|
Fares Please Those Portland Trolley Years by John Labbe w/ DJ 1980
Fares Please! Those Portland Trolley Years by John Labbe
Hard cover with dust jacket
Copyright 1980
164 pages
Indexed
Contents
ChapterPage
ITHE CITY 17
IITHE HORSECARS 23
Portland Street Railway Company 23
Multnomah Street Railway Company 26
Portland Traction Company (First) 29
Transcontinental Street Railway Company 31
East Portland 33
Willamette Bridge Railway Company 34
IIITHE STEAM TRAINS 37
Willamette Bridge Railway Company 37
Portland, Mount Tabor & Eastern Railroad Company 42
Portland & Vancouver Railroad Company 44
Mount Tabor Street Railway Company 49
City & West Portland Park Motor Company 53
IVTHE CABLE CARS 56
Portland Cable Railway Company 56
Portland Traction Company (Second) 62
Portland City Homestead Railway Company 63
VTHE FIRST ELECTRIC CARS 66
Willamette Bridge Railway Company 66
Waverly-Woodstock Motor Line 69
Metropolitan Railway Company 71
Multnomah Street Railway Company 75
Vancouver, Washington 77
Chapter VI A time for consolidation 79
Portland Consolidated Street Railway Company 79
Portland Railway Company (First) 82
Barnes Heights & Cornell Mountain Railway Company 83
VIITHE CITY & SUBURBAN RAILWAY COMPANY 88
Portland & Fairview Railway Company 96
VIIITHE EAST SIDE RAILWAY COMPANY 98
Portland City & Oregon Railway Company 105
Oregon Water Power & Railway Company 109
IXAND THEN THERE WAS ONE 111
Portland & Suburban Railway Company 111
Portland Consolidated Railway Company 113
Portland Railway Company (Third) 120
XTHE PORTLAND RAILWAY LIGHT & POWER COMPANY 123
Mount Hood Railway & Power Company 134
XITHE PORTLAND ELECTRIC POWER COMPANY 141
XIISUBSIDIARIES 151
Salem, Oregon 151
Willamette Falls Railway Company 153
Clackamas Southern Railway Company 154
Willamette Valley Southern Railway Company 155
XIIITHE SATELLITES 157
Kenton Traction Company 157
Portland & Troutdale Electric Company 158
Errol Heights Railway Company 158
Terminal Four 159
Portland & Oregon City Railway Company 159
Portland started life as a typical frontier settlement with wooden sidewalks and dirt streets that the damp climate turned to mud for the better part of each year. As the community expanded north and south along the riverbank, it became increasingly difficult for the population to remain in close contact with the business district. Commuting to the offices, or shopping at the stores, meant negotiating blocks of muddy streets. By 1871, the situation had reached the point where some form of public transportation was vital to hold the community together. And transportation of any kind in 1871 meant horses.
The first horsecars filled an essential role in the the growth of the city, as without them, expansion was severely limited. But once free to move into the open spaces beyond the immediate confines of the city, expansion was rapid. And as the city expanded, so did the transportation system. Portland's growing pains knew no bounds, and soon the heights behind the city and the suburban districts began to fill with homes.
So vital to Portland's growth was the public transportation, real estate developers were helpless without it. Just as today no development can take place without sewers and utilities, so then it was dependent on the expansion of the transportation system. Before any development could begin, the developers had to first build an extension of the carlines into the area. And, as the new development filled in with homes, these extensions were taken over by the street railway companies and added to their systems.
Until the coming of the automobile, the street railways provided the only means of getting around. Aside from their value for daily commuting and for shopping tours, they also provided holiday excursions into the country for picnicking, hiking, or just getting away from the confines of the city. Bicyclists made such use of the carlines for their tours in the Nineties, special bicycle cars were put on for weekends. And to satisfy the citizen's new sense of freedom, amusement parks, race tracks and baseball grounds sprang up to attract the riders.
The automobiles provided the first alternative to the street railways, but until their popularity demanded the paving of streets and roads, they posed no great threat. Early in the century the city streets were paved one by one, allowing the new motor trucks to replace the horse drawn drays and the automobiles to entice the more affluent from the cars. Then came the "Good Roads Movement," and the paved streets began to extend far beyond the limits of the city. The street railways began to slowly strangle and die.
Portland's expansion was very rapid, due largely to the street railways. In 1872 the first horsecar line connected the sprawling wings of the city to its center. Twenty years later it had grown beyond the ability of horses to serve it and the electric cars were scuttling throughout the city that now spread out on both sides of the Willamette River. Another twenty years, and the street railway system had reached its greatest peak. From that point on, it was all down hill.
Because Portland was so remote from the rest of the country, and because expansion in the East was as great as in the West, Portland was cut off from developments taking place elsewhere around the country. But pioneers in the West had long ago learned. to get along on their own, and Portland carried on its own development independent of the rest of the country. Portland companies built their own cars to their own designs, and went their own way, relying on the East for little more than electric motors and technical developments. As a result, Portland's system was unique and in many ways proved to be ahead of the rest of the country.
Both Portland and Portland's street railway systems grew together, each relying heavily on the other. Both were a product of pioneers free to expand and develop in their own way, and the results made the city and its public transportation unique and interesting, and in many ways ahead of its time.
For those who may be interested in the technical aspects of the electric operation, a second book is in preparation. This will contain a complete roster of all rolling stock used by the companies covered here. There will be a detailed history of every car and locomotive including all specificatons that can be determined. There will also be a history of all routes served in Portland, as well as coverage of shops. power stations, carbarns, etc.
All pictures are of the actual item. If this is a railroad item, this material is obsolete and no longer in use by the railroad. Please email with questions. Publishers of Train Shed Cyclopedias and Stephans Railroad Directories. Large inventory of railroad books and magazines. Thank you for buying from us.
Shipping charges
Postage rates quoted are for shipments to the US only. Ebay Global shipping charges are shown. These items are shipped to Kentucky and then ebay ships them to you. Ebay collects the shipping and customs / import fees. For direct postage rates to these countries, send me an email. Shipping to Canada and other countries varies by weight.
Payment options
Payment must be received within 10 days. Paypal is accepted.
Terms and conditions
All sales are final. Returns accepted if item is not as described. Contact us first. No warranty is stated or implied. Please e-mail us with any questions before bidding.
Thanks for looking at our items.
| 
