Radio Shack Selling Subway Cars on eBay

David Cantrell writes "The Radio Shack Corporation (formerly the Tandy Corporation) headquarters in Fort Worth, TX was one of the only companies in the world to have its own private subway system. Its main purpose in life was to move employees from their parked cars to the office building. About a year or so ago, Radio Shack decided the subway system was no longer needed and they shut it down permanently. Well, they are now selling the subway cars on eBay. For $5000US, you can get your very own Radio Shack Subway Car. Rails sold separately. Click for the eBay auction page."

Comments

Is this the one?

[Bartmoss]

I never heard of such a thing. I think this is the subway in question. Some pictures and a movie on that site. Pretty cool, but then again, nobody has yet bid on ebay which should tell ya something :)

Re:Is this the one?

[mattsucks]

[IAAFWR: I Am A Ft Worth Resident]

The "subway" was hella-convenient getting into downtown at crowded times, hot or cold. It was free, it ran right into the heart of downtown, and the only two stops it made were in the basement of the Tandy Center building and in the remote parking lot. Seems like I recall it (the subway) held the record for the shortest subway line in the world when it was active. I doubt it was even a mile long, but sometimes that could be the longest mile.

Lots of Ft Worth residents were sad to see it go. Progress, schmogress.

for the urban explorers

[cr@ckwhore]

Here's a link I just turned up with a quick google search that has some pics and information about the subway itself. These will be nice tunnels to explore in a few years.

http://web.presby.edu/~jtbell/transit/FtWorth/

Re:Love "Shack"?

[chmod000]

Comes from a time when all the technology was banished into a separate structure, as in "transmitter shack", "ham shack" (amateur radio), and so forth. Sometimes it was a literal shack, since technology in every age attracts the geeks and repels the Martha Stewarts.

Not sure who will want this

[robo45h]

If you read the eBay ad carefully -- and know a little about trains and streetcars -- it turns out this was more of a "subway surface streetcar" line than a pure subway. The car itself did not start out life as a subway car; it was an old "PCC" streetcar. Tandy remodeled it extensively in the '70s, basically bringing it down to the bare frame. Thus, any Trolly Museum that would be looking for a PCC will not get much by buying this other than a few spare parts and a frame. Perhaps some museum would want it as a novelty. If you want a good place to see some authentic PCC streetcars still in active service, visit San Francisco -- they purchased a bunch from Philadelphia for tourist attraction.

Re:Love "Shack"?

[zulux]

I never understood how the word "Shack" was supposed to convey competence with technology.

When radio's were added to ships early in the last century - they were usually in little 'shacks' on the main deck for several reasons: Better antenna reception, and so the operator could see - to orient the antenna properly, and more importantly, to show-off to the paying passengers that the ship had a 'wireless' on board.

Re:Just sparked a weird fantasy...

[op00to]

Transportation planners thought of this -- mainly in California. They call it "Personal Rapid Transit", and it takes all of the bad aspects of cars (traffic jams, wasted space, etc) and combines it with all the bad aspects of light rail (limited infrastructure, expensive) -- I am by no means advocating using a car, but personal rapid transit is a bad idea. It's much more cost effective to use larger cars and have established routes. The technology is there, and some towns even have trolley tracks buried underneath 2 feet of concrete, but it is just so wasteful and the benefits gained by having PRT (being able to go where you want to go, when you want to go there) can be found in light rail if a lot of time and planning goes into picking where stops go.