- Philadelphia Companies
- Pittsburgh Companies
- Pennsylvania Miscellany
Philadelphia Traction Company
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A Philadelphia Traction ticket, showing a cable train hauled by one of its unusual round-fronted, enclosed grip cars. August, 2000 Picture of the Month. |
line: Fairmount Park
opened: 07-Apr-1883. Columbia Avenue from Twenty-third Street to a loop at the east entrance of Fairmount Park.
revised: 26-Jan-1885. Columbia Avenue to Seventh Street. Seventh to Master Street.
revised: ??-Oct-1886. Seventh from Master to Locust Street. Locust to Ninth Street. Ninth Street to Spring Garden Street.
revised: 10-Jan-1888. Seventh to McKean Street. McKean to Ninth Street. Ninth Street to Locust.
powerhouse: Twenty-Third Street and Columbia.
powerhouse: Ninth and Sansom.
grip: Low and Grim (really) top grip
gauge: 5'2 1/2"
cars: grip and trailer trains
turntables: loops
crossings:
| Intersection | Company | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 7th/Market | PTC | inferior |
| 9th/Market | PTC | inferior |
| 7th/Spring Garden | PTC | ? |
line: Market Street
opened: 26-Jan-1885. Market Street from 20th Street to 41st Street to about Haverford Street.
opened: 30-Jun-1885. Market Street from 20th to City Hall. Around City Hall tp Front Street.
revised: 1889. Market Street from Front to Delaware.
powerhouse: 19th and Market.
grip: Low and Grim (really) top grip
gauge: 5'2 1/2"
cars: grip and trailer trains
turntables: loops
crossings:
| Intersection | Company | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 7th/Market | PTC | superior |
| 9th/Market | PTC | superior |
notes:
Philadelphia was the third US city with cable cars and the first to use non-trust technology. The system was not a success for several reasons. The weakly built conduit squeezed shut when the ground froze. The line was poorly designed, requiring four pull curves each direction to get around City Hall. The hatches for servicing pulleys were very thin and bent under traffic. Many design problems were made worse by the Low and Grim (really) top grip.
The cable system was promoted by Peter Widener, who liked the idea of cable traction, but did not like the idea of paying royalties to the Trust. Under his encouragement, on 18-Mar-1882, the directors of the Union Passenger Railway decided to test cable propulsion on their Columbia Avenue branch. The Union Passenger Railway became the Philadelphia Traction Company in 1882.
On 07-Apr-1883, cable operation began on Columbia Avenue, from Twenty-third Street to the east entrance of Fairmount Park. Unlike a typical San Francisco iron and brick or concrete conduit, the Columbia Avenue conduit was made entirely of wrought iron and resembled a slotted pipe. The test line did not work very well; it closed after a short time, but the company was happy enough to push on.
On 20-Jun-1884, the Philadelphia Traction Company leased its lines to the Union Passenger Company for nine hundred and ninety years.
Philadelphia Traction chose to rebuild the conduit on Columbia Avenue. On 26-Jan-1885, cable operations resumed on Columbia Avenue and began on Market Street. Cold weather caused the slot to squeeze shut on 18-Mar-1885.
from The Wonders of Modern Mechanism, a Résumé of Progress in Mechanical, Physical, and Engineering Science at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century by Charles Henry Cochrane, 1909P. 205 When the first Philadelphia cable-road was built, it was thought that several hundred thousand dollars could be saved by constructing the casing of the conduit of comparatively thin sheet-iron. This was used, and did very well until the frost began to work in the ground, when the sheet-iron was warped out of shape, and had to be taken out and thrown into the scrap-heap, heavy castings being substituted. |
The loops at Fairmount Park and Market and First were operated with separate cables powered by reduction gears. These failed periodically and stopped the system. The company eventually removed the reduction gears.
The Fairmount Park line crossed Market at Seventh (southbound) and Ninth (northbound). These crossings, at flat intersections, barely worked with a top grip, which required a great distance to drop and pick up the cable. The company used horses to help cars which could not coast across.
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An 1892 San Francisco Call newspaper article satirically jabs at the asymmetical development of Philadelphia gripmen. |
The company made improvements in 1889 when it replaced some of the light rail it had originally used and strengthened the conduits. The lines were converted to electricity over the course of 1895.
On 22-Jul-1895, the People's and Electric and Philadelphia Traction Companies consolidated and formed the Union Traction Company.
US History.org has some very interesting excerpts from Early Railroad Transportation by Rudolph J. Walther, which includes a detailed chronology of Philadelphia transit history.
The Penn State Trolley Cars tells the story of the one-mile experimental electric railway operated by Penn State's Electrical Engineering Department during the 1890's and early 1900's. The line was used to train electrical engineering students in electric railway technology. The rolling stock was probably an old cable car donated by the Philadelphia Traction Company. Faculty and students installed the electric motors. In 1901, the department was looking for a new car to replace the old one, which had probably deteriorated from exposure to the weather. In 1905, the United Railways and Electric Company of Baltimore donated another old cable car. There are no records that indicate that the experimental line ran past 1910. The records may have been destroyed in a fire in 1918.
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Philadelphia Traction cable cars on the narrow balloon loop at the Camden Ferry, foot of Market. |
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The intersection of Twelfth and Market Streets, where the Market Street cable line crossed a horse car line. August, 2010 Picture of the Month. |
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An example of the inadequate all metal conduit used in Philadelphia. The slot squeezed shut when the ground froze. This illustration is from "The Cable System of Street Railways", from Manufacturer and Builder / Volume 16, Issue 7, July 1884. |
excerpt from DIAMOND DASHES.Notes About Players in Many Leagues.From the Saint Paul Daily Globe / Sunday, March 23, 1890. Page 6.Wes Curry, the old umpire, is a conductor on a Philadelphia cable car. |
from Poor's Directory of Railway Officials, 1887P. 257 * Philadelphia Traction R.R. co. operates 100 miles of road, owns 2,550 horses and 595 cars. Directors, William H. Kemble, P. A. B. Widener, Wm. L. Elkins, Thos. Dolan, Jas. McManes, James B. Altemus, Philadelphia, Pa. -- Wm. H. Kemble, Pres., P. A. B. Widener, 1st Vice-Pres., Wm. L. Elkins, 2nd Vice-Pres., D. W. Dickson, Sec. & Treas. -- GENERAL OFFICE, Forty-first and Haverford Sts., Philadelphia, Pa. |
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Pittsburgh Traction Company
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from The Manual of Statistics: Stock Exchange Hand-Book, Volume 17, 1895P. 435-436
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| - | Gross. | Net. | Charges. | Surplus |
| 1898 | $368,105 | $111,167 | $49,756 | $61,411 |
| 1893 | 429,817 | 163,433 | ....... | ....... |
President, Geo. W Elkins; Vice-Président, Christopher L. Magee; Secretary and Treasurer, J. G. Traggard: General Manager, W. L. Elkins.
Directors -- Geo. W Elkins, P. A. B. Widener, Wm. L. Elkins, Wm. H. Kemble, Jos. Z. Wainwright, Thos. S. Bigelow, Geo. C. Wilson.
Office, 310 Fifth avenue, Pittsburgh.
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Citizens Traction Company
from The Manual of Statistics: Stock Exchange Hand-Book, Volume 17, 1895P. 434
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Central Traction Company
The Carnegie Library has a rare photo of a Wylie Avenue cable car.
from The Manual of Statistics: Stock Exchange Hand-Book, Volume 17, 1895P. 434
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Pittsburgh Inclines
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The Mount Washington freight and passenger inclines. |
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Johnstown Inclined Plane
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A brochure from the Johnstown Inclined Plane. |
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Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway
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| From The Official Railway Guide: North American Freight Service Edition by American Association of Passenger Traffic Officers, 1908. |
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Allegheny Portage Railroad
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"Old Passenger Car, Portage Railroad." Source: History of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company by William Bender Wilson, 1895. |
from A Geography of Pennsylvania by Charles B Trego, 1843P. 155-156 Allegheny Portage Rail Road. This road commences at Hollidaysburg, the western termination of the Juniata canal, and crossing the Allegheny mountain by the summit at Blair's Gap, descends to the valley of the Conemaugh, down which it proceeds to Johnstown and there meets the Western Division of the Pennsylvania canal. On this road there are ten inclined planes, numbered from Johnstown eastward, and eleven "levels," or graded lines of road, the inclination of which is generally from 10 to 15 feet to the mile, except that between Johnstown and the first plane, where it is about 24 feet, and that between the eastern plane and Hollidaysburg, where the maximum is 52 feet. The summit at Blair's Gap is 2,325 feet above the level of mean tide; the ascent from Hollidaysburg to the summit is 1,398 feet in a distance of ten miles, and the descent to Johnstown 1,171 feet in a distance of 26 1/2 miles. There are five inclined planes on each side of the summit; the longest being No. 8, or the third one west of Hollidaysburg, which is 3,117 feet in length, with a rise of 307 1/2 feet; and the shortest, No. 3, the third east of Johnstown, 1,480 feet in length, rising 130 1/2 feet. At the head of each inclined plane are two stationary engines of about thirty-five horse power each, which move the endless rope to which the cars are attached. Four cars, each loaded with a burden of 7000 pounds, can be drawn up at once, and as many let down at the same time; this operation can be performed from six to ten times in an hour. An ingenious contrivance, called a safety car, is attached to the rope below the road cars, which stops them in case of accident to the rope or fastenings. But one of the stationary engines is used at a time; the other being provided in order to prevent delay from accidents or repairs. On the short levels between the planes, horses are used for drawing the cars; but on the longer ones locomotives are preferred. A viaduct over the Conemaugh, about eight miles east of Johnstown, is much admired for its boldness and beauty of design and execution. It is a single arch of 80 feet span, at a height of 70 feet above the water of the stream. In order to pass through an abrupt ridge near the head of the first plane east of Johnstown, a tunnel has been constructed 901 feet in length, 20 feet wide, and 19 feet high within the arch. The entrances have ornamental facades of cut stone, and the tunnel is arched with stone for 150 feet from each end, beyond which the rock is sufficiently solid to form a roof. This road was opened for use in March, 1834. Length 36 1/2 miles. Cost $1,783,176. Revenue to 1840, rail road tolls $413,504, motive power $443,480: expenditures, road $293,135, motive power $539,507, engines, ropes, &c. $122,236. |
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Horseshoe Curve Funicular
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