STDR | 355-404 | 22' OB | Lord Baltimore | St. Louis Car Co. | ON 869 | 20 Apr. 1910 | 50 cars |
These were New Orleans' last ST ordered from a carbuilder.
Five cars in this series REN (400-404 to 350-354) to avoid conflict with the
DTAR 400s of 1914, Perley A. Thomas' first design for N. O. Order meant
for the Prytania Line, hence their name “Prytania cars”. RB late teens
with straight sides, folding steps, four panel
doors. As deliv. P - S p. 127, 1910. RB, P - S p. 128.
After 1923, only 24 retained for service (351, 355-58, 361, 377, 379-92,
396-98), though some others were apparently recalled from
retirement in the later 1920s (see picture of 363 below).
These the last ST in regular service (1932), their last duty
owl service. Stored for poss. re-use, scrapped late '30s.
DTAR 800s replaced these on Prytania in 1923.
Declining use of ST cars in N. O. (TP 3/21/24 p. 3 — only 8 lines using them: Broad (both branches: Paris Ave. and St. Bernard), City Park, Clio, Desire, Napoleon, Peters Ave., Southport Shuttle, and Villere). As ST cars faded, buses appeared. ERJ v. 67 no. 15 4/10/26 N. O. has 221 mi. st. ry. (90 in neut. gnd.) — BUT — 19 buses on NOPSI roster (6 Mack, 9 Yellow, 1 Grahame Bros., 3 Fageol gas elec.). |
RB “Prytania” car 363 makes its way through the Vieux Carré on the St.
Bernard line, one leg of the Broad line, some time in the late 1920s.
— George Friedman collection
RB “Prytania” car 394 and an early NOPSI bus along N. Broad Street,
August 20, 1929. The bus is a Mack AB, either from the Charles A.
Kaufman order of 1923 (quickly bought by NOPSI), or NOPSI's 1925 order
for the same type.
— Teunisson photo, Earl Hampton collection
SERVICE RECORD | ||||
352 | BR 6/29/17 [note] | 380 | PR 12/24/16 | |
356 | PR 12/25/14 | 385 | PR 1/21/19 | |
357 | COL 5/19/11 | 387 | VI 10/29/16 | |
358 | VI 3/5/20 | 389 | NA 2/12/16 | |
360 | PR 1/15/21 | 390 | PA 8/1/12, VI 10/9/17 | |
361 | PR 4/9/12, VI 10/9/17 | 394 | VI 4/23/19 | |
369 | PR 12/4/14 | 396 | COL 12/8/20 | |
371 | PR 11/21/15 | 397 | COL 4/17/13 | |
377 | PR 8/8/19 | 398 | HC 1/22/12 | |
378 | PR 4/27/19 | 403 | PA 4/21/13, 6/17/13 | |
379 | PR 5/18/11 | 404 | CDT 3/7/11, PA 11/25/12 |
DTDR | 500-507 | 28'1" OB 36'1" OA 8'5" W |
B&S Type H | Barney & Smith | ON —— | 1898 | 8 cars |
DTDR | 509-512 | 29'1" OB 37'1" OA 8'7" W |
B&S Type H | American Car Co. | ON —— | 1898 | 4 cars |
First 8 cars so satisfactory, four more ordered immediately.
These attractive cars opened the electrification of the West End Line in 1898.
B&S diverted 509-512 to Amer. There was no 508.
(Superstition? 5 + 8 = 13 and adding 508 to the 12 makes 13 cars.)
Spanish-Amer. War could have made materials scarce, or B&S could have been
too busy to make the cars quickly.
These were 4-mot. cars, 33" WH. 500-507 used Whse. 12A mot., 509-512 used GE 58 mot. These and the Morris cars 046-057 had train doors, the only ones in N. O. to have them. 500-507 SCR 1921-24 except two (nos. unk.) RB & RG by NOPSI. All 509-512 also SCR same period except one (no. unk.). The three RB & RG by NOPSI to make gas mot. train for New Orleans & Lower Coast RR (1 mot. & 2 trailers) circa 1924, final disposition unk. Mentioned in NOPSI Work Orders. P - N, also see The Short Line Doodlebug — Galloping Geese and Other Rail Critters, Edmund Keilty, Interurban Press, Glendale, Calif. 1988, Interurbans Special 99, p. 62. RB used Four Wheel Drive Auto Co. chassis — eqpt. orders 622-24. Excellent P (no. 511) ERJ v. 55 no. 9 2/28/20 p. 442-43 pulling Coleman trailers — Spanish Fort Line, N. O. Ry. & Lt. Co. Nelson H. Brown masterminded the conversion of the park into a profitable venture. P Amer. Car Co. order S p. 133. P B&S order N & S p. 134. Note diff. in dimensions of the two orders, especially the wider windows at corner posts of the Amer. order. |
The second order for Barney & Smith DT cars, built by American Car Co.,
1898. (An early example of “outsourcing.” Possibly B&S too busy
to handle an order quickly at this time.) Note wider sash at each end
of sides. These cars one foot longer than the first B&S order.
The B&S cars pulled three-car trains of trailers on the West End Line.
— Louis Hennick Collection of The Historic New Orleans Collection
A three-car West End train pulled by one of the Barney & Smith
1898 DT cars, inbound alongside the New Basin Canal, circa 1903.
— Louis Hennick Collection of The Historic New Orleans Collection
From a 1902 New Orleans City RR Co. tourist guide, open platform car 509
pulling three of the American Car Co. RR roof trailers in West End service.
— George Friedman collection
The terminal area at the foot of Canal Street, some time between 1899
and 1904. Emergency tower wagon no. 2 of the New Orleans City R. R. Co.
is supporting two men working on some problem with the overhead wire, as the
motorman and conductor of car 510 look on from the platforms of their car.
The 510 is one of the American Car Co. double truck cars built 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
Built by American Car Co. (Barney & Smith design, diverted to American,
1898), car 509 with three Coleman trailers, closed platforms and train doors —
only other DT cars in N. O. to have train doors were the Morris cars.
Originally intended for and used on the West End line, but
beginning in 1911, New Orleans Ry. & Light Co. switched its excursion
traffic, and these cars, to Spanish Fort. This 1912 picture postcard view
shows a train arriving at the new Spanish Fort station.
The B&S cars were rugged and dependable, lasting well into the 1920s.
— C. B. Mason postcard, collection of George Friedman
Sometimes a 500 would pull only two trailers, as here circa 1915.
There was no loop at Spanish Fort. American Car Co. car 511 is
maneuvering around its train to “change ends” for the return trip to the
City. See track layout on maps in S pp. 66-67 and pp. 82-83.
— E. F. Keplinger photo, collection of George Friedman
NOPSI in early 1920s rebuilt two Barney & Smith first order cars and
one American second order car into a three-car motor train for New Orleans
& Lower Coast RR. 4-wheel drive Auto Car Co. running gear.
Note how the original double trucks have been replaced by a single axle at
each end of the car. Compare length of the end windows at each end of
the middle car (from American) to those of the other two cars (from B&S).
Unknown how successful this heavy motor train turned out.
Caption in white on the picture reads, “FWD three car
gasoline train operated by New Orleans and Lower Coast RR Co / Four Wheel
Drive Auto Co. Clintonville Wis USA 622-24”.
— Louis Hennick Collection of The Historic New Orleans Collection
SERVICE RECORD | |
500 | MG 11/25/99, 3/1/00, WE 6/18/03 |
501 | WE 7/8/01, 6/19/05, SF 5/3/20 |
502 | WE 5/13/01, VI 10/6/14, ES 2/27/19, On Canal St. 9/20/20 |
505 | WE 8/1/98, MG 12/1/98, WE 7/20/03, SF 3/15/15 |
509 | On Canal St. 11/11/99 |
510 | WE 6/18/03, On Canal St. 2/13/05, WE 10/7/08, SF 11/14/15, 11/26/18 |
511 | On Canal St. 3/31/02, WE 5/6/02, 1/15/09, 1/28/17 |
512 | WE 5/11/06, 9/28/09 |
Text copyright © 2008, 2009, 2010 Louis C. Hennick. Pictures copyright © 2009 by the persons credited. Picture captions copyright © 2009, 2010 Louis C. Hennick and H. George Friedman, Jr. All rights reserved.
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