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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."
I always thought it would be a cool project to convert a bunch of subway cars into a liveable house. I especially think it would look pretty snazzy in the middle of one of those pre-planned developments, with all the houses that look alike, and your subway car network right next to them.
$5,000 seems like a reasonable price for such a thing. Assuming you'd need between 5 and 10 cars, thats not so expensive for building your own house.
However, the logistics involved in transporting a 40,000 lb subway car would probably make such a project impossible.
I used to ride that subway. The city library is right next to Tandy Towers. I'd park out in the extended lots and ride the Tandy subway into the library.
Hate to see it go, but Fort Worth has grown up a lot in the last fifteen years. I guess they have better arrangements now. Anyone been there recently?
There is nothing so silly as other peoples traditions, and nothing so sacred as our own.
Can you say "Urban Infiltration?" Methinks I have a new target.
For those of you who are unfamiliar, it's sort of a game: exploring places people are no longer meant to be. Old subways, abandoned factories, campus steam tunnels, etc.. Lots of fun, and certainly more exciting than.. say.. reading slashdot!
A few links:
Infiltration.org
Zone Tour
GeekNights!
Late Night Radio for Geeks!
It was sort of half and half. In the parking lot it ran above ground but as you got closer to downtown it went into a rather long tunnel to the station under the Tandy Center.
It was kind of neat but I can see why they would want to get rid of it as it was somewhat pointless. They could only run one train through the tunnel at a time so one could have probably walked the length of the tunnel to the building by the time the train could come pick them up.
The Anti-Blog
I grew up riding the Tandy Center Subway (as it was called then). My dad and I would drive in to Fort Worth on Saturdays from the small suburb where we lived, and ride the subway into Tandy Center to go to the Fort Worth library. The main floor of the library was underground, and had an entrace from the Tandy Center mall.
Tandy Center also had a pretty good arcade at the time (at least, by Fort Worth standards).
Ranger96
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.-Ecclesiastes 1:9
The city provides a large infrastructure of rails, and a sophisticated switching system. Citizens pony up for their own (much smaller) 'cars'; they can do whatever they like with the interior of these cars, etc. You register your 'car' and have it installed in the rail system. Make a request and the car goes to the closest station that you're looking for. You give up the convenience of having the 'car' make 100% of the trip between points (i.e. you walk to and from whichever station) but you don't have to drive.
I know, I know... Minority Report. I just really liked the idea of intelligently switched rail traffic in-town, with more traditional free-roaming vehicles outside of urban areas. It makes so much sense.
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
Shouldn't something like this belong in the Smithsonian or something? From the links offered on eBay, it has quite a history behind it.
I went to college at UTA 15 years ago and used to hang out with friends in Ft. Worth. Last year I went to a friend's funeral in Ft. Worth and as our procession drove across town, I was completely shocked at how many formerly nice neighborhoods that used to be like "Leave It to Beaver" neighborhoods back then, are now completely decayed and crime-riddled. I mean these were really nice mostly-caucasian middle-income neighborhoods back in the 80's, were filled with what used to be ~$150K, 3000-4000 sq ft sprawling 3-4 bedroom suburban family homes on 3/4-acre lots, now turned completely to ghettos full of graffitti, burned out houses, abandoned cars, and seedy-looking characters hanging out on streetcorners, probably gang members selling crack. All the old neighborhood shopping centers were closed down with windows and doors boarded up and graffitti painted all over everywhere. Several entire apartment complexes, that used to be pretty nice, where college students used to live, were now also all boarded up, covered with graffitti and big orange "Condemned by City of Ft. Worth" signed plastered all over.
What the hell happened in 15 short years time there? I was almost afraid to be driving thru there parts of the city in broad daylight, for fear of bullets flying thru what used to be such peaceful, nice middle-America neighborhoods.
# of bids 0
Apparently Radio Shack hasn't done very good market research on this one. I mean really who's seriously going to bid for a 40,000 pound piece of junk that they won't be able to move.
Anybody know how much it costs to ship a 40,000 pound peice of junk?
Make it a short-term day care center for a mall, department store, gym or something.
When I was a kid, the church I went to converted a bus into a day care center, complete with wood stove to keep it warm. The church didn't have their own building, so they needed something mobile. Hey that's better than going to the services in the funeral home it was parked in front of.
Also, I am sure there are a multitude of railroad history parks around the country that could use it, if they could afford it.
Life moves pretty fast; if you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. -FB
In this modern world, $5000 buys you either a second-hand subway or a DIY cruise missile.
Hmm.... tough choice.
--
Rune
My father used to work for Tandy at that office in the early 80's as a system programmer on the Tandem until he had a stroke. I remember riding those subways to his office when I was a little kid and he would show me around the data processing center. We also used to go ice skating at the Tandy Center and my sister and I would love riding on those little subways. For me, this is an era gone by.
Now I am a programmer myself and it gives me a great deal of pride to be a chip off the old block.
Lord, bless my users that they may stop being such fucking idiots!!
I bet this guy and this guy (builders of monorail and roller coaster in their backyards, respectively) are drooling over this auction, and their neighbors are thinking "please god, no".
Last August during the final days of subway operation I managed to make it down there and snap a bunch of pictures including some of their shop facilities if anyone is interested.
I would watch these cars every day, when my father and I would drive an hour or so to the Ft. Worth farmer's market (which, then, was just an arbitrary point in the parking lot under an overpass) to sell our produce. I rode them a couple of times. They were neat, but I am not sure I would ever want one.