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Rails in Richmond By Carlton Norris McKenney 1986 Hard Cover
Rails in Richmond By Carlton Norris McKenney 1986 Hard Cover
The History and Technology of the Street Railways of Richmond, Petersburg, and Hopewell, Virginia.
Hard Cover
Copyright 1986
Indexed
Several Fold-Out Maps
191 Pages
THE HISTORY of the street railways in central Virginia is scattered far and wide-from New England to Texas, from court record to attic. Bringing the items together under one cover has been a labor of love for 35 years.
The author quickly learned to depend on newspaper records which described events of the previous day. And he learned from experience not to depend heavily on news stories of events which would take place the next day (or the next week). Announcements of coming events were usually made at press briefings by highly optimistic railway officials.
Reading old newspapers or trade journals on microfilm has always meant sitting for hours under a hood or inside a darkened enclosure. Imagine the delight of this author to hear from two expert film readers, J. Randolph Kean and Francis B. Tosh. Over a period of years, these gentlemen have been searching microfilm records of back newspapers and periodicals for articles on street railways. Not just headlined articles, but obscure paragraphs buried in other stories-all were recorded by publication and date and catalogued by one-line descriptions or even direct quotations. Both Kean and Tosh photocopied their notes for use in this book.
It is fortunate, too, that the electric streetcar was such a novel and mysterious machine that newsmen followed its every move, reporting each small success and failure in the press. From the first spadeful of earth turned for the Richmond Union Passenger Railway Co. to the full operation of the system a couple of years later, scarcely a day passed without a newspaper story. Frank Sprague, who designed and installed the early fleet of cars, was an engineer who documented and reported all his projects. His papers-presented to the engineering societies-are valuable historical sources.
Contents
Preface 7
Introduction 11
Glossary 12
"The Good 01' Days" 13
1. Richmond Horse Power 15
2. Richmond "The Electric Cars Are Coming"19
3. Richmond Everybody Wants to Build a Line25
4. Richmond
Virginia Railway & Power Company 33
5. Richmond Virginia Electric & Power Company 41
6. Richmond Virginia Transit Company 53
7. Petersburg 59
8. Hopewell .69
9. Richmond-Petersburg Interurban . 79
10. Ashland 93
11. Seven Pines and the Railroad to Urbanna 107
12. Reservoir/West End/Idlewood/
Byrd Park 113
13. Westhampton Park 117
14. Forest Hill Park 123
15. Lakeside Park 129
16. Fairs and Expositions133
17. Electric Power141
18. Tracks147
19. Carbarns and Shops 153
20. Signals 161
21. Problems163
22. Crunch!165
23. The Elevator173
24. The Trollibus 175
25. The Conduit Railway 177
Roster 182
Bibliography 185
Index 186
Maps 191
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