THE PANTOGRAPH
The Pantograph is a blog based on both meanings of the word pantograph. For one, this blog is inspired by electric trains, many of which used pantographs. This type of pantograph is also relevant to my area of focus because it was invented by the Key System and is now used all over the world. Secondly, my blog, like the original meaning of the word, is about making my ideas available to anyone. Thanks for reading. Sidebar [show/hide] [Login] [Register]
I loved Charles Smiley’s Key System Scrapbook Part I. The coherent video with the original train sounds really brought me back in time to an era that I unfortunately did not have an opportunity to see. The video was refreshing for me because it focuses on topics that I have not yet seen in a Key System video. I also loved all of the color footage and real electric train sounds. In the video, I got to and see the wonderful orange Key Ferries in action shuttling passengers across the San Francisco Bay. I got to learn about the Shipyard Railway, a railway that the Key System built to transport workers to the Shipyards during World War II. The Key System brought in ex-NYC elevated cars to use as the railway’s main equipment. I got to see where the railway ran and got a feel of what it was like to take it. I also got to see the some activity at the Emeryville Shops; the Emeryville Shops, located at the current shopping center at 40th and San Pablo maintained and built hundreds of streetcars from scratch. They could do anything there.
Smiley also talks about the Bay Bridge trains. I liked a clip regarding the E Line at the Claremont Hotel; the footage and narration worked well together. There are also some really cool Southern Pacific Red Car scenes, in color of course. Though I sometimes wished that I knew exactly where some shots were taken (e.g. the cross streets as we rode on ninth street), this was a very minor detail in a great film. Smiley has great maps and narration too. I highly recommend Key System Scrapbook Part I to anyone interested in the Bay Area or the Key System. Posted in Miscellaneous | No Comments » ClustaRack CommercialFrom the ClustaRack website: The theme running through the contraption is increasing chaos, all starting from a few media rolls, stacked against a wall, falling over. The final video was captured in a single take…take number #98! In the space of two weeks’ we transformed a warehouse scheduled for demolition into the print shop you see, built and filmed the whole contraption. You can imagine our excitement when it ran perfectly from start to finish. For each take that failed, the reset time was anything from a few seconds up to thirty minutes if the ink had fired and the shelves had collapsed. Posted in Miscellaneous | No Comments » Peter Newman Discusses Auckland, New Zealand “City of Cars”I found these videos on ReConnecting America’s Zeitgeist. The videos talk about Car Dependency in Auckland and how other cities have invested in public transportation. It shows how Auckland is a case study of how cities should not be in the upcoming decades. Video Parts 1-3 Posted in Miscellaneous | No Comments » RIDER ALERT! State budget cuts $19 million from AC TransitAC Transit External Affairs The state budget under consideration in Sacramento includes cuts of $19 million in AC Transit operating funds, starting July 1. With fuel costs skyrocketing, these budget cuts will mean a huge funding shortfall, leading to both fare increases and service reductions. Statewide, the proposed budget would slash $1.4 billion from public transit. AC Transit is fighting to reverse these cuts, but the Governor needs to hear the voices of bus riders and other concerned members of the East Bay community! Please call the Governor to tell him that AC Transit cannot afford to lose this funding. Let him know how important bus service is for you, your friends and family, and the community at large. A phone call is the most effective, but a faxed letter or online comment is good, too. Thank you for your help! Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Posted in Miscellaneous | No Comments » American Experience: Streamliners - June 9, 2008On the morning of May 26, 1934, a shimmering silver locomotive pulled out of Denver’s Union Station bound for Chicago. The Zephyr was unlike any train seen before. Known as a streamliner for its long, sleek look and powered by a revolutionary compact diesel engine, it would cover 1,015 miles in a record 15 hours. By the 1940s, fleets of streamliners crisscrossed the country, making the U.S. passenger rail system the envy of the world. But within two decades the era of these supertrains was over, dozens of routes were discontinued and the cars sold off to Canada and Japan. The dramatic story of the streamliners is one of remarkable achievements and opportunities lost.
American Experience’s Streamliners first airs on June 9, 2008 at 9pm. Check local listings for a showing near you. Posted in Miscellaneous | No Comments » First Hand Account of a California Zephyr - An OHA LectureFrom the Oakland Heritage Alliance: June 12, 7:30 p.m. “A First Hand Account of a California Zephyr” At our June 12th lecture series, Rodna Taylor will describe her experience as a “Zephyrette” on the California Zephyr, a sleek streamlined train in the 1950s described as a “cruise ship on wheels” and “a vacation unto itself.” The California Zephyr (the CZ, or “Silver Lady”) was a passenger train operated jointly by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q), Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW) and Western Pacific Railroad (WP). The train was inaugurated on March 19, 1949 and quickly became “The most talked about train in America.” It was purposely scheduled so that the train passed through the most spectacular scenery in the daylight. Thursday Lecture Series: 7:30 pm at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave. OHA members $8. Non-members $10. Posted in Miscellaneous | No Comments » Key System Scrapbook Part II
See the Key System forward from 1945 and the end of WW II that brought the National City Lines ‘buy-out’. See the last 13 years of a great transit line that struggled to maintain quality service in a world of change. We review the NCL and compare its new control of the Key System to the LA Railway and others. See the last few years of the Key’s subsidiary streetcar lines that were all ripped out after 1948. Visit the Transbay Terminal in San Francisco and ride the Bay Bridge. Visit and ride through the Bridge Yard and recall the Key’s great fleet of Bridge Units connecting the greater East Bay with San Francisco. Run through the Emeryville Yard and watch trains spill past Tower Two. See great trains in a wealth of locations in a bygone era on all the Bridge Lines A through F. Don’t miss the action with freight trains down 40th Street from Sacramento Northern’s connection to the C Line and the Oakland Terminal Railway. The F Line’s “City Of Berkeley” Key train of former SN Ry cars is just one of the delights to see on the Berkeley Line. Watch the stunning B Line trains around Lake Merritt and on up to Underhill. The C Line to Piedmont and Oakland Avenue offers the beauty of the East Bay. Sixteen people shot film that made this video possible for you to see! Their efforts allow us to relive those wonderful days. The Key has now been gone for 50-years! Posted in Miscellaneous | No Comments »
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