Re: Trolleys sunning again in Crescent City

This from the Times- Picayune and the Altamont Press News wire:
New Orleans RTA pairs working streetcars, working rails
The outcome of a streetcar test Monday will determine whether service can resume soon on the Riverfront and Canal streetcar lines in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Monday at 10:00, Regional Transit Authority workers will tow one of the historic streetcars from the St. Charles Avenue line from the Carrollton Barn at 8225 Willow St. to the foot of Canal Street near the Mississippi River. Workers then will attempt to run the old car on the new line, said RTA spokeswoman Rosalind Blanco Cook.
"If it works, we could use the historic streetcars on the Canal and Riverfront lines," Cook said.
It's unclear at the moment how much of the Canal and Riverfront lines would become operational if the test is successful, Cook said. That will be determined later.
All 35 streetcars that ran pre-Katrina on the historic St. Charles Avenue line escaped serious water damage, although that line is inoperable.
The overhead catenary system that powers the St. Charles streetcar line needs to be replaced, Cook said. RTA workers are trying to determine whether to operate sections of the line as the catenary system is repaired or postpone service until the entire system is replaced, she said.
No start date for that work has been set, Cook said.
All 24 of the Canal Street streetcars, which made their debuts to considerable fanfare in April 2004, and six of the seven riverfront trolleys were submerged in floodwaters and need to be refurbished, Cook said. Each car may require up to $1 million worth of repairs, she said.
The 24 apple-red streetcars -- assembled largely by hand by RTA artisans as part of a $161 million project that restored rail service to Canal Street after an absence of nearly 40 years -- were stored at the A. Philip Randolph Operations Facility in the 2800 block of Canal as Hurricane Katrina approached the Louisiana coast. - Leslie Williams, The New Orleans Times-Picayune, courtesy Larry W. Grant