| Streetcars in Monterey | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operation | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Locale | Monterey, California | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Open | 1891 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Close | 1923 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Dismantled | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The streetcar system of Monterey, California operated between 1891 and 1923. It started as a horsecar line before being electrified in the early 1900s and expanded to its largest extent in the 1910s. Lines extended from Pacific Grove in the east to Del Monte Heights in the east.
The Monterey and Pacific Grove Railway opened as a horsecar service. [1] Revenue service began between Oak Grove and the Statue of Junípero Serra on April 30, 1891 after testing the previous day. [2] The right of way was graded allow for trolley operation, [3] though was laid to a narrow gauge of 3 ft 2 in (965 mm). [4] [5] Tracks were extended to the El Carmelo Hotel in August. [2] A further extension to the Southern Pacific Monterey station was completed the following year. [6]
The company contemplated electrification as early as 1893, though a tragedy the following year would postpone those plans. The car barn was largely destroyed in a fire on May 12, 1894; the cause of the blaze or person who started it were never identified. Losses amounted to the building, six cars, hay, and one horse among other equipment. Insurance did not cover these expenses. [7] A new carbarn opened the following year with second hand rolling stock acquired from Santa Cruz and the California Street Cable Railroad in San Francisco. [8]
Plans were put forward to electrify the line in 1901, and the Del Monte, Monterey and Pacific Grove Electric Railway was incorporated to acquire the line and carry out the work. [9] The line was shut down for five weeks beginning in May 1903, [10] reopening with one electric car running on June 12. [11] Tracks along Tyler Street were abandoned as a new extension to the Presidio was to be built. The rebuild was performed with mismatched equipment, with rail weight varying between 20 to 60 pounds per yard (9.9 to 29.8 kg/m) and some trolley wire reportedly reused from scrap. [12]
Around the same time as electrification, the company additionally put forward plans to build a new line to the Ord Barracks in the Presidio, [13] with construction begun by January 1904. [14]
The whole system was converted to standard gauge in 1911 for $30,000. [15]
A new company was formed to build a new line from the DMM&PG eastern terminus to a new development in Del Monte Heights: the Monterey and Del Monte Heights Railway. The new line was planned too late to take advantage of their connecting streetcar system's new standard gauge, so the line was built to the old narrow gauge and operated with a single rebuilt horsecar which was leased from the older streetcar company. Service began on February 21, 1912, [16] though the operation was short lived. Runs ceased after December 31, 1913, resuming the following March until ceasing for good after October 31, 1914. [17]
Despite parallel bus service being established in 1912, [18] the breakout of war in Europe drove passengers to the Franklin Hill line and the Presidio. After the end of the First World War, the line was shortened slightly to the Presidio gates. [19]
Following the war, conversion to one-man operation was not enough to stymie operating losses, and raising fares was seen as impossible. [19] [20] The State Railroad Commission demanded upgrade works along the line, but the company showed that they were barely making money and could not afford such an expenditure. [20] The city of Pacific Grove had been keen to remove the streetcar tracks from Lighthouse, and lack of payment of the franchise tax allowed them to petition the Superior Court of Monterey County to show the company's forfeiture the franchise. [21] Parallel bus service began in 1922. [22] Service along the Franklin Street hill line was discontinued after the ruling. [21] The Coast Valley Gas & Electric Company (the railroad's parent company since 1914 [23] ) was purchased by the H.M. Byllesby Engineering and Management Company in November 1923, who made it clear that without profitable operation, the line would be shut down. The last car ran near midnight on December 4. [24] [25]
A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is an animal-powered tram or streetcar.
The Toronto Street Railway (TSR) was the operator of a horse-drawn streetcar system from 1861 to 1891 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its successor, the Toronto Railway Company, inherited the horsecar system and electrified it between 1892 and 1894.
The San Diego Electric Railway (SDERy) was a mass transit system in San Diego County, California, United States. The system utilized 600 volt direct current streetcars and buses.
The Market Street Railway Company was a commercial streetcar and bus operator in San Francisco. The company was named after the famous Market Street of that city, which formed the core of its transportation network. Over the years, the company was also known as the Market Street Railroad Company, the Market Street Cable Railway Company and the United Railroads of San Francisco. Once the largest transit operator in the city, the company folded in 1944 and its assets and services were acquired by the city-owned San Francisco Municipal Railway. Many of the former routes continue to exist into the 2020s, but served by buses.
The Los Angeles Railway was a system of streetcars that operated in Central Los Angeles and surrounding neighborhoods between 1895 and 1963. The system provided frequent local services which complemented the Pacific Electric "Red Car" system's largely commuter-based interurban routes. The company carried many more passengers than the Red Cars, which served a larger and sparser area of Los Angeles.
The Louisville Railway Company (LRC) was a streetcar and interurban rail operator in Louisville, Kentucky. It began under the name Louisville City Railway in 1859 as a horsecar operator and slowly acquired other rival companies. It was renamed in 1880 following the merger of all Mule operations as the Louisville Railway Company. All tracks were 5 ft gauge.
The Del Monte was a passenger train operated by the Southern Pacific Railroad between San Francisco and Monterey, California. It ran from 1889 to 1971.
The Lamanda Park Line, also known as the Colorado Street Line, was a local streetcar line in Pasadena, California. For most of its operational history, Pacific Electric Railway streetcars ran over the line with service ending in 1941.
The Pasadena Short Line was a passenger railway line of the Pacific Electric Railway. It ran between Downtown Los Angeles and Downtown Pasadena, California, through Eastside Los Angeles along the foot of the eastern San Rafael Hills to the western San Gabriel Valley. It was in service under the company between 1902 until 1951, though it had operated under different companies back to its beginnings as a horsecar line. The route, designated by the company as line 2, was the key component of the company's Northern Subdivision.
The Westgate Line was a suburban route operated by the Pacific Electric Railway from 1911 to 1940. This line was one of four lines connecting Downtown Los Angeles and Santa Monica that did not run through Hollywood. The line is notable for taking a circuitous route towards its end, along San Vicente Boulevard, mainly because it was built to encourage construction of new homes near Pacific Palisades.
The Sierra Vista Line was a streetcar route mostly operated by the Pacific Electric Railway. It ran from 1895 to 1951 as the short turn making local stops along the Pasadena Short Line on the outside tracks of the Northern Division quadruple-track system.
The B was a streetcar line in Los Angeles, California. It was operated by the Los Angeles Railway from 1920 to 1948, originally running from Ramona Boulevard and Miller Street in East Los Angeles to Ascot Avenue and 51st Street.
Streetcars in Los Angeles over history have included horse-drawn streetcars and cable cars, and later extensive electric streetcar networks of the Los Angeles Railway and Pacific Electric Railway and their predecessors. Also included are modern light rail lines.
The Los Angeles Pacific Railroad (1896−1911) (LAP) was an electric public transit and freight railway system in Los Angeles County, California. At its peak it had 230 miles (370 km) of track extending from Downtown Los Angeles to the Westside, Santa Monica, and the South Bay towns along Santa Monica Bay.
Fresno Traction Company operated electric trams in Fresno, California, from 1903 to 1939. Earlier horsecar tracks were improved and electrified under consolidated ownership which passed to Southern Pacific Transportation Company operation in 1910. A separate Fresno Interurban Railway shared some lines along Fresno city streets.
Monterey station was a train station in Monterey, California located close to Fisherman's Wharf. Originally served by the Monterey and Salinas Valley Railroad, the line was purchased by Southern Pacific on September 29, 1879. The Monterey and Pacific Grove Railway opened a streetcar extension to the station in 1892, providing local connections until about 1923. Southern Pacific constructed a new station building in 1921. Train service ended with the cancellation of the Del Monte after April 30, 1971, when Amtrak took over passenger rail services in the United States.
The Monterey Branch Line is a railway line located in Monterey County, California. It runs 16 miles (26 km) between Castroville, where it connects to the Union Pacific Coast Line, and Monterey, formerly running as far as Pacific Grove. It is roughly paralleled by California State Route 1.
The San Jose Railroads was a street railway operator in San Jose, from 1912 until April 10, 1938
Streetcars in Redlands transported people across the city and region from 1889 until 1936. The city's network of street railways peaked around 1908 before the patchwork of separate companies was consolidated under the Pacific Electric.
