About the M-Line Streetcar
The early history of the McKinney Avenue trolley line holds some useful lessons for anyone interested in bringing back streetcars. It is worth quoting at some length:
In 1981 a Dallas area along McKinney Avenue, characterized by restaurants and specialty shops, was being redeveloped. The effort included excavation and renovation of the brick street paving. Removal of the asphalt revealed a double-track streetcar line that appeared to be in generally sound condition. A local businessman, with restaurant interests along this route, decided that trolley service on that portion of McKinney Avenue would enhance both the ambiance and commercial success of the redevelopment project. His observation that, "Wouldn't it be nice to have some old streetcars running down our street?" drew local media attention. After screening vintage Dallas trolley movies (supplied by a local VT ( Vintage Trolley) enthusiast), the businessman organized MATA as a nonprofit corporation -- Section 501(c)( 3) of the Internal Revenue Code -- to build and operate the line. Two local trolley enthusiasts joined the board to oversee technical aspects of the project.
The businessman funded a professional feasibility study that supported the concept. He arranged pro bono public relations and advertising services, conducted fund-raising events, secured local business funding pledges, achieved city support, and applied successfully for two UMTA con struction grants. MATA's early initiatives addressed mainly political hurdles. The businessman headed a small team that promoted MATA steadily before Dallas' city government for several years. This major effort finally produced the city's official endorsement and passage, in the Texas Senate, of a bill that limited the liability of city-contracted private transport firms to that of the city itself. Once these hurdles were cleared, MATA began to develop a physical plant. 13
That physical plant consisted of a 2.8 mile streetcar line, four vintage streetcars and a carbarn. The total cost was $5.5 million, and $3 million of that came from the private sector; a $2.5 million Federal grant supplied the rest. The city of Dallas spent about $200,000 for signs, pavement marking and traffic light relocation. All the antique streetcars were privately donated or funded.
M-Line Streetcar Route Map
The M-Line Streetcar follows a 3.6 mile route through the Uptown residential/entertainment/shopping district. This area caters to young professionals and is the fastest growing urban district in the downtown area.
As rail has expanded in Dallas, the streetcar line has been extended to tie in with federally funded light rail (purple) and commuter rail (green) lines. Development has been so significant along the streetcar route that property values in Uptown Dallas now exceed those of downtown Dallas.
M-Line Streetcar Photo Tour
A streetcar passes the West Village mixed-use development. Image by RACTOD at www.flickr.com
A streetcar stop in a street median. Image by strangely at www.flickr.com
Image by StevenM 61 at www.flickr.com
A single bi-directional line in a street median. Image by citywalker at www.flickr.com
Image by lemon.grass at www.flickr.com
End of the line. Image by Chris Inside at www.flickr.com
Image by basteagow at www.flickr.com
The City of Dallas and MATA have expressed a desire for further expansion of the current streetcar system. The current southern terminus ends in Downtown Dallas at Saint Paul Street and Ross Avenue. The plan will add a route that splits off from the current line at McKinney and Olive Streets and travel down Olive to the light rail transit mall downtown near Pearl Station.
The agency will also have a new car barn built at the northwest corner of Olive and San Jacinto streets. The federal government has given MATA $3.5 million for their mile expansion into downtown's Arts District. The total cost of the expansion is approximately $6.8 million dollars.
Inside a packed trolley. Image by Cali Lewis at www.flickr.com
Image by RACTOD at www.flickr.com
The M-line Streetcar is free to the public, thanks to a joint operating subsidy received from Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) and the Uptown Improvement District. The streetcar system connects with the DART light rail station at Cityplace Station on the Red and Blue lines.
More infill development on the way. Image by young and with it at www.flickr.com
Image by Sk8inglioness at www.flickr.com
In the aerial above, dense development occurring after the opening of the streetcar line (red line) can be seen within walking distance of McKinney Avenue.
In the image below (Jacksonville), more vacant plots of land and surface parking lots can be identified than actual buildings. The establishment of a streetcar line between downtown and Five Points could attract the type of dense development that has made the M-Line Streetcar a success.
The M-Line Streetcar is an example of using creative thinking to get an affordable initial mass transit line underway without totally relying on FTA funding. With our community sitting on $100 million for mass transit, we should find a way to use a portion of this money to implement rail immediately. The longer we wait, the longer we withhold from our community the economic benefits and quality of life improvements that rail can bring.
Article by Ennis Davis
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Deuce
March 04, 2009, 09:06:07 AMFirst comment! I can't help but think, are the right people reading this. The ones who can fund a feasibility study, arrange pro bono public relations and advertising services, conduct fund-raising events, secure local business funding pledges, and achieve city support! For starters, I'm pretty sure that we've got a local rail enthusiast who can serve on the board.
deathstar
March 05, 2009, 12:02:05 AMI'm 27 years old. Will I be an old man, or long gone, by the time this comes to Jacksonville? lol
Ocklawaha
March 05, 2009, 06:49:56 PMFor Interested parties:
Here is the lowdown on these streetcars (LAKE ya should have asked me)
First car photo, top of article -
Known as a single truck - 4 wheel - Birney Safety Car, most were built using the concept from the older mule/horse cars (4-wheels) and light body, but by the time the Safety Car evolved to what you see here, it was designed around a single operator - no conductor. This was done to fight off the giant "National City Lines" takeover and destruction of the streetcars. So meet the ECONOMY size streetcar! Jacksonville banned high school boys from its cars of this class after "Lee High School" Ortega Boys discovered if you packed one end like a clown car and everyone jumped at the same time they could derail it. Oh what joy on the Fishweir creek or Ortega River Bridges. BTW this car rides like a hay wagon or JTA "trolley".
Second photo car 122, is a similar small car, actually smaller then the Birney as it is only 8' wide. It is also much older and the craftsmanship is stunning. Cars like these were sometimes converted from Horse pulled cars, When electric was first applied, nobody had thought of making the cars larger and more comfortable. Thus this car is small for completely different reasons then the Birney. Wood inlays, exotic mahogany, oak, teak, etc. Stained and etched glass. The passenger compartment is divided from the operator on each end of the car by a partition with a set of pocket doors on each end. Detailed for a KING, the seats are thick cushioned velvet and all hardware is polished brass. It's an old American car that made it's way to Portugal, then migrated back from O'Port in the 1970's. There are a dozen or so scattered around the country, rare, comfortable, beautiful, old and still rough riding as the single truck just isn't any better then a PCT Trolley.
Car 186, TURTLEBACK - "OURS JACKSONVILLE!" Sadly it might be one of ours. We (Dallas and myself) know that Stone and Webster operated the streetcar systems in both cities, they had these cars designed for their properties all across the country. S&W were contract utility operators - NOT owners. As Jacksonville became the first? victim of the GM, Firestone, Phillips, Standard owned National City lines, S&W moved many of these larger cars to other properties. Some are believed to have gone to Dallas. McKinney Avenue Streetcar has 5 of them and only ONE restored. I asked them if they'd be willing for us to restore 3 or 4, and we each get to keep 2... YES! About the cars: The inside is different from Jacksonville's (could have been changed) but Jax cars had the small partition between the motorman and the passenger section. The last one that I knew of before the city scrapped it, still had working doors! As one passed into the passenger section there was two very ornate bulkheads with a passage (door?) in the middle. I remember each side having a carved post.
These are MASSIVE CARS and are constructed of OAK, Hickory and Walnut Wood on steel frames. Like most old railroad equipment they could be solid wood and at some point were modernized with steel siding, or perhaps they were ordered that way from the start. Riding over the same track in this car is an experience and EVERY Jaxson visiting Dallas should try it. Ride a 4 wheeler, then move to this car or Miltilda, they'll gladly help you find them. They put cheap reproduction? seats of slatted wood inside her which are uncomfortable to say the least but then an epiphany. This car rides like a ZEPPELIN, a floating sensation with a very gentle rock or sway where the dinkies bang and clatter. JTA does not have a vehicle that is even close in ride quality. Imagine what it would be like with those stuffed velvet plush ones from the Brill 4 wheeler.
2 more photos of car 122
Next comes car 369, the one with M-LINE on the destination curtain. This car is an Australian design and I really think the fellow had spent one too many nights in the pub. The inside is beautiful with some splendid woodwork. In fact I would score the interior next to 122 in "nice". Large and low center entry doors like the American made "Peter Witt" cars. Good copy mate! The downfall of this car is the ends are a face only a mother could love - 5Th degree UGLY. Ride quality is right up there with the Turtleback. It too is a very large car and both this one and the Turtleback are generally taller and as long as the big Dallas (or Jacksonville) city buses.
First interior shot is inside the TURTLEBACK as are the next 2 outside photos.
Saddest note of all? We had a mule car something like 122, it easily dated to the 1870's, it survived and became electrified. More? Yep, the company kept it for historical value until the last run in 1936. Perhaps she still sleeps in somebodys back yard, wouldn't THAT be a find.
Future Streetcar Fans of Jacksonville may now go take a COLD shower!
OCKLAWAHA
Keith-N-Jax
March 05, 2009, 08:42:31 PMLong gone for sure.
ProjectMaximus
March 05, 2009, 09:03:59 PMnah...id say that if nothing has improved in 20-30 years, we'll be forced to do something to fix the transit infrastructure here. Of course, if we wait until then to start...it will be much more difficult and costly, but it will have to happen eventually. So, you'll just be an old man when the grandkids come to visit ya on the train.
deathstar
March 06, 2009, 01:25:34 AMI give you guys about anothet 10-15 years before you just go out and start kicking ass, taking names, and doin' work lol.
Deuce
March 06, 2009, 09:49:31 AMJust saw this in Daily Record:
'Lots of bridge painting going on in Jacksonville. The Dames Point Bridge project wraps up this summer and the Hart Bridge repainting just got started. And, the Florida Department of Transportation plans to paint the Mathews Bridge starting in 2011 at a price tag of $14.4 million."
That 14.4 million could go a long way towards jump-starting a streetcar line. Do we really need a bridge repainting?
thelakelander
March 06, 2009, 10:02:59 AMRust free bridges last longer than exposed weathered steel bridges. So its necessary. However, $14.4 million applied to jump starting a streetcar line could probably pay for two miles of track. That would be enough to connect the Prime Osborn to Springfield, via Water and Newnan Streets.
fsujax
March 06, 2009, 10:22:15 AMWell, just ask FDOT to move the money from painting the bridge to building the streetcar line and see what kind of response you get.
thelakelander
March 06, 2009, 10:26:13 AMProbably the same response Peyton got when he wanted to remove a lane off the Main Street Bridge a few years ago. Streetcar lines aren't a responsibility of FDOT. However, maintaining the Matthews Bridge is. If we really want to get a streetcar line off the ground, we should use our local dollars first.
fsujax
March 06, 2009, 10:37:16 AMExactly, if Jacksonville wants a streetcar system, the City is going to have bite the bullet, pay to build it and cover the O&M costs. Man, $100 million would sure build a lot of track.
BridgeTroll
March 06, 2009, 11:09:10 AMThey should not call it painting... corrosion management and inspection is what is actually happening.