Forum Title: LIZZIE BORDEN SOCIETY
Topic Area: Fall River and Its Environs
Topic Name: Zing, Zing, Zing Went the Trolley.

1. "Zing, Zing, Zing Went the Trolley."
Posted by harry on Jul-7th-02 at 9:33 PM

Here's a Fall River trolley.  The Steep Brook area was north of the city.


2. "Re: Zing, Zing, Zing Went the Trolley."
Posted by Kat on Jul-7th-02 at 9:41 PM
In response to Message #1.

Wow, Harry!

Is that electric?  Do we know when the cars switched from horses to electricity, or did they overlap?


3. "Re: Zing, Zing, Zing Went the Trolley."
Posted by harry on Jul-7th-02 at 9:46 PM
In response to Message #2.

They overlapped. Here's downtown FR in 1889 clearly showing the trolleys.


4. "Re: Zing, Zing, Zing Went the Trolley."
Posted by Kat on Jul-7th-02 at 10:05 PM
In response to Message #3.

So all those "Lines" strung up are power lines for the trolleys?

Does this mean that Andrew Borden, in his own home, still using keroscene lamps, SKIPPED gas jets when THAT was new  AND ELECTRICITY?

I wonder what happened to all the horses which were put out of work...


5. "Re: Zing, Zing, Zing Went the Trolley."
Posted by Susan on Jul-7th-02 at 10:07 PM
In response to Message #3.

Thanks for the cool pictures, Harry!  I suddenly had a hankering to watch Meet Me In St. Louis, I wonder why? 


6. "Re: Zing, Zing, Zing Went the Trolley."
Posted by Kat on Jul-16th-02 at 5:18 AM
In response to Message #3.

I just stumbled across some trolley tracks myself, just now.

There is an item in a Fall River paper (name not noted) dated August 18, 1892:
"TRIAL TRIP OF THE FIRST CAR ON THE NEW ELECTRIC RAILROAD.
   The first trial of the electric street cars in the city was made yesterday afternoon from the Stafford Road barn to Rodman Street.  The officials of the road were on the trial car when the power was turned on about 3 o'clock.  From start to finish the trial was a complete success.  The car was run uphill faster than it came down and it was started and stopped easily.  The bell was clanged at every crossing and it attracted no end of attention."

--there are 2 photo's of electric cars, and one is the one posted here,  entitled "Main street with electric trolley cars."  However, the actual news item is Not reprinted, it is fully transcribed.
--I checked Morse's Inquest testimony and he only refers to "the cars."  That would have been held Aug. 9 -11.  (I know this date is known but include it for comparison to test.)

--Checked Morse at Prelim., and pg. 244 he says he "took the horse cars"...the day of the murders, Aug. 4th.
--If the use of electric cars and horse cars overlapped, could it have been in 1892, rather than 1889?


7. "Re: Zing, Zing, Zing Went the Trolley."
Posted by rays on Jul-16th-02 at 3:06 PM
In response to Message #6.

Uncle John may have referred to the "horse cars" the same way as people in the 1950s referred to the "ice box".


8. "Re: Zing, Zing, Zing Went the Trolley."
Posted by william on Jul-17th-02 at 1:06 PM
In response to Message #6.

For what it's worth, I have a photgraph of a horse/car bearing the following caption:

"Standing at North Main Street and Wilson Road, one of the last horse cars to run in Fall River in 1880."


9. "Re: Zing, Zing, Zing Went the Trolley."
Posted by bobcook848 on Jul-17th-02 at 9:54 PM
In response to Message #8.

If the trolley system in Fall Rev was like that of Boston (same era) there were for a number of years both horse powered and electric powered trolleys operating in the city.

Like Boston I am sure some lesser traveled routes where the last to be electrified.

Just a thought...and I'm stickin'...well you know the rest...

BC


10. "Re: Zing, Zing, Zing Went the Trolley."
Posted by Susan on Jul-17th-02 at 11:01 PM
In response to Message #9.

I have taken the New Jersey PATH trains before in the 1980s and even at that late point in time, you would start out with a diesal or fuel powered engine of some sort.  You would have to stop at a point while the engineers switched to an electric engine before you could continue.  Don't know if they've changed the system, but, doesn't that seem antiquated?  Or, is there some sort of reason for using both? 


11. "Re: Zing, Zing, Zing Went the Trolley."
Posted by Kat on Jul-18th-02 at 4:33 AM
In response to Message #10.

I don't know what to think...
I believe Harry and William.
But now we have 3 different dates.
1880, 1889, & 1892.   ?????

OH!  And we have Susan waiting for a trolley in 1980!....

(Message last edited Jul-18th-02  4:35 AM.)


12. "Re: Zing, Zing, Zing Went the Trolley."
Posted by Susan on Jul-18th-02 at 5:54 PM
In response to Message #11.

  Well, the trolley trains we have in San Diego are all electric, no weird switch-offs.  I have yet to ride one, but, would love to, theres something so nostalgic and magical about a train! 


13. "Re: Zing, Zing, Zing Went the Trolley."
Posted by harry on Aug-6th-02 at 1:21 AM
In response to Message #6.

Back in July we had a discussion whether the horse cars and electric trollies overlapped.

This picture seems to show the cars being drawn by horses. At the same time there are trolley tracks on the street. Unfortunately I don't know the year.  And no, it's not me doing clean up duty in the lower left hand corner.  Darn horses.


14. "Re: Zing, Zing, Zing Went the Trolley."
Posted by Susan on Aug-6th-02 at 2:10 AM
In response to Message #13.

I was just going to make a comment about the smell of horse manure in the heat, but, like exhaust fumes today, I'm sure people were used to them and unless it really stank to high heavens, nobody really noticed.
You can't see me in this picture, but, I'm in the Drug store across the way getting an ice cold soda, Cream soda, to be exact! 


15. "Re: Zing, Zing, Zing Went the Trolley."
Posted by harry on Aug-6th-02 at 9:32 AM
In response to Message #13.

Probably more than you wanted to know but I found this article of interest. The driver of the street car must have had a sore ankle at the end of the day!  More on topic, I wonder if Fall River ever had cable cars. They seemed to be (in certain cities) the transition from horse-drawn to electric cars.

History of the Streetcar

The first mass transportation vehicle in America was called an omnibus. It looked like a stagecoach and was pulled by horses. The first omnibus to operate in America began running up and down Broadway in New York City in the year 1827. It was owned by Abraham Brower, who also helped organize the first fire department in New York.

There had long been horse-drawn carriages in America to take people where they wanted to go. What was new and different about the omnibus was that it ran along a certain designated route and charged a very low fare. People who wanted to get on would wave their hand in the air. The driver sat on a bench on top of the omnibus at the front, like a stagecoach driver. When people who were riding inside wanted to get off the omnibus, they pulled on a little leather strap. The leather strap was connected to the ankle of the person who was driving the omnibus. Horse-drawn omnibuses ran in America cities from 1826 until about 1905.

The first important improvement over the omnibus was the streetcar. The first streetcars were also pulled by horses, however, instead of riding along a regular street, the streetcars rolled along special steel rails that were placed in the middle of the street. The wheels of the streetcar were also made out of steel, carefully manufactured in such a way that they would not roll off the rails. A horse-drawn streetcar was much more comfortable than an omnibus and a single horse could also pull a streetcar that was much larger, and carried more passengers, than an omnibus.

The first streetcar ran along Bowery Street in New York, and began service in the year 1832. It was owned John Mason, a wealthy banker, and built by Irishmen, John Stephenson.  Stephenson's New York company would become the largest and most famous builder of horse-drawn streetcars.

The second American city to have streetcars was New Orleans, Louisiana, in the year 1835. The typical American streetcar was operated by two crew members. One man, a driver, rode up front. His job was to drive the horse, controlled by a set of reigns. The driver also had a brake handle that he could use to stop the streetcar. When streetcars got bigger, sometimes two and three horses would be used to haul a single car. The second crew member was called the conductor, who rode at the back of the car.  His job was to help passengers get on and off the streetcar, collect their fares, and give a signal to the driver when everyone was on board and it was safe to proceed. He gave this signal by pulling on a rope that was attached to a bell at the other end of the car that the driver could hear.

The first major attempt to develop a machine that could replace horses on America's streetcar lines was the cable car in 1873. Cable cars were hauled by a long cable that moved slowly under a city's streets. To convert a streetcar line from horse cars to cable cars required digging a ditch between the rails and building a chamber under the track from one end of the line to another. This chamber was called a vault. When the vault was finished, a small opening was left at the top of the vault. Then a long cable was placed inside the vault. The cable ran under city streets from one end of  the streetcar line to the other. The cable was spliced into a big loop and was kept moving by a huge steam engine with massive wheels and pulleys that was located in a powerhouse at the side of the street. The cable cars themselves were equipped with a device that extended down below the car into the vault and allowed the operator of the car to latch onto the moving cable when he wanted the car to go, or let go of the cable when he wanted the car to stop. There were many pulleys and wheels inside the vault to make sure the cable was able to go around corners, as well as up and down hills.

The first cable cars ran in San Francisco. The largest and busiest fleet of cable cars in America were in Chicago. Most large American cities had one or more cable car lines by the year 1890.

Frank Sprague installed a complete system of electric streetcars in Richmond, Virginia, in 1888. This was the first large scale and successful use of electricity to run a city's entire system of streetcars. Sprague was born in Connecticut in 1857. In 1878 he graduated from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and began a career as a naval officer. He resigned from the navy in 1883 and went to work for Thomas Edison.

After 1888, many cities turned to electric-powered streetcars. To get electricity to the streetcars from the powerhouse where it was generated, an overhead wire was installed over city streets. A streetcar would touch this electric wire with a long pole on its roof. Back at the powerhouse, big steam engines would turn huge generators to produce the electricity needed to operate the streetcars. A new name was soon developed for streetcars powered by electricity; they were called trolley cars.

Extracts From: http://www.fta.dot.gov
FEDERAL TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION
Transit City, U.S.A.
Mass Transportation in the Cities of America --- a Short History and a Current Perspective
Brian J. Cudahy


16. "Re: Zing, Zing, Zing Went the Trolley."
Posted by harry on Aug-6th-02 at 5:56 PM
In response to Message #15.

This is not a picture of a Fall River horse car, but one of Chicopee, Mass.  I just like the picture so I thought I'd post it. It's very much a Lizzie era picture. Looks like the ladies are off on a group outing in their finery.

(Message last edited Aug-6th-02  5:57 PM.)



 

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