New Orleans Streetcars Up and Running

Nov. 12, 2007 — -- To Mike Saccoliti, the St. Charles Avenue streetcar is more than just a tourist draw. It's a way to get from the French Quarter to the Columns Hotel for a bloody mary. Or to Tipitina's for a live jazz show. Or his friend's house for a crawfish boil. Seeing the streetcar — knocked out of service by Hurricane Katrina — partially back in operation signals a giant stride toward normalcy here, said Saccoliti, 49, of Brooklyn, N.Y., who has been visiting New Orleans since 1988.

"It's a sign that stuff's happening," he said.

The historic St. Charles Avenue streetcar, as much a symbol of this city as jazz and blackened redfish, returned to service at 5:27 a.m. Sunday, two years, two months and 13 days after being battered offline by Katrina. Residents and tourists alike heralded the return of the olive-green, 1920s-era Perley Thomas streetcars as a major step toward recovery.

On Saturday, a high school marching band blasted When the Saints Go Marching In and city leaders praised the line's return just before four inaugural streetcars pushed off toward downtown. Onlookers honked car horns, banged instruments, cheered and waved their drinks in a Mardi Gras-like atmosphere as the first streetcars rumbled down St. Charles Avenue. Businesses welcomed back the streetcars with oversized banners.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: New Orleans | Katrina | St. Charles | RTA | Rosalind Cook "It's huge," said City Council member Stacey Head. "This returns a sense of normalcy to New Orleanians. It's part of what you think about when you think about this city."

Part of the appeal is its history. The St. Charles Avenue line, stretching 6½ miles down the broad, oak-lined residential boulevard, first opened to the public in 1835, making it one of the oldest continuously running trolley systems in the world, said Wil Mullet, rail superintendent for the Regional Transit Authority (RTA).

The line began with mule-pulled streetcars, he said. It briefly upgraded to steam-engine cars but returned to the mule cars when female passengers complained of soot from the engine soiling their dresses. The line went electric in 1893 and the Perley Thomas cars, which still are used today, were added in 1923, Mullet said.