What's Left of Baltimore's Forgotten Streetcar Network?

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ต.ค. 2024

ความคิดเห็น • 130

  • @ITSHISTORY
    @ITSHISTORY  ปีที่แล้ว +7

    Check out Evan's channel www.youtube.com/@SalvageArc

    • @1969barnabas
      @1969barnabas ปีที่แล้ว

      You really need to research the influence of Standard Oil and Firestone Tire and Rubber Company in regard to the demise of public transportation. It was a conspiracy. They bought up the street car companies and shuttered them in favor of buses and cars. It was a great way to sell more tires, fuel and lubricants.

  • @WayneTheBoatGuy
    @WayneTheBoatGuy ปีที่แล้ว +7

    I had often heard that General Motors bought up many of the street car companies to shut them down and sell more buses. The points you made about expanding city boundaries and accessibility make sense too!

    • @johnm8342
      @johnm8342 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@WayneTheBoatGuy heard the same… General Motors made buses very affordable (knowing they could sell parts, tires, etc. to make up for the cost.). BTW, Thames street was B&O rail lines. Freight was transported there by ferry. Not sure if those lines ever were for street cars. Also, the museum runs on former MA&PA RR.

    • @rayalvarez7247
      @rayalvarez7247 22 วันที่ผ่านมา

      @@WayneTheBoatGuy The car industry ended that. "Americans should own cars." Cha-ching.

  • @furripupau
    @furripupau ปีที่แล้ว +38

    Richmond Virginia generally gets the "1st" award because its engineer, Frank J. Sprague solved several problems that plagued earlier systems, and his particular system of operation became adopted not only around the U.S. but around the world. There were several cities that had earlier electric streetcars, but all of these suffered from operational issues and in many cases, these were replaced by Sprague's system as soon as it became available. Sprague was able to operate multiple cars on the same track at different speeds, or in different directions, was able to couple several powered cars together and operate them as a single unit, etc. Denver is another U.S. city that had a pre-Sprague system operating c.1885, which like the rest ended up replaced by a Sprague-type system a few years later.

    • @JoeMagillacutty
      @JoeMagillacutty ปีที่แล้ว +1

      He said an expert!

    • @dolsiemercado3140
      @dolsiemercado3140 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Thank you for the additional information.

    • @ms.donaldson2533
      @ms.donaldson2533 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Baltimore gets the "1st" award for many many things. This is just one example of that.

  • @minuteman4199
    @minuteman4199 ปีที่แล้ว +38

    What's left of Baltimore would be an interesting topic.

    • @kman-mi7su
      @kman-mi7su ปีที่แล้ว +5

      A shythole frankly is what is left. I had the displeasure of living there for work for about 3 years right off of Greenmount avenue. Thank God I'm gone from that place. See Ryan's video on Camden NJ and pay attention to the part where it shows the current Camden. Baltimore is the same thing. I know Camden as well, I lived 20 minutes outside of it for 20-plus years.

    • @curlycanna2440
      @curlycanna2440 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      @@kman-mi7su glad you’re gone

    • @kman-mi7su
      @kman-mi7su ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@curlycanna2440 I'm glad I'm out of that shythole of a city too. Sad a once industrial powerhouse has morphed into that.

    • @TheDonSapius
      @TheDonSapius ปีที่แล้ว

      Lucky, I've been here 27 years and I'm so tired.

    • @beagler4234
      @beagler4234 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

      The crooked politicians have done a fantastic job of destroying the city. So sad.

  • @HXXIIA
    @HXXIIA ปีที่แล้ว +21

    Been trying to get a decent form of public transportation here in Baltimore ever since 😔

    • @ablewindsor1459
      @ablewindsor1459 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Baltimore the Perfect Progressive City.

    • @beagler4234
      @beagler4234 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@ablewindsor1459 progressive nightmare

  • @alexius23
    @alexius23 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    Another reason for the end of Electic Streetcars/Light Rail/Trollies…. During the Great Depression capital reinvestment declined. During WW2 the was a huge need to move workers as War Industry approached 24/7 levels. However, there was rationing for new tires & gasoline. To get about rail systems were matching urban need. There tended to be a big expansion in the number of needed transit vehicles.
    Following WW2, the desire to buy private cars & the rise of the suburbs hurt electric mass transit. It was also clear there would have to be a massive investment in the older systems. It was much easier to purchase diesel buses instead. So many of the older system just disappeared.

  • @kandipiatkowski8589
    @kandipiatkowski8589 ปีที่แล้ว +14

    New Orleans still has electric streetcars running along tracks similar to the ones you mentioned in this video. They also run busses, which are accessible by the same fare system. My hometown of Wichita, KS, is sorely lacking in that department. We have a bus system, but it doesn't run 24hrs a day like other cities i have visited. I belong to our local historic preservation society, and we have a couple of electric streetcars in storage, waiting to be restored.

  • @plunkervillerr1529
    @plunkervillerr1529 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    1958 `s TV show Rescue 8 Filmed an episode in a streetcar junk yard. Thirty cars pailed three high.

  • @roberthuron9160
    @roberthuron9160 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    The car numbers in Baltimore,were part of a rather unique system! The first number was the Route,and the other number was the car assignment,i.e.,1010,Route 10,number 10,and that would be a closed car! A car with 50,or above would be an open! See the Baltimore Streetcar Museum books on the rosters,as the are complicated,as new equipment came,cars were changed and sent onto other routes! The whole system was changed after WW1,to what is now known! The Howard Street line(today's light rail)cars carry 5000 series numbers in honor of the Brill Standard Baltimore cars! Philadelphia had Brill cars of a very similar type,which were Standard,before the Mitten Management came in,and went to the Nearsides,but that's a another story!! Thank you,for a capsulated history,as it difficult to squeeze in 150 years into 10 minutes! Thank you! 😇!

  • @BSPIVEY100
    @BSPIVEY100 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    I remember as a kid in the early 60's going to work with my dad sometimes. He worked in East Baltimore near Central Avenue and not far from Fells Point. I don't remember the streetcars, but I do remember a large track mobile moving freight cars to the old warehouses along Boston and Aliceianna Street even up into the 70's. I guess they used the old streetcar rails. Early street running trains.

  • @shortliner68
    @shortliner68 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    At several intersections and other locations around the city you can still see the original overhead trolley wire poles. The remaining poles had served a dual purpose when the streetcars were still running as traffic light, road signage, or guy wire supports. After the streetcar service ended they continued to serve their other function down to today. You can distinguish them by their round ball or pointed bulb top cap. They are embedded in the concrete walkways instead of being bolted down as newer traffic poles are. I lived on the #15 streetcar line as a young child and remember riding them on shopping trips downtown.

  • @davidbeers5949
    @davidbeers5949 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    There is the seashore trolley museum in Biddeford Maine very interesting to go to.
    They have active track they run on out in the country where they're located along with buildings with maintenance, and other vehicles from around the country and the world.

  • @edwardfine1922
    @edwardfine1922 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Great video. I wanted to provide a brief correction to your video. The tracks that run through Thames Street in Fells point actually belonged to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. While Baltimore used a wide gauge for their streetcar system (among the widest in the United States), the tracks in Fells point are standard railroad gauge.
    Fells point (especially that area of Thames Street) has served as a major port and major industrial center for Baltimore's canning industry. Railroad frequently ran trains through the neighborhood in order to service the many factories and Maritime companies based in the area.

  • @FatManWalking18
    @FatManWalking18 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    we lived near the old street car barn for the Number 8 route in Irvington. there was a bar called "the loop" where the turn around loop was for the cars not going all the way to Catonsville. the old tracks are still buried in the asphalt as well

    • @shortliner68
      @shortliner68 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      The Loop was in the basement of a corner house at South Woodington Road and Frederick Avenue. The streetcar loop was across Woodington on the opposite corner, which was about two blocks west of the Irvington Carhouse. I saw all the streetcars being pulled out to be scrapped during the Summer of 1964. A sad sight for me...

    • @johnm8342
      @johnm8342 หลายเดือนก่อน

      I remember seeing the tracks throughout that area, including Spring Grove… seen even on the bridge over 695 until they replaced the bridge several years ago.

  • @peterflynn2111
    @peterflynn2111 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Here in Victoria Australia we call them TRAMS OR TRAMWAYS steretcar not a term used here

    • @NoSpam1891
      @NoSpam1891 ปีที่แล้ว

      Going like a Bondi tram is a phrase stuck in my head.

  • @darkwood777
    @darkwood777 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin all mentioned using the omnibus to travel from the coast to Paris in the late 1700s.

  • @jabrow7135
    @jabrow7135 ปีที่แล้ว +9

    Minnesota still has a few streetcars in operation that give a history lesson while taking you around like the one by lake Harriet from its historic station. They also have several historical train depot you can take a ride from on a steam engine, most notably in Duluth.
    Also just wanted to say I love It’s History, it reminds me of the PBS series The Lost Twincitties.

  • @chestertownelectric6290
    @chestertownelectric6290 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I believe the Fells Point tracks were used at night to move freight via small 0-4-0 saddle tanker steam engines, and were not streetcar tracks.

  • @kyleismylove23
    @kyleismylove23 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Also a factor was a change over to a lot of main streets in Baltimore becoming one-way in the 1950’s.A man named Henry Barnes was the idea man behind that

    • @shortliner68
      @shortliner68 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Plus, Baltimore was in the process of becoming a modern city starting off with the creation of Charles Center. City officials like Barnes didn't want relics of the past (streetcars) running right smack through the middle of the Center and ruining the image of a modern metro area.

  • @StLouis-yu9iz
    @StLouis-yu9iz ปีที่แล้ว +2

    This video was amazing, thanks for sharing. :] I would love to see a trolley video like this for StL! ❤

    • @StLouis-yu9iz
      @StLouis-yu9iz ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Also thanks for shouting out the Brownell Car Company if the Lou! 🫶🏻

  • @robertmoore2049
    @robertmoore2049 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    I like the how there are still rails seen on the streets and there are a few of them still surviving today. I think I heard the Christmas Carol, “Come Let Us Adore Him” playing quietly in the background…

    • @fredblonder7850
      @fredblonder7850 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Many of the rails you still find in Baltimore streets are not streetcar rails, but railway rails. This is particularly true near the Inner Harbor and Wicomico Street. Yes, there really were freight trains operating intermixed with cars. I vividly recall riding in the back seat of a car in the 1960s. While we were stopped at a traffic light, a diesel locomotive in the same lane stopped directly behind us.
      You can easily identify streetcar rails in Baltimore, as they are spaced 5-feet 4.5-inches apart instead of standard railroad gauge of 4' 8.5".

    • @clittle1559
      @clittle1559 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      alot of it will stay with balt city's historic biulding laws some, the brick streets and houses /bars in fellspoint..

  • @BarefootBillPacer
    @BarefootBillPacer ปีที่แล้ว +4

    I grew up in Baltimore and often rode the #8 street car that traveled along York Road and Greenmount Avenue. I also remember the trackless trolleys --- buses that had overhead wires for power.

    • @thurstonpowell8687
      @thurstonpowell8687 17 วันที่ผ่านมา

      nice smell those overhead wires emitted.

  • @jakealden2517
    @jakealden2517 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    I really love Baltimore's current light rail system. Very safe, convenient, and smooth. And, while not a streetcar per se, it is a nice reminder of the past.

    • @getta4483
      @getta4483 8 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      I agree!

    • @johnm8342
      @johnm8342 หลายเดือนก่อน

      I like that they reused former railway right-aways.

  • @dah61789dah
    @dah61789dah ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I remember riding the street car out of Overlea in Baltimore on it's last day of operation.

  • @intercityrailpal
    @intercityrailpal ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Listen private companies could not pay , plow and maintain track and there was NO government investment in rail. The endless billions of GM and Oil companies in roads and buses on every level killed the ridership of streetcars. What happened is a ugly dirty story. The final was GM buying the systems and tearing them out.

  • @MaskedVengeanceTV
    @MaskedVengeanceTV ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Last time I was this early, I could still hop on a street car from the stop by my house to down town.

  • @gooddoggy3257
    @gooddoggy3257 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Getting rid of the streetcars was terrible. The light rail is a mere shadow. We used to ride the streetcar from Overlea all the way downtown. As mentioned in the video, service all the way to Catonsville was provided as well. All the progressive green proposals going around today are just bids for federal bucks and they will never match the service we had in Baltimore with the streetcars.

  • @mullman
    @mullman ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Great video. Wish we could bring back the old glory of Baltimore! It feels like most US cities are declining on multiple levels which shouldn’t be happening. But we are supporting Ukraine.

  • @louisliu5638
    @louisliu5638 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    In Winnepeg street cars were repurposed......to raise chickens. Lots of windows to allow in the light and keep those lil raptors laying.

  • @blackpanda7298
    @blackpanda7298 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I know you see uS Canadians, can you do a video on us 😢 I’m so happy we kept our original streetcar routes in Toronto

  • @mustloveadventure1718
    @mustloveadventure1718 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Hampden, not Hampton

  • @brachadan6648
    @brachadan6648 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    How did they made it, that the electric current on the 3rd rail on the ground was safe for pedestrians? We have electric cables hanging above the streets all around in Europe and the streetcars take the electricity from there. Ground electrivity rail is used only in Metro/Subway/Tube, but if somebody falls there by accident and touches the electric rail, gets killed by electric stream! So how was that done back then, that it was safe? You have any scheme or picture, that would descibe that?

  • @saintakins187
    @saintakins187 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Native to Baltimore Maryland.👋🏾

  • @francissobotka8725
    @francissobotka8725 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    There is a bike trail that runs on the old trolley number 9 route

  • @abnerruiz4011
    @abnerruiz4011 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Thanks for showing the decline of US transportation.

  • @karentrimmer
    @karentrimmer ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Reminds me of The Kingston Trio's song MTA, one of my favorite songs from childhood. "He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston, he's the man who never returned."

  • @Stop4MotionMakr
    @Stop4MotionMakr ปีที่แล้ว +1

    As a train/tram fan, I'm so happy to be from Hong Kong and lived a few years in San Francisco, arguably the last two cities in the world that managed to keep their street level rail transport around not just as a tourist attraction but actually a functional piece of the city's infrastructure.

  • @raypavey1102
    @raypavey1102 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I’m from Baltimore and I never knew they had streetcars

    • @matthewmizrachi1877
      @matthewmizrachi1877 ปีที่แล้ว

      I remember seeing some near the science center at the inner harbor I would go there when I was younger, I remember there used to be tracks there, and now they’re gone

    • @shortliner68
      @shortliner68 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@matthewmizrachi1877 That was the B&O Railroad's spur to the old McCormick Spice plant on Light Street. It ran all the way down Key Highway to Light St. serving industries along the way. Was a busy track at one time.

    • @matthewmizrachi1877
      @matthewmizrachi1877 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@shortliner68 interesting, I never knew that, that’s really cool

  • @dericn
    @dericn ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Any particular reason for choosing the Christmas carol "O Come, All Ye Faithful" as the background music?

  • @eppesboy
    @eppesboy ปีที่แล้ว +1

    My aunts were around when Baltimore still used them one of my aunt friend was killed and decapitated on Harford Road by a trolley car

    • @justinbyrd7996
      @justinbyrd7996 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      My great-grandfather was killed by a streetcar on Belair Road in 1930.

  • @Rebelnightwolfe
    @Rebelnightwolfe ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Baltimore is STARVED for reliable transit. The great 2005 route cuts, which discontinued routes and split some, 2017 with the introduction of BaltimoreLink has only made the service worse. I used to take the bus from Old Court Metro all the way down to Patapsco via one bus. As well as a single bus line going fro Reisterstown Metro station to Cherry Hill. Now the routes have been split meaning it takes much longer to get to the destinations I used to take. Along with the cut to the Red Line and the absolute mess that the Hogan administration did with the Purple Line. I opted not take public transit in this city unless I absolutely need to or it's a nice day during rush hour travel.
    I have given MDOT/MTA as well as countless other suggestions on how to make service better with all the servers and studies they do. MTA would do almost non of the implementations suggested or take into consideration for at least a pilot program.
    Street car lines being introduced would make a significant impact on ridership in the city and take care of the road. Especially for East-West travel which is the worst commute you can take in the city; which the Red Line would have taken had it been not cut. It would have had an opening date in the year 2022-2025. Now MTA is doing no-build studies for BRTs and right-of-way dedicated bus lanes which don't help much when cars park in the lanes or at bus stops.
    Here's hoping that Governor Wes Moore will make the changes we need as he's made improving transit one of his priorities.

  • @wayneg296
    @wayneg296 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    👍👍😎✌️🤟Until car manufacturers bought them up and retired them so you would have to buy their cars instead.

    • @NoSpam1891
      @NoSpam1891 ปีที่แล้ว

      Buses. GM and others conspired to destroy street cars all.ovrr the US and sell them buses instead. They were fined $1,000 for this crime.

  • @freetolook3727
    @freetolook3727 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    In Amsterdam, NY, you could go to Schenectady, and Albany as well as local towns of Johnstown, Gloversville, Fonda, and Mayfield.
    You can still see where the trolley tracks ran just underneath the asphalt on many local streets.

  • @h.Freeman
    @h.Freeman ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Charles street is the east/west dividing line and Baltimore st the north/south

    • @chuckschafer942
      @chuckschafer942 ปีที่แล้ว

      OTHER WAY CHARLES IS N/S BALTIMORE IS E/W NAMED "SUN SQUARE"

    • @h.Freeman
      @h.Freeman ปีที่แล้ว

      @@chuckschafer942 pull up your map east of Charles is the east side of the city. Go to Baltimore and Charles and you'll see what I mean

    • @chuckschafer942
      @chuckschafer942 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@h.Freeman CHARLES ST RUNS NORTH SOUTH BALTIMORE RUNS EAST WEST

    • @h.Freeman
      @h.Freeman ปีที่แล้ว

      @@chuckschafer942 and Charles separates the east from the west. I can see Baltimore's educational system is still lacking. I had to leave to get a good education. So I understand your plight. Hopefully you'll get some hooked on phonics lessons at some point.

  • @ms.donaldson2533
    @ms.donaldson2533 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I love when people from outside of Baltimore do reports on it. ❤

  • @DylanMcMullen
    @DylanMcMullen ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Love that we still have our streetcars here in new orleans

  • @BretWFL
    @BretWFL ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Your content is always excellent. Great work. I appreciate your effort Sir. Thank you.

  • @CasiodorusRex
    @CasiodorusRex ปีที่แล้ว +1

    It's Hampden, not Hampton.

  • @chrispieper61
    @chrispieper61 หลายเดือนก่อน

    You didn't mention that General Motors and FIrestone bought up the street car lines and closed them down. GM and Firestone then sold buses to the city of Baltimore.

  • @WOKEchair
    @WOKEchair ปีที่แล้ว

    I wonder if he's done a video on route 66 yet (a little unoriginal, I know)

  • @1wwtom
    @1wwtom ปีที่แล้ว

    I have faint memories of riding the streetcars as a child with my Grandmother on Belair Road in the late 50's and later when they were changed to the bus like electric trolly cars before they changed over to the real busses like we have now.

  • @jayborn3468
    @jayborn3468 ปีที่แล้ว

    They got put in the vacant buildings throughout Baltimore

  • @sinfoniasam
    @sinfoniasam ปีที่แล้ว

    We have a few of Baltimore’s historic streetcars in active service in San Francisco.

  • @jigold22571
    @jigold22571 ปีที่แล้ว

    As a reoccurring Planning issue..the street cars are a traffic solution..

  • @raulceliz140
    @raulceliz140 ปีที่แล้ว

    Joseph ryan celiz merrege to julie ann jison in pinas one child in canada now

  • @blahmooblah789
    @blahmooblah789 ปีที่แล้ว

    Great video, the O Come All Ye Faithful music in the background was actually really nice!
    Please do more streetcar history’s!!
    Great work!

  • @freetolook3727
    @freetolook3727 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Thank you GM for getting rid of these antiquated systems of transportation and providing us with clean, reliable, modern and enhancive bus service.
    😂😋😅😄😆😝😂😛😖

    • @DNRY122
      @DNRY122 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I presume the "sarcasm light" is lit.

    • @chuckschafer942
      @chuckschafer942 ปีที่แล้ว

      DONT FORGET "HENRY BARNES"

  • @timcoffey5927
    @timcoffey5927 ปีที่แล้ว

    The museum is fantastic though its in a well dodgy area

  • @freetolook3727
    @freetolook3727 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thumbnail reminds me of the Japanese washing machine building!
    😂

  • @Joeyardmaster40155
    @Joeyardmaster40155 ปีที่แล้ว

    This is Awesome, >Joe Baltimore MD.

  • @thurstonpowell8687
    @thurstonpowell8687 17 วันที่ผ่านมา

    I miss the smell of electric streetcars.

  • @freetolook3727
    @freetolook3727 ปีที่แล้ว

    @11:40 Car 554, where are you?

  • @JJacobs803
    @JJacobs803 ปีที่แล้ว

    My hometown Columbia SC claims it was the first all electric trolly system not sure how accurate that is

  • @madera7272
    @madera7272 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Hampden
    Say Ham Den. Not Hampton

  • @J.A.Smith2397
    @J.A.Smith2397 ปีที่แล้ว

    Which channel does better, it's history or weird history???

  • @5455jm
    @5455jm ปีที่แล้ว

    Wicked haircut dude, great presentation as well, as always

  • @innateseed
    @innateseed ปีที่แล้ว

    Baltimore is soooooo scary!

  • @freetolook3727
    @freetolook3727 ปีที่แล้ว

    Along with many other US cities.

  • @jharvey2102
    @jharvey2102 ปีที่แล้ว

    They should have converted those to little homes.

  • @freetolook3727
    @freetolook3727 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    @7:15 Those exposed third rails weren't dangerous?
    That would never fly in today's PC world.
    They couldn't afford to pay for all the warning signs and stickers, fencing, guards and other safety equipment.

    • @fredblonder7850
      @fredblonder7850 ปีที่แล้ว

      Yes, they were dangerous. They killed several cows. By some miracle, they never killed any people. I think they were 400 Volts DC.

    • @NoSpam1891
      @NoSpam1891 ปีที่แล้ว

      The SkyTrain system in Vancouver BC uses a third rail.

    • @Jeff-uj8xi
      @Jeff-uj8xi ปีที่แล้ว +2

      What they were talking about here was an underground third rail that ran between the two tracks. It was a conduit system that could be found in New York City, Washington, D.C. , London, Paris, Berlin, Marseilles, Vienna, Budapest, and Prague in Europe and other European Cities, Baltimore never had a conduit system. The power rails were contained in a conduit midway between and below the two surface rails on which the cars operated, in much the same fashion as the cable for cable cars. The conduit contained two "T" section steel power rails of opposite polarity facing each other, about 12 inches (30 cm) apart and about 18 inches (46 cm) below the street surface. Power reached the car by means of an attachment, called a plough (US - plow), that rode in the conduit beneath the car. The plough had two metal shoes attached to springs that pushed sideways against the power rails. The plough was normally connected to a platform that could slide laterally to conform with variations in the placement of the conduit, for example in some areas there was a conduit for cable cars adjacent to the one for electric cars.
      The current was carried by a flexible cable from the plough through the platform to the car's controller and motor(s). The running rails were not part of the electrical circuit. In the United States, the cars were sometimes popularly but incorrectly called trolleys but did not typically draw power through a trolley pole from an overhead wire as (strictly defined) trolley cars do.

  • @jetsons101
    @jetsons101 ปีที่แล้ว

    So much History, so little time......

  • @Jpkjr52
    @Jpkjr52 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thanks again John in Chicago

  • @5argetech56
    @5argetech56 ปีที่แล้ว

    Which one is named Desire?

  • @fu2201
    @fu2201 ปีที่แล้ว

    Obsolution

  • @michaelbowser6213
    @michaelbowser6213 ปีที่แล้ว

    Probably a little bit of info overload for most of us but interesting to be sure

  • @jomama5186
    @jomama5186 ปีที่แล้ว

    Sad. They were so convenient

  • @brendakrieger7000
    @brendakrieger7000 ปีที่แล้ว

    Cool🚞

  • @Lurker1979
    @Lurker1979 ปีที่แล้ว

    Is any of those street cars named, Desire?

    • @roberthuron9160
      @roberthuron9160 ปีที่แล้ว

      The Desire line was,and still is,a line in New Orleans! Originally trolley,now bus! New Orleans Public Service,now Regional Transit! Thank you 😇!

    • @chuckschafer942
      @chuckschafer942 ปีที่แล้ว

      NO BUT WE HAD ONE NAMED DELORES

    • @roberthuron9160
      @roberthuron9160 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@chuckschafer942 Question:in what city was that line?It sounds Southern,or California?? Thank you! 😇!

    • @chuckschafer942
      @chuckschafer942 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@roberthuron9160 NEW ORLEANS

  • @eiriknewquist2007
    @eiriknewquist2007 ปีที่แล้ว

    Good they repurpose them as homeless shelters, or RV”S for the homeless ?

  • @jmjfanss
    @jmjfanss ปีที่แล้ว +1

    imagine we rebuild our nation with streetcars and others instead of disastrous wars in ukraine.

  • @billfeld5883
    @billfeld5883 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Makes me laugh that with all of the killing in Baltimore you and thousands of other people are thinking about who was first to have street cars!!! I'd be worried about just living in Baltimore!!! It's no wonder the Colts left.

  • @JohnDaker_singer
    @JohnDaker_singer ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Baltimore used to be a beautiful and thriving city. That was before a certain ethnic group took it over.

    • @furripupau
      @furripupau ปีที่แล้ว +3

      anti-Irish sentiment in this day and age?

  • @American-Motors-Corporation
    @American-Motors-Corporation ปีที่แล้ว

    I've always wondered, what the hell is a shondell?

  • @bigsexy7781
    @bigsexy7781 ปีที่แล้ว

    Other awesome video young man you can come to Minnesota investigate the tunnels on the other side of the Mississippi where all the gangsters were at those tunnels haven’t filled in Capone was in there that would be cool to investigate they should push you out more often LOL from Minnesota keep up the good work