 1908 postcard entitled "Rapid transit in 1877 - First horsecar run in Manchester, New Hampshire" | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Locale | Manchester and Nashua, New Hampshire |
| Dates of operation | 1864–1941 |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Electrification | Electrified interurban light rail |
The Manchester Street Railway was a light interurban railway that ran from Manchester to Nashua, New Hampshire. [1]
The Manchester Horse Railroad Company was incorporated in 1864. [3] The company changed its name to the Manchester Street Railway in 1889, [3] which in turn was renamed the Manchester Traction Light & Power Company in 1901. [2] In 1903 the Goff's Falls, Litchfield & Hudson Street Railway Company was incorporated. [4] In 1905 the Manchester Street Railway's main car barn burned down, so they ordered 11 Laconia cars numbered 94 - 116 in even numbers. [5] Many of the Manchester Street Railway's cars were manufactured by the Laconia Car Company in Laconia, New Hampshire. The Goff's Falls, Litchfield & Hudson Street Railway Company was renamed the Manchester and Nashua Street Railway in 1907. [4] Near the end, the railway couldn't afford to keep lines energized after hours, and scrappers would climb the poles and dismantle the lines. [6] The Manchester Street Railway ceased operations in 1939, and most of their equipment was scrapped by 1941. [4] [6]
Manchester "Rapid" No. 38 was the Seashore Trolley Museum's second car (and first intact car, as the museum's first car, Biddeford and Saco No. 31, was initially acquired without trucks), was obtained from the Manchester Street Railway. This car was the last electric streetcar known to operate in Manchester under its own power, running off home rails and onto the transport bound for Seashore using its own motors. [6]
There are several Manchester Street Railway cars preserved and operational. [1] [6] [5]
The interurban is a type of electric railway, with tram-like electric self-propelled rail cars 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 North America between 1900 and 1925 and were used primarily for passenger travel between cities and their surrounding suburban and rural communities. The concept spread to countries such as Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy and Poland. 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.
Seashore Trolley Museum, located in Kennebunkport, Maine, United States, is the world's first and largest museum of mass transit vehicles. While the main focus of the collection is trolley cars (trams), it also includes rapid transit trains, Interurban cars, trolley buses, and motor buses. The Seashore Trolley Museum is owned and operated by the New England Electric Railway Historical Society (NEERHS). Of the museum's collection of more than 350 vehicles, ten trolley and railroad cars that historically operated in Maine were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 as Maine Trolley Cars.
The Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway was a streetcar and later bus company in eastern Massachusetts, serving northern and southern suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts. Its precursor company was the Bay State Street Railway, which it absorbed in 1919. It was acquired by Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, which still runs some of its routes, in 1968.
Streetcars in Washington, D.C. transported people across the city and region from 1862 until 1962.
Pittsburgh Railways was one of the predecessors of Pittsburgh Regional Transit. It had 666 PCC cars, the third largest fleet in North America. It had 68 streetcar routes, of which only three are used by the Port Authority as light rail routes. With the Port Authority's Transit Development Plan, many route names will be changed to its original, such as the 41D Brookline becoming the 39 Brookline. Many of the streetcar routes have been remembered in the route names of many Port Authority buses.
The Fox River Trolley Museum is a railroad museum in South Elgin, Illinois. Incorporated in 1961 as R.E.L.I.C., it opened in 1966 and became the Fox River Trolley Museum in 1984.
The Wason Manufacturing Company was a maker of railway passenger coaches and streetcars during the 19th and early 20th century. The company was founded in 1845 in Springfield, Massachusetts by Charles Wason (1816-1888) and Thomas Wason (1811-1870). Although the concept would later be popularized by the Pullman Company, Wason was the first to manufacture sleeping cars in America.
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The Lehigh Valley Transit Company (LVT) was a regional transport company that was headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The company began operations in 1901, as an urban trolley and interurban rail transport company. It operated successfully into the 1930s, but struggled financially during the Great Depression, and was saved from abandonment by a dramatic ridership increase during and following World War II.
The Worcester, Nashua and Rochester Railroad was a railroad line that was to link the city of Worcester, Massachusetts, to the city of Portland, Maine, via the New Hampshire cities of Nashua and Rochester, by merging several small shortline railroads together.
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The Maine Trolley Cars are a group of 10 rail vehicles, mostly trolley cars, located in Kennebunkport, Maine. The cars were built in various years between 1893 and 1926, and the group was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 14, 1980. The trolley cars are a small part of the large collection of vehicles at the Seashore Trolley Museum. While the museum's collection of more than 250 vehicles includes ones from several different U.S. states and a few foreign countries, the 10 vehicles in the National Register listing were all operated in the state of Maine at one time.
The Atlantic Shore Line (ASL) was an electric trolley line providing passenger and freight service to many towns in York County, Maine, in the United States. The ASL was the second-longest trolley line in Maine, encompassing over 87 miles (140 km) of track.
The Portland–Lewiston Interurban (PLI) was an electric railroad subsidiary of the Androscoggin Electric Company operating from 1914 to 1933 between Monument Square in Portland and Union Square in Lewiston, Maine. Hourly service was offered over the 40-mile (64 km) route between the two cities. Express trains stopping only at West Falmouth, Gray, New Gloucester, Upper Gloucester and Danville made the trip in 80 minutes, while trains making other local stops upon request required 20 minutes more. The line was considered the finest interurban railroad in the state of Maine.
A California Car is a type of single-deck tramcar or streetcar that features a center, enclosed seating compartment and roofed seating areas without sides on either end. These cars were popular in California's mild Mediterranean climate offering passengers a choice of shaded outdoor seating during hot weather, or more protected seating during cool or rainy weather. They were also used in other climates to provide separate outdoor smoking and enclosed non-smoking areas. Some very early motor buses also used the combination car design.
Osmond Richard Cummings was an American author and historian. He published several histories of railroad systems in New England.
The Springfield Electric Railway, affectionately referred to as the Toonerville Trolley, was an electric trolley system that operated in the town of Springfield, Vermont. The railway, which later became the Springfield Terminal Railway, was initially funded by the town in 1896 with the aim of establishing connections to the railroads passing through Charlestown, New Hampshire, across the Connecticut River. Eventually, the Boston and Maine Railroad gained control of the railway. While the trolley service ceased operations in 1947, making it the longest-running trolley in the state at that time, freight usage of the tracks ended in 1984. The Springfield Terminal name continues to exist as a subsidiary of Pan Am Railways which is now owned by CSX.