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High Level Bridge Streetcar / ERRS

CplKlinger said:
The Whyte Ave stop will be out of service at least for tomorrow, but the closure could go on for longer. Edmonton #33 depoled while crossing Gateway going south shortly before 3:00 today, and it was bad enough that it bent. Fortunately, it was within thr last hour of service, and they could use Osaka 247 as the 2nd car for the remainder.

A lot of calls were made, and some volunteers who do restoration and maintenance came out to take a look. They think that there's an issue with the isolator (which stops power passing from the main overhead wire to the support wires) above Gateway that poses a similar risk to Melbourne 930 (Osaka 247 has an LRT-like pantograph so might be a bit safer).

As it stood today, they want to fix this issue before using Whyte Ave again. Whether it gets fixed tomorrow, or they find another satisfactory solution which allows them to open the Whyte Ave stop on Monday, remains to be seen. It's all very recent, and I'm not in the loop unless I'm physically there.

View attachment 409875View attachment 409876

The isolator is that black soeck where the two wires look like they meet.
View attachment 409878View attachment 409877
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Dang wish I saw this earlier. Missed the streetcar this morning due to modified schedule. There were others in the same boat as the website does not have the modified schedule. I hope the isolator issue can be resolved relatively soon.
 
Romanov said:
That is great to hear!
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Sorry, I had to edit that quote because I'm second guessing about how much is allowed to be said. But for everyone else, let's just say that they have a new website in the works that will make quick and temporary edits, like schedule changes, easier to do :)
 
"What could be a more Edmonton Experience than sitting on the Street Car on the top of the High Level Bridge having a glass of cask beer while you watch the sunset over the river valley. It’s here again for the 2022 season and running from May - October. The Common is starting back up the 7th year of joining good food, and great atmosphere paired with a different Alberta Brewery for each journey."

See more details, dates and times, and purchases tickets on this page.
 
Gonna share this here, because the website is lacking. Here’s the Canada Day (tomorrow, just tomorrow, not the whole weekend) schedule for the streetcar. Note the last car leaves Whyte Ave at 3:30.
Canada Day Schedule
Btw, the website being ‘less than ideal’ is known to ERRS; the social media people (there’s a couple people who watch each site) are pretty on the ball though. Follow the @yegstreetcar for reliable updates.
 
The overhead was fixed in time for Canada Day, and it works great. The ERRS has a bunch of spare trolleybus overhead wire support things at Fort Ed, so they put one on there. They shifted the isolator over, and flipped one of the trolleybus support's arms upside down so that one arm grabs the overhead wire, and the other grabs the support wire.

Streetcar Gateway.jpg
 
The Whyte Ave stop was just jumping with activity during the art walk, and the art booths added a nice atmosphere to the place. On Saturday, dozens of people were lining up for the streetcar, tickets in hand, 15-20 minutes before it even arrived. It was a great place to be on Friday-Sunday! The only unfortunate thing was that due to a shortage of volunteers, we weren't able to have two cars out on Saturday like we normally try to do. But most people were very understanding, and enjoyed it nonetheless :)
Art Walk.jpg
 
CplKlinger said:
The Whyte Ave stop was just jumping with activity during the art walk, and the art booths added a nice atmosphere to the place. On Saturday, dozens of people were lining up for the streetcar, tickets in hand, 15-20 minutes before it even arrived. It was a great place to be on Friday-Sunday! The only unfortunate thing was that due to a shortage of volunteers, we weren't able to have two cars out on Saturday like we normally try to do. But most people were very understanding, and enjoyed it nonetheless :)
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This is @CplKlinger's way of saying we need more volunteers. If you care about Edmonton history, think trains/streetcars are cool, enjoy talking to people, or just have nothing to do on weekends (that's how i got suckered in), new faces are needed for the rest of the season and into the future. here's some info about different areas to volunteer in, and the webpage for memberships. ERRS is entirely volunteer-run, there's plenty of room to learn and grow in the organization.
Other incentive: if we have enough staff, we can get back to running 2 cars regularly (helping tremendously with crowds) and we get to run the Queen Herself Edmonton 33 more often in regular service. She's smaller than Melbourne 930, so on 1-car days Melbourne has to do all the work.
 
I ended up working more on the map; the margins are bare because my printer cut them out, and I wanted to print a couple of copies for the ticket sellers. I also made a version on Google Maps.
HLB Line Map 3.3.png


EDIT: The google maps version is now being used on the website! Now, we just need to fix that pesky default zoom level...
 
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Hey, I know a few people on here have mentioned being involved with the street car, on the board or volunteering?

I’m working with the high level line and would love to connect. Please shoot me a dm! Hoping to get some stuff going this next year we can collab on.
 
Not sure what ridership was like in previous non-COVID years, but it's been so impressive to me how packed the streetcar is every time it stops here at the Jasper Terminal Plaza. Love love love that.
 
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