A historical review and present day look at the YVT Yakima Trolley, part of the last operating interurban line in the country.
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Really great, but I am surprised it is the only interurban still operating in the U.S.
I've ridden the New Orleans one, not an "interurban", but thought there was one
still in Iowa, and Oklahoma (maybe gone). It is really tough, as reported here, for
these useless bureaucracies called "government" to recognize the tourism value that brings ka-ching into their coffers, much less the historical value of preserving
something like this. (which is why New Orleans and San Francisco are known for
those...they are unusual here...Europe, no)
The Chicago South Shore and South Bend RR is the last true interurban. I wonder if the folks ever replaced the stolen overhead that severed the YVT line....it's been that way for quite some time. A great operation..Another is the remnant of the Milwaukee Electric still in continuous operation in East Troy Wisconsin, now a five mile long operating museum.
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Streetcars have been in operation since the late 1800s and are still running in the city although the routes have changed over the years.
Ron
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...tcars_in_New_Orleans
Some of the SEPTA lines out of the Upper Darby TC could be considered interurbans.
It is my opinion that there are no more electric interurban railroads in the. US. South Shore was an interurban, but today I think it would more accurately be described as a mainline electric suburban operation, similar to SEPTA. The other railroad that is still running is in Mason City, Iowa. But it is probably more accurately described today as an electric switching operation. There are a number of the larger electric railway museums that run on former interurban railroads or right of ways, IRM at Union IL, East Troy, WI, WRM at Rio Vista, CA, etc. but none of these have enough track or provide real transportation to be called interurbans. They are museums running on former interurban railroads. The operation in Yakima has been cut back so far under city ownership that it does not really go anywhere any more. Without a commitment to serious maintenance, track, overhead line, and equipment, it will continue to get shorter. The last true interurban was probably either the North Shore or the South Shore.
