unfinished tracks. So let's finish what we start -- for a change.

Back to back radio ads on the buzz by Alicia Reese and Vanessa White stating that the streetcar funds can be used on other projects around the city...

 

Countering this type of misinformation is tough.

So who is filing elections commission complaints and then issuing press releases that such complaints have been filed and why?

In case you missed it, this recent article by John Schneider explains how the Phase 1 streetcar route was chosen.

Has anyone heard about this? Per Bill Cunningham, Kevin Osborne from WCPO will be on WLW at Noon tomorrow to discuss: "There is a scandal story breaking about Roxanne Qualls making personal monnies from the expansion of the rails in Cincinnati, the streetcar."

 

http://www.700wlw.com/media/podcast-bill-cunningham-bill_cunningham/hoard-on-bengals-102113-hour-3-23867220/