Subway, Elevated, Trolley & Traction Lines photos

[healey36]

Not sure where this photo is taken, but it's dated 1923:



So Joe - this appears to be an example of underground cables in a slot rail between the running rails?

Healey

[Joseph Frank1]

Yes --- this scene shows the cars running on underground ELECTRIC power & return "slot rails' BELOW THE CENTER SLOT.

Its either NYC, Manhattan --- or Washington DC..but not sure which.

[robert.]

It's D.C Not many streets that wide in NYC.

[Wolf]

And I would add that it is most likely Pennsylvania Avenue NW in DC on the basis
of those wooden passenger platforms at the trolley stop---they were removeable for
the Inaugural Parades every 4 years. And I don't see enough of that large stone
building behind the sweeper, but it looks like it may have a large clock tower, in which
case it would be the Old Post Office Building...now leased to the Trump Organization
as the TRUMP International Hotel at 1100 Pa Ave NW.....

[Joseph Frank1]

Wolfgang and Robert

Thanks for the dual confirmations on Washington DC - -- I pretty much felt is was Washington also because TARS Company did not have that particular style sweeper car - and that unusual wooden car stop platform. But to be sure, I suggested possibly it being one of both cities. Both of you are correct of course....for Washington DC

Regards - Joe F

[healey36]

A single-step car, NYC, ca. 1910-1915:



An interesting configuration. I presume the "single-step" refers to the low curb-height threshold, not the fact that there was just a single entrance/exit. Seems rather innovative for the time-period.

Healey

[healey36]

NYC "Clean-Up Day", October 9, 1914:

[healey36]

Spent a lot of time in La Jolla, California over the course of my career with Hughes. The old Empress Hotel was my home away from home, and always enjoyed having a beer with the locals at The Spot. One could do far worse for business travel (and I did).

The Los Angeles and San Diego Beach Railway was chartered in 1906. Two McKeen gas-motors were acquired in 1908, shortening the steam-powered San Diego to La Jolla run to 45 minutes. The McKeen's remained in service until 1914 when they were retired due to a history of mechanical problems.

Here's a pic of one of the two McKeen motors in front of the Hotel Cabrillo which served as the downtown station in La Jolla:



The line continued service for just a few years longer, being approved for abandonment in 1919. The rails were torn up and shipped to Japan as scrap. The Hotel Cabrillo was acquired by the adjacent Hotel La Valencia in 1956 and became its "West Wing". If you ever go to La Jolla stop by the La Valencia...beautiful hotel with a long and storied history.

Healey

[E7]

Great stuff Healey! Thanks!

Rich

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Here's a pic of one of the two McKeen motors in front of the Hotel Cabrillo which served as the downtown station in La Jolla

Great photo of the McKeen car!

the adjacent Hotel La Valencia in 1956 and became its "West Wing". If you ever go to La Jolla stop by the La Valencia...beautiful hotel with a long and storied history.

Been a few years, but we stayed next door at the La Jolla Inn which was pretty impressive on the inside - I was at a conference and flew out with my daughter to join my wife who was out there a day or 2 early for her own meetings. We had lunch at the La Valencia and there was a reception one night there. Very nice! We got stuck in La Jolla for an extra day due to Dulles being snowed in -- terrible hardship - an extra day in La Jolla,

[healey36]

Streetcar line repairs, 14th and G streets, Washington DC, July 1941 (photo courtesy of the Library of Congress):



Two blocks east of the White House and a block west of Metro Center.

Healey

[rex desilets]

There's a challenge for the trolley modelers!

[Wolf]

Should be a piece of cake---there's no overhead wire to hang
with all those infinite adjustments to getting the poles to track
through the wire frogs! It's just a "few bits of track" to lay....

I bet our 3-Rail brethern could have that up intersection and
running in a few hours... Would even be running
semi-prototypically with a hot third rail (but at the surface
vice buried).

Now pardon me, gotta go get some surgery done to remove
my tongue from where it's buried in my cheek!

[healey36]

Car 804, Catonsville, Maryland, c. 1918:



Terminus of the streetcar line that ran west from Baltimore City along Frederick Road. Catonsville was a fashionable community of summer homes for the moneyed classes of Baltimore, eventually converted to year-round residences. My grandfather lived on the western edge of Catonsville and rode the streetcar to his job in downtown Baltimore daily. Got a few rides on the line myself before they closed it in the early 1960's.

Healey

Edit :: A later snap from 1952 by Edward S. Miller:



The restaurant, a former hotel, is still there today. The trolley tracks are long gone.

[healey36]

Been a few years, but we stayed next door at the La Jolla Inn which was pretty impressive on the inside - I was at a conference and flew out with my daughter to join my wife who was out there a day or 2 early for her own meetings. We had lunch at the La Valencia and there was a reception one night there. Very nice! We got stuck in La Jolla for an extra day due to Dulles being snowed in -- terrible hardship - an extra day in La Jolla,

A number of the hotels in La Jolla were former residence buildings for the retired wealthy. Movie people were prominent among them. The Empress has a long, well-documented history, but it wasn't on our Hughes "approved" list of hotels as it didn't have a sprinkler-system. However my boss and his boss both stayed there when travelling, so I did the same. The staff was great, the restaurant was great, three or four blocks from the ocean...just a wonderful place. Five or six years ago I took the family to San Diego for a week and we stayed at the Empress...still a nice, quiet place.

When we checked out the clerk asked somewhat tentatively whether we'd enjoyed our stay, to which we replied in the affirmative. He said a number of guests had complained of someone walking up and down the halls in the middle of the night gently knocking on doors. He said they couldn't see anything on the security cameras at the time of the calls to the front desk. Perhaps it was Mrs. Claypool looking for Mr. Driftwood...

Healey