Baltimore Streetcars Nineteen Hundred Five to Nineteen Sixty-Three
Author : Bernard J. Sachs
Publisher :
Page : pages
File Size : 34,2 MB
Release : 1982-09-01
Category :
ISBN : 9780960963805
Author : Bernard J. Sachs
Publisher :
Page : pages
File Size : 34,2 MB
Release : 1982-09-01
Category :
ISBN : 9780960963805
Author :
Publisher :
Page : 1614 pages
File Size : 42,22 MB
Release : 1992
Category : Paperbacks
ISBN :
Author : Herbert H. Harwood
Publisher : JHU Press
Page : 196 pages
File Size : 31,75 MB
Release : 2003-09-26
Category : History
ISBN : 9780801871900
Herbert H. Harwood here gives us a glorious picture of Baltimore in the heyday of the streetcar, combining the story of lines and equipment with a nostalgic view of Baltimore when so many of her people relied on street railways. From the late 1800s through World War II, streetcars transported Baltimore's population to and from work, play, and just about everything else. Bankers and clerks, factory workers and managers, domestics, schoolchildren, shoppers, all rode side-by-side on the streetcars regardless of economic status, level of education, or ethnic background. In a city where residences and schools were segregated, streetcar passengers sat wherever they could. In addition to being a truly democratic institution, streetcars considerably influenced Baltimore's physical growth, enabling families to live farther than ever before from workplaces and thus encouraging early suburbs. Despite rising competition from the private automobile, streetcars remained the mainstay of Baltimore's public transportation system until after World War II, when gas rationing ended and family cars multiplied. Environmentally friendly and for the most part comfortable and reliable, streetcars also had their peculiar charm. Today some people in Baltimore miss them.
Author :
Publisher :
Page : 2132 pages
File Size : 30,91 MB
Release : 1994
Category : American literature
ISBN :
Author : Gary Helton
Publisher : Arcadia Publishing
Page : 132 pages
File Size : 48,83 MB
Release : 2008
Category : History
ISBN : 9780738553696
In the 1850s, Baltimore's 170,000 residents had few options when it came to getting around town. Before the decade's end, however, the omnibus--an urban version of the stagecoach--emerged as Baltimore's first mass-transit vehicle. Horsecars followed, then cable cars, and ultimately electrically powered streetcars. Recognizing the need for cohesion, the city's myriad transit providers merged into a single operator. United Railways and Electric Company, incorporated in 1899, faced the unenviable task of integrating routes being served by inadequate, incompatible, and often obsolete equipment. Over the next seven decades, privately run mass transit in Baltimore survived bankruptcy, a name change, two world wars, the proliferation of private automobiles, a takeover by out-of-town interests, and a plethora of new vehicles. Arguably a unified system of privately operated mass transit was no closer to being a reality in 1970, when it reached the end of the line and was taken over by the state.
Author :
Publisher :
Page : 2200 pages
File Size : 39,65 MB
Release : 1985
Category : American literature
ISBN :
Author : Gary Helton
Publisher : Arcadia Library Editions
Page : 130 pages
File Size : 50,12 MB
Release : 2008-04
Category : History
ISBN : 9781531633813
In the 1850s, Baltimore's 170,000 residents had few options when it came to getting around town. Before the decade's end, however, the omnibus--an urban version of the stagecoach--emerged as Baltimore's first mass-transit vehicle. Horsecars followed, then cable cars, and ultimately electrically powered streetcars. Recognizing the need for cohesion, the city's myriad transit providers merged into a single operator. United Railways and Electric Company, incorporated in 1899, faced the unenviable task of integrating routes being served by inadequate, incompatible, and often obsolete equipment. Over the next seven decades, privately run mass transit in Baltimore survived bankruptcy, a name change, two world wars, the proliferation of private automobiles, a takeover by out-of-town interests, and a plethora of new vehicles. Arguably a unified system of privately operated mass transit was no closer to being a reality in 1970, when it reached the end of the line and was taken over by the state.
Author : Reed Reference Publishing
Publisher :
Page : 1542 pages
File Size : 10,85 MB
Release : 1995-12
Category : Reference
ISBN : 9780835236300
Author :
Publisher :
Page : 1216 pages
File Size : 32,51 MB
Release : 1989
Category : Engineering
ISBN :
Author : Kenneth C. Springirth
Publisher : America Through Time
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 47,43 MB
Release : 2017-12-11
Category : History
ISBN : 9781634990349
Baltimore was the first United States city to begin regularly scheduled electric railway service in 1885. However, because of technical problems the line had to go back to horse car operation. After Frank J. Sprague developed an electric streetcar powered by an overhead wire for Richmond, Virginia; Baltimore adopted the new system and in 1893 opened the first electric line in the United States to operate on an elevated structure. By 1899, Baltimore streetcar lines, with their unique 5 foot 4.5 inch track gauge, were unified by the United Railways and Electric Company which purchased 885 semi-convertible cars with windows that could be raised up for summer operation and lowered for winter operation. Baltimore Transit Company was the third United States system to introduce modern Presidents' Conference Committee (PCC) cars and at its peak operated the eighth largest fleet of these cars. A combination of factors including a ridership decline and making many downtown streets one way contributed to conversion to an all bus system. Baltimore Streetcar Memories is a photographic essay of history of the Baltimore, Maryland streetcar system up to its closure in 1963 and the return of a modern streetcar/light rail system 29 years later in 1992.