THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 19, 1995 TAG: 9512190009
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A18 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 38 lines
It is thrilling to read in your pages (Dec. 4) that Norfolk is considering returning streetcars to downtown streets. But before nomenclature and designs are written in stone, may this inveterate admirer and rider of these conveyances make two suggestions.
First, could we eliminate the ``people-mover'' terminology, ``fixed-track trolleys'' in favor of the ordinary but here well-remembered ``streetcar''? Trolley had no such meaning for me (even through the ``Clang, clang clang'' song and ``trackless trolleys'' of Northern cities I visited, quite a different concept to me) until college where a third of the student body came from northern states. There, seemingly, streetcar, as a word, had to do with a quaint New Orleans milieu. Those who rode them in Norfolk, as far as I know, called the vehicles streetcars; their garage was always designated the ``car barn,'' indicated on their destination signs, never ``trolley barns.''
Second, could these vehicles return from a modernistic to the traditional headlight? Let it be a single, large, bright cyclopean lamp instead of the undistinguished dual headlights starting to circulate on both light and heavy rails that resemble another automobile proceeding up and down a street. Let the headlight look like the model used in Portland, Ore., pictures on the inside page of your article.
A lot more awesome, and probably safer, would be this single shining beacon, really noticed by drivers and pedestrians, advancing before the still familiar ring of the streetcar bell. No mere nostalgia trip, this!
CLYDE W. BROCKETT
Norfolk, Dec. 4, 1994 by CNB