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.