Seattlest: Seattlest Urban Archaeology Club: the Seattle Municipal Railway

Robert

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 16:34:12 -0800

Nicely done, Tom. Those are some excellent urban artifacts you've got there. The 45th St repavement project resulted in the exposure of almost a block's worth of brick paving over the weekend, along the part of 45th between Brooklyn and 12th. It was quite the sight to behold.

Tom Irion

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 13:36:34 -0800

The rail with flangeway that we are using now, is not exactly the same shape. It is a European rail, no one makes it in the Western Hemisphere. Regular T-rail is used in light rail with the grooved girder rail used by some lines in streets and road crossings. The flangeway tends to break out prematurely due to our American wheel profile with larger flanges. For this reason, some lines are no longer using the European rail.

Austin Jenkins

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 10:27:19 -0800

Brendan: You are 95% correct about the use of girder rail (the rail in the pictures). I have seen (and operated light rail trains over) regular "T" rail with restraining rail within the city environment (San Jose - just south of the Children's Discovery Museum, in the Yard, and elsewhere). The reason: the girder rail broke after 8-10 years of service; "T" rail life is expected to be closer to 30. We changed it out under traffic - that was 5 months of operational headaches.

Heather McAuliffe, Fremont Historical Society

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 09:27:56 -0800

These tracks are part of the "Grand Union", a specialized set of tracks/switches that is found nowhere else in the city. It dates to 1916 if I recall correctly. The rest of the streetcar tracks in Seattle were removed after the streetcar lines ended service in 1941. The Interurban went north on Fremont. The "Waiting for the Interurban" statue is indeed coming back, but it would be nice if it faced Fremont Ave, where the Interurban ran. Those folks would be waiting a long time!

Seattlest Tom

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 01:04:59 -0800

Brendan, thanks for the correction and the enlightening info! I've made the appropriate corrections to the post. Cheers!

Brendan

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 23:01:14 -0800

They still use that type of rail for trollies and light rail on city streets, and at at-grade crossings - or any place else where rail and regular traffic needs to co-exist (see www.flickr.com/photos/wlindley/163056909 for a pic of similar as used by Phoenix's light rail). The "cross-section of modern track" that you link to is instead used on dedicated rail tracks. Neither shape has changed much over the years - it's really comparison of rails-in-city-streets vs dedicated tracks, as opposed to old-vs-modern.

Seth

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 21:45:25 -0800

As an editor, I pledge this to you, sarah irene--we at Seattlest will never be out-post-modern-thunk!

Seattlest Tom

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 17:49:38 -0800

Sarah, Indeed! I swoon for palimpsests. But I could easily run away with the jargon and metaphor if I don't stop myself. Maybe next time, though, I will spew more about fragments of the past assembling themselves into a multi-era picture of the built environment which, though incomplete with respect to one particular time period, forms an aggregate whole with a distinct sense of pastness! :)

Seattlest Tom

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 17:34:05 -0800

Dale, the sculpture will certainly be returning to it's former location. The foundation is in place and some experts, according the construction workers, are supposed to install it. "We're only construction workers," they said far too humbly.

sarah irene

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 15:45:07 -0800

Your postmodern musings wouldn't be complete without discussing the elegance of the metaphor of the palimpsest in analyzing the urban landscape.

Dale

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 15:11:52 -0800

I saw them while cycling by the other day and I'm glad you got some shots of them. It makes one think about the relevance of the "Waiting for the Interurban" sculpture which I hope will be soon returned to its rightful place across the street from where the tracks are/were.