Tandy Center Subway

The Tandy Center Subway operated in Fort Worth, Texas (USA) from February 15, 1963 [ [http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/LL/dhlef.html Handbook of Texas Online - LEONARD BROTHERS ] ] to August 30, 2002 [ [http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~unclejoe/tx/subway.html Preserving Texas History: Tandy Subway ] ] . It ran a distance of convert|0.7|mi|km|1|lk=on and was, during the period of its operation, the only privately owned subway in the United States.

The subway was originally built by the Leonards Department Store in 1963, connecting the store to its large parking lots on the edge of downtown. Originally known as the Leonards M&O Subway, it consisted of one underground station beneath the store and four stations in the parking lots. The Tandy Corporation purchased the department store, its parking lots, and the subway in 1967. The corporation built its headquarters, the Tandy Center, on the site in 1974. Although it demolished the original store, Tandy retained the subway.

The small subway primarily served patrons visiting the mall at the base of the Tandy Center, which also linked to the Fort Worth Central Library. However, the anchor tenant moved out in 1996 and the mall declined. The Tandy Center Subway ceased operation on August 30, 2002.

There is at least one car still in operation [ [http://www.mata.org/143specs.htm MATA Specifications: 143/Winnie ] ] that was converted from subway use to street car use that actively services the McKinney Avenue Transit Authority trolley route.

In April 1982 the first PCC car "Leonards Number 1" was saved from the cutting torch by a Tandy Corp. computer programmer and stored on a farm south of Fort Worth, Texas where it remained for over 25 years. It was donated to the Leonard's Museum [ [http://www.fwculture.com/leonards_museum.htm Leonard's Department Store Museum] ] in 2007. On February 2, 2008 it was moved to a restoration location near Benbrook, Texas. After restoration it will be moved to the Leonards Museum for public display in Fort Worth, Texas. This was the first car to run the line in 1963.

ee also

*List of rapid transit systems

References

External links

* [http://web.presby.edu/~jtbell/transit/FtWorth/ Tandy Subway History]
* [http://world.nycsubway.org/us/fortworth/ Pictures of Tandy Subway Cars in Fort Worth]
* [http://www.northtexastransport.org/ Parts of Subway preserved by North Texas Historic Transportation, Inc.]
* [http://www.mapored.com/subway/ Pictures of Tandy Center Subway cars and facilities during the final days of operation]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsVEMQAykgc Video clip of Tandy Center Subway cars during the final week of operation]