STORY OF THE STREETCARS - CHAPTER 2
STORY OF THE STREETCARS - Chapter 2
Some Basic Streetcar History
(Horse-drawn Vehicle,
later operated by Steam)
(Horse-drawn Vehicle,
later operated by Steam)
This part of the Streetcar Story deals with some basic streetcar history. But first, let me “straighten out” some statements made in the previous part of the story. In my enthusiasm about the “comeback” of the streetcars, I mentioned that somewhere around Chapter 15 or so, I planned to discuss The First New Streetcar to be MADE IN THE U.S.A. And the First Streetcar Manufacturing Company in the U.S. since the 1950's or so. Since then, I did some more research and found that we already have a streetcar manufacturing company in the U. S., we have had for a number of years, and they are making streetcars that are actually operating on city streets here in our country. However, they are NOT in full-time operation as a streetcar company that makes streetcars that operate on city streets EXCLUSIVELY! Here’s the rest of the story, as I see it:
The Gomaco Trolley Company, a Division of Gomaco Corporation, Ida Grove, Iowa, founded 1982, is still operating; it does streetcar restoration and rebuilding, and is a manufacturer of vintage-style streetcars (alternatively called trolleys in the U. S. A., or trams in much of the world). It supplied the streetcars that now run in Little Rock, and it rebuilt several ex-Melbourne W2-type streetcars for Memphis' Main Street Trolley and also sold to the Memphis Area Transit Authority a single-truck car it had built all-new in 1993 as a demonstrator.
What I had in mind was the type operation that St. Louis used to have, along with Pullman and other similar companies, that made most, if not all, of the streetcars that operated on city streets in the U. S. back before the “demise” of the streetcars back in the late 1940's and 1950's, with and without the help of General Motors and it’s subsidiaries. I didn’t want to “slight” the Gomaco Trolley Company, however; it was just that I had not done enough research to be aware of their existence at the time I wrote “Chapter 1.” I am glad they are building “vintage-style streetcars” and rebuilding streetcars, whether they were made here or abroad. But, at this point, it doesn’t look like they have come out with what I would call an “American Streetcar,” being designed from the ground up (starting point) and built here in the U. S. A.! If so, then I would like to know about it, so I could tell others. There is also a company called United Streetcar, which is “in the running,” as I see it right now. They have been in business since 2005, and they have produced some streetcars, also for the Portland and Seattle areas and other places in the far west.
My previous reference to “The First New Streetcar to be MADE IN THE U.S.A.” was referring to the company in or close to Portland, Oregon, that produced a streetcar, using a Czech contract, and looking like it was a Czech product, but made here in our country. More on this story later on...
Anyway, back to the streetcar history: There is not a lot of streetcar history to be found on the web, compared with other information about streetcars. Much of what I know is a result of my background as a History Teacher. I did find a good photo of a horse-drawn streetcar, which I’ll attempt to get posted on this chapter. The photo is of Manchester, New Hampshire's first horsecar, dating from 1877, and on display about 1908. Of course, there are references to the fact that horse-drawn vehicles were in use a few centuries earlier, but that most streetcars were developed in the 1800's and early 1900's, mainly to transport quantities of people from “suburbs” into “downtown areas” in Europe and America, primarily. There are other references to other parts of the world, but the main streetcar-development activity seems to have been in Europe and America, where one finds the first “streetcar suburbs.” These developed around what were to later become the largest cities, so that people could live “out in the country” and commute into “downtown” to work. This trend continues today, obviously, although the Internet may slowly change this.
The Gomaco Trolley Company, a Division of Gomaco Corporation, Ida Grove, Iowa, founded 1982, is still operating; it does streetcar restoration and rebuilding, and is a manufacturer of vintage-style streetcars (alternatively called trolleys in the U. S. A., or trams in much of the world). It supplied the streetcars that now run in Little Rock, and it rebuilt several ex-Melbourne W2-type streetcars for Memphis' Main Street Trolley and also sold to the Memphis Area Transit Authority a single-truck car it had built all-new in 1993 as a demonstrator.
What I had in mind was the type operation that St. Louis used to have, along with Pullman and other similar companies, that made most, if not all, of the streetcars that operated on city streets in the U. S. back before the “demise” of the streetcars back in the late 1940's and 1950's, with and without the help of General Motors and it’s subsidiaries. I didn’t want to “slight” the Gomaco Trolley Company, however; it was just that I had not done enough research to be aware of their existence at the time I wrote “Chapter 1.” I am glad they are building “vintage-style streetcars” and rebuilding streetcars, whether they were made here or abroad. But, at this point, it doesn’t look like they have come out with what I would call an “American Streetcar,” being designed from the ground up (starting point) and built here in the U. S. A.! If so, then I would like to know about it, so I could tell others. There is also a company called United Streetcar, which is “in the running,” as I see it right now. They have been in business since 2005, and they have produced some streetcars, also for the Portland and Seattle areas and other places in the far west.
My previous reference to “The First New Streetcar to be MADE IN THE U.S.A.” was referring to the company in or close to Portland, Oregon, that produced a streetcar, using a Czech contract, and looking like it was a Czech product, but made here in our country. More on this story later on...
Anyway, back to the streetcar history: There is not a lot of streetcar history to be found on the web, compared with other information about streetcars. Much of what I know is a result of my background as a History Teacher. I did find a good photo of a horse-drawn streetcar, which I’ll attempt to get posted on this chapter. The photo is of Manchester, New Hampshire's first horsecar, dating from 1877, and on display about 1908. Of course, there are references to the fact that horse-drawn vehicles were in use a few centuries earlier, but that most streetcars were developed in the 1800's and early 1900's, mainly to transport quantities of people from “suburbs” into “downtown areas” in Europe and America, primarily. There are other references to other parts of the world, but the main streetcar-development activity seems to have been in Europe and America, where one finds the first “streetcar suburbs.” These developed around what were to later become the largest cities, so that people could live “out in the country” and commute into “downtown” to work. This trend continues today, obviously, although the Internet may slowly change this.
A tram (also known as a tramcar, streetcar, or trolley car) is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights-of-way. It may also run between cities and/or towns (interurbans, tram-train), and/or partially grade-separated, even in the cities (light rail). Trams very occasionally also carry freight. My articles and future E-Book deal almost exclusively with streetcars, the kind that run on rails in the middle of a city street or along their own separate corridor, as in New Orleans, which runs between the opposing lanes of a city street on a grassy terrain. Trolley busses, those like Little Rock had for a very short time after the original streetcars were taken up (and they told us they were sold to Mexico City, but I now have my doubts about the truth of this part), run on rubber tires like trucks, and have TWO trolleys running on TWO trolley wires overhead for electricity, where a regular streetcar runs on rails and has ONE trolley, running on ONE trolley wire. The longer streetcars had ONE trolley on each end, so they could go to the end of the line and reverse everything to go back in the opposite direction, while the shorter streetcars usually went on a loop of some sort at the end of the line, coming back into the main line at the end of the loop. Apparently Little Rock is accomplishing this now, by having the streetcar loop through city streets in such a way that it arrives back at the end of the loop after going a few blocks in the loop. If this doesn’t make sense, then you’ll need to get a map, which I don’t have, to see what’s going on.
In some instances, two or more streetcars are hooked together to form a short “train,” probably operated by one person in the front vehicle, to be able to carry more passengers, all going to the same place (kind of like an elevator).
Trams are usually lighter and shorter than conventional trains and rapid transit trains. However, the differences between these modes of public transportation are often unclear. Some trams (for instance tram-trains) may also run on ordinary railway tracks, a tramway may be upgraded to a light rail or a rapid-transit line, two urban tramways may be united to an interurban, and so forth.
Most trams today use electrical power; in some cases by a sliding shoe on a third rail or trolley pole. If necessary, they may have several power systems. Certain types of cable cars are also known as trams. Another power source is diesel; a few trams use electricity in the streets, and diesel in more rural environments. Also steam and gasoline have been used. Horse and mule-driven trams do still occur.
Tramways are now included in the wider term "light rail," which also includes separate systems. Vehicles on light rail systems are generally called trains, although cases have been known of "trains" being sold to new owners and becoming "trams." Confusing, huh?
Next: Chapter 2.2 continuing with Some Basic Streetcar History (Horse-drawn Vehicle, later operated by Steam), followed by:
Chapter 3. Various Manufacturers and their Designs.
Chapter 4. “The Great American Streetcar Scandal.”
Chapter 5. Many Large City Streetcar Systems that “went broke,” the Reasons, and the “General Motors (or some of it’s Companies) Impact” on this.
Chapter 6. Variations of the Original Streetcar Design, some with Doors in different places.
Chapter 7. Streetcars that were Built for Different Purposes, including Funerals.
Chapter 8. The Streetcar is making\has made a “Comeback.”
Chapter 9. List of Most of the (Larger) Streetcar Systems in the U.S. and Canada (List of North American Cities with Examples of Different Streetcars of the Present and the Past).
Chapter 10. The Streetcar in Other Countries, mainly Europe, but also Asia, Australia, and elsewhere.
Chapter 11. Various Foreign Manufacturers and their Own Designs.
Chapter 12. Munich and Other Large Streetcar Systems in Europe.
Chapter 13. New Orleans (Pre-Katrina, Closing One Line, Later Expansion).
Chapter 14. Toronto (Large Enough for it’s own Chapter, too).
Chapter 15. The First New Streetcar to be MADE IN THE U.S.A. And the First Streetcar Manufacturing Company in the U.S. since the 1950's or so.
Chapter 16. Prologue: The Politics of it all; Political and Economic Decisions at all Levels of Government that did impact the Streetcar in the past and that will impact it in the future. Where are we headed? Do we have the Good Sense to Re-develop a Cheap and Reliable Ground Transportation System that will Move People in Large Quantities both Into and Out Of Our Downtown Areas, Without Having to Continue to Rely on Foreign Oil and Without Having To Build More Freeways? Is This Proposition Affordable? Or Do We Have Any Other Choice? (Stay tuned for the weather at 6 and 10, but first, here’s a message from our sponsors)!
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Trams are usually lighter and shorter than conventional trains and rapid transit trains. However, the differences between these modes of public transportation are often unclear. Some trams (for instance tram-trains) may also run on ordinary railway tracks, a tramway may be upgraded to a light rail or a rapid-transit line, two urban tramways may be united to an interurban, and so forth.
Most trams today use electrical power; in some cases by a sliding shoe on a third rail or trolley pole. If necessary, they may have several power systems. Certain types of cable cars are also known as trams. Another power source is diesel; a few trams use electricity in the streets, and diesel in more rural environments. Also steam and gasoline have been used. Horse and mule-driven trams do still occur.
Tramways are now included in the wider term "light rail," which also includes separate systems. Vehicles on light rail systems are generally called trains, although cases have been known of "trains" being sold to new owners and becoming "trams." Confusing, huh?
Next: Chapter 2.2 continuing with Some Basic Streetcar History (Horse-drawn Vehicle, later operated by Steam), followed by:
Chapter 3. Various Manufacturers and their Designs.
Chapter 4. “The Great American Streetcar Scandal.”
Chapter 5. Many Large City Streetcar Systems that “went broke,” the Reasons, and the “General Motors (or some of it’s Companies) Impact” on this.
Chapter 6. Variations of the Original Streetcar Design, some with Doors in different places.
Chapter 7. Streetcars that were Built for Different Purposes, including Funerals.
Chapter 8. The Streetcar is making\has made a “Comeback.”
Chapter 9. List of Most of the (Larger) Streetcar Systems in the U.S. and Canada (List of North American Cities with Examples of Different Streetcars of the Present and the Past).
Chapter 10. The Streetcar in Other Countries, mainly Europe, but also Asia, Australia, and elsewhere.
Chapter 11. Various Foreign Manufacturers and their Own Designs.
Chapter 12. Munich and Other Large Streetcar Systems in Europe.
Chapter 13. New Orleans (Pre-Katrina, Closing One Line, Later Expansion).
Chapter 14. Toronto (Large Enough for it’s own Chapter, too).
Chapter 15. The First New Streetcar to be MADE IN THE U.S.A. And the First Streetcar Manufacturing Company in the U.S. since the 1950's or so.
Chapter 16. Prologue: The Politics of it all; Political and Economic Decisions at all Levels of Government that did impact the Streetcar in the past and that will impact it in the future. Where are we headed? Do we have the Good Sense to Re-develop a Cheap and Reliable Ground Transportation System that will Move People in Large Quantities both Into and Out Of Our Downtown Areas, Without Having to Continue to Rely on Foreign Oil and Without Having To Build More Freeways? Is This Proposition Affordable? Or Do We Have Any Other Choice? (Stay tuned for the weather at 6 and 10, but first, here’s a message from our sponsors)!
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Copyright 2011 by Preston Smith,
Silver Dollar Press,
a Division of Walker Enterprises.
Silver Dollar Press,
a Division of Walker Enterprises.
All Rights Reserved.
Labels: cable car, horse-drawn streetcar, horsecar, steam, streetcar, train, tram, tramway, trolley
posted by PRESTON at 2:27 AM
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