[PRCo] Why did trolleys take the business?

[Fred Schneider]

Why did the trolleys take the business away from the steam railroads?

Here is a little entry from the Lancaster New Era  for January 1,  
1900.  The Pennsylvania Railroad, which one year earlier bought the  
line from Lancaster, PA to Quarryville from the Reading Railroad,  
increased fares on the 15-mile-long branch from 60 to 79 cents one  
way.   Now if we take that very crude adjustment technique of one  
decimal place every half century, that fare is about $80 one-way for  
15-miles today, or $5.33 a mile.    Regardless of whether or not the  
adjustment factor is correct, the typical trolley platform employee  
in the United States was making between $2.00 and $2.25 a day in  
1900.   The Pennsy would take you into Lancaster and back to  
Quarryville, all within the same county for 75 percent of a day's  
wages.  And you thought that $4.00 a gallon for gas was high.   For  
that you got a plush seat in a non-air-conditioned, stove-heated  
wooden coach, drawn by a hand-bombed 4-4-0.   In the summer you got  
eyes filled with cinders if you stuck your head out.

When the Conestoga Traction Company opened a trolley line to  
Quarryville in February 1906 with a six-zone fare (30 cents), what do  
you think happened to the railroad trains?   Yup, almost overnight  
the Pennsy was out of the business.   Hmmm.  A 30 cent fare is about  
$30 to go just 15 miles today.  No wonder most people still lived  
their whole lives within ten miles of home and went into the big city  
only to do the Christmas shopping.   Lancaster was an adventure.    
Philadelphia was something to dream about.

So what do you think happened when Henry Ford started selling those  
ubiquitous Model Ts with those shiny brass radiators.  By 1920 you  
could by one for $300 and fill it with gasoline at ... what was  
it ... seven gallons for a dollar?  And in the next ten years all the  
important country roads in this part of the world were paved.  The  
trolley lasted until April 9, 1932.

The PRR line lasted until it was washed out by Hurricane Agnes in  
1972.   The Penn Central just didn't figure running three trains a  
week justified the expense of rebuilding the track.  In fact, some of  
the bridges are still there ... they didn't even bother to pick up  
the steel girders.

Hope yins had a wonderful weekend.