|
St. Louis Streetcar, The Story by Andrew D. Young Interurbans Special 108 w/ DJ
St. Louis Streetcar, The Story by Andrew D. Young Interurbans Special 108
Hard Cover with Dust Jacket
Copyright 1988
By Andrew D. Young
230 pages
FOR TWO CENTURIES St. Louis has been the crossroads of America, meeting point for Mississippi River steamboats and railroads, highways and airways. As the city grew, it demanded the latest in local transportation, and it usually got it at a price.
How it got it, and who got richer (or poorer) in the process, is the subject of this comprehensive study of St. Louis public transport from the very earliest days to the end of streetcar service in 1966. Before this book could appear, author Andrew D. Young undertook a massive research job, his task abetted by the constant close attention paid to the manipulations of trolley tycoons by the muckraking ST. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Yes, the St. Louis Streetcar Story is often the story of people-politicians, patricians, and paupers who depended upon the cars for the earning of their daily bread. It's also a capsule study of the uses and misuses of municipal resources-franchise finagling, of bagmen, boodle and bribery, and of honest attempts by transit professionals to provide a superior service with inferior financial backing.
But this story of an enormously complex big-city streetcar system also covers the nuts and bolts: the cars, the power stations, shops, carbarns, routes, services, early and later technological developments. And Author Young leads us deftly through the maze of the early proliferation of operating companies, rapid expansion, then consolidation and merger, the ups and clowns and final tailspin leading to public ownership.
Technologically, St. Louis had it all at one time or another: horse buses, horsecars, cable cars, electric streetcars, a special intramural railway at the great St. Louis World's Fair, early buses (including double-deckers), modern PCC cars and big diesel buses. You'll see it all in the fine selection of photographs spanning the years, and there are good maps to show the city's transit development at critical times.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. A Most Reliable Bus 9
2. A Lesson in Tracklaying 12
3. Terrible Times for Transit20
4. Life on the Cars I22
5. The Rails Reach Out26
6. Perils of a Passenger30
7. Coining of the Cable37
8. The Electric Age43
9. Call for Mr. Fixit49
10. Franchise Finagling 54
11. Jockeying for Position56
12. Life on the Cars lI 59
13. Bagmen, Boodle and Bribery 72
14. Managing the Merger76
15. Cheating the Ultimate Suckers80
16. Life on the Cars 111 82
17. New Days and Old Attitudes 86
18. Into the Seething Cauldron89
19. Last Hurrah for the Boodle Gang94
20. Scandal on the Suburban 104
21 . Meet Me at the Fair 112
22. The Intramural Trolley 119
23. Enter Jolm I. Beggs123
24. Swallowing the Suburban 126
25. Big Crowds, Bigger Deficits133
26. Slide into Insolvency 146
27. Paving the Way for the Bus 150
28. Reorganization and Retrenchment 158
29. Another Failure, Another Rebirth 166
30. Back to the Black172
31. The Downward Spiral 182
32. Going Public 193
Appendix204
Index 226
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.
| 
