Technical Standards

Vehicle Standard

The APTA Heritage Trolley Subcommittee's first major project in the area of technical standards was to create standards for vehicles to be used on heritage trolley and streetcar lines. Task Force member John Smatlak lead this effort.

The standard applies both to newly constructed cars and restored older cars which are to be operated on a heritage trolley line. The Task Force's document was formally released by APTA on June 20, 2005. Follow the link below to APTA's web site for more information on this standard:

• Standard for Vintage Trolley Equipment

This standard and the process the subcommittee's used to create the standard were reviewed in formal sessions at the APTA Rail Conference in Pittsburgh in June 2005. The following links lead to the Powerpoint presentation and a related paper used at the conference:

• Developing Equipment Standards Powerpoint
   
• Developing Equipment Standards Report

Track and Overhead Wire Standards

The Subcommittee agreed that the next area of standards development will be track and overhead wire infrastructure. A first step is defining the goals of the Subcommittee's standards given the numeours infrastructure standards setting efforts underway in other transit and engineering groups. Follow this link to a draft document designed to capture the Subcommittee's goals formatted as the introduction for the future standards document.

• Standards for Track and Overhead Wire Introduction (Draft)

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Technical Reference

During the heyday of first generation electric trolley systems in America, a comprehensive handbook covering virtually every technical aspect of street railways was compiled by Albert S. Richey, a professor at the Worcester (MA) Polytechnic Institute. This work has long been considered the touchstone reference document of the field and is highly relevant to present day heritage streetcar and modern streetcar lines. In 1989 the Association of Railway Museums republished the book as a reference for museums preserving street railway equipment. They subsequently converted the book to PDF format. Click on the below link to see this work but be prepared for a significant download time as the file is approximately 27 megabytes in size:

• Electric Railway Handbook - Albert S. Richey

Presentations from Tampa Meeting - December 2007

The following presentations were presented to the subcommittee during its meeting in Tampa:

• Tampa Streetcar Case Study
  
  
• Tampa Streetcar System Background and Regulatory Compliance
  
  
• Tampa Streetcar Marketing Highlights
  
  
• Tampa Streetcar Extension Funding Issues
  
  
• Review of Streetcar/Railroad Grade Crossing Waivers
  
  
• Rail/Wheel Interface Study and Modifications