Below is an album of pictures of New Orleans streetcars and trolley coaches, plus interurban operations in the area of the city. Most of these are not available elsewhere, as far as I know. They are presented for your viewing pleasure, grouped primarily by route or location.
Group 1: Some Early Streetcars (last updated September 3, 2024: added Picture 1-0.6)
Group 2: West End Line (last updated November 3, 2021: added Pictures 2-3.6, 2-3.8, and 2-14)
Group 3: Spanish Fort
Group 4: Magazine Line (last updated March 19, 2021: added Picture 4-0.5)
Group 5: Arabella Station
Group 6: Freret Line (last updated January 6, 2022: added Pictures 6-2, 6-3, and 6-4)
Group 7: Jackson Line (last updated January 2 and 7, 2022: added Pictures 7-7 through 7-10.)
Group 8: Napoleon Line (last updated November 17, 2022: added Pictures 8-7.5 and 8-7.6)
Group 9: South Claiborne Line (last updated November 30, 2022: added Picture 9-56)
Group 10: St. Charles - Tulane Belts (last updated November 20, 2022: added Pictures 10-36 and 10-38.5)
Group 10.5: Poland Station
Group 11: St. Claude Line and the 1000-Class Cars (last updated January 13, 2022: added Picture 11-43)
Group 11.5: Gentilly Line (last updated March 19, 2021: added Picture 11.5-9)
Group 12: Desire Line (last updated March 21, 2021: added Pictures 12-4.3 and 12-4.6)
Group 13: The Orleans-Kenner Traction Co.
Group 14: The 1915 Hurricane
Group 14.5: The 1920 Strike
Group 15: The 1929 Strike (last updated September 24, 2023: added Picture 15-4)
Group 16: Streetcars Misnamed Desire, and Other Misnames (last updated November 22, 2022: added Picture 16-12)
Group 17: Work Cars and Napoleon Yard (last updated November 19, 2022: added Picture 17-7)
Group 18: Sewerage & Water Board (last updated April 9, 2022: added Pictures 18-1 and 18-4, renumbered pictures)
Group 19: Bogalusa, LA: Gaylord Paper Mill (last updated September 18, 2022: added Pictures 19-6 and 19-11)
Group 19.3: St. Tammany & New Orleans Rys. & Ferry Co. (last updated September 19 and 26, 2020: added Pictures 19.3-11 and 19.3-12, and edited introductory text.)
Group 19.5: Southwestern Traction & Power Co. (last updated July 17, 2023: added Picture 19.5-2.5)
Group 19.7: Gulfport & Mississippi Coast Traction Co. (last updated June 28, 2024: added Picture 19.7-4.7)
Group 20: Badges, Buttons, and Pins
Group 20A: Badges
Group 20B: Buttons
Group 20C: Pins (last updated August 14, 2022: added Picturec 20C-11 and 20C-14; replaced Picture 20C-9)
Group 21: Tickets, Tokens, and Transfers
Group 21A: Tickets (last updated February 16, 2022: edited caption of Picture 21A-4.5)
Group 21B: Tokens
Group 21C: Transfers (last updated May 1, 2020: added Picture 21C-15.8)
Group 22: Stocks and Bonds (last updated February 12, 2022: added Picture 22-12)
Group 23: The Amalgamated Transit Union and the Cooperative Street Railway Employees Assn. (last updated June 30, 2021: added Picture 23-9;
edited last paragraph of introductory text)
Links to Other New Orleans Picture Sites
References, credits, and copyright notice
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Picture 1-0. | |||
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A horsecar of the New Orleans City RR approaches Esplanade from N. Rampart Street, circa 1864. The car could be on the Esplanade line, in which case it will turn to its left (our right) and proceed out Esplanade to Bayou St. John; or it could be on the Rampart & Dauphine line (later called simply Dauphine), in which case it will turn to its right (our left) and go in to Dauphine Street, then proceed down as far as Poland. Notice the plank walkway between the rails to provide footing for the horses (or mules) even in rainy weather that would otherwise make footing difficult. The man standing next to the little booth (for protection from the elements) is probably there to set the track switch for the cars. The neutral ground is narrow for a double track, but room has been made for trees. — Marshall Dunham photograph, LSU Digital | ||
Picture 1-0.3. | |||
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Horsecars of the St. Charles Street RR approach Lee Circle from Canal Street along the company's namesake street. The right hand track, leading to Canal St. from Lee Circle, belongs to the Crescent City RR Coliseum line. — S. T. Blessing | ||
Pictures 1-0.5 and 1-0.6. | |||
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Horsecars 12 and 52 of the Canal & Claiborne Railroad are operating on the Girod & Poydras line. The upper picture of car 12 was probably drawn some time in the 1880s; the lower picture of car 52 is dated in the 1890s. It is not possible to say how close these drawings are to the actual reality, but they seem to be plausible representations of the type of horsecar that was run by the various New Orleans companies. The wheels are fastened to the axles realistically, and the Bombay roof is typical. Note the single passenger entrance and exit at the center of the rear end of the car, which gave this type of car the name “bobtail”. One unrealistic feature in the upper picture is the legs of the horse. I'm no expert on horses, but this one's slender legs seem more suitable to a race horse than to a streetcar horse. Actually, horsecars in New Orleans were often pulled by mules, as seen in the lower picture. The Girod & Poydras horsecar line was one of the last horsecar lines in the city, and was abandoned rather than being converted to electric streetcars. | ||
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Picture 1-0.7. | |||
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A horsecar from one of the lines that served Audubon Park in New Orleans,
apparently sold for a second career across Lake Pontchartrain around Abita
Springs. The picture comes from a printed card with the caption,
“Car between Abita Springs and Three Rivers”. It is not
clear that the car actually performed this service: not only is the horse or
mule motive power absent, but there is also no sign of track under the car.
The car is the bobtail design, meaning that passenger entrance and exit was
via a single door in the center of the trailing end of the car (at our left),
reached from the middle of the track. This type of car was single-end, and
had to be reversed (typically on a turntable) at each end of the route.
The roof is called a Bombay roof, and features a line of small windows for
ventilation (the dark area just below the Audubon Park sign). This
design was universally used by New Orleans horsecar companies.
The man in the driver's position, at the right, has his hand on the brake
handle. The windows can open, and at least two of them seem to be equipped
with shades of a slat design.
The reference to Three Rivers appears to refer to a river junction just south of Covington, Louisiana, where the Bogue Falaya converges with the Tchefuncte River. Just upstream of that point, the Abita River also converges with the Bogue Falaya. Today, Interstate 12 crosses the merged rivers immediately south of the junction. |
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Picture 1-1. | |||
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A little six-window electric streetcar, number 332, passes around Lee Circle, perhaps some time between 1896 and 1905. It is probably on the Annunciation line, on trackage shared at that time with the Coliseum line. The car number, together with its square windows and its roof line, identifies it as one of the Pullman-built cars 320-336 acquired in 1896 for Annunciation line service. | ||
Picture 1-1.5. | |||
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We have a glimpse of Saint Charles Street RR (SCSRR) Clio car 9 heading uptown on St. Charles St. just past Canal St. The St. Charles Hotel is in the background. A marching band is passing, having come down the street, and apparently is turning into Canal Street. The crowd seems too sparse for this to be Mardi Gras. It might be a funeral, or perhaps something else entirely — after all, this is New Orleans! Car 9 is part of an 1895 order of cars numbered 1-40 from the Pullman Co. This group inaugurated electric service on the SCSRR. The picture could have been taken any time between 1895 and 1904. | ||
Picture 1-1.7. | |||
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In 1898, New Orleans Traction Co. celebrated the second anniversary of its Employees Aid Association with a Canal Street parade of decorated streetcars from each of its seven stations (car houses). This car represented Canal Station. It is decorated with flags, bunting, palm fronds, and what appear to be clumps of Spanish moss, with two costumed children along for the ride. The decorated car is one of the open cars with which the New Orleans companies experimented for summer comfort around the beginning of the twentieth century. There were never many of this type; a few years later, in 1902, this company reported a fleet of 307 closed streetcars and only 49 open cars. | ||
Picture 1-2. | |||
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New Orleans City RR car 97 in a car barn, probably either Magazine Shops or Arabella Station. This was one of the “1894 Brills,” seen on its original Brill 22-E maximum traction double trucks. This car was part of an order of 50 cars, numbers 66-115, placed with the J. G. Brill Co. in February 1894, for delivery in June and July. Later, this class of car was changed to a single truck, because the maximum traction trucks were prone to derail in New Orleans. Note the Magazine route sign and, hanging below the platform hood, a removable wooden sign saying Station Only. We see quite a range of people: the very serious motorman standing at attention at his controls; the uniformed and non-uniformed company men standing in the doorway and by the side of the car; the sweeper with his broom; and a derbied gentleman with two children sitting inside the car. One can even make out some of the advertising signs inside the car. | ||
Picture 1-2.5. | |||
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Builder's photo from the Brill Co. of car 233, one of the group of “1894 Brills” numbered 230-239, part of order number 5521, delivered to New Orleans in January and February 1894. Car 233 was originally intended for service on the Canal Street line, as indicated by the label on the side of the car: “Canal St. and Cemeteries”. Below is painted the name of the company that owned the car: “N. O. C. & L. R. R. CO.” — New Orleans City and Lake RR Co. The cars were ordered by New Orleans Traction Co, which owned the NOC&L and the Crescent City RR Co. at this time. We see the original Brill 22-E maximum traction trucks, with the smaller “pony” wheels on the inside rather than the more usual outside position under the car. | ||
Picture 1-3. | |||
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A view of the Mississippi River levee. The location is not stated, but there seems to be a leftward curve ahead in the river, which would put this picture somewhere near the eastern (downriver) boundary of New Orleans, near Chalmette, looking upriver. Postcards are known marked “Levee at Chalmette” having very similar pictures. The presence of a streetcar at the right side of this picture suggests that we are looking at a car on the N. Peters St. trackage approaching the American Sugar Refinery, on the Dauphine line. (Eventually, this trackage would be part of the St. Claude line.) The streetcar is an early “Palace” car with an open platform, which dates the picture to between 1901, when the first “Palace” cars arrived in New Orleans, and 1905, by which date all open platform cars had been rebuilt with closed platforms. — Underwood & Underwood | ||
Picture 1-3.5. | |||
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New Orleans & Carrollton car 84, probably in the Carrollton Station car barn, August 8, 1896. This was one of the last pre-Ford, Bacon & Davis cars bought by that railroad, a group of six cars, nos. 83-88, acquired from St. Louis Car Co. the previous year. Instead of solid sides with windows, these cars were open, with wire screens for the safety of the passengers, and curtains that could be pulled down in case of rain. Note the open wicker seat backs. The cars clearly were intended to provide passenger comfort in the hot, humid summers of New Orleans. The glass in the side of the clerestory shows “St. Charles Ave”, while the name “Carrollton” is painted on the lower side of the car behind the car number. The conductor on the front platform with his coat open is John William Stroud. The other men are unidentified. About 1903, the bodies of these six cars were rebuilt by being spliced together to create long trailers for West End and (later) Spanish Fort train service. — Jeff Junker collection | ||
Picture 1-4. | |||
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Two New Orleans & Carrollton R.R., Light & Power Co. cars pass on the Carrollton Ave. bridge over the New Basin Canal, about 1901 or 1902. They are running on the St. Charles and Tulane Belt lines: St. Charles operated a clockwise loop, and Tulane a counter-clockwise loop. These cars were part of a group of 70 single truck cars, numbers 160-229, built by the American Car Co. for the New Orleans & Carrollton in 1899. The cars were designed by the engineering firm Ford & Bacon, later Ford, Bacon & Davis (FB&D). This firm designed the electrification and improvements to several New Orleans streetcar companies, beginning in 1894 with the Orleans RR, the Canal & Claiborne RR, and then the New Orleans & Carrollton. (The last two companies merged in 1892.) The work included the specification of an improved electric streetcar, a design which was so successful that it was adopted by the other street railroads in New Orleans, of both track gauges. Eventually 217 of them ran in the city. — New Orleans & Carrollton R.R., Light & Power Co. | ||
Pictures 1-4.5 and 1-4.6. | |||
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In the upper photo, New Orleans & Carrollton car 145 is taking its
layover on the outer track at the foot of Canal Street, probably some time in
the 1910s. This was one of the first group of FB&D cars, purchased by
the Canal & Claiborne RR in 1896 as numbers 25-49. In 1899, the
C&C was bought by the NO&C, and the cars were renumbered 125-149.
We see the 145 after its vestibules had been enclosed in 1904, and after it had
been converted to Pay As You Enter operation around 1910 — note the dash sign
“Pay Conductor On Entering”.
The lower photo features New Orleans & Carrollton car 152 standing in the car barn yard with motorman and conductor at the ready to begin its day's run, probably also in the 1910s. It is signed for the Claiborne Ave. line (i.e., North Claiborne), both in the clerestory window and by the hanging sign on the dash. The car barn has not been identified with certainty, but seems likely to be the Urquhart car barn, home for the Claiborne line. This car is one of the second order of FB&D cars, delivered to the Canal & Claiborne RR in 1897 as numbers 50-59. In 1899, when the C&C was bought by the NO&C, the cars were renumbered 150-159. Like the 145, by the time of this picture, their vestibules had been enclosed, and they had been converted to Pay As You Enter operation. |
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Picture 1-5. | |||
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This picture of a New Orleans City RR transfer station is taken from a “tourist guide” published by that streetcar system in February 1902. The streetcar is one of the “1894 Brill” class, shown on its original maximum traction double trucks. The car number appears to be something-11; the notched windows reveal that it must be number 111, as 211 had arched windows. The car was part of an order of 50 cars, numbers 66-115, placed with the J. G. Brill Co. in February 1894. — New Orleans City RR | ||
Picture 1-6. | |||
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A somewhat damaged picture of New Orleans City RR car 202, another “1894 Brill” rolling on its original maximum traction trucks, signed for the Magazine line. The small (“pony”) wheels can clearly be seen to be facing the inside, with the large wheels facing toward the outer ends of the car. This car was part of an order of 50 cars, numbers 166-215, placed with the J. G. Brill Co. in April 1894. The crew of the car, conductor and motorman, are at the far left and right, with a policeman the next person on the right, wearing an old fashioned tall helmet. Don't miss the sign advertising sailing at West End, visible at the upper right. — Collection of Earl Hampton | ||
Picture 1-6.5. | |||
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"1894 Brill" car 218 of the New Orleans City & Lake (NOC&L) on the Magazine line, some time before 1904. Cars 216-229 were ordered in 1895. With their 8 windows, these were the largest cars on the NOC&L when they were new. They were delivered with Brill 22-E Maximum Traction double trucks, but in this picture, 218 has exchanged those trucks for a single truck. One of the crewmen, perhaps the motorman, is Simon Cahill. (The original photo has been seriously damaged, as can be seen, but the photo is rare enough that it is shown in its current condition. Efforts are in progress to try to Photoshop the image into better condition.) — Courtesy of Thomas Kimbrell, great-great-grandson of Simon Cahill | ||
Picture 1-7. | |||
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Single truck car 241 is seen here at the back door of Arabella Station car barn, about 1917. The photographer is standing in Constance St. At the left rear of this picture, we can see part of a Brill semi-convertible car. Note the large Herr fenders on each end of car 241. It is riding on a Lord Baltimore truck. This car appears to be one of the group of FB&D cars numbered 230-244, built by St. Louis Car Co. in 1900-1901 for the standard gauge New Orleans lines, such as the St. Charles-Tulane belt line. By the time of this picture, the car appears to have been regauged for the wide gauge lines, because Arabella Station was exclusively a wide gauge car barn. The change in gauge probably took place in 1915, when the 400-series double truck cars arrived in New Orleans and displaced FB&D cars from the St. Charles-Tulane belts. | ||
Pictures 1-8 and 1-8.5. | |||
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Single truck cars 213 and 293 are on Jeanette Street at Carrollton
Station car barn. Carrollton Station was originally standard gauge, as it
housed the standard gauge St. Charles and Tulane cars. About 1920,
some wide gauge and some double gauge track was laid at Carrollton,
because the Southport Shuttle track which ran next to the car barn was
wide gauge. (Carrollton Station was converted to wide gauge when
the St. Charles and Tulane belts were converted, in 1929, but dual gauge
tracks survived there until quite recently.)
Car 213 was one of the standard gauge FB&D cars 160-229 which the New Orleans & Carrollton acquired in 1899 from American Car Co. of St. Louis. Originally equipped with open platforms and gates protecting the entrances and exits, the car vestibules were enclosed in 1904 as mandated by Louisiana law. The cars were eventually changed to wide gauge. It is not clear which gauge trucks were under the car when this picture was taken. Car 293 was part of a group of ten wide gauge FB&D cars, numbers 290-299, ordered by New Orleans Railway & Light Co. in 1906 from the American Car Co. It may be here at Carrollton Barn to serve the Southport Shuttle route; there surely were few wide gauge cars at this car barn. Note the large Herr fenders on each end of both cars, unfolded in the front (at the left of these pictures) and folded up at the back. The cars are riding on Lord Baltimore trucks. |
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Picture 1-9. | |||
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Single truck car 76, probably some time in the range 1915-1918. The car is equipped with Herr fenders (the left one is down), and is riding a Brill 21-E truck. This car was one of the group of 30 FB&D cars ordered by the St. Charles St. RR in 1901 from the St. Louis Car Co., numbers 51-80. This picture was apparently taken about 1915 after this car series was rebuilt and before they were renumbered into the low 300s. — Collection of Earl Hampton | ||
Picture 1-10. | |||
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Single truck car 394 is passing an early bus, August 20, 1929, on N. Broad St. The Peter E. Courtin Grain Co. in the background was located at 1409 North Broad St. Note how the tracks on N. Broad were on the edges of the neutral ground, not in the center. Car 394 is equipped with a Lord Baltimore truck. This car was one of the last group of single truck cars ordered by a New Orleans company. They were built by St. Louis Car Co. in 1910 as numbers 355-404, although cars 400-404 were eventually renumbered as 350-354. They ran almost exclusively on the Prytania line, and were therefore usually referred to as “Prytania” cars, until they were succeeded there by double truck cars of the 800 class in 1923. Some cars of the series were retired at that time, with a few retained, mostly for owl car service, into the 1930s. The bus is at the inner terminal of the Gentilly Road bus line. It would have started its outbound run by going one more block and making a U-turn. — Teunisson photo, collection of Earl Hampton | ||
Picture 1-11. | |||
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“Prytania” car 363 is serving the St. Bernard line, a leg of the Broad line. This group of cars mainly served the Prytania line (hence the name “Prytania” cars), but were sometimes seen on other lines. 800-class cars took over Prytania in 1923, after which some of the cars in this group were retired, though apparently they were not scrapped. Hennick does not list 363 as one of the group of “Prytania” cars which was retained after 1923, and this picture appears to be from the later 1920s, so it seems that the car was recalled from its initial 1923 retirement. The St. Bernard line was not returned to service after the 1929 strike (see Group 15). As a leg of the Broad line, St. Bernard cars ran up N. Broad to St. Peter, in to Dauphine, up to Canal, one block on Canal to Burgundy, down to Dumaine, and back out to N. Broad, then down to St. Bernard. Tracks on Broad and St. Bernard were in the neutral ground. This picture could have been taken anywhere along St. Peter, Dauphine, Burgundy, or Dumaine Streets, probably within the Vieux Carré. | ||
Picture 1-12. | |||
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Car 314 is seen here c. 1897 or 1898 in front of a car barn, probably Magazine Barn, which later became a principal shop for the streetcar system. The car is lettered for the Crescent City Rail Road Co., and in very small letters, for the New Orleans Traction Co., which in 1892 had taken over the CCRR and the New Orleans City & Lake RR (formerly the New Orleans City RR). The CCRR name is repeated in the side glass of the clerestory. The front clerestory glass probably displayed the route name, but it is not visible in this picture. The windows are arched in the style of those built by the Brill Co. The people in the photo are unidentified. The man at the controls, and his companion on the front platform, both dressed in suits, are probably high officers of the company. Two of the men visible in the car windows are wearing uniforms, and are perhaps the motorman and conductor assigned to the car. The other men could be dispatchers, foremen, shopmen, etc. The identity of the children is anyone's guess. Note the gutter construction, which runs underneath the exposed rail. | ||
Pictures 1-13 and 1-14. | |||
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A view from a souvenir booklet dated 1906. According to the caption in the booklet, we are looking downtown (downriver) on N. Rampart St., probably somewhere between Canal and Esplanade. However, this looks more like Esplanade Ave. than Rampart St. The second picture is a closeup detail showing the streetcar, number 103. This car was one of the 66-115 group ordered by New Orleans Traction Co. in February 1894 from the J. G. Brill Co. It could have been working the Esplanade Belt or the Dauphine Line. — J. Murray Jordan/F. M. Kirby | ||
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Pictures 1-15 and 1-16. | |||
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For many years, the old Clio line ran out its namesake street to Magnolia,
which it followed over to Erato and returned. In 1901, it was extended up
Magnolia to Seventh Street, and in 1904 was further extended up Magnolia to
Napoleon, then over Napoleon to Freret, which it followed all the way to
Broadway. It also ran in on Broadway to Maple, where it met the Coliseum
“Snake” line, so nicknamed because it twisted all over uptown New Orleans
(after 1913, the Magazine line).
This photo is believed to show
Clio car 55 on Broadway at its terminal at Maple Street. The car is facing
the “wrong” way on Broadway; the crew has changed ends, and the car will shortly
take the crossover in front of it to the right-hand track as it begins its next
run downbound toward Canal Street and the French Quarter.
The second picture is a closeup detail from the first, giving us a better view of car 55 itself. New Orleans had four streetcars numbered 55, one each owned by the New Orleans & Carrollton, the Orleans RR (ORR), St. Charles St. RR (SCSRR), and N. O. Traction Co. This one is most likely the car 55 of the ORR or the SCSRR, both of which were similar FB&D cars. The SCSRR cars 51-80 were acquired in October 1901, and the ORR cars 50-61 were purchased in 1902, both from St. Louis Car Co. The front clerestory windows on the SCSRR cars were divided into two panels, while those on the ORR cars were divided into three panels. So this car 55 is probably the ORR car. ORR lines were all on the downtown side of the city, while Clio was originally a SCSRR line. However, after the companies began to consolidate operations, cars were moved around all over the city. About 1918, the duplication of car numbers was eliminated, as older surviving cars were rebuilt and renumbered into the 300s. As delivered, the cars had open platforms; in 1904, the vestibules were enclosed to the form seen here. The route sign can be seen both above the front center window, and in the glass of the front clerestory panel. The colors are reported by Hennick & Charlton to have been red and white. The date of this photo is estimated as around 1916-17, based on the Herr fenders and the rebuilt sides of the car. — Michael Mizell-Nelson, “Clio streetcar, early 1900s,” New Orleans Historical, accessed October 8, 2013, http://neworleanshistorical.org/items/show/2. My thanks to Morris Hill for extensive research and contributions to this description. |
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Over the years, several railroads ran from the Mississippi River out to Lake Ponchartrain. For example, the railroad tracks in the neutral ground of Elysian Fields were originally laid for this purpose. Among streetcar operations, the most significant early road was the West End line of the New Orleans City RR. This was originally a steam dummy line, meaning that trains on the West End line consisted of several trailers pulled by a “steam dummy” — a small steam locomotive hidden within a streetcar-like body. Conventional wisdom of the time held that this type of vehicle would be less likely to scare horses than an ordinary steam locomotive.
Eventually, in 1898, New Orleans Traction Co. (successor to New Orleans City RR) took delivery of a dozen double truck electric streetcars equipped to replace the steam dummies. Barney & Smith provided cars 500-507, and American Car Co. sent cars 509-512. (Number 508 was skipped.) These cars began pulling the trains to West End on July 17, 1898.
Beginning in 1911, New Orleans Railway & Light Co. switched its excursion traffic from West End to Spanish Fort, and that line used the trains (see Group 3), with “Palace” cars pulling single “Coleman” trailers assigned to West End.
In 1935, cars of the 800-900 series were assigned to West End, and trailer operation was dropped. After this, West End was in effect a longer and limited-stop version of the Canal-Cemeteries line. West End cars ran the length of Canal Street from the loop at the foot of Canal all the way out to City Park Ave., but between Claiborne and City Park Ave., they stopped only at Galvez, Broad, Jefferson Davis, and Carrollton. At the outer end of Canal St., West End cars followed City Park Ave. to Julia St., then ran all the way out to the lake. North of City Park Ave., Julia St., connecting to West End Blvd., while theoretically a public street, was mostly private right of way for West End cars. There were passenger shelters at stops along West End Blvd.
Buses took over from City Park Ave. to the lake on January 15, 1950.
Beginning March 26, 1911, a branch line was opened from the West End tracks at what became Robert E. Lee Blvd. east to the Spanish Fort area. Spanish Fort had a long history as an amusement resort before being improved by New Orleans Ry. & Light Co. (successor to New Orleans Traction Co.) between 1909 and 1911. During the summer season, the Spanish Fort streetcar line used the trains that West End had been using, the 500-class cars pulling up to three trailers, while West End after that time used “Palace” cars pulling single trailers. The rest of the year, Spanish Fort was a shuttle service operated along Robert E. Lee Blvd. between West End and Spanish Fort. Buses took over the Spanish Fort run on October 16, 1932.
Spanish Fort was equipped with a Spanish-style station building, an amusement park just behind the station, and sufficient trackage for the trains to be reshuffled and the electric cars to maneuver. There was a pier extending three-quarters of a mile out into the lake, with tracks out to the end, on which a shuttle car operated during the summer for several years. There was also a bathhouse part way out along the pier, over the water. One could walk out to the bathhouse, or take the shuttle car.
The Magazine line was primarily a street running line. The major exception was its uptown terminus, at Audubon Park, where the track was laid at the side of the roadway. Below are some glimpses of that trackage. Most of these pictures were taken from the river side of Magazine Street, which is just the other side of the streetcar right of way, looking into Audubon Park.
The star players in these pictures are all Perley Thomas cars: numbers 913, 916, 922, 923, 926, 928, 930, 941, 954, 957, 961, and 971. All of these cars survive today except 916, 928, 941, and 957. Car 913 was at the Orange Empire Trolley Museum, and has been moved to San Francisco to join the Municipal Railway's historical collection. The others are still giving service in New Orleans.
In several of these pictures, we can see that the poles for support of the trolley wires use bracket arms for the downbound wires, but span wires to support the upbound wires. Probably, the original installation used bracket arms for both streetcar trolley wires. But in 1930, when the pioneering Broadway trolley coach line was started, twin trolley coach wires were installed above the roadway of Magazine Street to connect the Broadway line to Arabella Station, a little over a mile from Broadway Ave. In this stretch through Audubon Park, the span wires for the TC overhead were used to support the upbound streetcar overhead as well. A very close look (for example, at the pictures of cars 916 and 954) reveals a glimpse of the TC wires above the roadway.
After trolley coaches took over operation of the Magazine line, the street was widened in this area to absorb the streetcar right-of-way, and a narrow neutral ground was even created to separate the upbound and downbound roadways.
Arabella Station was one of the three largest and most important car barns operated by New Orleans Public Service Inc. (the others being Canal and Poland Stations). It was built in the 1880s by the Crescent City RR to house its then-new Coliseum line. The station was located along Magazine Street between Arabella and Joseph Streets. There was a large building in the block between Magazine and Constance Streets, with an open car storage yard in the next square block between Constance and Patton Streets. Arabella housed most of the uptown streetcar lines, until the Magazine line and Arabella with it were converted to trolley coaches and the rails were removed in 1948. Trolley coaches were replaced with diesel buses between 1963 and 1967. About 2002, Arabella was closed, and all bus lines were housed at Canal Station. The closed car barn was renovated for a second career as a Whole Foods store, opening in 2002. Renovated again after Hurricane Katrina, it was reopened Feb. 1, 2006, and survives in this form today.
The original Napoleon line was a branch of the New Orleans & Carrollton RR, started as a horsecar line February 4, 1850. It ran from St. Charles Ave. to Tchoupitoulas Street. When electrified on February 10, 1893, it was extended down St. Charles along the route of the St. Charles line to the terminal in Baronne Street at Canal. From January 30, 1896 to the end of 1902, it ran in on Canal to the loop at the foot of Canal Street.
Another Napoleon line was opened January 1, 1903 running from St. Charles Ave. out Napoleon to Broad to Washington, running out Washington to Carrollton on tracks between the roadway and the Seventeenth Street Canal, down Carrollton to Shell Road (Ponchartrain Blvd.), then out tracks on the west side of that road, ending at Metairie Road. This line was known as the Royal Blue line, from the background color of its stained glass clerestory route signs. In 1906, the original Napoleon line was absorbed into the Royal Blue line, which then operated the length of Napoleon Ave. from Tchoupitoulas to Broad. In 1915, it was extended at the outer end along Metairie Road into Jefferson Parish, on side-of-the-road single track with passing sidings, resulting in a 16.8 mile line.
The Napoleon line was shortened bit by bit, giving up the Metairie Road part of the route to buses December 27, 1934. It was cut back further to Washington and Carrollton July 5, 1937, and again on November 17, 1940 to Broad and Washington. This left a crosstown line running on Napoleon Ave. from Tchoupitoulas to Broad, ending at Broad and Washington.
Napoleon was one of the last four streetcar lines in New Orleans. Buses were substituted February 18, 1953.
Picture 8-1. | |
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This view looks north (by the compass) from a point a little north of
Carrollton Avenue. The New Basin Canal is at the far right, with a
railroad bridge across it. The road between the canal and the Royal Blue
streetcar right-of-way was originally called the Shell Road, and was later
called Pontchartrain Blvd. Crossing arms can be seen at the point
that the railroad crosses the canal, the roadway, and the streetcar
line. There is a line of trees in the distance, which was between the
roadway and the streetcar line. Beyond the curve seen here, the canal,
the road, and the streetcar line ran straight all the way to Metairie Road,
just over a mile away.
Note the pole in the foreground with a sign “Cars do not stop here.”
The railroad line was built by the Louisiana Railway & Navigation Co. in 1907. That road was absorbed into the Louisiana & Arkansas Ry. in 1929, and the L&A was merged into the Kansas City Southern in 1950, which dates this picture to 1929 at the earliest. This streetcar trackage was abandoned July 5, 1937. Today, the overpass connecting Tulane Ave. and Airline Highway occupies part of this view. — Collection of Maunsel White |
Picture 8-2. | |
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Long before this picture of car 969 was taken on March 18, 1949, the Napoleon line had been cut back to this point at Broad and Washington. In this picture, the car has changed ends in preparation for its next inbound trip, and the conductor is loading passengers from what is now the left front door. |
Picture 8-3. | |
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Car 952 has changed ends and is awaiting departure time from the Broad and Washington terminal. The motorman is looking out the first window toward the photographer, and the conductor taking his ease is visible through the third window — at least, his elbow is. Originally, there was double track here, which turned left and continued out Washington on side-of-the-road trackage. — Collection of Earl Hampton |
Picture 8-3.5. | |
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Car 910, operating as run number 4, is also awaiting departure time at the Broad and Washington terminal, seen here from the other side of the car compared to the previous picture. The date is probably some time in the late 1940s. Notice the dent in the side of the car below the third window, where car 910 apparently had an argument with some other vehicle — which probably came off second best to the streetcar. The drug store in the right background advertises, among other things, sodas — an offering lost to drug stores now. |
Picture 8-4. | |
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Some time in the last few years of the Napoleon line, car 896 awaits departure time for its next trip toward the river. The car is on Broad at Washington. It displays run number 3: at this time, Napoleon was the shortest streeetcar line in New Orleans, and only a few cars would have been assigned to the line. |
Picture 8-5. | |
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Judging by the automobiles, this picture featuring car 958 was taken some time in the 1940s. The car has just cleared S. Claiborne Ave. riverbound. A bit of the Beacon Restaurant on S. Claiborne can be made out to the right of the streetcar. Napoleon Ave. was, and remains, a wide beautiful street with a broad neutral ground eminently suitable for a streetcar line. Thanks to Richard Sharp for identifying the location. |
Picture 8-6. | |
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Car 962, somewhere on Napoleon Ave., around 1952, not long before the streetcars gave way to diesel buses. We have a good look at the neutral ground right-of-way along this avenue. |
Picture 8-7. | |
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Near the river end of the line, car 937 and another 900-class car meet on Napoleon Ave. at the Magazine St. intersection in this June 10, 1947 picture. The photographer is facing away from the river. The streetcars are on the wide, grassy neutral ground. Note the roadways for other vehicles at left and right. The track curves in the foreground provide connections for Napoleon cars to travel to and from the car barn at Arabella Station (see Group 5). There appear to be some “extra” uniformed NOPSI personnel in front of the streetcars; perhaps the shift is changing. The church steeple in the background belongs to St. Stephen's Church. In recent years, this parish has been combined with others, and it is now Good Shepherd church. — Fred Victor DuBrutz photo |
Pictures 8-7.5 and 8-7.6. | |
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These two pictures seem to have been taken a few seconds apart as car 943 approaches Annunciation Street on Napoleon Avenue, near the river end of the line at Tchoupitoulas Street, March 18, 1949. |
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Picture 8-8. | |
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Car 956 waits for passengers on Napoleon Avenue. — Joseph Russo photograph |
Pictures 8-9 and 8-10. | |
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We are at the Tchoupitoulas Street terminal of the Napoleon line. Cars 953 (in April 1951) and 966 (on March 18, 1950) have just pulled up to the terminal and discharged their last inbound passengers. The conductors are already loading waiting outbound passengers. The motormen, unseen here, are busy reversing the ends of the car: reversing the seats, putting up the trolley pole at this end of the car, and pulling down the pole at the other end. Note the fellow with his brown-bag lunch preparing to board car 966. The track continued to our right across Tchoupitoulas Street, connecting into Napoleon Material Yard. — Otto Goessl photo (lower) |
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Picture 8-11. | |
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We see car 967, also at the end of the Napoleon line at Tchoupitoulas Street, but the photographer is at the other end of the car compared to the previous photos. The date is April 1951. There is a curving trolley wire behind the car, leading into the track on Tchoupitoulas that connects into Napoleon Yard. |
Picture 8-12. | |
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Here is a St. Charles car crossing Napoleon Ave. in July 1953, just a few months after Napoleon streetcars were replaced by buses. The tracks on Napoleon Ave. have mostly been removed, including the crossing of the St. Charles line at this point, but the rails crossing the roadway of St. Charles Ave. can still be seen. They were removed within a year or two. |
Pictures 9-1 through 9-7. | |
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In the author's considered opinion, the South Claiborne line was the most
beautiful line in the City. These first pictures are submitted in support of that
view. At 191 feet wide, this avenue was even wider than famed Canal Street.
For at least part of its length, the median was occupied by a large drainage canal, an
important component of the city's drainage system. (Today, the canal has been
covered over, but in streetcar days, part of it was open.) The beautiful part of
Claiborne Ave. had a broad, grassy, landscaped neutral ground, with a streetcar track
at each edge of the neutral ground, as seen here.
The top picture shows car 921 passing azaleas and palmettoes somewhere along S. Claiborne Avenue in 1948. The second picture is from Feb. 12, 1950 and shows car 956 followed by 972 downbound at State Street. The third photo, dated March 11, 1950, looks across the wide neutral ground from the other track toward car 959, stopped to discharge a passenger, perhaps the suited gentleman seen walking around the trailing end of the car. The date and location of the fourth picture, also featuring car 959, are unknown, but it was probably taken in the late 1940s. The fifth picture, looking at car 874, probably dates from the early 1950s. The sixth photo features cars 874 upbound at left, and 948 downbound at the right, some time in the last few years of the line. Buildings of the Baptist hospital can be seen in the background. The photographer is probably somewhere near Soniat Street. There is an unusual car stop sign in the left foreground. The seventh photograph, with car 972 somewhere along S. Claiborne Ave., is dated Jan. 7, 1951. Note the narrow roadway for automobile traffic. This ultimately proved fatal to the line, since the only way to widen the automobile lanes necessarily involved either rebuilding the streetcar tracks further to the center of the neutral ground, or removing them altogether. — Otto Goessl photo (second picture); Fred Victor DuBrutz photo (third picture); D. R. Toye, S. J., Kenner Train Shop (Chris Rodriguez) collection, courtesy of Mike Palmieri (fourth picture); F. J. Bechtel (seventh picture) |
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Pictures 9-8, 9-9, and 9-10. | |
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These unusual photos show cars 952, run no. 5, 948, run no. 6, and 961, run no. 7, heading the wrong way on the track, on S. Claiborne near Versailles Blvd., February 12, 1950. The man in full uniform in front of car 948, and in the window of 961, appears to be a supervisor giving instructions to the motormen of the cars. The cars may be extra runs assigned for an expected crowd. Whatever the reason, the cars are being turned back, and are about to switch across the neutral ground to the opposite track. There were several crossovers along the line for just this purpose. — Otto Goessl photos |
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Pictures 9-11 and 9-12. | |
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Three extra cars, 942 followed by 948 and a third car, are lined up on the crossover track on S. Claiborne at Versailles Blvd., awaiting the crowds that will be leaving Sugar Bowl Stadium on October 14, 1950 at the end of the football game between Tulane and Notre Dame. Parked like this on the long crossover, they are out of the way of regular S. Claiborne cars, but when passengers have boarded, they can pull out onto the main line in either direction. Meanwhile, the car men are gathered at the left edge of the lower photo for a bull session. — Otto Goessl photos |
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Picture 9-12.5. | |
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Here is car 957 on a storage track in Napoleon Yard on January 2, 1950,
after working a football special serving Sugar Bowl Stadium for the New Year's
Day game between the second ranked Oklahoma Sooners and the ninth ranked
LSU Tigers. (The Sooners won, 35-0.) Note the "Football"
destination sign over the near front window of the 957.
For related photos, see Pictures 17-11 and 17-12. |
Picture 9-13. | |
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The uptown end of the S. Claiborne line was at the unusual
intersection of S. Claiborne and S. Carrollton Avenues. Probably only in
New Orleans would two major avenues both designated “South” intersect each
other. It happens because, while both cross Canal Street (the dividing
line between “South” and “North”), Carrollton runs in a completely straight
line, while Claiborne bends to follow the crescent of the Mississippi River.
At the terminal, the upbound track curved across the neutral ground, connecting
to the downbound track in a single-track stub terminal, which continued in a
curve to connect to the tracks on Carrollton for access to the car barn at
Carrollton Station. (It seems surprising that the track didn't simply
curve back on itself to form a loop rather than a stub terminal. There
was certainly plenty of room.)
Car 947 is at the end of a line of cars waiting their turns to pull forward into the stub terminal, change ends, and load downbound passengers for their next trips to Canal Street. |
Pictures 9-14 through 9-18. | |
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The first two pictures here show cars 964 and 956 just after they have completed their upbound runs and discharged their last passengers. The cars are stopped on the curve, with the upbound automobile roadway glimpsed behind the car. All five pictures are undated, but the automobile in the upper photo suggests an early 1950s date; the others are probably late 1940s or early 1950s. Car 956 sports an unusual Canal St. destination sign. — Lawrence Boehning (second picture) The third picture shows car 961, just a bit forward of the location of 964 and 956 in the first two pictures. The track glimpsed across the bottom of the picture is the downbound track. — D. R. Toye, S. J., Kenner Train Shop (Chris Rodriguez) collection, courtesy of Mike Palmieri The fourth and fifth pictures show cars 960 and 946 on the upbound track, approaching the switch connecting to the downbound track. In the fifth picture, car 964 at our right has already changed ends and pulled forward to the point from which passengers are loaded for the next trip downbound. — Collection of Earl Hampton (fifth picture) Notice the landscaping on the neutral ground. |
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Picture 9-19. | |
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We see car 969 looking in the opposite direction from the previous pictures. The car will pull forward (to our left) when its turn comes. Notice the recently replaced and repainted panel in the door. — Bruce Roy photograph |
Pictures 9-20 through 9-24. | |
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These pictures show S. Claiborne cars in the stub track at
the very end of the line. Cars pulled up here to change ends and load
passengers for the return trip down to Canal Street. Changing ends means
that the trolley poles are changed (the raised pole must always trail the car)
and the seats are reversed, and the motorman and conductor swap positions in
the car, thus reversing the direction of travel for the next run.
In the first picture, taken January 29, 1948, car 924 has passed over the switch and is still facing upbound. The car is now facing the curve connecting to the S. Carrollton tracks, from which it could proceed to Carrollton Station, though it will probably reverse and make another trip to Canal Street. At the far left, we can see across S. Carrollton Avenue to a passenger shelter for the bus lines that carried passengers further upriver. — Elliott Kahn photo, collection of J. G. Lachaussee The second picture depicts car 965 after it has pulled into the stub track and changed ends. The motorman is completing the process by hooking down what is now the front trolley pole. A couple of boys have taken the coveted spot in the right front window, from which to enjoy the ride downtown; one is wearing a Boy Scout hat. The date is probably around 1940. — Joseph P. Russo photograph The third picture, from the late 1940s, shows car 969 after it had pulled into the stub terminal and changed ends, ready to depart on its next trip. — D. R. Toye, S. J., Kenner Train Shop (Chris Rodriguez) collection, courtesy of Mike Palmieri The fourth picture shows car 926 on July 13, 1941, and the fifth picture, taken March 14, 1949, shows car 959. Both cars are facing downbound, after having pulled into the stub, changed ends, and then pulled forward to load passengers. Car 926 has just started loading, and car 959 has completed loading and closed its doors, ready to depart downbound. At the far right edge of the fourth picture, one can see the pole and crossarms for the trolley wires on S. Carrollton Ave. |
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Pictures 9-25 and 9-26. | |
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In the upper picture, car 877 has passed over the switch
and is still facing upbound. The car is now facing the curve connecting
to the S. Carrollton tracks.
The activity visible in the foreground appears to be the construction of the
terminal for the bus line which replaced the streetcar line in early 1953.
That would date the picture to late 1952. Note the Katz & Besthoff drug store
on the corner, visible behind the streetcar. This was a long time New
Orleans chain store, well known in the city and surrounding area. This
store building included doctors' offices on the second floor.
The lower photo, dated December 30, 1951, features car 800 on a rainy day at the stub terminal, waiting to load more passengers until departure time. The motorman is taking a break, standing on the front steps of the car. During the 1940s, cars 800 and 877 would not usually have been assigned to S. Claiborne service. This would be more likely toward the end of streetcar service on S. Claiborne. |
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Picture 9-27. | |
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This is a diagram of the trackage at the intersection of S. Claiborne with S. Carrollton. It is not drawn to scale, but is intended to suggest the general layout. Tracks are shown as black lines, street and neutral ground curbs as green lines. The tracks shown in blue were added about August 1952. This is the configuration of crossovers usually found in reports of the period (1940s), although the author has seen at least one such report with a crossover on S. Carrollton near what would be the bottom edge of this diagram. While such a crossover would make travel from Carrollton Station to S. Claiborne more convenient than this diagram shows, other reports do not confirm it. Carrollton Station is off the bottom edge of this diagram, some blocks away. Assuming this diagram is accurate as to the position of the crossovers, travel from Carrollton Station to S. Claiborne must have involved going across Claiborne to the crossover on Carrollton, switching back and crossing Claiborne again, then changing ends and taking the broad curve into Claiborne. (Return to the station would of course have been much simpler.) In wondering why such a track layout would have been tolerated, it should be remembered that in earlier days, the S. Claiborne line was housed at Arabella Station, and the connecting curve between Carrollton and Claiborne would have been used only rarely. By the time Arabella was stripped of its rails (1948), it was clear that the assignment of S. Claiborne cars to Carrollton Station would last only for a few years. It should also be noted that in August 1952, the St. Charles line was cut back to this intersection, and a new double scissors crossover, still in use today, was installed on S. Carrollton as shown in blue. That would have made the connection from Carrollton Station to the S. Claiborne line more convenient, but S. Claiborne had then less than six months to survive as a streetcar line. |
Pictures 9-28 and 9-29. | |
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These two 1948 views of the line show the neutral ground in nearby areas of the covered canal (upper picture) and uncovered canal (lower picture). Recent research by "Streetcar Mike" Strauch suggests that the cover ended and the area of open canal began around Fourth and Third Streets. He has also determined that the Gallo Theater, seen in the background of the lower photo, was located at 2212 S. Claiborne, which is between Jackson Ave. and Philip St. We have glimpses of a railroad track between the streetcar track and the automobile roadway. (We know it's not another streetcar track, because it has no trolley wire.) My thanks to Mike Strauch for his research on this and several other photos in this section. — Walter Broschart photos |
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Pictures 9-30 and 9-31. | |
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Two views of car 958 upbound near Third Street along the open canal. The upper picture dates from 1948, the lower from the following year. There is a school zone sign in the upper photo, near what is now the Harney Elementary School. We see bridges across the canal at Third and Fourth Streets. The railroad track, on the lake side of the canal, is again glimpsed. There are big crowds on the cars. — Walter Broschart photos |
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Picture 9-32. | |
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Car 972 is loading and discharging passengers around Washington Ave. in this 1948 scene. We have a good view of the railroad spur glimpsed in the previous pictures. — Walter Broschart photo |
Picture 9-33. | |
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Here is car 952 downbound somewhere above Jackson Ave. along the open canal, seen from across the canal in 1948. — Walter Broschart photo |
Pictures 9-34 and 9-35. | |
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These two photos feature car 963 in 1949, looking across the canal. The upper is probably near Philip Street, one block above Jackson Avenue; the lower is at Jackson. The Gallo Theater, at the left in the lower picture, was at 2122 S. Claiborne, near Jackson. — Walter Broschart photos |
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Picture 9-36. | |
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The portion of the S. Claiborne line that was not on S. Claiborne Ave. was mostly street running, inherited from the earlier Clio line. After leaving S. Claiborne Ave., downbound cars followed Erato St. to Carondelet, which they took to Canal Street. They made the loop that St. Charles streetcars still take, from Carondelet to Canal to St. Charles and back to Howard Ave. at Lee Circle, then went out Howard to S. Rampart Street and up to Clio to return to S. Claiborne Ave. Except on Howard and Canal, this was all street running. In this 1949 photo, we see car 954 downbound/inbound on Erato, just passing Magnolia Street. The curve in the foreground was the connection from Magnolia to Erato for downbound Clio cars, until that line was discontinued in 1932. The car is quite crowded, with some passengers forced to stand on the rear platform. — Walter Broschart photo |
Picture 9-37. | |
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Car 952 is on Carondelet Street about at Calliope Street, heading downbound/inbound toward Howard Avenue and Canal Street. The Dodge automobile in the traffic lane next to the streetcar, with the distinctive cross-hatch grill, is a late 1940s model. |
Picture 9-38. | |
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This Nov. 1, 1951 picture shows car 969 on Carondelet, just about to cross Howard on its way to Canal Street. The car is using the right-hand trolley wire of the Freret trolley coach line; in fact, there are double trolley coach wires visible in this picture. |
Picture 9-39. | |
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It is September 1951, and S. Claiborne streetcar 957 has paused for passengers on Carondelet Street at Canal, with a Freret trolley coach behind it. Another streetcar follows, about a block away at Common Street; it is probably on the St. Charles line. The streetcars use the right hand wire of the two-wire trolley coach overhead. There is an automatic switch in the overhead wire ahead of the car, so that when it moves forward, its trolley pole will follow the track onto the Canal Street neutral ground; the double poles of the trolley coach activate the automatic switch such that they will follow the coach into the roadway. |
Pictures 9-40 through 9-43. | |
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S. Claiborne cars came down Carondelet to Canal, then turned into the outer track on Canal Street, ran one block to St. Charles Street, then turned up St. Charles to begin their upbound runs. These four June 10, 1947 pictures show S. Claiborne cars on Canal Street at St. Charles, loading passengers before turning up St. Charles Street. The upper picture features car 928 loading passengers, and Cemeteries car 820 at the left on the inner riverbound track. In the second picture, car 909 has paused on the outer track, and is ready to turn right into St. Charles Street for the trip to Howard Ave. The third photo features car 920 from the opposite direction, waiting to make the turn. At the left we see two White buses, the first signed Freret, the second displaying a Bus Garage sign. In the background there is a Desire or Gentilly car turning into Bourbon St. The car at the right is either a 400 on Tulane, or an 800 on Cemeteries or West End. The bottom picture shows car 924, as the motorman looks back into his car at his passengers. The woman at the right is dressed up, in suit, hat, and gloves, as any lady would do when going shopping “at Canal Street.” She is waiting for the streetcar to pass in front of her on the inner riverbound track. — Fred Victor DuBrutz photos |
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Pictures 9-44 and 9-45. | |
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After leaving Canal Street, S. Claiborne cars followed St. Charles Street
to Howard Ave. at Lee Circle, then took Howard to S. Rampart Street.
(For some years in the 1920s, the line used Julia Street rather than Howard from
St. Charles to S. Rampart.) The upper photo follows car 953 at it leaves
Canal Street and begins its run up St. Charles Street, about 1952.
The lower photo shows a 1949 view of S. Claiborne car 957 upbound/outbound
on St. Charles near Perdido Street. — Walter Broschart photo (lower photo)
Older roll signs on the cars listed both N. Claiborne and S. Claiborne route selections. Later, long after closure of the N. Claiborne line, some cars on S. Claiborne displayed route signs saying simply Claiborne, with a blank space where the S should have been, such as car 964 in Picture 9-14. It seems likely that those rolls were wearing out, and the N had been blacked out on the less-used N. Claiborne sign. Still other roll signs showed Claiborne, with no blank space, such as car 953 here; these were probably newer, replacement rolls. |
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Pictures 9-46 and 9-47. | |
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These two S. Claiborne cars are upbound on Howard Ave., on their way to S. Rampart and then to Clio Street. Lee Circle is visible at the right edge of both pictures, although in the upper photo, the statue of the general is out of sight. At the top, car 956 has just turned in from St. Charles Street. The date is January 7, 1951. In the lower picture, car 971 has just crossed Baronne Street, about 1950. Baronne Street itself is out of sight to the left. The other street coming in at an angle at the left is St. Joseph Street. Freret trolley coach 1273 can be glimpsed behind car 971. Like the streetcar, it has also come up St. Charles Street, on its way to Dryades Street on its upbound run. Note the white-painted wooden Car Stop sign, and what appears to be a gravel passenger loading platform at the car stop. The car is not stopping, however, as the motorman's hands show that car 971 is accelerating. — Collections of William Nixon (upper) and of the author (lower) |
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Picture 9-48. | |
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S. Claiborne car 964 is stopped on Howard Avenue, upbound, just past Baronne Street, in about the same position as 971 in the previous picture, but looking in the opposite direction, away from Lee Circle. Just behind the streetcar, trolley coach overhead wire can be glimpsed; this was used by the Freret and Jackson TC lines. The conductor of 964 is seated at his position as a passenger boards and pays his fare. The car appears to be fairly full, with passengers visible at most of the windows. The photo is undated, but probably was taken in the late 1940s. |
Picture 9-49. | |
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S. Claiborne car 968 is about to turn left, toward the camera, from Howard Ave. into S. Rampart St., on its upbound/outbound trip, May 28, 1950. A Jackson trolley coach can be seen behind the streetcar, about to turn onto S. Rampart in the other direction, toward Canal Street. The Jackson coach is one of the St. Louis coaches numbered 1222-1321 built in 1947 and 1948. — Otto Goessl photo |
Picture 9-50. | |
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Car 972 has just turned from Howard Avenue, whose neutral ground is seen in the foreground, onto S. Rampart Street, heading for Clio Street. The car is passing in front of the old Union Station, which in just a few years will be replaced by the present-day Union Passenger Terminal. This photo is undated, but was probably taken around 1950. — Collection of Jerry Squier, courtesy of Scott Richards |
Picture 9-51. | |
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Car 952 is in approximately the same location as 972 in the previous picture, but the photographer in this 1949 view is facing in the opposite direction. The car has just turned from Howard Avenue onto S. Rampart Street upbound/outbound toward Clio Street. A downbound/inbound Jackson trolley coach is seen in the background turning toward Canal Street. — Walter Broschart photo |
Picture 9-52. | |
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S. Claiborne car 959 is working its way out to its namesake avenue on trackage inherited from the old Clio line. In this 1949 view, it is passing St. John the Baptist Catholic Church as it turns from S. Rampart Street into Clio Street with a full load of passengers. — Walter Broschart photo |
Picture 9-53. | |
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This is the point at which outbound/upbound S. Claiborne cars finally left street running for the S. Claiborne neutral ground. In this 1952 photo, car 962 is turning from Clio Street into S. Claiborne for the trip up to S. Carrollton Ave. — William T. Harry photo, J. G. Lachausee collection, from web site RRPictureArchives.net |
Pictures 9-54 and 9-55. | |
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In the last few years of the Napoleon and S. Claiborne streetcar lines, their cars were stored at Napoleon Yard, at the foot of Napoleon Ave. on the river side of Tchoupitoulas Street. Here are two photos of cars in that storage yard. The upper, dated September 1, 1950, shows car 954 awaiting its next call to service, amid stacks of ties available for track repair or reconstruction. Note the absent ad on the front dash, and the darker, unweathered paint where the ad would be. The second photo, undated but probably taken around the same time, features car 967 on the Yard storage track. Note the stacks of rails stored next to the track: T rails in the stack closer to the streetcar, girder rails in the stack to our left. Girder rail was typically used for street running and in the paved section of the Canal Street neutral ground, while T rail was typically used for unpaved neutral ground trackage. — Otto Goessl photo (upper), Walter Broschart photo (lower) |
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Picture 9-56. | |
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This is a mystery picture. The notations on the back of the photo state that it was taken on March 18, 1949 as car 960 was leaving Arabella Station. But if the date is correct, the location probably isn't, because Arabella was divested of its rails in 1948, after the Magazine line was converted to bus. Also, the tracks don't seem correct for Magazine Street in front of the Arabella car barn, and if the date is correct, there should be trolley coach wires on Magazine Street. The scene doesn't match the known tracks around Canal Station or Carrollton Station, either. The only other possibility seems to be that these are tracks in Tchoupitoulas Street connecting from Napoleon Avenue into Napoleon Yard. There are today similar houses in the vicinity of Tchoupitoulas and Napoleon. Unfortunately, no map of the tracks around Napoleon Yard is known, so this possibility, though likely, cannot be verified. |
For over 50 years, from Feb. 19, 1900 to Jan. 8, 1951, the St. Charles and Tulane lines operated as belts, with St. Charles being the clockwise side of the loop, and Tulane the counter-clockwise side. Putting it another way, cars leaving Canal Street for St. Charles Ave. were marked St. Charles, and cars leaving Canal Street for Tulane Ave. were marked Tulane. One small difference was that, after the 1929 rebuilding of the Canal Street trackage, Tulane served the loop at the foot of Canal, while St. Charles did not.
When belt operation was established in 1900, St. Charles and Tulane were among the minority of New Orleans routes which were standard gauge. In 1915, the first arch roof motor cars were acquired, the 400-449 class designed by Mr. Perley Thomas and built by Southern Car Co. These cars were standard gauge, and were assigned to the belt lines and Jackson. In 1925, Jackson was converted to wide gauge and rerouted, and 800-900-class cars were assigned to it. In 1929, the belts were converted to wide gauge; the 400-class cars were also converted at this time. These cars then ran on St. Charles and Tulane until their retirement in 1948. By 1945, cars 800-818 were also assigned to St. Charles and Tulane to supplement the fifty cars of the 400 class. After retirement of the 400s, other 800-class cars were assigned to the belt lines, having been made available by the bustitution of other streetcar lines in the City.
Pictures 10-1, 10-2, 10-3, 10-4, 10-4.5, and 10-5. | |
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These Tulane cars were photographed on the outer track
of the layover area at the foot of Canal Street: from top to bottom, cars 813,
800, 814, 442, 800 (again), and 810. The top three pictures were taken
June 10, 1947. Car 837 on the inner track in the top
two pictures is working the Cemeteries line, and 855 is probably on that line
also. There is a Car Stop sign on the light pole at the right.
The third photo neatly lines up cars 814, 906, and 829 (left to right),
probably on the Tulane, Cemeteries, and West End runs, respectively.
— Fred Victor DuBrutz photos
The fourth photo features Tulane car 442 on the outer layover track in December 1945. Car 800 is shown in the fifth picture on October 3, 1949 displaying its windshield wiper, probably the only car in the fleet to be so equipped. At this time, it also had window screens installed on the passenger windows. This was an experiment applied to a number of St. Charles and Tulane cars, intended to protect riders from the trees and shrubs along St. Charles Ave. However, they were unpopular with the riding public, and were removed. — Otto Goessl photo In the sixth picture, taken on the last day of streetcar service on Tulane Avenue, January 7, 1951, we see 16-year-old railfan D. R. Toye, later to be a Jesuit priest, in the front window of car 810, holding up an issue of Trains Magazine.— Otto Goessl photo When the Tulane cars begin their runs, they will switch to the inner track for the trip to Saratoga Street, which they will then follow up to Tulane Ave. Note that the right front and left rear doors of the 400-class cars, such as 442 here, are sliding doors, but on the 800-class cars, they are folding doors, the same as the other doors. |
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Pictures 10-6, 10-7, and 10-8. | |
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These pictures all look out from the corner of St. Charles/Royal and Canal Streets on June 10, 1947. The Tulane Belt cars have just arrived at Canal Street from Carondelet, one block behind, and switched to the inner track for the trip to the loop at the foot of Canal. In the top picture, car 406 is discharging a lady passenger at the front door. To the left, we have a rare glimpse of a White bus on the Freret line. Freret had been converted from streetcars to buses temporarily on Dec. 1, 1946, while trolley coach wires were built for its reconversion to TCs on Sept. 3, 1947. The middle picture features Tulane car 802 and another 800-class car outbound on the Cemeteries or West End line. The bottom picture shows the motorman of car 807 intent on his departing passengers. Notice the light but mostly not-casual summer dress of the shoppers in these pictures. — Fred Victor DuBrutz photos |
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Pictures 10-9 through 10-13. | |
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These June 10, 1947 pictures show St. Charles Belt cars at the University Place intersection with Canal Street, on the outer track. Since March, St. Charles cars have approached Canal from Tulane Ave. via S. Liberty Street. They will continue one more block on Canal and then turn into Baronne St. for the trip up to Howard Ave., which they will then follow to Lee Circle and St. Charles Ave. The top picture features car 435 at the left, with a glimpse of another 400-class car on the Tulane Belt at the right behind the elegant hat of the suited gentleman. In the second picture, the motorman is ready to take car 403 across the intersection, while in the distance, two other cars proceed along the inner tracks. We see car 440 in the third picture, along with cars in the distance on the inner tracks. The fourth picture stars car 443, with Tulane Belt car 808 outbound at the right, and Cemeteries or West End car 826 inbound in the middle. The bottom picture shows car 878 working the St. Charles Belt, apparently a tripper run out of Canal Station, while car 822 is inbound on the West End line. — Fred Victor DuBrutz photos |
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Picture 10-14. | |
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Canal Street is busy with shoppers on this bright day in May 1949. The motorman of car 806 is watching carefully as some of his passengers alight from his St. Charles Belt car at Baronne Street. The car will turn right up Baronne to Howard Avenue on its way uptown via St. Charles Avenue. There is a Jackson trolley coach in the background, about a block away; it will also turn up Baronne Street. |
Picture 10-14.5. | |
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St. Charles Belt car 805 is making its way along Baronne Street from Canal to Howard Avenue, and is coming to Gravier Street, followed closely by a Jackson trolley coach, January 7, 1951. This is the last day of streetcar service on Tulane Avenue, and thus the last day for Belt Line service. That also makes it the last day for regular revenue streetcar operation on Baronne Street, historically the corridor for St. Charles service since the beginning of the New Orleans and Carrollton RR in 1835. |
Pictures 10-15, 10-15.5, 10-16, and 10-17. | |
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In April 1946, Tulane Belt car 813 is outbound from Canal Street to Tulane Ave. via Loyola Street (now named Saratoga) ready to turn right into Tulane. In the second picture, Tulane Belt car 806 is outbound on Tulane Ave. at S. Liberty St., having just turned in to Tulane Ave. one block back, December 8, 1950. In the third photo, Tulane Belt car 801 is outbound at S. Prieur St., the same day. The fourth picture features St. Charles Belt car 818 inbound on Tulane Ave. at S. Tonti St., January 25, 1950. The building behind car 818 still stands in 2020. The buildings in the second and third pictures have long since been replaced, including the steepled church. — Otto Goessl photos (second, third, and fourth photos) |
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Pictures 10-18 and 10-19. | |
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The neutral ground on Tulane Ave. was none too wide for the car line. Here are two views of Tulane Ave., just out from S. Broad St. on June 10, 1947. The building at the left is the Criminal Courts Building. Notice how the span wires are mounted to poles near the outer curbs of the street, rather than on poles mounted on the neutral ground, as was the practice on wider streets such as St. Charles, Carrollton, and Canal. When Tulane Ave. was converted to buses and trolley coaches, and the rails removed, the neutral ground was reduced to nothing more than a narrow strip separating the inbound and outbound roadways. The upper picture shows the conductor's back as he leans against the window of car 441. The lower picture features car 813 as the conductor and some of the passengers look back wondering what that silly photographer is up to. — Fred Victor DuBrutz photos |
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Picture 10-20. | |
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Tulane Belt car 830 is stopped for passengers, outbound on Tulane Ave. At the right, a waiting rider leans out looking for a St. Charles Belt car to take her toward Canal Street. Screens were used on the windows of some 800s around the period 1948 to 1951 on cars assigned to the Tulane and St. Charles Belt lines. They were intended to protect riders from shrubs on the St. Charles Ave. neutral ground, but they were unpopular, and were removed. The window posts of car 830 here show the mounting studs from the screens after their removal. — Collection of William Nixon |
Pictures 10-21 through 10-25. | |
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Here are five pictures of St. Charles Belt cars inbound toward Canal Street on Tulane Ave. at S. Broad St., the top four all taken June 10, 1947. In the top picture, car 857 is displaying a Car House sign, which indicates that this is its last trip for the day. From the car number, we know that this car was operated out of Canal Station, even though most St. Charles and Tulane Belt cars operated out of Carrollton Station car barn. If this is correct, the car will probably turn left at S. Dorgenois Street, one block ahead, to proceed over to Canal Street and the Canal Station car barn. The second picture features car 431 stopped for the traffic light at S. Broad St. In the third picture, car 400 is loading passengers at the same car stop. Note the unusual Car Stop sign seen in this picture. The fourth picture, featuring car 434, is also at S. Broad St., but facing in the opposite direction from the other three photos. Note again how close the tracks are to each other, and how narrow the neutral ground is compared to St. Charles Ave. or Carrollton Ave. The bottom photo shows a side view of car 440, with the Criminal Courts Building in the background. — Fred Victor DuBrutz photos (top four) |
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Picture 10-26. | |
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This scene is on Tulane Avenue at S. Dorgenois Street. We see St. Charles Belt car 412 inbound on Tulane Avenue. At the left, an 800-class car coming from Canal Station is turning from Dorgenois into Tulane to begin a run toward Carrollton Avenue on the Tulane Belt line. The date is April 7, 1948. — New Orleans Public Library collection |
Picture 10-27. | |
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Car 825 is on Tulane Ave. near S. Carrollton Ave. on the first day of 1951. Streetcar operation on Tulane Ave. will end in about a week. — Otto Goessl photo |
Picture 10-27.5. | |
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Tulane car 445, as run number 3, carrying a pretty full load of passengers, is on Tulane Avenue, turning into S. Carrollton to head for the river and St. Charles Avenue. Note the remnant third rail in the curve just ahead of the streetcar, left over from standard gauge days. This photo is not dated, but was probably taken between 1945 and 1948. |
Pictures 10-28 and 10-29. | |
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In the upper photo, car 832 is about ready to leave Carrollton Station as run X3 on the Tulane Belt line for service to the New Orleans Pelicans baseball park on S. Carrollton just off Tulane Avenue, May 5, 1949. There were sidings on S. Carrollton at the ball park where extra-run cars could lay over during a ball game to quickly service crowds at game's end. The shadows suggest a time around noon, so the car is probably intended to make a trip to Canal Street then out Tulane Avenue to the ball park for an afternoon game, then to lay over until game end and take a crowd of fans home down S. Carrollton and St. Charles Avenues. The lower photo features car 864 serving Tulane Belt, paused at Pelican Stadium just after turning onto S. Carrollton from Tulane Ave., Decmber 8, 1950. But it's probably not on a ball park extra run; December seems the wrong time of year. — Otto Goessl photos |
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Picture 10-30. | |
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Between Pelican Stadium and the New Basin Canal, near Julia St., the Belt Lines crossed the main line of the Louisiana & Arkansas, which merged into the Kansas City Southern in 1950. (See Picture 8-0 for a view of the bridge on which the L&A crossed the New Basin Canal.) This photo shows car 817 on the Tulane Belt at the KCS crossing on December 8, 1950. — Otto Goessl photo |
Pictures 10-31. 10-31.5, and 10-32. | |
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The Belt Lines crossed the Illinois Central main line along S. Carrollton Ave. near Edinburgh St. The top photo shows car 866 paused at the crossing. The other two photos look along the IC line toward Carrollton Ave. from opposite sides. The middle picture features car 880 negotiating the crossing, with a waiting shelter for IC passenger trains at the left. The bottom photo shows Belt Line car 825 crossing the IC track. All three photos were taken December 8. 1950. — Otto Goessl photos |
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Pictures 10-33 and 10-34. | |
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Tulane Belt cars along S. Carrollton Avenue heading toward the river and St. Charles Avenue. The top photo features car 830 at Nelson St., one block before coming to S. Claiborne, December 8, 1950. The second picture shows car 859 at Sycamore St., in front of Palmer Park, January 7, 1951, the last day of Tulane streetcar service. — Otto Goessl photos |
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Pictures 10-35 and 10-35.5. | |
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Two Tulane Belt cars riverbound on S. Carrollton Ave. at the carbarn lead into Jeanette Street, eight years apart. The top picture features car 401 passing the curve into Jeanette on August 29, 1942. In the second photo, car 857 is dropping off a passenger some time in 1950. Note the white wooden car stop post with its pyramidal peak in the second picture. We have a glimpse of the extra rail for standard gauge operation, obsolete since 1929. The scene today is much the same, with the notable exception that the car is signed St. Charles rather than Tulane. |
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Picture 10-36. | |
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Two Belt Line cars pass along S. Carrollton at Oak Street, March 18, 1949. Tulane car 827 is heading toward the river; St. Charles car 848 is bound for Tulane Avenue. |
Picture 10-37. | |
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St. Charles Belt car 404 is stopped at Broadway upbound on St. Charles Avenue in this 1948 photograph. |
Picture 10-38. | |
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Tulane Belt car 832 rounds the curve from Lee Circle to Howard Ave. on its way downtown, probably around 1950. It will turn into Carondelet Street, one block ahead, just as St. Charles cars still do today. In the distance, we can see a St. Charles Belt car approaching on Howard Ave., after having turned in from Baronne Street. The St. Charles car will take the curve in the left foreground to Lee Circle, going around to St. Charles Ave. for its trip uptown. |
Picture 10-38.5. | |
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This view shows Howard Avenue from Lee Circle looking away from the river, March 19, 1949. Approaching on the left is an 800-series car on the St. Charles Belt line; it has just turned in from Baronne Street. Next to that car is another 800-class car on the Tulane Belt line, heading away from the camera to turn right at the next intersection, Carondelet Street, to go to Canal Street. A bit further to our right is an outbound Freret trolley coach, just crossing Carondelet. |
Picture 10-39. | |
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Car 817 on the Tulane Belt is on Howard Ave. at Carondelet St., about to turn right for the trip to Canal St. This photograph is not dated, but we have a glimpse of the Freret trolley coach overhead wire on Carondelet, so this must date to the period 1947 to the end of 1950. The streetcar will wait to turn right for the red light to stop the automobile traffic on Howard. |
Pictures 10-40 and 10-41. | |
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During World War II, NOPSI painted car 832 in this patriotic livery advertising the sale of war bonds. The car moved around the entire system, and from time to time, the message on its side was changed slightly. We see it in the upper view, probably the earlier of these two photos, signed for the Tulane Belt on the ladder track in Jeanette Street at Carrollton Station. In the lower photo, at the same location in April 1943, the car sides carry a different war bonds message. The car is signed Special and Car House, and is probably fresh out of the paint shop. — D. R. Toye, S. J., Kenner Train Shop (Chris Rodriguez) collection, courtesy of Mike Palmieri (top photo) |
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Beginning January 8, 1951, streetcar service on Tulane Avenue was converted to bus, and the St. Charles streetcar and Tulane bus lines became separate operations. The long-term plan, which was eventually implemented, was to operate trolley buses out Tulane to Carrollton, ending at Carrollton and Claiborne, with streetcars continuing on St. Charles and out Carrollton to Claiborne. But until completion of an underpass on Carrollton where the New Basin Canal had been (for the railroads and, eventually, the interstate highway), NOPSI operated diesel buses on Tulane, turning back at Carrollton, and operated the St. Charles streetcar all the way out Carrollton to the construction area, ending at Dixon Street. After completion of the underpass and stringing of trolley bus overhead wire, the St. Charles streetcar was cut back to its permanent, current terminal at Carrollton and Claiborne.
Poland Station, located at the corner of Poland and St. Claude, was one of the three major car barns (“stations”) in New Orleans, the other two being Canal and Arabella, until it was closed November 25, 1934, presumably as an economy measure. Pictures of Poland immediately after the 1915 hurricane are in Group 14. Pictures of the station before the hurricane, and the rebuilt station afterwards, can be found in Hennick & Charlton, The Streetcars of New Orleans, page 218.
Picture 11-1. | |
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This is the Perley Thomas Car Co. builder's photo of car 1000, the first
of what were the most advanced cars that builder provided to New Orleans.
Cars 1000-1009 were built by Thomas, and cars 1010-1019 were built by St. Louis
Car Co.
According to the notes on the original caption of the picture, an order of 100
cars was placed April 17, 1924, and delivery of the first ten was completed
October 23, 1924. According to Louis Hennick, however, these dates refer
to the 900 series of cars, which was originally planned to include 100 cars,
but in the end actually included 73. Hennick & Charlton's book states
that cars 1000-1019 were ordered in September 1927.
In “Appendix III,” Hennick reports that NOPSI
records show the orders being placed in August 1927, but that the car builder's
records show 1926 dates; no explanation for this discrepancy is known.
The cars were delivered to New Orleans beginning in January 1928.
The 1000s had smaller wheels than their predecessors, the 400s, 800s, and 900s, and thus rode lower to the track. They also had a ramp inside the car instead of a step up from the platforms to the floor of the car body, and they were slightly wider than the earlier cars. They had four motors, instead of two, and so were also somewhat faster. They were initially built as one-man cars, but the city forbade the use of one-man cars, so they were converted for two-man crews, and no more of the type were ordered. |
Pictures 11-2 and 11-2.5. | |
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These posed pictures,taken along City Park Ave. in front of Delgado College reportedly in September 1927, show Perley Thomas car 1001 demonstrating how riders would board and alight from the car in one-man service. The car is signed Special. We see a passenger boarding at the front door and another exiting from the rear door, the opposite of the usual practice in New Orleans at that time. Notice how the doors can be opened on one side only, under control of the motorman. When the city government refused to allow the use of one-man cars, NOPSI eventually reworked cars 1000-1019 for two-man crews, and assigned them to the St. Claude line. |
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Picture 11-3. | |
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Car 1003 at the uptown terminal of the St. Claude line, on N. Rampart St.
at Canal, June 10, 1947. The motorman is changing ends, pulling down the
trolley pole at what will be the front end of the car, prior to beginning the
next outbound run down N. Rampart and St. Claude Ave. to the American Sugar Refinery.
Note the shelter for St. Claude patrons, sticking out into the traffic lanes of
N. Rampart St., a unique feature on Canal Street, but a very handy one with the
frequent rains found in New Orleans. — Fred Victor DuBrutz photo
The entire 20-car fleet of 1000s was usually assigned to the St. Claude line, because it was the only line for which there were enough of these cars to provide base service. Because of their higher speeds, they did not mix well with the somewhat slower cars of the 400, 800, and 900 classes, although 800s were used as necessary for tripper runs on St. Claude. The 1000s were also used in some owl services, where their higher speeds could be utilized effectively. St. Claude was converted to trolley coaches January 1, 1949, and the entire 1000 class was retired and scrapped. |
Picture 11-4. | |
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St. Louis-built car 1013 has just arrived at Canal Street on N. Rampart and discharged its passengers, May 3, 1942. The crew has not yet reversed the trolley poles for the return trip. Note that the shelter, seen in 1947 in the previous and the next pictures, has not yet been built, but the gnarled tree near it is present. The Loew's Theater and its prominent sign are on the far side of Canal Street. |
Picture 11-5. | |
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The conductor of car 1006 is loading passengers at the Canal Street terminal on N. Rampart, June 10, 1947. The photographer's back is to Canal Street, the opposite point of view to the preceding picture. The shadows suggest it is around midday. The car is doing a brisk business! — Fred Victor DuBrutz photo |
Picture 11-6. | |
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Perley Thomas car 1000 is at the St. Claude terminal on N. Rampart at Canal on a rainy day around 1938. Car 872 in the right background is passing on Canal Street, probably on the Cemeteries or West End line. The St. Claude car has changed ends and is ready to begin its downbound (outbound) run to the American Sugar Refinery. Note the roof colors: white or silver, probably to reflect the sun and make the car a bit cooler in summer; and a broad black stripe to hide sparks from the trolley wheel, which otherwise would inevitably stain the light colored roof. This roof treatment was given to at least some cars in all four Perley Thomas car series, the 400s, 800s, 900s, and 1000s, but it did not last long. — Louis C. Hennick collection |
Pictures 11-7 and 11-8. | |
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St. Louis cars 1013, in September 1945, amd 1016, on June 10, 1947, are approaching the uptown terminal of the St. Claude line on N. Rampart at Canal. The photographers are looking down, away from Canal Street, which is at their backs. In front of the cars is the crossover they will use to begin the next downbound (outbound) run. — Fred Victor DuBrutz photo (lower) |
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Pictures 11-9, 11-9.5, 11-10, 11-11, 11-12, and 11-13. | |
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Perley Thomas cars 1000, 1001, 1003, and 1006, and St. Louis cars 1010 and 1016, nearing the St. Claude terminal on N. Rampart at Canal. The cars have just crossed Iberville St., and are within a block of pulling up to the stub end at Canal St. to change ends for their next downbound runs. The photographers are standing on the lake side of Rampart, looking in toward the river. Note the distinctive building in the left background of each picture, the New Orleans Athletic Club. The picture of car 1001 (top picture) is dated October 3, 1943. The second picture is of car 1000, taken in 1947. There are four men in NOPSI uniform; perhaps one crew is relieving another. The third picture, showing car 1010, is dated June 10, 1947. In the picture of car 1003 (fourth picture), dated only about a month later than the third (July 18, 1947), we see construction beyond the car; the building in the right background of the first three pictures has been demolished, and a new building is being put up on the site. The fifth picture, featuring car 1016, is dated November 23, 1947, and shows partially opened front doors as the passengers prepare to alight. The sixth photo shows car 1006, and was taken in January 1948. The construction project is obviously still ongoing. — Fred Victor DuBrutz photo (third picture); Elliott Kahn photo, collection of J. G. Lachaussee (sixth picture) |
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Picture 11-14 and 11-15. | |
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Perley Thomas cars 1005 and 1007 are shown here on N. Rampart St. at Canal St. on June 10, 1947, with the Woolworth building in the background. The two photos were taken by the same photographer, apparently a few minutes apart. In each photo, the car has pulled into the stub terminal and changed ends. The 1005 has both poles up momentarily, while the motorman of the 1007 has pulled down the front pole. The cars are facing downbound (outbound) in readiness for their next trips. — Fred Victor DuBrutz photos |
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Picture 11-16. | |
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Here is the first of the 1000 class cars on the last day of St. Claude streetcar service, December 31, 1948. The car is at the Canal Street terminal on N. Rampart Street, in the process of changing ends for its return trip downbound (outbound); both trolley poles are up momentarily. The photographer is facing away from Canal Street. We have a glimpse of the crossover in the track to our right, which the car will take as it begins its trip. Note the wiper on the center window in the end of the car. Possibly only one or two other cars were so equipped, presumably as an experiment that was not repeated. — Otto Goessl photo |
Picture 11-17. | |
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Perley Thomas car 1002 has just pulled out from the stub terminal, and is beginning its downbound (outbound) run. The motorman of St. Louis Car Co. car 1010 is ready to pull into the stub terminal and change ends for his next downbound run. We are looking down, with Canal St. at the photographer's back, on June 10, 1947. — Fred Victor DuBrutz photo |
Picture 11-18. | |
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The highest numbered car, St. Louis Car Co. car 1019, is seen working the St. Claude line somewhere on N. Rampart St., Oct. 3, 1943. |
Picture 11-19. | |
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Car 879 is serving a tripper run on St. Claude, July 23, 1947, probably somewhere along N. Rampart St. — Fred Victor DuBrutz photo |
Picture 11-20. | |
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St. Claude car 1008 is downbound (outbound) on N. Rampart just a few blocks from Canal Street, December 31, 1948. Mossy Motors Oldsmobile dealership, at the right at 420 N. Rampart, was run by Wiley L. Mossy and his family. — Elliott Kahn photo, collection of J. G. Lachaussee |
Picture 11-21. | |
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A St. Claude passenger exits the front door of car 1019 under the motorman's careful eye, some time in the 1940s. The car is on N. Rampart Street, heading toward Canal Street. Notice the automobile sales at Atomic Motors (241 N. Rampart) and next door at Cathey Chevrolet Co. (317 N. Rampart). |
Picture 11-22. | |
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On the east side of the Industrial Canal, the St. Claude streetcar line left St. Claude Avenue and followed narrower city streets, eventually working its way toward the river and its terminal across the St. Bernard Parish line at the American Sugar Refinery. Here, we see downbound (outbound) tripper car 868 turning from Chartres into Tricou as it works its way to N. Peters at the Mississippi River levee. Note the elderly building in the background, with a sign saying “Catholic Center”.  A part of St. Maurice Parish, it still exists today. — Louis Hennick Collection of The Historic New Orleans Collection |
Picture 11-23. | |
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St. Claude car 1006 is probably traveling N. Peters near the Orleans-St. Bernard Parish line, at a point where the right of way was so narrow that there was only a single track which passed very close to the Mississippi River levee. If that is the levee in the background, the car is heading upbound (inbound) toward Canal Street. |
Pictures 11-24 and 11-25. | |
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In the upper picture, downbound car 1006 is coming off of the short (about two block long) stretch of two-way single track along N. Peters at the levee, as an upbound St. Claude car awaits its turn. The lower photo, featuring upbound car 1001, looks down N. Peters in the opposite direction, toward the terminal at the sugar refinery. — Louis Hennick Collection of The Historic New Orleans Collection (both photos); lower photo by Ken Kidder |
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Picture 11-26. | |
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Perley Thomas-built car 1002 and its follower are on N. Peters and have arrived at the Refinery terminal, which is behind the photographer. They are waiting for their turns to pull up to the end of track and reverse direction for the return trip upbound to Canal Street. Note the close proximity of the River levee at the left. — George Krambles photo, in the Krambles-Peterson Archive, from the Louis Hennick Collection of The Historic New Orleans Collection |
Picture 11-27. | |
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One of the St. Louis-built cars, number 1015, pauses at the stub end terminal of the St. Claude line at the American Sugar Refinery. This view looks downriver, in the direction opposite to the previous picture. |
Pictures 11-28 and 11-29. | |
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In these two photos, we see St. Louis cars 1010 and 1017 working their way out Delery Street on their upbound (inbound) trips to Canal Street. It is May 15, 1940, and WPA workmen are constructing gutters on Delery near the entrance to the Jackson Barracks. — New Orleans Public Library collection |
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Picture 11-30. | |
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We are looking toward the River along Delery Street as Perley Thomas car 1009 approaches and turns into Dauphine Street on its upbound (inbound) trip to Canal Street. A Jackson Barracks building is seen at the left. The wooden building at the right, behind the old black-on-yellow STOP sign, still stands today. — George Krambles photo, in the Krambles-Peterson Archive, from the Louis Hennick Collection of The Historic New Orleans Collection |
Picture 11-31. | |
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St. Louis car 1013 is idle next to car 851 in a car barn yard, probably Canal Station. The frosted glass with the car numbers in the upper sash of the right front windows of both cars suggests a date of 1930s or early 1940s. It is possible that this picture was taken at Poland Station, which closed in 1934. |
Picture 11-32. | |
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St. Louis car 1017 awaits its next run in Canal Station yard, June 10, 1947. — Fred Victor DuBrutz photo |
Picture 11-33. | |
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Perley Thomas car 1001 is sunning in the car barn yard, apparently fresh and only partly dried from a scrubbing down. The question is, which car barn? This might be Canal Station, but if the date is 1934 or earlier, it might be Poland Station, which closed that year. |
Pictures 11-34 and 11-35. | |
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Car 970, alone of the 900 class, had four motors instead of the usual two,
and so was usually assigned to St. Claude service. Hennick & Charlton
describe (pages 151-152) a 1930s experimental installation of four motors on
certain 900 series cars in hopes of improving their performance.
The result of the experiment was the judgment that the expense of so
equipping the entire car fleet did not justify the small improvement in
performance, and so the experimental equipment was removed from the cars.
It is not clear whether car 970 was involved in that experiment, and somehow
retained its four-motor configuration, or whether it was so equipped later
for a reason which is lost to history. However it came to have four motors,
that configuration made it suitable to join the 1000 class cars in St. Claude
line base service.
Here are two photos of car 970 in service on the St. Claude line. In the upper view, taken in January 1948, the car is approaching Canal Street on N. Rampart. The view is similar to that in Picture 11-9 and the next few pictures. The car has not yet discharged its passengers, but is waiting its turn to pull up to the end of the line. In the lower photo, taken June 10, 1947, we see the car at Canal Street, just after it has been pulled up to the stub track and its ends have been reversed. The motorman is just pulling down what will be the front pole, as the conductor, unseen at the other end of the car, is loading what looks like a large crowd waiting to board. Another St. Claude car is behind the 970, and will commence loading as soon as 970 begins its downbound (outbound) trip. Note the passenger shelter at the left; compare to Picture 11-3, above. — Elliott Kahn photo, collection of J. G. Lachaussee (upper); Fred Victor DuBrutz photo (lower) |
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Pictures 11-36, 11-37, and 11-38. | |
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Car 970 was not scrapped with the 1000s when St. Claude was converted to buses on January 1, 1949, but it did not survive much longer. The car was retired after an August 1949 collision with a line car, the first 900 class car to leave the active roster. It was gradually cannibalized for parts until final scrapping in 1952. The top picture of 970 was taken in Canal Station yard. The panel on the front appears to be caved in around the headlight, but the damage does not appear to be particularly extensive. However, since it was the only one of its kind, NOPSI may have had no incentive to putting money into its repair. Note the work car, probably car 29, behind the 970. The far trolley pole of 970 is up, but for some reason, it is off the wire. The second and third photos show 970 from both ends in March 1951 on the third track in Canal Street, in front of Canal Station, awaiting a crew to take it to the scrap yard, probably in Napoleon Yard. The car has already lost some parts, including at least one set of doors. The damage to the front panel is seen in the middle picture. In the bottom picture, car 897 is lined up behind the 970, apparently also on its way to the scrap yard. — Otto Goessl photos |
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Pictures 11-39 through 11-42. | |
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Four views of the right-of-way of the St. Claude line on
August 6, 1950, after streetcar service had been abandoned. The replacement
trolley bus service had a different route than the streetcar on the part of
the line east (downriver) from the Industrial Canal. Where the streetcar
had used tracks in some of the streets between St. Claude Ave. and the river,
the trolley coach stayed on St. Claude Ave. across the parish line between
Orleans Parish and St. Bernard Parish, then ran down to the river on Friscoville
Ave. (returning on Mehle Ave.), terminating at the sugar refinery just as the
streetcar had done. Part of the streetcar line had been on private
right-of-way, where no public street existed.
In the first photo, we are looking downriver in far eastern Orleans Parish, at a point where there is no street. The streetcar track had been almost at the top of the levee, along the path in the left center of the picture. The second photo shows where the streetcar had come off the levee into N. Peters Street, crossing the parish line. The street leading off to our left is Angela Avenue, just inside St. Bernard. There is some track remaining in N. Peters, but no trolley wires, as the trolley bus line did not use this part of the street. Compare Pictures 11-24 and 11-25. The third photo shows N. Peters St. looking upriver in the Riverview area, between Mehle and Friscoville, with the levee to our left. The tracks in the street have not yet been removed, but the streetcar trolley wire is gone, with a single pair of trolley bus wires installed instead, because only the inbound runs used this part of N. Peters. The last picture shows the approach to the sugar refinery in the Chalmette area, where we again see abandoned tracks, here with double trolley bus overhead twin wires for operation in both directions. — Otto A. Goessl photos |
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Picture 11-43. | |
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As a trolley coach line, the St. Claude line was usually served by the Marmon-Herrington coaches. However, late in the life of the line, those coaches were retired, and the 1951-52 St. Louis coaches, originally intended for the Tulane line, were used on St. Claude, as seen in this view of coach 1180 at the Canal Street terminal, taken in the winter of 1961-62. Diesel buses took over St. Claude July 22, 1962. |
The Gentilly Line was derived from the old Villere Line. Started in 1926, Gentilly and St. Claude were the last two streetcar lines begun in New Orleans, until the Riverfront Line was created in 1988. Gentilly was unusual in New Orleans in being named for the area it served rather than the street on which it ran. It shared some track with the Desire Line in the Vieux Carré, up to Canal Street.
The famous Streetcar Named Desire, i.e., the Desire Line, was a one-way loop which ran from Canal Street down Bourbon through the Vieux Carré, down Dauphine to Desire Street, then out its namesake street to Tonti, down to France Street, and back in to Royal, finally returning through the Vieux Carré to Canal. In the process, it passed Elysian Fields Blvd., the site of most of the action in the famous Tennessee Williams play and movie. Incidentally, Tennessee Williams got the travel directions backwards, presumably a bit of artistic license. Blanche enters New Orleans at the railroad station at the foot of Canal Street, and tells a helpful stranger that she has been told to take a Desire streetcar and transfer to one marked Cemeteries. In the movie, a Desire streetcar promptly comes around the loop at the foot of Canal Street, and she boards. In real life, Desire cars never ran to this loop. The correct travel directions would have been to take a Cemeteries car and transfer to one named Desire! But dramatically, it sounds better the way Williams wrote it.
Picture 12-0. | |
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Vivien Leigh as Blanche steps from the Streetcar Named Desire in this photo taken during filming of the movie, as real NOPSI motorman Floyd Mataya looks on. — Frank Edwards photo, Earl Hampton collection |
Pictures 12-1 through 12-4. | |
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These four pictures show Desire streetcars at Canal Street. The top three pictures were all taken June 10, 1947. The first picture features Brill-built car 885 on Royal Street, about to enter Canal Street. The car will follow the track in the foreground, turning into the outer lakebound track, and will proceed one block to Bourbon Street. Royal Street is flanked by the Royal Jewelry on the left and National Shirt Shops on the right. The panel delivery truck in the right foreground is a 1936 Willys. The smoke cloud suggests that its engine must have been near the end of its life. The second picture shows the trailing end of Perley Thomas-built car 898 at its stop on the Canal Street outer lakebound track at Bourbon Street. Passengers are heading toward its open rear door to board. The car will then turn right into Bourbon Street to begin its downbound (outbound) trip to Desire Street. We know it is summertime, even if we did not have the date for the photo, as evidenced by the white suit on the gentleman at the left, and the lightweight and light colored clothes on all the people. Note the business signs: Keller-Zander and Godchaux's at the left (the uptown side of Canal Street), and D. H. Holmes and Maison Maurice prominent on the right (the downtown side). The third picture shows Desire car 893 (another Brill product) on the outer track, and Tulane car 416 (from the Southern Car Co.) on the inner track, at Bourbon Street. The bottom picture shows Brill-built car 819 leaving the Canal Street terminal, turning from the outer Canal St. track into Bourbon St. to head downtown. This may be a special car; note the crowd aboard, and what appears to be an organization's banner in the right front window. The sign above the right front window, where a destination might be shown, reads “Exhibition”, but the significance of that is unknown. Ordinary Desire cars would have shown a blank space in this sign window except for displaying “Car House” when heading to the station. Notice also that the light pole next to the streetcar has been decorated, probably for Mardi Gras. It is surmised that the car is carrying Mardi Gras partiers, who may have been playing with the roll sign. — Fred Victor DuBrutz photos (top three) |
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Picture 12-4.3 and 12-4.6. | |
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Typically, 800 series streetcars were assigned to the Desire line, but once in a while, a low-numbered 900 might appear on the route, as here. These undated photos were probably taken on the same day by the same unknown photographer, some time between 1945 and 1948. The upper photo shows car 904 heading toward Canal Street on Royal at St. Peter Street. The lower picture features the same car on Bourbon Street, leaving Canal Street, which can be seen in the background. |
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Picture 12-5. | |
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A vacationing couple from Philadelphia took this picture of Desire car 894 working its way through the French Quarter, February 16, 1948. The Desire line had only about three and a half months to go. |
Pictures 12-5.1 and 12-5.2. | |
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This unusual pair of photos shows what the Desire streetcars did when the track on Canal Street was blocked, such as by a Mardi Gras parade. This view is on Royal Street at Toulouse, where car 824 has pulled up and is being reversed. Note the track switch at our right in front of the car. This led to a one-block track on Toulouse, which fed into the downbound (outbound) track on Bourbon Street. In the second picture, automobiles are waiting for car 824 to move out of the way before they can proceed in the direction of Canal Street. The clothing and automobiles suggest a date some time in the 1940s for these pictures. Unfortunately, the photographer is unknown. |
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Picture 12-5.3. | |
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Desire car 858 is somewhere along France Street in early May 1948, a few days before the line went over to buses. The street is unpaved, and the neighborhood is very sparsly built up, almost rural in character. — Elliott Kahn photo, collection of J. G. Lachaussee |
Pictures 12-5.4, 12-5.5, 12-5.6, and 12-5.7. | |
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The billboards in these photos identify them as having been taken at the same place. The top photo, with a Galvez bus in the cross street, identifies the location as the intersection of Galvez with either Desire or France Street. It seems likely to have been France Street, where there was a passing track useful as the outer terminal of the line. Car 860, with a full load of passengers probably heading home after work in the industrial area just a few blocks north, is just beginning its run to Canal Street, and seems to be exchanging passengers with White bus 1707. The date is May 1948, only a few days before the demise of the line. The second picture features cars 898 and 884. There are no passengers aboard 898, but several are visible aboard trailing car 884. The third picture shows car 847 at the same location, some time in 1948. There is at least one person on the car, but is that the motorman taking his break? The fourth photo is of car 878, apparently also at the same location. Note the unpaved streets. — Elliott Kahn photo, collection of J. G. Lachaussee (top photo) |
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Picture 12-5.8. | |
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Brill car 853 is stopped in the French Quarter to board passengers (note the open rear door) in this undated photo, probably from the 1940s. |
Picture 12-5.9. | |
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Perley Thomas car 888 is on Royal Street heading for Canal Street on the Desire line. This photo was probably taken in the 1940s. |
Picture 12-6. | |
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The same streetcar named Desire after it lost an argument with a large truck. Car 888 is seen here on May 13, 1947 on Jeannette St. adjacent to Carrollton Station, where it has apparently been towed. Yes, this end of the car looks fine, but look closely through the center window (click on the picture for enlargements). The other end of the car is simply gone! Rather than being repaired, the car was scrapped, the first Perley Thomas car to leave the roster. — Charles Franck photo, collection of Earl Hampton |
Pictures 12-7, 12-8, and 12-9. | |
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NOPSI car 832 has led an interesting life. A 1922 Perley Thomas car, it is well known as a Desire car. The top picture here shows it operating on the Desire line down Bourbon Street in the French Quarter. The middle picture shows it during World War II, when it wore a War Bonds patriotic livery. The bottom picture shows it in retirement at the Pennsylvania Railway Museum, where it can be found operating to this day with its correct Desire route sign — or even two of them! It is one of the last three 800-class cars still in existence. — Photo by John M. Miller (bottom) |
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Picture 12-10. | |
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Another Perley Thomas car seen in retirement, car 913 was at the Orange Empire Trolley Museum at Perris, California when this picture was taken. But the folks at the museum apparently did not realize that the Desire route name should have been displayed over the center window, not the right. The right window was used in New Orleans for a destination sign, such as Car House, when appropriate. This car has recently been moved to San Francisco, where it has joined the Municipal Railway heritage fleet. — Photo by Jim Walker |
Picture 12-11. | |
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The REAL “Streetcar Named Desire”. This is the actual streetcar that appeared in the movie (see Picture 12-0). At this point in its life, it was operated on the St. Charles streetcar line, and no longer had a DESIRE selection on its roll sign, so photographer Hampton made one for this picture. That's Louisiana Tourist Development Commission “motorman” Byron Pulley in the suit near the headlight of car 922 at Carrollton Station. — Photo by Earl Hampton |
Picture 12-12. | |
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Brill-built car 858 rolls down Bourbon Street, leaving Canal Street, on May 28, 1948, the last day of operation of the Desire streetcar line. — Photo by Otto Goessl |
Pictures 12-13 and 12-14. | |
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After the Desire and Gentilly streetcar lines were closed in 1948, NOPSI's fleet of White buses served the lines on almost the exact same routes. In the upper photo, we see bus 1723 serving the Desire line on Bourbon Street at Bienville, with Canal Street in the background, with the track and overhead wire still intact. The photo is not dated, but could have been taken between May 30 and July 17, 1948, after close of the Desire streetcar line and before the close of Gentilly; it must be no later than a few months after July 17. The second photo shows two of the White buses on Royal Street heading toward Canal, 1710 on the Desire line at St. Peter Street, and a sister a block or so back probably on Gentilly. The track and overhead wire have been removed, and the streets patched. Notice hanging over the street the bracket arms from which the trolley wire so recently had hung. — New Orleans States (upper photo), both from the collection of Mike Strauch |
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Picture 12-15. | |
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A sad sight! This is the back of the car storage yard at Canal Station, June 3, 1948, just a few days after buses took over the Desire line. All the route signs which can be read say Desire. But these cars are not yet being sent to scrap. The 820, 889, 881, and 829 are known to have survived for another two years, and the 902 served into the 1960s. (The car at the far right is actually peeking out of the doorway to the car barn.) — Photo by Otto Goessl |
There were only three interurban lines in the entire state of Louisiana: the Orleans-Kenner Traction Co., the St. Tammany & New Orleans across Lake Ponchartrain from the city, and the Southwestern Traction & Power Co. in Iberia Parish. Of these, the most important by far was the Orleans-Kenner Traction Co. It was built in 1914, running from the corner of S. Carrollton and S. Claiborne Aves. out what is now known as the Jefferson Highway, through the towns of Harahan and Kenner, to the Jefferson-St. Charles Parish line. It was a standard gauge railroad, so to reach the New Orleans central business district, it utilized trackage rights over the standard gauge St. Charles-Tulane Belt lines on Carrollton and Tulane Aves. to S. Rampart Street, where it had a terminal and waiting rooms. In 1928, due to declining patronage and revenues, service was cut back at the outer end to Kenner. The following year, due to the imminent regauging of the St. Charles-Tulane Belt lines, service was also cut back at the inner end to the corner of S. Carrollton and S. Claiborne, with transfers issued for passengers to take the St. Charles Belt streetcars to Canal Street. Finally, on December 31, 1930, all service was abandoned to buses.
The line had three groups of equipment. The first motor cars, numbered 1, 3, 5, and 7, were large combination passenger-baggage interurban cars. These were supplemented by three or four second-hand trailer cars with even numbers, acquired from the rapid transit system in Brooklyn, NY. The third group of cars was purchased second hand in 1921 from the Southwestern Traction & Power Co., whose operations had been suspended in 1918. This group of cars included three more motor cars, SWT&P 21, 22, and 24, which became O-K cars 9, 11, and 13, and two trailers, O-K cars 10 and 12.
A Category 4 hurricane struck New Orleans on September 29, 1915. It came ashore from the Gulf of Mexico near Grand Isle, Louisiana with 145 m.p.h. winds, and moved north to strike New Orleans, ultimately continuing northeast into Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. New Orleans experienced winds of 102 m.p.h., gusting up to 130. Two important churches collapsed in the winds, the Presbyterian Church on Lafayette Square, and St. Anna's Episcopal Church on Esplanade Avenue. Many other structures were damaged or destroyed, including at least one streetcar barn.
In 1920, New Orleans Railway & Light Co. and the Amalgamated union were unable to resolve a union demand for what it considered a living wage, and on July 1, the union began a strike. Not surprisingly, the company tried to restore service by importing strikebreakers, but they were unable to achieve satisfactory service levels. The strike was finally settled late in the month with agreement on a new contract. See Group 23 for more information about the union.
In 1929, New Orleans endured an exceptionally violent strike of the carmen of New Orleans Public Service Inc. The strike began July 1. NOPSI attempted to resume service on July 5, but this was met by serious violence, until about noon, the city council ordered NOPSI to give up the effort. Further attempts were made on July 15. The strike lasted into mid-August, when service was gradually restored, but it was not settled until a final contract was agreed to in October. Five car lines were abolished in the aftermath of the strike: Coliseum, Dryades, Tchoupitoulas, St. Bernard, and Southport. The first two were simply abandoned in favor of service on parallel streets. Tchoupitoulas and St. Bernard were replaced by motor bus lines, and Southport by an experimental trolley coach line.
Pictures 15-1, 15-2, and 15-3. | |
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About 7:00 a.m. on July 5, the company attempted to resume service using imported strike breakers, resulting in rioting. The first car, “Palace” car 696, with strike breakers and police inside, was immediately bombarded with stones and paving bricks, shattering many of its windows. The car managed to make one run and returned. These pictures show car 696 being menaced by strikers and their sympathizers, with union people throwing stones at the streetcar. As the car tried to begin its second run, the situation escalated, when the strike breakers and police within and near the streetcar began shooting into the crowd; note the plume of gun smoke coming from the car windows in the top photo. Two men were reported wounded; one of them died. The car went back into the barn. (The upper photo is dated July 6, 1929, and the bottom photo carries a backstamp dated July 13, 1929, but all three were most probably taken July 5. The original of the bottom photo was marked by some editor long ago, having lines drawn and some features darkened with ink, such as the pole in front of the streetcar. We have edited the picture to remove as much as of these lines as possible, but a few remnants remain.) — World Wide Photo, collection of Scott Longon (top); World Wide Photo, collection of the author (middle); N. E. A., collection of the author (bottom) |
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Pictures 15-4, 15-4.5, 15-5, 15-6, 15-7, 15-8, and 15-9. | |
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Later in the day, car 696 eventually made its way to the foot of Canal
Street, where it was engulfed by rioters. The top four views face roughly
toward the river, with the ferry ramp at the left or in the background. Notice that even the
ferry ramp is crowded with people. The rioters have hooked down both trolley
poles, thus depriving the streetcar of power, and they tried to overturn the
car. It stayed on its wheels, but then they doused it with gasoline
and set it on fire. The little utility shed seen in these pictures was also
burned. The crew had to be rescued by police. The last two photos,
probably taken the next day, document the result. Ultimately, two men were
killed on this day, and many more were injured by thrown paving stones.
Three “Palace” cars were destroyed.
The fourth photo displays some hints about the lengths newspaper editors went to in those pre-computer days to enhance the photos they published. The original print shows where white ink has been carefully applied to outline the policeman and his horse, and to highlight the end windows of the burning streetcar. But most significantly, all the smoke we see billowing from the fire appears to have been applied to the photo; it even extends into the white margins of the print, and there are fingerprints in it. This does not necessarily mean that the depiction in the photo is inaccurate. Compare the other photos of the burning car, which as far as is known, were not so “enhanced.” — Underwood & Underwood/CORBIS, collection of the author (second picture); P & A Photos, collection of the author (third and fifth pictures); N. E. A., collection of the author (fourth picture); photos by John Tibula Mendes, courtesy The Historic New Orleans Collection 2003.0182.517 and 2003.0182.518 (last two pictures) |
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Picture 15-10. | |
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At one point, NOPSI sent out this tow truck to retrieve a wrecked streetcar. Strikers and strike sympathizers overturned the truck and set fire to it, then prevented firefighters from extinguishing the blaze. This picture is marked July 8, but was most probably taken July 5. — Acme Newspictures Inc., collection of the author |
Pictures 15-11 and 15-12. | |
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Newspaper wire service photos of strikers and their women sympathizers. In the upper picture, a striker is being arrested on the accusation of attacking strike breakers and attempting to wreck streetcars. It was reported that there were over 300 such arrests on July 5. In the lower photo, a bemused striker is coaching some women, probably wives and relatives of striking carmen, in throwing stones. Many of these determined women are carrying umbrellas, perhaps as much for the hot July sun as for possible rain. Note the well-dressed flapper standing at the rear of the group with an amused expression and a half-hearted throwing gesture. She seems to think it is all a lark, but the others seem deadly serious. Frame lines on the original photo show that the editor who published this photo cropped her out. — N. E. A. photos, collection of the author |
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Pictures 15-13, 15-14, and 15-14.5. | |
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Canal Street without streetcars! The top photo is dated July 8, 1929, but could have been taken any time in the previous few days. We see NO streetcars at all, but the automobile lanes are completely clogged with traffic. A close look reveals that many people have left their cars and are standing around in the street. News accouts indicate that they are deliberately blocking street traffic as part of the strike effort. The middle and bottom photos are from a few days later, after NOPSI obtained a federal injunction against interference with its operations. On July 15, the company again tried to resume service. We see federal marshals and local police forming a convoy around a streetcar as it tried to proceed down the Canal Street outer track. The bottom photo shows car 813 beginning its run from the loop at the foot of Canal Street, probably on the St. Charles or Tulane Belt line. There is a notice fixed to the dash of the streetcar announcing the federal injunction, and just in front of the car is a man wearing a sign, probably also advertising the injunction. To the right of car 813 is a policeman or perhaps a NOPSI supervisor, with other police visible near the left edge of the photo. Two laborers are seen carrying shovels full of something perhaps scraped from the tracks. Of course, effective streetcar service was impossible. — World Wide Photos, Baltimore Sun archive, collection of the author (top picture); San Francisco Examiner, collection of Anthony Posey (middle picture); unidentified newpaper archive, collection of the author (bottom picture) |
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Picture 15-15. | |
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This picture, dated July 1929 in a contemporary hand, is believed to show a meeting of strikers. The picture has suffered some water damage from Hurricane Katrina. — Collection of Ramsey Landry |
Pictures 15-15.3 and 15-15.7. | |
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The strikers paraded from time to time. These two photos probably depict different parades. The upper was published just a few days after the strike began. The banner reads, “LOCAL NO. 194 / THANKS TO THE PUBLIC / OF NEW ORLEANS / FOR THEIR SUPPORT!!” The second picture was published a couple of weeks later. This photo has been touched up by the original editor, primarily by adding outlines to the roofs of the most prominent automobiles and to some flags, and by adding white framing lines to show which part of the photo he wanted to print. Some of the framing lines have been removed, but not all. — Collection of the author |
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Pictures 15-16 and 15-17. | |
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Car 813 is posed on Willow St. outside Carrollton Station car barn, showing off its many dents and dings from thrown paving stones and bricks. This is probably earlier than July 15, since there is no injunction notice on the front dash of the car. (Compare Pictures 15-20 and 15-21.) — Teunisson photos, Earl K. Long Library, University of New Orleans |
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Pictures 15-18 and 15-19. | |
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The car storage yard at Canal Station, showing damage to many of the stored streetcars. The upper picture features “Palace” cars 677 signed for Canal Belt and 631 signed for Esplanade Belt, plus at the right, an unidentified single truck car, partial number 62. The second picture shows single truck “Prytania” car 360 signed for St. Bernard, and FB&D car 172 signed for Broad, with two “Palace” cars beyond them. Note the broken windows in every car, and the pulled-down sections of the “protecting” fence. The pile of debris at the right in the lower picture may, or may not, be a result of the strike. — Collection of Earl Hampton |
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Pictures 15-20 and 15-21. | |
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Here is St. Charles Belt line car 435 on Jeanette Street at Carrollton Station showing damage from strikers to some of its windows and its front door panel. The company posted on all cars the Notice seen here on the front dash and the first side window. The second picture is a detail from the first, giving a better view of the damage. The sign on the car's dash was a warning against interference in the operation of the car, which would have been in defiance of a federal injunction. These signs were affixed to all cars by July 15, when the second attempt was made to restore service. — Collection of Earl Hampton |
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Pictures 15-22 and 15-23. | |
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In the course of the strike, five streetcars were torched and destroyed: “Palace” cars 679, 687, and 696, and “Morris” trailer cars 523 and 524. Some of them were burned during a striker assault on Canal Station. The upper photo shows car 679 after the strikers finished with it. The lower picture shows the interior of another car, probably 687. — Collection of Morris Hill (upper); N. E. A. photo, collection of the author (lower) |
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Picture 15-23.5. | |
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Here is Arabella Station sometime during the strike, with police armed with shotguns guarding the facility. Car 842 is signed Napoleon, with a destination of Shrewesbury, meaning that if it could run, it would operate over the entire Napoleon line, including the extension into Metairie to the Shrewsbury terminal. But the car isn't going anywhere. Someone not in uniform, presumably a would-be strike breaker, is standing at the controls, but that automobile in front of the streetcar isn't going to get out of the way. There are at least nine policemen in the picture. — Item-Tribune News Bureau, collection of the author |
Pictures 15-24 and 15-25. | |
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In August, there was a riot at City Hall, across St. Charles Street from Lafayette Square, during and following a city council meeting. During the riot, three people were shot, and the police used tear gas to disperse the mob. A police guard was placed on the steps of City Hall. But in the lower picture, these guards look pretty casual about the whole business. (Chances are, most of the guards sympathized with the strikers.) — San Francisco Examiner, collections of Anthony Posey (upper picture) and the author (lower picture) |
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Picture 15-26. | |
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This photo, dated in August, shows strikers harassing a streetcar that is actually in service. NOPSI gradually restored service in August, but not without continued confrontations, as seen here. This photo has been slightly touched up by the original editor. — N. E. A. photo, collection of the author |
Even after various car lines were closed, their route names continued for a while on the roll signs carried on the streetcars. Motormen and conductors could often be induced to “turn the crank” and display an obsolete route name while they were taking a break at the end of a run, while a photographer snapped a no-longer-possible picture. With the popularity of the Tennessee Williams play and movie “A Streetcar Named Desire”, it is no wonder that “Desire” was a popular choice for such posed pictures. But it was not the only choice....
Napoleon Service and Material Yard, located on the southeast corner of Napoleon Avenue and Tchoupitoulas Street, served as a storage and distribution point for the system, including track ballast, rails, ties, etc. It therefore served as a home for many of the work cars in the system. Several of the pictures in this group were probably taken there.
After Arabella Station was converted to trolley coaches in 1948, its 900-series streetcars were distributed around the system, with about half initially going to Canal Station. The other half were stored in the open at Napoleon Yard for service on the Napoleon and South Claiborne car lines until those lines were converted to buses in 1953.
During this period, as NOPSI required fewer streetcars for its survivng car lines, surplus 800-series cars were stored at Napoleon Yard pending scrapping.
The best known work car in New Orleans, the only one surviving to the present day, is car 29, built from a single truck passenger car and used today as a rail grinder, a sand car, and a general purpose rail work horse. Click here for an article about car 29.
Picture 17-1. | |
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The companies owned streetcars fitted out as tower cars, for work on the overhead wire system. But tower wagons that were not on rails had the distinct advantage of being able to move out of the way when streetcars had to pass by them. Here is emergency tower wagon no. 2 of the New Orleans City R. R. Co. at the terminal area at the foot of Canal Street, some time between 1899 and 1904, as the motorman and conductor of car 510 look on from the platforms of their car. The 510 is one of the double truck cars built by American Car Co. to Barney & Smith design in 1898. It was usually assigned to pull a train of trailers on the West End Line, but that line did not usually come to the foot of Canal, so the car may be in use as a single streetcar. At left on the outer track is FB&D car 207, one of the standard gauge cars 160-229 built by American in 1899 for the New Orleans & Carrollton. Of the three other single truck cars in view, the one to the right is one of the “Esplanade” cars, numbers 260-277, built in 1900 by St. Louis Car Co., and the other two are 20' Brills built between 1893 and 1895 for New Orleans City R. R. — Teunisson Photo, collection of Eugene Groves |
Pictures 17-2 and 17-3. | |
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This odd contraption is sand car 021. Its history is lost. Whatever its origin, it appears to be a product of considerable local building and rebuilding. The upper photo was taken May 9, 1947 at Canal Station; the date and location of the lower photo are unknown. The car's purpose was to sand one rail on wet days, to improve traction for passenger cars. Note the odd, wide, open-ended operator cab on one end of the car. The car had to have been considered double-ended, i.e., capable of operation in either direction, with either end leading. But how clumsy it must have been! It seems that the operator would have to face away from the controller to operate the car with the cab end leading, in which case he would have had the wind and weather in his face. Even more strange, operation with the other end leading would have required the operator in the cab to peer between the struts of the sand hopper to see where the car was going! — Elliott Kahn photo, collection of J. G. Lachaussee (upper photo); collection of Leo Sullivan (lower photo) |
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Pictures 17-4, 17-5, 17-5.5, 17-6, 17-6.5, and 17-7. | |
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NOPSI owned several side-dump cars, half motored (cars 050-053) and half trailers (cars 030-033), built in 1923. There was also a pair of center dump cars, motor 054 and trailer 034, built in 1924. By the early 1950s, trucks were in service for all the purposes for which these dump cars had been used. The last of them were scrapped in January 1953. Note the rust on the bottom edge of the dash panel at the left in the top picture of motor side-dump car 052, taken August 14, 1949. The second photo, from April 19, 1947, is also of car 052, with another car of the group (possibly 054) in the background at the right. The third, fourth, and fifth pictures feature the center-dump motor car, 054, at Napoleon Yard. The third photo is not dated, but is probably from the late 1940s. The fourth picture was taken on October 16, 1946, and the fifth photo on April 1, 1950. The sixth photo was taken March 18, 1949 at Arabella Station. It is similar to, but different from, the fifth photo. The fifth and sixth pictures give us glimpses of the nose of another car coupled to 054, probably its trailer, 034. At our right in the fifth picture, we also see a passenger car partially stripped; its window frames and sashes, and apparently other parts, are gone. — Elliott Kahn photos, collection of J. G. Lachaussee (second and fourth photos); Otto Goessl photo (fifth) |
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Pictures 17-8 and 17-8.5. | |
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Line cars were necessary, as compared to horse-drawn or automotive line towers, to service the overhead system on private right of way, such as the West End line along the New Basin Canal. Here is NOPSI line car 055 at Canal Station. The upper photo is dated May 6, 1950. West End was just abandoned to buses a few months earlier, so the need for 055 has just about ended. — Otto Goessl photo (upper) |
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Picture 17-9. | |
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Two linemen are adjusting the overhead wires at a crossover track switch on February 17, 1960. For many years, NOPSI had White trucks such as this for its service needs. This truck may date from the 1950s. |
Pictures 17-10 and 17-10.5. | |
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The Brown hoist, late in its life, probably around 1952. It was built by the Brown Hoist Co. in 1913. In earlier times, it was used around the system wherever heavy lifting was required, but by the 1950s, it was confined to the Napoleon Yard complex at Napoleon and Tchoupitoulas. When the trolley wires were removed from Napoleon Yard, the hoist was powered by a cable. In these pictures, it has been divested of its trolley pole. It was probably retired about 1953. |
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Pictures 17-11 and 17-12. | |
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These two photos show part of the storage yard at Napoleon Yard with
several lines of 900-class streetcars awaiting the call to service on the
S. Claiborne and Napoleon lines, February 5, 1950. They appear to be
the same scene, from different points of view. The cars at the head of
the lines are, left to right: an anonymous flat car, then 954, 949, 968, and
948. (949 is out of sight in the upper photo.)
We know this is not a scrap line, for two reasons: first, no undamaged
900-class cars were scrapped until 1961; and second, cars 954, 968, and 948 are
still running today on the St. Charles line. (Car 949 was scrapped in 1964
when the Canal line was convereted to bus.) The track in the foreground
of the upper photo is the lead track at the main entrance into the
yard, connecting to the track on Napoleon Ave. at the terminal of the
Napoleon car line. Photographer Goessl noted that the lower photo
was taken “from [the] crane”, i.e., the Brown Hoist
(see Picture 17-10 above).
— Otto Goessl photos
For a related photo, see Picture 9-12.5. |
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Picture 17-12.3. | |
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Car 971 appears to have just pulled into Napoleon Yard via the Tchoupitoulas Street connection from Napoleon Avenue, January 1, 1950. Someone, probably the photographer, has rolled the route sign around to read Tchoupitoulas, a selection obsolete since 1929. Note the nearest door: only half of it is open. There was an experiment, tried out about this time on several cars, to provide a mechanism that allowed the motorman or the conductor to open only one leaf of the door, or both, as desired. Eventually, the experimental door mechanisms were removed; none survived for more than a few years. — Ed Hedstrom photo |
Picture 17-12.6. | |
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Car 957 is on Tchoupitoulas Street between Napoleon and General Pershing (the next street downriver and parallel to Napoleon), April 12, 1950. Napoleon Yard is behind the fence. Signed S. Claiborne, the car is apparently leaving Napoleon Yard for service, but it still displays a Car House destination sign. — Otto Goessl photo |
Pictures 17-13 and 17-13.5. | |
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Two cars lay over in Napoleon Yard, 949 on April 1, 1950, and 950 in January 1951. When called to duty on the Napoleon or South Claiborne line, they will exit the Yard to Napoleon Avenue. S. Claiborne cars will then follow the Napoleon line to S. Claiborne Avenue, where there were connections to the tracks on that avenue. Curiously, car 949 has one trolley pole up, but not on the wire. 949 is also seen in Picture 17-12, above. — Otto Goessl photo (upper) |
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Pictures 17-14 and 17-15. | |
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Two lines of 800-series cars signed Tulane, stored in Napoleon Yard. The line in the upper photo is led by car 855, and is dated January 14, 1951, just a few days after the Tulane line ceased to operate streetcars. The second photo, which is undated but was probably taken about the same time, features a line led by car 826, which is known to have been scrapped in October 1951. These are thought to be cars made surplus by the close of Tulane Avenue to streetcars, and now awaiting scrapping. — F. J. Bechtel photo (upper), Otto Goessl photo (lower) |
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Picture 17-16. | |
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Car 820 is at Canal Station, about to leave on its final trip to the scrapyard, probably meaning Napoleon Yard, January 11, 1950. Some parts have already been removed from the car, such as its headlight. It appears that the New Orleans law requiring two-man streetcar crews applies even to a non-revenue run such as this. The car was finally scrapped in June 1950. — Otto Goessl photo |
Picture 17-17. | |
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Here is car 881 at Napoleon Yard, April 1, 1950, awaiting final scrapping. The car has already been stripped of its doors and headlight. Perhaps other parts are to be removed, because it is listed as being scrapped in June. — Otto Goessl photo |
Separate from the city streetcar tracks, the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board operated a short freight line using trolley locomotives. It was a single track standard gauge line on Eagle Street from the New Orleans Public Belt RR along the river levee to the S&WB water purification plant. Diesel locomotives took over the line in 1959.
S&WB had two electric locomotives, numbered 50 and 65, although neither displayed its number in later years. There was also a Porter compressed air locomotive, built in 1915 and purchased in 1920, mostly for use on non-electrified trackage.
Picture 18-1. | |||
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Here is number 50, the first locomotive on the property. It was built in 1907 by Westinghouse and Baldwin, and operated to the end of electric operations in 1959. This photo was taken in the late 1950s. Its body survives (more or less) in Mel Ott Park in Gretna, Louisiana, across the river from New Orleans. Wikimedia has an excellent picture dated July 3, 2008. | ||
Pictures 18-2 and 18-3. | |||
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This is locomotive 65, although the number is not painted on it. It was built by GE in 1910 for the Gulfport & Mississippi Coast Traction Co., and came to the S&WB in the late 1920s. The upper picture is dated July 1950; the lower picture probably also dates from the 1950s. — Collection of Mike Walsdorf (upper) | ||
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Picture 18-4. | |||
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This is the compressed air locomotive. It was built by Porter in 1915, and purchased second hand by S&WB in the 1920s, primarily to work tracks that had no trolley wire. This photo dates to the late 1950s. Its three tanks could hold a maximum pressure of 1,000 psi. | ||
Pictures 18-5, 18-6, and 18-7. | |||
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On April 18, 1955, locomotive 65 pulls a hopper car along Eagle Street between the plant and the Public Belt RR. The top photo is at the plant. The second photo is at Eagle and Willow Streets, and the third is somewhere along Eagle Street. — William T. Harry photos, collection of J. G. Lachaussee | ||
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The town of Bogalusa, Louisiana is near the northeast corner of the “toe” of the Louisiana “boot”. The Gaylord Paper Mill had a small industrial trolley operation, using a pair of second-hand cars to move materials around the mill site.
The mill had two working trolleys. The first was a former interurban freight car from the Toledo, Ohio area. The second was a retired L car from Chicago, built in 1907 and acquired by Gaylord in 1958.
More details and photographs are found in Street Railways of Louisiana, by Louis C. Hennick and E. Harper Charlton, Pelican, 1979, pp. 132-134.
The town of Covington, Louisiana is today a bedroom community of New Orleans, thanks to the Lake Ponchartrain Causeway which crosses the lake and directly connects Covington to the New Orleans area. But until that engineering marvel was erected, access to Covington and other towns on the north shore of the lake was achieved by circumnavigating the lake on land, or by crossing it by boat.
In the early 1900s, an interurban railway was planned to connect the north shore towns with a steamship line that would cross the lake. Track was laid from Covington east to the resort town of Abita Springs, then south to Mandeville on the lake shore and out into the lake on a pier at which the steamship line would have its northern terminal. In order to avoid the expense of an electric power system, the line in 1908 ordered two gasoline motor cars from Fairbanks-Morse, the first ones of their type built by that company.
Service began Saturday, February 13, 1909 after several demonstration runs on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. The initial timetable called for cars to leave Mandeville northbound every two hours between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., and to leave Covington southbound at 6:45 and 9:00 a.m. then every two hours until 7:00 p.m. The schedule was increased to hourly some time in the late summer, but was cut back to two-hourly by October, no doubt because of the seasonal nature of the ridership. This pattern was followed over the years, changing the frequency of service to offer more service during the warmer months, though the details changed from time to time. Updated timetables were published frequently in local newspapers, such as the St. Tammany Farmer, published weekly in Covington.
Initially, the fare between Covington and Abita Springs was 10¢ one way, 15¢ round trip, and between Covington and Mandeville 40¢ one way, 50¢ round trip, with 100-mile mileage books being sold for $1.60. By 1912, the fare between Covington and Mandeville had changed to 25¢ one way, 45¢ round trip, and the fare between Mandeville and Abita Springs was listed as 20¢ one way, 35¢ round trip. Other stops were priced at 3¢ per mile, and the 100-mile mileage books had been reduced to $1.50. A September 1912 article in the Farmer mentioned a fare of 5¢ round trip for school children anywhere along the line. An “excursion” fare of 25¢ round trip was offered on certain days of the week, typically Wednesdays and Saturdays, but varying from time to time. As of June 1913, the excursion fare included a 10¢ round trip rate for children under 14 years. A July 1914 timetable advertised “25¢ Round Trip Every Day”, but apparently, this was only for the summer. Some time in mid-1915, the 25¢ round trip fare, every day, seems to have been made permanent.
Patronage was initially very good, necessitating the addition of two more F-M motor cars, similar to the first pair. Oddly enough, the motor cars were numbered 11, 17, 22, and 33. Newspapers reported that two open trailers were delivered in March 1909 from the same F-M plant in Three Rivers, Michigan that had assembled the motor cars. There were eventually four open trailers, numbered 5, 6, 7, and 8. There was at least one other motor car.
In 1915, the company electrified the line and three of the motor cars (11, 22, and 33). Electric service began in August. No pictures of the electrified service or cars are known to exist. Hennick and Charlton state that the line was reorganized at this time as the St. Tammany Ry. & Power Co., but the original company name continued in use in the newspapers, including even legal notices about the company.
Soon after, however, patronage declined, and in 1918, the line went into receivership. Operations ceased on June 4, 1918.
New Iberia and Jeanerette boasted one of the few interurban lines in Louisiana, the Southwestern Traction & Power Co. It was one of the latest interurbans to be built, and was also an early one to be abandoned. It was created in 1912 as a single-track line between the two towns; the locals called it the “streetcar line”. It had three passing sidings: one at each terminal so that a motor car pulling a trailer could run around the trailer so as to lead it, whichever direction the train was going; and one at Edgard, around the middle of the line, so that opposing trains could pass each other. There was a car barn and power house just outside of New Iberia.
The promoters of the line envisioned extensions all through southwestern Louisiana: north through Lafayette to Alexandria, west through Abbeville to Lake Charles, and southeast to Morgan City. Therefore, it was equipped, not with streetcars, but with the finest interurban cars from Brill subsidiary American Car Co. of St. Louis, of a style that would have been suitable for one of the largest midwestern interurban systems. The only problem was, it was never extended beyond the 13 miles between New Iberia and Jeanerette, a line that, by itself, could never achieve sustained ridership sufficient to support itself. By 1918, this became obvious to the company, and service finally ceased. The line was not immediately dismantled, but three years later, its passenger cars were sold to the Orleans-Kenner Traction Co. (see Group 13), and the rest of the line was scrapped.
The Southwestern Traction & Power Co. owned two orders of motor cars, both from American Car Co. The first order was for two cars, which were numbered 21 and 22. The second order, placed in 1913, consisted of a somewhat larger car, number 24. The line also owned at least two passenger trailer cars and a few express, freight, and work cars, about which little is known.
The only interurban operation in the state of Mississippi was the Gulfport & Mississippi Coast Traction Co., which ran along the Gulf Coast east of New Orleans. It was centered at Gulfport, and was built eastward to Biloxi in 1906, and westward to Pass Christian in 1907. The line ran mostly just inland of the beach, through an area that was already well built up. Over the years, it was subject to frequent washouts, and had to be totally rebuilt after the 1915 hurricane (see Picture 14-8). The company also operated local streetcar service in Gulfport and Biloxi, and provided electric power service to the area. The line initially enjoyed substantial passenger patronage, but in the 1920s, that was lost to the automobile and the parallel Gulf Coast highway (now known as U. S. 90). In 1924, the company was acquired by the Mississippi Power Co. Interurban passenger service ended in 1926. The last city streetcar lines, in Biloxi, ended service in 1932. Part of the line continued to provide electric freight service in Biloxi until 1949.
Railroad and transit uniform buttons have been cataloged by Don VanCourt in his published catalog Transportation Uniform Buttons, volume 1 Railroads, and Volume 2 Transit. Catalog numbers from this work are given for each button shown.
Picture 21A-1. | |||
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The Jefferson City RR was organized by Mr. Joseph Kaiser in 1863 to develop a franchise issued by the City of Jefferson, which was one of the uptown communities eventually absorbed into the City of New Orleans. Service on Magazine Street in Jefferson probably began in 1864 (during the Civil War!). The company was reorganized as the Magazine Street RR Co. in 1865. The reverse of this ticket has the initials of two officers of the company, JK for Mr. Kaiser, and JC, who is unknown to us. The little picture is very detailed, showing an early 6-window bob-tail horsecar, complete with the driver and his whip. — Collection of Louis Hennick | ||
Picture 21A-2. | |||
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This is a ticket of the first New Orleans City RR. The company began horsecar service in 1861, when J. B. Slawson was president, as seen on the face of the ticket. Slawson had invented a farebox system used on his omnibus lines in the 1850s, which was widely used on horsecars in New Orleans and in other cities. He left New Orleans later in 1861 to join the Stephenson Car Co. The ticket is inscribed, “RECD. 5 CTS. ENTITLING BEARER TO ONE RIDE ON N. O. C. R. R. CARS.” The reverse of the ticket includes an excellent woodcut of a white mule pulling a six-window bob-tail horsecar having a tiny Bombay roof. — Collections of Louis Hennick and of the author | |
Picture 21A-3. | |||
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The reverse of this ticket from the New Orleans & Carrollton RR is inscribed “Good for one five cent fare”. The ticket is torn from a booklet or a strip; the number 9 is probably its position in the booklet. Such tickets were supposed to be removed only by the conductor at the time used to pay a fare. The point was that the tickets in the booklet were supposed to be used by only one person. This also served to discourage counterfeiting of the tickets. The woodcut on the face of the ticket is a wonderfully detailed view of a six-window Stephenson bob-tail car, complete with a tiny Bombay roof for ventilation and the inscription “N. O. & C. R. R. CO.” on the lower side panel. The company put cars of this type into service in 1868, so the ticket probably dates from about that time. — Collection of Louis Hennick | ||
Picture 21A-4. | |||
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This is a sheet of New Orleans & Carrollton “commutation tickets” which were good for multiple trips between Carrollton and Tivoli Circle (Lee Circle) in New Orleans. The reverse side is blank. The tickets are not dated. It appears that these were intended to be sold in vertical strips of three. Apparently, the tickets were to be separated by scissors, as no perforations are provided. The price stated on the tickets is “25 numbers $3” (12¢ a ride). The top two tickets in each column have numbers 1 through 8 around the margins, while the bottom ticket in each column has the numbers 1 through 9, for a total of 25 in each column of three tickets. In use, the passenger was expected to present a ticket to the “collector”, who would punch out one number to indicate a ride taken. According to a NO&C timetable published in the Daily Picayune February 4, 1863, and reprinted in Hennick & Charlton's book (p. 12), the normal cash fare at that time on the steam train for a through ride between Carrollton and Tivoli Circle was 15¢. The same timetable quotes a price of $2 for “half tickets, good for 25 rides for slaves and young children”. — Collection of Louis Hennick | ||
Pictures 21A-4.2 and 21A-4.3. | |||
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In 1882, the New Orleans & Carrollton RR negotiated a
revised franchise with the City of New Orleans. As part of the new
franchise, the City dictated a new fare structure, which was basically a 5¢
fare between Canal Street and Napoleon Avenue, and an additional 5¢ between
Napoleon and Carrollton, between the hours of 4 a.m. and 12:30 a.m.
Fares doubled to 10¢ between 12:30 a.m. and 4 a.m. Passengers had to
change cars at Napoleon. The franchise gave passengers who lived above
(i.e., upriver of) Napoleon Avenue the right to change cars in either direction
without paying a second 5¢. To take advantage of that right, residents
had to buy tickets, which were sold in “bunches” (strips) of 10 pairs of red
and blue tickets. The passenger would detach a red ticket when boarding
the first car, without detaching the corresponding blue ticket, and deposit the
red one in the fare box in place of cash. A fare collector was stationed
at Napoleon who would detach and take up the blue ticket from the strip when
the passenger changed cars. The blue ticket was void if it was already
detached when presented to the collector, to eliminate its use by anyone other
than the owner of the “bunch” of tickets. (My thanks to Morris Hill,
who provided the results of his research into this fare structure.)
Here are both sides of a strip of tickets which appear to have been intended for this service, although they are not red and blue. The original colors seem to have greatly faded over the years, but there is still a slight color difference between the two sides of the ticket strip, and there is a narrow band of darker color where the original red and blue appear to have overlapped. The reason the perforations cut through ticket 6 is not known. A full strip of tickets should have included ten pairs of tickets. One side of the individual tickets shows a horsecar similar to, but different from, the car seen on the ticket in Picture 21A-3. The other side provides a look at the same type of horsecar being pulled by a steam engine, or possibly a Lamm engine, along St. Charles Ave. The obverse of the ticket with the mule-drawn car is inscribed “T. Fitzwilliam & Co. N.O.” — Collection of Louis Hennick |
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Picture 21A-4.5. | |||
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The New Orleans & Carrollton RR issued these tickets about the time they began to electrify their lines, in 1893. The company name, however, was never officially changed to include the word “Electric”. This ticket was probably also from a booklet; note the inscription “ONE FARE — WORTHLESS IF DETACHED”. The reverse bears only the facsimile signature J. Hernandez President. The woodcut on the obverse appears to be a fantasy; no such electric car ever ran on the NO&C. One surmises that the artist who created this woodcut had never seen an electric streetcar, and had no idea of its controls. If so, perhaps he did not do so badly. The author is in possession of a pane of 10 of these tickets, 2 across and 5 down, perforated between. The top, right, and bottom edges of the pane are straight; the left edge is perforated. — Collection of Louis Hennick | |
Picture 21A-5. | |||
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New Orleans Railway & Light Co. was the name of the streetcar system from 1905 to 1922, so these tickets could have been issued any time in that range. | |
Picture 21A-5.5. | |||
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This is a printing block used by New Orleans Railway & Light Co., probably to print the cover of a small booklet of tickets. The first view is of the actual printing plate; the second is the same, but reversed so that it can conveniently be read. The little circles are the heads of the nails fastening the brass plate to a wooden block. The cutout areas will appear blank when the block is printed. The printed image would be about 2¾ x 1¾ inches (72 x 45 mm). The area above the words “Light Co.” would have a serial number imprinted by a numbering machine; the number would be repeated on each ticket in the booklet. The horizontal line in the middle is for entry of the ticket holder's name; no one else is supposed to use the tickets in the booklet. Note the dings around the edge of the block, collected during its use in printing. | |
Pictures 21A-6, 21A-7, and 21A-8. | |||
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Here are tickets issued in a booklet by New Orleans
Railway & Light Co. for travel to Spanish Fort (see Group 3).
Shown are the front and back covers of the booklet, and a typical page of
tickets from inside. (The reverse of the tickets is blank.)
The cover bears a handwritten date 6/16/11, which would be during the
first season that Spanish Fort was open by NOR&L.
Curiously, the inscription on the tickets says that they are good "on the
West End train". They were apparently supposed to be taken up by the
conductor in order, since the cover proclaims “Coupons good only when
detached by conductor”. They are attached to the booklet at their left
edge, so that the fact that they are printed in the order 1-2-4-3 apparently
caused no harm. Coupon 1 is marked “City to Half-WayHouse”; number 2 is
“Half-WayHouse to Spanish Fort”; 3 is “Spanish Fort to Half-WayHouse” (for the
return trip); and number 4 is “Half-WayHouse to City”. (Half Way House
was located at City Park Ave./Metairie Road and Julia St.) Each
ticket is also marked “Good only for free transportation”; it is not known
whether this was for a promotion, perhaps to encourage travel to Spanish Fort,
or whether some fee was required for the “free” transportation.
The back cover details some of the rules for use of these tickets: “Caution. This ticket is issued with the express condition that no Coupons will be taken from it to pay the fare for any one except the person to whom it is issued. The cover must be returned to the office of the Company before another book will be issued in its place. This book must be taken up by the Conductor and returned to the office, if used or offered for any other person than the one whose name is written herein.” The tickets are somewhat enlarged; the booklet covers are reduced in size. |
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Picture 21A-8.5. | |||
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The purpose and use of this Limited Ticket are unknown to this author. It could have been issued any time during the presidency of A. B. Patterson, from 1930 to 1951. | ||
Pictures 21A-9 and 21A-10. | |||
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New Orleans City RR (2nd corporation) operated the streetcar system 1899-1902, being succeeded by New Orleans Railways, which in turn was succeeded in 1905 by New Orleans Railway & Light. Here we see tickets used by officials of these companies to travel the system. — Collection of Louis Hennick | ||
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Pictures 21A-11, 21A-11.3, 21A-11.6, and 21A-12. | |||
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New Orleans Public Service Inc. (NOPSI) continued use of tickets of this type for company officials. The main difference among these tickets is the facsimile signature of the current president at the time they were issued. A. B. Patterson was president for a long time, 1930-1951; C. L. Nairne became president in 1962. (The series U ticket, and some following, show mildew caused by surviving the floods that followed Hurricane Katrina.) — Collections of Louis Hennick (series J), the author (series M and AA), and Earl Hampton (series U) | ||
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Pictures 21A-13, 21A-13.3, 21A-13.5, 21A-13.7, and 21A-14. | |||
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Here are samples of two different types of tickets issued to employees of the company. The dated ones are one-day passes. Not much changed from 1929 to 1970, except the facsimile signature. Patterson's signature as vice-president is shown on the 1929 ticket; he became president in 1930. G. S. Dinwiddie was president 1951-1959. Note that the 1929 date is 2½ weeks after the start of the strike. This suggests that the company tried (or at least intended to try) to run cars on that date. — Collections of Earl Hampton (series H and Z tickets) and of the author | ||
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Pictures 21A-15 through 21A-19, and 21A-19.5. | |||
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The tickets issued to retired employees evolved slightly over the years. Here are samples of tickets from series A, D, E, F, G, and H. The oldest two are inscribed “Pensioner”, the rest are marked “Retiree”. Note the logo of the Globe Ticket Co., especially noticeable on the otherwise blank reverse of the last ticket. As the corporate structure changed, the name of the parent company “Middle South Utilities System” was added to the logo, beginning with series G. — Collection of Earl Hampton (series D, E, F, G) and of the author (series A and H) | ||
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Pictures 21A-20, 21A-20.5, 21A-21, and 21A-22. | |||
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These are the covers of a pair of booklets of
90 tickets issued to a retiree and his wife on March 1, 1983.
Note the consecutive serial numbers. The RTA took
over transit service from NOPSI on July 1, 1983, so it is not surprising
that only one ticket was used from each of these booklets. From the top,
these are the front cover, the inside front cover, and the back cover.
(The inside back cover is blank.) The dark blue band is the tape binding
the pages of the booklet. The tickets in this booklet are the H series
tickets, the type shown in Picture 21A-19.5, above.
The author is puzzled by the Condition printed on the inside front cover. How does that apply to retired persons or their family members? I speculate that it may have been intended for retirees who came back to work part-time. Or it may have been something included in booklets of tickets for active employees, and just automatically copied to booklets for retirees. It is difficult to display the precise shade of color of these booklet covers. Different scanners give different results, none of which matches what the eye sees of the originals. The left column is fairly close to the original dark shade of red. But it is hard to read the black text against that dark red. The right column is easier to read, but is much lighter than the original. (The inner and outer covers of the originals are all the same shade.) — Collections of Earl Hampton (top picture) and of the author | ||
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Picture 21A-23. | |||
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In 1970, this type of ticket was issued to postal carriers, who rode the cars and buses free. Note that the cash fare at this time was still only ten cents! In earlier times, not even tickets were required of a postal carrier in uniform carrying his leather satchel. Incidentally, by long standing custom in this predominantly Catholic city, Catholic nuns in their distinctive habits boarded at the front of the streetcar and rode free, no tickets or fares being required. — Collection of Earl Hampton | ||
Pictures 21A-24, 21A-25, and 21A-26. | |||
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In the 1980s and 1990s, Orleans Parish school pupils rode the New Orleans RTA buses and streetcars using tickets such as these. — Collection of Louis Hennick | ||
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Picture 21B-1. | ||
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This New Orleans Railway & Light Co. token dates itself, having the year 1919 stamped on the reverse. The token was struck in what collectors call White Metal (WM), and is 16 mm (millimeters) in diameter. The dark colored metal is the normal patina which forms in the low spots on such a token over the years. The token bears Atwood-Coffee token catalog number LA 670 A. (For more information on transportation tokens, visit the American Vecturist Association website at www.vecturist.com. A “vecturist” is a collector of tokens.) |
Pictures 21B-2 and 21B-3. | ||
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New Orleans Public Service Inc. issued these two similar tokens years apart. The upper picture shows the token issued in 1947. It was commonly used by conductors stationed on the street at busy rush hour streetcar and bus stops. In those days, streetcar conductors and bus drivers made change, which of course slowed boarding. So the street conductors passed among the people in the crowd, selling these tokens and making change, thus speeding up the boarding when the streetcar or bus arrived. The second picture shows the token issued in 1970. It differs only in the reverse inscription, saying “One Base Fare” instead of “One Cash Fare”. At this time, some NOPSI routes (e.g., express routes) had premium fares. Both of these tokens are also 16 mm in diameter, and were struck in WM. Atwood-Coffee catalog numbers LA 670 Bb and LA 670 H. |
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Picture 21B-4. | ||
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This handsome token was issued by New Orleans RTA in 1984 for the Louisiana World Exposition, the world's fair held in the city that year. It was good for a fare, but RTA clearly expected that many people would buy and keep one as a souvenir without riding, thus selling more rides than were claimed. This token was struck in brass, and measures 27 mm in diameter. Atwood-Coffee catalog number LA 670 M. |
Pictures 21B-5 and 21B-6. | ||
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RTA issued the upper brass token in 1985. The inscription on the reverse says, “Oldest continuously operating streetcar / in / New Orleans / since 1835”. Someone seems to have decided that this didn't quite say what it was intended to say. A subsequent issue, shown in the lower picture, has the inscription, “Oldest continuously operating streetcar in the world / since 1835 / New Orleans / St. Charles Streetcar”. These tokens are 16 mm in diameter. The earlier token (upper picture) is Atwood-Coffee catalog number LA 670 N; the later issue (lower picture) is LA 670 O. Notice how the lettering around the edge of the token had to be made a smaller size for the second token. |
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Pictures 21B-7 and 21B-8. | ||
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After NOPSI went to an exact fare system, and conductors and bus drivers no longer made change, tokens were advertised as an alternative to the nuisance of presenting exact cash fares. Banks, grocery stores, and many other kinds of stores sold the tokens in packets of 10 or 20, although the price per token was still the same as the cash fare (15 cents at this time). The tokens seen above in Pictures 21B-2 and 21B-3 were the ones usually included in these packets, but an occasional older token (Picture 21B-1) could also be found. — Collection of Earl Hampton |
Picture 21B-9. | ||
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RTA sold tokens in envelopes such as this. |
Pictures 21C-15.3, 21C-15.5, 21C-15.7, and 21C-15.8. | |||
These four transfers, from the
Canal Belt, City Park, North Claiborne, and Louisiana lines, date from the
same period as the Broadway transfer in the previous picture. Louis
Hennick has estimated that this type was put into service about the time of
the end of the 1929 strike, and continued in use until superseded by the
multi-coupon type in the following pictures, probably in the mid-1930s.
The biggest departure from previous transfers is the method of indicating the
time as the latest time showing when the transfer was torn off. This was
much faster for the conductor or bus operator than punching the time indicators.
Note how all possible transfer points are listed on the face of the coupon,
plus options From BARN, To BARN, CAR to CAR, and EMERGENCY. Presumably,
the conductor could punch one of those to validate it when the situation arose.
The list of transfer points on the Canal Belt transfer is interesting. One of the points listed, Esplanade at Bourbon, was not on the usual Canal Belt route. Perhaps that transfer point might be useful if the cars were detoured, such as for a parade. — Collection of the author (Canal Belt and Louisiana) and of Louis Hennick (City Park and Claiborne) |
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Picture 21C-16. | |||
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During World War II, Bomber Base was a bus line that ran on Franklin (the same street as the main part of the Gentilly streetcar line) from Gentilly Road to the lake front, then east to the airport, which was in use by the military. Between Gentilly Road and Dreux, it overlapped the Gentilly car line. In effect, it extended the car line so that workers could get to the military installations on the lake front. Since the only transit lines that it connected to were the Gentilly streetcar (which ended at Franklin and Dreux) and the Gentilly-Broad bus (at Franklin and Gentilly), this simple transfer served the purpose. | |
Picture 21C-17. | |||
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This is an early version of the type of transfer NOPSI used for many years. With the multiple coupons, one could transfer several times on the same ticket. Each conductor or bus operator would take up one coupon. Each coupon listed the routes on which it was valid (or sometimes the ones on which it was not valid). Someone had to have worked out all the different combinations a person could have reasonably used for a journey anywhere in the city, always on the assumption of one continuous trip and no return to the point of origin. This transfer was from the St. Claude streetcar line. Some previous owner has written the date Nov. 1934 on it; the only date that was printed was the day of the month (5). | |
Picture 21C-18. | |||
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This Broadway transfer is the complete form, as issued to the conductor or operator. In use, the conductor or operator would tear it off at the time that represented the limit on the time to use the transfer on the first connecting car or bus. Complete forms such as this were not supposed to be available to riders. Note that the complete date is now printed on the transfer (this one is dated Tuesday April 19, 1949). | |
Pictures 21C-19 and 21C-20. | |||
These two transfers date from 1949 on the two Canal Street lines, Cemeteries and West End. The Cemeteries transfer is the complete form, as issued to the conductor. The West End transfer shows normal usage as issued to a rider, torn to represent a time limit of 3:15 p.m. | |||
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Pictures 21C-21 and 21C-22. | |||
These transfers were issued on the real Streetcar Named Desire, the first in 1936, the second in 1944. Notice that the 1944 transfer has one more coupon than the 1936, probably reflecting the fact that the system had grown and a longer trip was possible. | |||
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Pictures 21C-23, 21C-24, 21C-24.5, and 21C-25. | |||
For over 50 years, Tulane and St. Charles were essentially opposite sides of what was effectively a single loop streetcar line. However, there was one significant difference: Tulane served the loop at the foot of Canal Street, while St. Charles did not. (See Group 10, above.) So one is not surprised to see the St. Charles transfer marked “Not good on Tulane.” What is surprising is to find two slightly different Tulane transfers, as seen here. The first one, marked by a three-sided red line at the top and bearing a cryptic letter “R”, states “Good on Tulane Outbound at Bourbon and Canal Only. Not good on St. Charles.” The second, marked by the letter “S”, is inscribed “Not good on St. Charles Except at Baronne and Canal Only.” All the other restrictions on usage of the Tulane transfers are the same on both R and S. These two transfers and the St. Charles transfer are dated April 19, 1949. An older version of the Tulane R transfer, dated October 1, 1937, shows a complete red box around the date number. It appears to this author that the R transfer made it possible for a through passenger to ride to Canal Street on a Tulane car, then skip the trip to the foot of Canal Street by transferring to an outbound Tulane car at Carondelet/Bourbon Street. The S transfer would have made it possible for a would-be St. Charles passenger to catch an outbound Tulane car on Canal between the loop and Baronne St., then transfer to an outbound St. Charles car just before it turned up Baronne. Note the absence of the usual “Not good on issuing line” notation on the reverse of the first coupon of the R transfer. | |||
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Pictures 21C-26 through 21C-33. | |||
Here is a sampling of transfers for a variety of streetcar lines, from the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. During the 30s and 40s, the full date, including the year, was printed on each transfer, but some time in the 50s, the year was dropped. The samples which list numbered routes come from the late 1950s or later, as the first numbered routes (express bus routes, such as Bridge 60 and Express 70) came into use in 1958. Incidentally, bus lines used the same type of transfers as streetcar lines. The reason St. Claude and S. Claiborne transfers were printed “St. Claude Car” and “S. Claiborne Car” was to distinguish them from the feeder bus lines having those same names. | |||
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Pictures 21C-33.3 and 21C-33.6. | |||
When the underpass on S. Carrollton Avenue was built, forcing the separation of the St. Charles and Tulane lines, the temporary outer end of the St. Charles line was at S. Carrollton and Dixon, just riverward of the new underpass, and the temporary Tulane diesel bus line (used while trolley coach overhead was erected for the Tulane line) was at S. Carrollton and Tulane, just the other side of the new underpass. These transfers were used to connect the outer ends of the two lines for through passengers, who must have had to walk the distance between the ends of the lines. Later, when the underpass was completed, and the outer terminus of both lines was moved permanently to S. Carrollton at S. Claiborne Avenue, ordinary multi-coupon transfers were used to connect between the two lines. These transfers are not dated, but bear a letter code, which was changed daily so that an out-of-date transfer would be noticed and rejected by a conductor or bus operator. | |||
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Pictures 21C-34, 21C-35, and 21C-35.5. | |||
Unusual circumstances, such as breakdowns and blocked trackage, called for these kinds of special transfers. The second type is especially interesting, as it served a triple purpose. A conductor could issue it with all three coupons, good to transfer to another line outbound; or with the first coupon removed, for another line inbound; or with both of those coupons removed, to the next car on his own line (“Car to Car”). Neither type is explicitly dated, but the triple-coupon type bears a letter code which was changed daily. This served to date the transfer sufficiently that a conductor would notice and reject an out-of-date transfer. | |||
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Pictures 21C-36, 21C-37, and 21C-38. | |||
New Orleans Regional Transportation Authority (NORTA) issued transfers such as these. The first comes from the restored Canal-Cemeteries streetcar line on its inaugural day, April 18, 2004; both front and back are shown. Note that the year again appears on the transfer, but the time is specified only to the nearest half-hour. The second transfer, also from Canal-Cemeteries, is from April 18, 2005, the one-year anniversary of the line. The third was issued on the St. Charles streetcar line on Nov. 7, 2004. The list of lines on which each coupon will be honored is now simply a list of route numbers, without route names. Canal-Cemeteries is route 42, and St. Charles is route 12. — Collection of Earl Hampton | |||
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Pictures 21C-39, 21C-40, and 21C-40.5. | |||
These three transfers are samples of a generic form, used by NORTA as it worked to recover from the ravages of Hurricane Katrina. The first blank one is dated October 7, 2006. In use, the number of the route issuing the transfer was supposed to be handwritten on the form, as can be seen in the second example, dated May 23, 2007. (Route 47 is the current designation for the Canal-Cemeteries streetcar.) The third example, dated January 27, 2008 and shown both front and back, is a near-complete copy of the blank form as issued to operators. — Collections of Earl Hampton and of the author | |||
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Picture 21C-41. | |||
On December 7, 2008, RTA resumed the use of route-specific transfers. Early in 2009, they took the form shown here. Note the simplified list of eligible lines on each coupon, and the use of a single form for routes 42, 47, and 48. The route number 42 was used for the Canal-Cemeteries bus, which had been running to provide wheelchair service on the Canal route, but which had been discontinued when refurbished wheelchair-capable 2000-class red streetcars resumed operation in early 2009. Numbers 47 and 48 designate the Canal-Cemeteries and the Canal-City Park (Carrollton branch) streetcar lines, respectively. | |||
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The corporate history of the New Orleans streetcar system traces back to seven major horsecar systems and several smaller companies. By the early 1890s, when the systems were seeking to electrify their lines, they had begun to merge. Finally, in 1902, all streetcar lines in the city came under the control of one company, New Orleans Railways Co. In 1905, the system came under the control of the New Orleans Railway and Light Co., though full corporate merger was not accomplished until New Orleans Public Service Inc. was formed in 1922.
Railroad stocks and bonds, including those of street railroads, are cataloged in Collectible Stocks and Bonds from North American Railroads by Terry Cox.
According to Cox, stocks and bonds are known for only the following New
Orleans street railway companies (shown with the prefix for catalog numbers
for their certificates):
CAN-453 | Canal & Claiborne Railroad Co. |
CAN-542 | Canal Street City Park & Lake Railroad Co. |
NEW-327 | New Orleans & Carrollton RR. Co. |
NEW-329 | New Orleans City R. R. Co. |
NEW-330 | New Orleans City & Lake RR. Co. |
NEW-427 | New Orleans Traction Co. |
ORL-333 | Orleans & Jefferson Ry. Co. Ltd. |
NEW-319 | New Orleans Rys. Co. |
NEW-393 | New Orleans Ry. & Light Co. |
Stock certificates are also known for the Gulfport & Mississippi Coast Traction Company. Cox catalogs these with the prefic GUL-966.
New Orleans streetcar workers were among the organizers of the original Amalgamated Association of Street Railway Employees of America. In New Orleans, they were initially organized into Local Division No. 2. Over the years, the national union changed its name as transit evolved, becoming the Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employees of America, then the Amalgamated Association of Street, Electric Railway, and Motor Coach Employees of America, and finally simplifying its name to the current form, Amalgamated Transit Union.
In New Orleans, union matters evolved, also. When New Orleans Railways Co. came into being in 1902, consolidating all city railways under one management, the new company inherited a variety of contracts between Amalgamated Local Division 194 and the predecessor companies. On September 27, 1902, a strike was called. The union wanted a single agreement covering all operations, including a pay increase and certain working conditions. The company resisted, and Mayor Capdeville put the city's support behind the company. A two week strike followed, during which the mayor convinced Governor Heard to involve the state militia. Settlement was reached on October 12, and New Orleans Railways signed a contract recognizing the Amalgamated.
Another strike began July 1, 1920 over a wage dispute. (See Group 14.5.) Management tried to break the strike using imported strikebreakers, and had the backing of Federal Marshalls, the New Orleans Police, and the Governor, but could not achieve satisfactory service levels, despite claiming that all lines but one were in operation. The strike was settled late in the month with a new contract.
The biggest event in New Orleans streetcar union history was the violent July 1929 strike (see Group 15). Service was gradually restored beginning in August. By the end of the strike, the Amalgamated in New Orleans was in very poor shape. A different union was formed, one that the Amalgamated calls a Company Union, which in October signed a contract with NOPSI, nominally ending the strike. This union was called the Cooperative Street Railway Employees Association of New Orleans. Amalgamated Division 194 continued to exist until 1948, and to advocate for laws and policies it supported, but it had no contract with NOPSI.
This arrangement was successfully challenged in 1974, when the Amalgamated won a representation election and formed Local Division 1560 in New Orleans. This was followed by unsuccessful negotiations between Local 1560 and NOPSI, and then by a strike, beginning December 18. The strike was not completely settled until March 7, 1975.
Earl Hampton
Michael Strauch aka Streetcar Mike
Dave's Electric Railroads
NYC Subway
Peter Ehrlich aka Milantram
John Smatlak
Chris Guenzler
Charles Howard photos, Stan Malcolm collection
Kevin Pedeaux
Oldtrails
APTA Streetcar and Heritage Trolley Site
World Tram & Trolleybus Networks
References
Louis C. Hennick & E. Harper Charlton, Louisiana - Its Street and
Interurban Railways, Vol. I, Louis C. Hennick, 1962; republished as
Street Railways of Louisiana, Pelican, 1979.
Louis C. Hennick & E. Harper Charlton, Louisiana - Its Street and
Interurban Railways, Vol. II, Louis C. Hennick, 1965; republished as
The Streetcars of New Orleans, Pelican, 1975.
Page references to the above two volumes are to the Pelican editions.
Louis C. Hennick, The Streetcars of New Orleans,
“Appendix III,” unpublished manuscript, 2005.
Eli Bail, “New Orleans The Private Ownership Years,” Motor Coach Age,
Vol. 53, No. 4, Oct.-Dec. 2001.
Amalgamated Transit Union Staff, A History of the Amalgamated Transit
Union, 1992.
Cars in Various Sta. 1934, NOPSI
R. S. Korach, “New Orleans,”
ERA Headlights, July 1945, pp. 9-10.
Arthur Schwartz, “New Orleans CAR NOTES,”
ERA Headlights, December 1959, p. 8.
Picture credits are given where known. All pictures are in the author's collection, except as noted. Thanks to Earl Hampton, Maunsel White, Morris Hill, and Mike Strauch for innumerable contributions of photos, research, and knowledge.
Text, captions, and photos by the author, © 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 H. George Friedman, Jr. All rights reserved. Permission is hereby given for the QUOTATION of SHORT excerpts, as long as credit is given to H. George Friedman, Jr.
Computer Science Department, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Home Page