For this first posting in the month of June, I’m featuring a photograph from the 1986 calendar published by the Louisiana State Railroad Museum, it being for their month of June. I’ve paraphrased the caption for the image below.

“Born in 1835, the St. Charles Line has seen steam, horses, mules and electric propulsion. The 962, a Perley Thomas style streetcar, turning northbound onto Canal Street, NOPSI was still the operator and the fare was an incredible 15 cents. RTA celebrated the line’s sesquicentennial on September 28, 1985 with a massive streetcar parade. (Photo from the collection of Regional Transit Authority)”

The scene is New Orleans, Louisiana. The photograph has no date, but I’d estimate it to be in the early~mid 70s (the date mentioned above was for the later celebration). NOPSI is the acronym for New Orleans Public Service, Inc., the operator of the streetcar and bus system at that time. Also at this time, streetcar operation over the length of Canal Street (the “main drag” of the city) had been terminated, and buses took over the route (one of the new style “fishbowl” buses can be seen at the right). The St. Charles line was the only one left, and the scene is the end of that line, with the car entering Canal Street for a block, then turning again onto St. Charles Avenue for the journey in the opposite direction. As a side note, the city eventually restored streetcars to Canal Street, and has even extended service to a few other streets.

The image shows the car in it’s “updated” appearance at the time. Earl Hampton, a resident authority on the New Orleans streetcars, offered this brief history of the cars with information regarding their rebuilding:

“The rebuilding process started in the early 60s with the 35 cars that were planned to be saved, getting an aluminum roof and those rounded and gasketed windows. Then in the late 60s the cars were rebuilt again, receiving aluminum windows and vestibules. In 1971 the conductor was eliminated (the motorman now had to also collect the fares) and the cars received the look shown in the photograph. Then in the 90s another rebuild was scheduled. The RTA decided to replace the bodies, but preservationists objected. It was at a meeting with preservationists that l (Earl) suggested that they return to the original look, receiving the original rectangular windows on the sides, ends and doors.”

The cars look so much better with that restoration in my view. Fortunately, the cars still have the “old, original” look today.