The vast majority of tram systems use 1,435mm (4ft8+1⁄2in) standard gauge. Generally, standard gauge is the standard for every brand new system (except for the former Soviet Union), even in places where there is another gauge for the heavy rail. Metre gauge is mainly present in some old, continuously operating systems in Central Europe. Russian gauge is used only in the former Soviet Union.
The electrification system for the old systems is generally 600V DC while the more recent systems use 750V DC. Some old systems upgraded to 750V in recent years (mostly in Germany[1]) while some systems (e.g. Romania) downgraded the voltage to 600V to use the second-hand vehicles coming from the upgraded German networks. Few systems are partially or wholly catenary-free, with APS and ACR systems or using a pure internal power source as battery or ultracapacitors. Very few vintage systems are horse-drawn tram or cable car. For references for the figures, see each system's page.
Originally a mineral line, regauged and relaid a number of times, operated latterly as a tramway using the largest doubledeck trams ever made for UK use, often in pairs, closed by local bus company in 1960
A tram is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or tram networks operated as public transport are called tramways or simply trams/streetcars. Because of their close similarities, trams are commonly included in the wider term light rail, which also includes systems separated from other traffic.
Light rail is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology while also having some features from heavy rapid transit.
A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge broader than the 1,435 mm used by standard-gauge railways.
The interurban is a type of electric railway, with tram-like electric self-propelled railcars which run within and between cities or towns. The term "interurban" is usually used in North America, with other terms used outside it. They were very prevalent in many parts of the world before the Second World War and were used primarily for passenger travel between cities and their surrounding suburban and rural communities. Interurban as a term encompassed the companies, their infrastructure, their cars that ran on the rails, and their service. In the United States, the early 1900s interurban was a valuable economic institution, when most roads between towns, many town streets were unpaved, and transportation and haulage was by horse-drawn carriages and carts.
A Birney or Birney Safety Car is a type of streetcar that was manufactured in the United States in the 1910s and 1920s. The design was small and light and was intended to be an economical means of providing frequent service at a lower infrastructure and labor cost than conventional streetcars. Production of Birney cars lasted from 1915 until 1930, and more than 6,000 of the original, single-truck version were built. Several different manufacturers built Birney cars. The design was "the first mass-produced standard streetcar " in North America.
Conduit current collection is an obsolete system that was used by some electric tramways to pass current to streetcars via a "conduit", a small tunnel under the roadway. Modern systems fall under the term ground-level power supply.
A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is an animal-powered tram or streetcar.
Various terms are used for passenger railway lines and equipment; the usage of these terms differs substantially between areas:
The SEPTA subway–surface trolley lines are a collection of five SEPTA trolley lines that operate on street-level tracks in West Philadelphia and Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and also underneath Market Street in Philadelphia's Center City. The lines, Routes 10, 11, 13, 34, and 36, collectively operate on about 39.6 miles (63.7 km) of route.
The Denver Tramway, operating in Denver, Colorado, was a streetcar system incorporated in 1886. The tramway was unusual for a number of reasons: the term "tramway" is generally not used in the United States, and it is not known why the company was named as such. The track was 3 ft 6 in narrow gauge, an unusual gauge in the United States, but in general use by railways in Japan, southern Africa, New Zealand, and Queensland, Australia.
The Baltimore Streetcar Museum (BSM) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit museum. It is located at 1911 Falls Road in Baltimore, Maryland. The museum is dedicated to preserving Baltimore's public transportation history, especially the streetcar era.
Tramway track is used on tramways or light rail operations. As with standard rail tracks, tram tracks have two parallel steel rails, the distance between the heads of the rails being the track gauge. When there is no need for pedestrians or road vehicles to traverse the track, conventional flat-bottom rail is used. However, when such traffic exists, such as in urban streets, grooved rails are used.
Streetcars or trolley(car)s were once the chief mode of public transit in hundreds of North American cities and towns. Most of the original urban streetcar systems were either dismantled in the mid-20th century or converted to other modes of operation, such as light rail. Today, only Toronto still operates a streetcar network essentially unchanged in layout and mode of operation.
The Maryland Transit Administration was originally known as the Baltimore Metropolitan Transit Authority, then the Maryland Mass Transit Administration before it changed to its current name in October 2001. The MTA took over the operations of the old Baltimore Transit Company on April 30, 1970.
Although tram and Heritage streetcar systems date to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many old systems were closed during the mid-20th century because of the advent of automobile travel. This was especially the case in North America, but postwar reductions and shutdowns also occurred on British, French and other Western European urban rail networks. However, traditional tramway systems survived, and eventually even began to thrive from the late 20th century onward, some eventually operating as much as when they were first built over a century ago. Their numbers have been augmented by modern tramway or light rail systems in cities which had discarded this form of transport.
Originally, various track gauges were used in the United States. Some railways, primarily in the northeast, used standard gauge of 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in ; others used gauges ranging from 2 ft to 6 ft. As a general rule, southern railroads were built to one or another broad gauge, mostly 5 ft, while northern railroads that were not standard-gauge tended to be narrow-gauge. The Pacific Railroad Acts of 1863 specified standard gauge.
Streetcars operated by the Cincinnati Street Railway were the main form of public transportation in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century. The first electric streetcars began operation in 1889, and at its maximum, the streetcar system had 222 miles (357 km) of track and carried more than 100 million passengers per year. A very unusual feature of the system was that cars on some of its routes traveled via inclined railways to serve areas on hills near downtown. With the advent of inexpensive automobiles and improved roads, transit ridership declined in the 20th century and the streetcar system closed in 1951. Construction of a new streetcar system, now known as the Connector, began in 2012. Consisting initially of a single route, the new system opened on September 9, 2016.
Toronto-gauge railways are tram and rapid transit lines built to Toronto gauge, a broad gauge of 4 ft 10+7⁄8 in. This is 2+3⁄8 in (60 mm) wider than standard gauge of 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in which is by far the most common track gauge in Canada. The gauge is unique to the Greater Toronto Area and is currently used on the Toronto streetcar system and the Toronto subway, both operated by the Toronto Transit Commission. Several now-defunct interurban rail systems also once used this gauge. The Halton County Radial Railway, a transport museum is located on one of the former interurban lines and uses the Toronto gauge.
↑ Hilton, George W.; Due, John Fitzgerald (1 January 2000). The Electric Interurban Railways in America. Stanford University Press. ISBN978-0-8047-4014-2. Retrieved 10 June 2014. Worst of all, not all city systems were built to the standard American and European gauge of 4'-81⁄2". Pittsburgh and most other Pennsylvania cities used 5'-21⁄2", which became known as the Pennsylvania trolley gauge. Cincinnati used 5'-21⁄2", Philadelphia 5'-21⁄4", Columbus 5'-2", Altoona 5'-3", Louisville and Camden 5'-0", Canton and Pueblo 4'-0", Denver, Tacoma, and Los Angeles 3'-6", Toronto an odd 4'-107⁄8", and Baltimore a vast 5'-41⁄2".
External links
Hilton, George W.; Due, John Fitzgerald (1 January 2000). The Electric Interurban Railways in America. Stanford University Press. ISBN978-0-8047-4014-2. Retrieved 10 June 2014. Worst of all, not all city systems were built to the standard American and European gauge of 4'-81⁄2". Pittsburgh and most other Pennsylvania cities used 5'-21⁄2", which became known as the Pennsylvania trolley gauge. Cincinnati used 5'-21⁄2", Philadelphia 5'-21⁄4", Columbus 5'-2", Altoona 5'-3", Louisville and Camden 5'-0", Canton and Pueblo 4'-0", Denver, Tacoma, and Los Angeles 3'-6", Toronto an odd 4'-107⁄8", and Baltimore a vast 5'-41⁄2".
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