St. Charles Line

St. Charles Avenue Streetcar Route

The St. Charles Streetcar route is the oldest continuously operating streetcar in the entire world! The vintage 1924 streetcars currently in service on the route modestly take this honor in stride as they rumble along their route with their distinctive pudda-pudda-pudda-pudda air compressor sound. Streetcars have been rolling down St. Charles Avenue and Carrollton Ave. along this route for over 150 years. They of course have become very popular with the tourists, but they also nonetheless provide reliable transportation daily to residents traveling between the Garden District and the Central Business District of New Orleans, the same reason they were implemented there in the mid 19th century.

The St. Charles line is a 13 mile journey through history, passing in front of historic mansions and plantation homes in the Garden District, while riding vintage streetcars built in 1924 by Perley Thomas. These vintage units are in the 900 series, and green in color. The line begins at the intersection of Claiborne and Carrollton Avenues where the tracks just end in a stub at Claiborne Avenue. They travel on the "neutral ground" in the center of Carrollton Avenue towards the Mississippi River. ("Neutral ground" is what New Orleanians call a median, basically a large grassy landscaped area down the middle of many roads in New Orleans). The Carrollton Shop is also off of the route as it runs along Carrollton Ave. This is the shop that services the streetcars, and built the replica streetcars for New Orleans' other routes.

At the intersection of Carrollton and St. Charles Avenues, the line bends onto St. Charles Avenue for a ride past old historic mansions under a tunnel formed by seemingly as old trees. At Lee Circle the streetcar route shares a single track with opposing streetcar traffic for a brief moment as it swings around the circle, and then onto the neutral ground of Howard Street. Then, the streetcar enters Carondelet Street for the final leg of the journey to the Central Business District. Once on Carondelet Street, the streetcars share the road with regular vehicular traffic. Then at the intersection of Carondelet and Canal Street, the streetcar loops around onto Canal Street for one block and then back onto St Charles Avenue for its return trip to the Garden District. The stations consist of modest uncovered ground level concrete areas to the sides of the tracks.

The Fleet

Other surviving Perley Thomas cars are located at: Pennsylvania Trolley Museum (832), Connecticut Trolley Museum (836), Shore Line Trolley Museum (850), North Carolina Transportation Museum (912), San Francisco Municipal Railway/F-Market Line (two cars: 913, formerly owned by Orange Empire Railway Museum and sold to MUNI in 2005; and 952, leased from NORTA), "Chattanooga Choo Choo" (959), Lowell Historical Park, Lowell, MA (966).

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