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North American Street Railways at Mid-Century a color survey by Allan H Berner
North American Street Railways at Mid-Century a color survey by Allan H Berner Reflection from lights in these photos NOTICE the back cover is missing a small piece
Spiral Bound
78 pages
Copyright ??
CONTENTS
NORTHEAST
Metropolitan Transit Authority PCC
Old type 5 cars
Center-entrance car
MTA scene
MTA Service Car
Boston elevated train
Lincoln Bleacherys trolley line
Springfield Terminal equipment
The rural No 5 line of Yonkers RR
Rochester Transit Subway
NY City Transit trolleys
Brooklyns unique Clark streamliner No 1000
NY Citys Queensboro Bridge Railway
Third Ave elevated with modernized wooden cars
Ex-open platform cars on elevated Fulton St
BMT convertible back-dated for a 1950s charter: Brooklyn Rapid Transit lettering
little Staten Island Rapid Transit
Old Hudson & Manhattan RR cars that were scrapped
New Jerseys No 21 Newark trolley
Atlantic City Brilliners
Girard, Philadelphia Rail System
Peter Witt one of PTCs neat cars
PTC
Philadelphia Suburbans high-speed Brill
Suburbans Brilliners
Philadelphia & Western Brill Bullets
Reading Street Railways Shillington Car
Lehigh Valley Transit
Blue Rail Sedans:
Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley interurbans
Altoona & Logan Valley
Johnstown Tractions Oakhurst line
Pittsburgh Railways Carnegie line
East & West line interurbans
West Penn Railways interurbans
Shaker Heights Rapid Transit
Clevelands PCC cars
Toledo & Eastern
Cincinnati modern trolley sold
Woodward trolley
Broad Ripple loop
The Chicago, South Shore & South Bend interurban loading
Early Chicago trolley restored
Chicago Mail car trolley
Chicago Transit Car No 3153
Chicagos State & Madison with old and new equipment
CTA No 4021
Chicago modern rail transit
Wooden el cars
CTA using old equipment to test clearances for new cars being ordered
Chicago Aurora & Elgin interurban
Roarin Elgin steel car
CA&E served Oklahoma Ry, Union Electric, Cedar Rapids & Iowa City and CA&E
Illinois Terminal, used to be Illinois Traction
Illinois Terminals Alton line suburban car
One of ITs workhorses
IT new interurbans
The fabled Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee interurban
High-speed North Shore Electroliners
Wisconsin Electric Power NO 523
Milwaukee streetcars
Speedrail
St Paul PCC streamliner
Wooden car at the Lake Harriet station
The St Louis Waterworks Railway
Wellston terminal
Kansas City Public Service running older trolleys
Des Moines & Central Iowa interurban
Cedar Rapids and Iowa City trailer coupled with and ex-Lake Shore car
High-speed Cincinnati & Lake Erie boomer
Waterloo, Cedar Falls & Northern No 102
WCF&Ns roundhouse, turntable and city car NO 382
Fancy platform on interurban Cedar Rapids Depot
Charles City Western, small Iowa interurban
Charles Citys No 53
Car No 52 to Charles City from Twin Cities
Fort Dodge, Des Moines & Southern interurban-massive car
SOUTH
Some Baltimore carlines had old double-enders
Marylands Hagerstown & Frederick interurban system
Capital Transits modern rail system
Patriotic trolley
Washingtons lines switches to overhead wire leaving the city
Capital Transit streamliners
No 407 Atlantas trolley-retired on a track in Seoul
New Orleans Desire converted to bus
Cana Streets four trolley track reduced to two
New Orleans Sewer & Water Board freight trolley
No 315 Waco car Texas Electric
Modern double-end PCC cars
Former San Diego car in El Pasos international loop
Last trolleys to run in LA
PEs parlor car No 1299
PEs San Fernando Valley car, loads passengers
No 271 marks closure of the Key Systems East Bay street railway
Key Systems bridge trains
Key F
Sacramento Northerns No 1005
San Francisco Municipal Railway iron monster
New double-ender on Market Street
San Francisco Municipal Railways Geneva barns
P.E.P./Portland Traction using old wooden interurbans
Portland-Oregon City interurban
Oregon City car-Brill master unit
Yakima Valley track work in progress
Skagit River Railway at Diablo, Washington
New Brunswick Power - Birney like trolleys
Quebec Ry Light & Power carlines after WW2 Car No 401
QRL&P steel No 453with wood trailer No 113
Montreal No 2072
PCC Streamliner without headlights
A rolling billboard-Montreal Birney
Wooden interurban in a classic scene
Richelieu, Quebec, with a Montreal & SC freight
Former Windsor, Essex & Lake Shore
M&SC Brill boomer
Double-truck Birney
Ottawas No 1003
Toronto No 2742 Peter Witt
Niagara, St Catherines & Toronto interurban No 83
Hamilton Street Railway steel car
Lake Erie & Northern wooden interurbans
Grand River Railway No 622
London & Port Stanley operating steel interurbans
No 3 Line City car of the giant British Columbia Electric Railway
Sightseeing Streetcars
Box motor No 1706
Mexico Citys Zocalo, the Cathedral, and streetcar terminus
Mexico City Interurban
Vera Cruz Co-op Tramways No 6
Vera Cruz Postal Telegraph Building
Vera Cruz Birney cars
Tampicos Miramar terminal
FOREWORD:
In the years called Mid-Century the North American street railway systems were in a sorry state indeed. The automobile and the bus were commonly seen as "the way to go". Urban traffic congestion was worsening - often foolishly blamed on the electric streetcars - and inter-city highways were being improved and expanded. Oil - rubber - bus interests were busy buying up rail transit systems in the United States only to destroy them, substitute buses, then pull out and disappear.
City and interurban electric railways that provided comfortable, convenient, dependable service - often heavily utilized - were scrapped. Reserved and private rights-of-way holding great potential for modern upgrading were abandoned and often paved over for auto traffic or sold for development.
Rail systems, built early in the century with private funding, were totally obliterated. But a mere 30 years later, a number of these electric rail lines were being rebuilt with public funding, often precisely on the sane streets and rights-of-way where electric cars had formerly run! And plans for the reinstallation of electric railways were moving ahead in dozens of metropolitan areas. The stupidity of the destruction of so many popular and efficient (nonpolluting) electric railways was becoming painfully clear! But tragically, taxpayer money was now required to rebuild what private funding had previously put there!
Despite the great expense of reinstalling the electric street railway systems, it is now generally agreed that more and more autos, highways, parking lots and buses are unacceptable. Traffic congestion and resulting pollution are intolerable.
And so the trolley car returns - in modern, up-to-date form!
But keeping transit developments since Mid-Century in mind, let us look back at what was the North American transit scene in those "Post-War" years - the late 1940's and early 1950's. Urban street railways were shrinking and disappearing in droves. Some new streamlined "PCC" trolleys were in service in the U.S. and Canada - very popular with the riders. But sadly most streetcar systems were on their last legs - or wheels. Trolleys were Just patched up to last until the new buses arrived. And the electric interurban railways were dying even faster -a process begun in the 1920's as inter-city highways were paved and expanded.
Here then is a pictorial review of the street railway scene in Canada, the United States and Mexico at Mid-Century. We've included as many railway systems as possible, grouped by region. A brief look back at a bygone era . . . in color for your enjoyment. All photographs from the Berner/Maguire Collection.
Allan H. Berner
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