It couldn't be bad. You have to decide what you most wish to accomplish. From this rail nut's perspective, I want to see ALL these routes in service, with refurbished or rebuilt SP Red Electric cars and the whole bit. But when you get into political reality, you're going to get a lot more support for something that serves more neighborhoods and actually passes by places people live and work. That line by Oaks Park misses nearly all of that until south of the Sellwood Bridge. The Willamette Shore Trolley line has LONG been held by several entities a a potential light-rail extension. One of the last serious attempts to get that through was spiked by none other than the people of Lake Oswego, who would write to the local papers about how it would bring increased crime to their neighborhoods. (Pause for a roll of the eyes - as if someone is going to steal your DVD player and then ride transit to reduce his carbon footprint with your stolen goods - give me a break!) In Lake Oswego there is a difficult but not impossible challenge as well and that's the PNWR line. To get past it, the light rail line would have to go over it or under it or have some special consideration.
Oh, I don't doubt that the people of Lake O shot it down. It strikes me as that type of place. As for routes going by people, I heard too many people complain that the new Max line isn't going to actually connect to anyplace useful, because those neighborhoods aren't designed around transit (the fact that many of them exist BECAUSE of transit is lost on people.) In either case, there are plenty of people complaining about the routing. As for the PNWR route. I would argue that that's an asset not a limitation. That route is underutilized and also runs through Milwaukie. You could always use that line. Wilmette shores south to Lake O, then over the bridge to Milwaukie and back. Or Operate in a loop with the new MAX line Or, in fact run all the way to Beaverton or heck, go over Rex hill and run to Newberg. Anyway as for the Portland traction line, maybe that's a place Wilamette shores could move to if their current route becomes light rail. OR, Perhaps the Vintage Trolleys could operate over the line from downtown out to Oaks Park on weekends(would require stringing power). San Francisco runs vintage equipment along the Embarcadero every day of the year for locals and tourists, so this kind of thing is possible.
Of course, what I really want is for them to reopen the traction lines that ran through Garden Home/Raleigh Hills, because then I wouldn't ever need my car.
That's why when I lived in that area I would often use Multnomah Boulevard as my bike thoroughfare. It's one of the only connecting streets that's nearly dead level. You should, if you don't already have it, get a copy of Labbe's "Fares, Please!" It's about Portland's trolleys. It's out of print. Let me know if you can't find one. It comes through our shop fairly (farely?) often.
These days it's only the trolley park. I'd like a time-share trailer park to show off my hillbilly gagets. Guess the overhead wire is cool. These trains are electric.arghh: I really like the trolleys. Growing up in Cleveland I rode the Shaker Heights Rapid PCC's but I missed all the surface street stuff.
