Riverfront Line

Riverfront Streetcar Route

In the summer of 1988 the lonely St. Charles Line got some company again when the first new streetcar route in New Orleans since the mid 1920's opened for service. Unlike the St. Charles line, the new Riverfront line is more of a tourist route running along the Mississippi River, connecting the Convention Center and Riverwalk shopping area to the French Quarter and ending at Esplanade Ave. (French Market). The Riverfront line runs entirely in its own right of way, and its stations consist of ground level island platforms with canopies between the tracks.

The rolling stock for the line, in the 400 series, consists basically of built-from-scratch replicas of the vintage Perley Thomas streetcars running on the St. Charles Route, but painted red instead. In 1996, the Carrollton shops built a prototype streetcar for the Riverfront line, using the shell of Perley Thomas car #957, which became #457. #458 was also built by the Carrollton shops using parts from PCC cars retired from SEPTA in Philadelphia. The remaining few streetcars for the line were built completely from scratch in the RTA shop, made to look old, and used PCC-like running gear from the Czech firm Tatra. (A modern unit was on loan for a while in New Orleans from the Czech Republic running on the Riverfront and St. Charles lines in the late 1990's and early 2000's, seen in some of the photos below). The Riverfront replica streetcar units are ADA equipped, unlike their vintage cousins on the St. Charles Line. The Riverfront units also lack the distinctive sound of the air compressors and gear noise that their older cousins have.

The Riverfront Line is a relatively short route, but became very popular, thus sparking the planning, and finally the reintroduction of streetcars to the old Canal Street Route.

The Fleet

Photos by Location