Commuting Construction and closures History Roads Transit Uncategorized
by Hugh
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The only thing to look forward to is the past
Omnibus soaking its wheels in the SA river
With all the zippidy-doo-dah hoopla over the possibility of a return to streetcars, why not go the whole hog and bring back mule drawn omnibuses? I mean, who else is doing that? Let’s think outside the box and get out of Portland, Oregon’s shadow once and for all. Think of the benefits. No expensive overhead or the need to tear up streets for miles on end and tourists will love it.
Mule drawn streetcars were introduced in San Antonio in 1878 but omnibus service has that beat by seven years. It cost 5 cents to go from Main Square to Alamo Plaza. With all the money we’ll save by not installing staggeringly expensive streetcar systems and their unsightly overhead power lines, we could go back and charge the same fare in 2010 that it was in 1871. I guess there is a flaw in my logic somewhere but, you know, I’ll be d****d if I know what it is.
Video added to TexasHighwayMan.com
A couple of days ago, I mentioned an “exciting” new addition that I was working on for my website. Well, “exciting” might have been a bit of an overstatement, but it’s an addition I’ve wanted to make for a while now. That addition is videos of all the area freeways. I recently purchased a suction-cup camera mount for the windshield and, after some test runs, completed the first two videos (I-10 West inbound and outbound) earlier this week. Within the next couple of months, I hope to have all the city’s freeways filmed and posted. These will replace the so-called “driver’s view” pics that I had started to do. Shooting, editing, and posting the videos is a lot easier than a plethora of photos, so hopefully it will be easier for me to get the initial batch completed and also to keep them updated that it was going the photo route.
In addition, I’m going to use the videos to update my exit lists (much easier to do from a video than trying to write them down at 65 mph <g>) and also to build the new lane schematics (see the previous parenthetical note). I hope to get those done in conjunction with each video, although I haven’t done I-10’s yet.
To keep the clips within the YouTube guidelines (and to make them a little more interesting), the playback will be at double-speed (or even 4x for the longest ones.) I opted not to put a soundtrack over them; everyone has their idea of perfect “driving music”, so crank-up whatever you like to listen to when viewing them!
History Laws and policies Passenger rail Railroads Safety Uncategorized: steam power
by Hugh
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Live steam coming to San Antonio
1925 Baldwin steam locomotive at Pearl Brewery
Question: How do you return a long dormant steam locomotive back to active passenger service in 2010, with all the heightened concerns about safety? Answer: Very, very carefully. This ain’t 1964. Way back then early Texas Transportation Museum members including one Dave Wallace, acquired the 1925 Baldwin 0-4-0 steam locomotive from New Braunfels where it had sat idled in a shed since being retired around 1928, brought it to San Antonio, placed it on tracks adjacent to Pearl Brewery, simply filled the boiler with water and fired it up. While it didn’t explode, it sent out enough smuts and soot that those same volunteers ended up cleaning car windshields for several blocks around. more »
100th anniversary of San Antonio’s first traffic laws
Lewis bzirdsong in a 1910 Franklin on College Street, San Antonio
It is, of course, one of the more minor centennial occasions. You probably won’t celebrate it but you will, without noticing, except for this little reminder, observe it. February 7, 2010 is the 100th anniversary of San Antonio’s first traffic ordinance. Nine years after the first gasoline powered horseless carriage, eight years after the city gained its first automobile agency, seven after the creation of the San Antonio Automobile Club, and six years after the city mandated that all vehicles be registered and display ID plates or numbers, the city introduced written rules for all road users. more »
2010 prospects for the Texas Transportation Museum
1925 Baldwin 0-4-0 steam locomotive
I thought I might take a moment to let y’all know about how things are going at the Texas Transportation Museum here in San Antonio. Founded on January 1, 1964, TTM is gearing up for its 50th Anniversary. There are a number of projects that have the potential to elevate the institution from a relatively small city concern to a statewide attraction. more »
TxDOT’s $1 billion accounting gaffe explained
During last night’s Texas Republican primary debate, Debra Medina and Kay Bailey Hutchison both mentioned TxDOT’s 2008 accounting error, with both saying that TxDOT lost $1 billion. Sadly, these are people who are running for governor and even they just can’t get basic facts right. Now I realize that for folks running for office and/or wanting to besmirch TxDOT, saying they lost $1 billion is a great talking point. But the anticlimactic fact is this: no money was ever lost.
Commuting History Roads Safety Transit Travel Uncategorized
by Hugh
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Book review: Traffic, by Tom Vanderbilt
I’ve just finished reading “TRAFFIC,” by Tom Vanderbilt, published by Vintage Books in 2009. It is subtitled, “Why we drive the way we do and what it says about us.” I heartily recommend it to anyone interested in trying to understand the mundane yet highly complex activity we call driving.
New TexasHighwayMan.com online!
Happy New Year everyone!
Since Thanksgiving, I’ve been working almost daily on the big upgrade to my website, and I’m happy to announce that it’s done and now online!
Pigs will fly!
As a married man of a certain age, one expects to be given Yuletide tasks. It is a given that your regular round will be interrupted with missions for which it could be said you are not the most adapted member of the family. But it came to pass this holiday season that my dear wife provided me with one of the most extraordinary chores I have ever had to perform at this or any other Christmas. It involves flying pigs at the Mexican border.
Where’s the Loop 1604 Christmas tree?
Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Been busy working on my big website update as well as the usual holiday tasks.
Speaking of the holidays, for the past few years, somebody has always decorated one of the trees in the median between the Loop 1604 mainlanes and frontage roads around Christmastime, usually in the vicinity of Blanco, Huebner, or Bitters. This year, I haven’t spotted one. Has anyone seen it? If not, I wonder what happened to the person who used to do it.