Life it isn't the same without trams (streetcars)

[Telecolor 3007]

I know that most people don't have them (or had them extremy many years ago), but I just wanted to say this. I can't image the life without 'em.

[ChrisW6ATV]

I always loved the idea of streetcars when I was a child in Chicago, Illinois USA. But, that city stopped using them in 1958. Now, I live in California, not too far from San Francisco, and that city still has real streetcars! (They are called "light rail" now, typically.) San Jose is another city near me that built a new light rail system in the past 25 years or so, but most of theirs run in their own paths, not in the streets.

[Colly0410]

Here in Nottingham England we have streetcars, but they're called trams. It's a mix on on & off street running. The off street part whizzes along at 40 to 50 MPH, & the on street part tootles along at 20 to 30 MPH. It opened in 2004. It is all overhead powered at 750 volts DC. The trams uses insulated gate bipolar transistors to convert the 750 volts DC line current to variable voltage variable frequency 3 phase AC for the 3 phase asynchronous traction motors. They make a very strange whistling/whining noise when they're accelerating & slowing down. I can travel on them for free as I'm over 65, I can also go free on local buses. Last time I went on one was just over two years ago when I went to the hospital outpatients eye dept to have my detached retina treated...

[nasadowsk]

SEPTA in Philly still has a network of ‘em. Not huge, but decent. They have magnetic track brakes and can stop REALLY well

[old_tv_nut]

The first time I was allowed to take public transportation alone was at age 9 or 10. It was the Lake Street street car in Chicago, to go to the YMCA.

Later, when I was in highschool, the streetcars had been replaced with trolley buses, and I took two of them to get to school, using a school bus pass.

[Telecolor 3007]

Good old days. No parants started to become paranoid in Romania too. I was around 12 when I 1st camed alone from school (10 minutes of walking if I was staying at home, not at my maternal grandparent - both grandfamilies move into Bucharest in the '50's),
but I started going with the public transporation without older relatives, but witrh my sister (younger then me) to the maternal granparent... with the bus... when I was probabily 10 or 11. The tram left us one stop away (public transportation stop) so the bus was the base. But I was between 11 or 12 I started to ride the tram (streetcar) alone, on a route that passes in my area - I rode that route with the older relative down to the city center and since wheren't too many stops down to the end of line from the center, why not to ride, since I do like trams since I was around 5 (and guess what, one of the 1st routes to ride with was route 5). When I was 12 or 13 for sure I strated to ride longer distances alone with the tram.

old_tv_nut, so I guess you where borned before 1950.
In a Romanian magazine for high school student, called "Liceenii" (liceni = high school students; note in Romania elev is used for 0-12 grades, so for hight school students too; student (read differntly) is a faculty/university student) there was an add in 1997-1998 for studying one high school in U.S.A. - 600-1.000 U.S.D. was an astronomical sum for Romania back then (getting 300 U.S.D. per month was very good, but most didn't get more then 100-150 U.S.D. per month, a lot even maybe 50-99). In the year 1997, when I was at the sea-side at Costineşti (the resort of the youth) a she cousin of a friend/formare mate of my step sister (not the sister mentioned above; this sister is older then me and she is the child from the 1st marriage of the actual wife of my father) camed too. That cousin of the friend was living in Chicago. I dream that I studyed at high school in Chicago and me and that cousin girl will take with some other young people the streetcar in Chicago (sitting down on the asflalt of the platform, waiting for the stretcar to come) and the streetcar will be an older one, something like Peter Witt ones, painted yellow. Dreamer me. Thought the public tramsporation is U.S.A. is like in Romania. In Bucharest we still have trolleybuses too. Constanţa (Constance), the main seaside city (and administrative center with the county (judeţ) with the same name) had both trams (streetcars) + trolleybuses (including line connecting it to a resort), but the Nazi Peas wiped both of 'em...
Oh, Costineşti is a crazy adeventure from live of Steven.

Gush, since this is the 5th reply here, when I was 6? I scared my grandmather. We where riding with tramvaiul 5 (tramvaiul = streetcar, but the type of vehicle is indicated in Romania to indicate the rute too, so tramvaiul 5 can means tram route 5) and in middle of the people I sayed that tram route 5 was removed from Calea Floreasca (Floreasca Way) because it distrubed Ceauşescu. Which was true, my relatives told me that. But you know, still communism, not a good thing to say. Well, I do use the expersion "ce tramvaiu' 5" ("what tram route 5" = like what the... ?) and ce tramvaiu' 5 = what tram route 5 = like what...?

Sorry for such a long story. But I was amazed that I did see 4 answers, giving the fact that last time was none. And I did get some "fuel" into me before.