[PRCo] DC Streetcar

Sun Dec 22 17:26:39 EST 2013

You had one other question which I missed.   Why did the cars go in the first place?   The went because the unions went on strike in the summer of 1955 and the owner of Capital Transit, I think his name was Louis Wolfson, refused to negotiate.   He simply didn't bother to come back to Washington to deal with the problem.   

Therefore the DC Public Utilities Commission, an arm of the federal government, simply canceled his franchise.   Wolfson was forced to sell out by the federal government.   

And because streetcars were antiquated (might have had something with the oil and highway lobby but that will never come out in the open), the new franchise gave the new owner seven years to get rid of those evil streetcars.    The new owner was also the owner of Trans Caribbean Airlines and the trolleys, for a while at least, had "Subsidiary of Trans Caribbean Airlines" painted on their flanks.   The new owner tried to get permission to keep the rail network but was simply told no way Jose.   We want modern buses.    

I recall that the first conversion was route 80 and 82, called the Maryland lines.   I was there that day in Sept., 1958.

I was in the Army when 20 (Cabin John - Glen Echo) and 30 (Wisconsin Avenue) went in 1960.

The rest went in 1961 and 1962 and I was in college then and had interest in a young lady that mattered more to me than going out chasing trolleys.   

Now we could also say, multiple reasons and multiple years.   Washington was like San Francisco in that there were two companies operating competing networks of lines very late.   In San Francisco that lasted until 1944.   In Washington it was 1933 that Capital Traction Co. and Washington Railway and Electric Company merged, and that merger wiped out a lot of miles of redundant track as well as some heavily used track that the new Capital Transit Company simply chose not to keep.   One example might be Connecticut Avenue which was probably a very heavy route that vanished in the 1930s.   Why?   I have no idea.   May have been politics as usual.  May also be that the company didn't want to spend money on new car.

One of the major problems with DC PUC was their insistence on protecting job of the employees that should have been made redundant.   They very strongly blocked conversions to one-man operation unless CTC chose to buy PCC cars which I suspect they understand would happen when pigs fly.  At one point they told CTC they could not have any additional conventional cars converted to one-man nor could they buy any used non-PCC one-man cars.    Politics as usual … even though they couldn't vote in Washington, we don't want anyone complaining. 

On Dec 22, 2013, at 3:32 PM, Herb Brannon wrote:

> I have been led to believe that up until "home rule" came about all laws in
> D.C. were written and approved by the U.S. Congress. There was no other
> agency except the U.S. Government to oversee the operations of the District
> of Columbia. Some history books do have a habit of being wrong, however.
> 
> 
> On Sun, Dec 22, 2013 at 2:38 PM, Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net>wrote:
> 
>> Did not take any act of Congress, Herb.   The previous restriction was
>> written into the franchise.   Once Capital Transit and its predecessors
>> were gone, so was the need to use underground conduits.
>> 
>> London used a system in which the plough simply hung in a track or frame
>> under the car which ran the entire width of the car.   The conduit then
>> crossed the running rail to a storage area between the inbound and outbound
>> tracks.   Outbound the car simply shot the plow … the "driver" came into
>> the change area fast enough that the flow simply followed the conduit and
>> shot out from under the car.   And a man on the street walked up to the car
>> and raised the pole.   In bound the street man used an insulated fork to
>> guide the flow to the frame under the car … he walked along beside the car
>> as the car slowly pulled ahead and simply guided the plough into the car.
>> With proper timing, you probably could have done it in 15 seconds.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Dec 22, 2013, at 12:53 PM, Herb Brannon wrote:
>> 
>>> Interesting is the fact that the reasons (dreamed up by Capital Transit
>> in
>>> 1947) for conversion of the Benning Road service from streetcar to bus
>> were
>>> first, the fact that during rush hour periods the service frequency had
>> to
>>> be less than 60-seconds between cars. These lines (Rosslyn-Kenilworth;
>>> Washington Circle-Seat Pleasant; Washington Circle-Kenilworth Junction;
>>> 15th & New York-Kenilworth Junction; and Potomac Park-Seat Pleasant)
>>> required the use of a "plow pit" at the interface between conduit and
>>> overhead operation. The changeover from conduit to overhead and vice
>>> versatook an even 60-seconds and could not be
>>> speeded up using Capital Transit methods (London (UK) accomplished this
>>> faster than 60-seconds) Therefore headways could not be less than
>>> 60-seconds. Buses were the answer. Second, eastbound cars at 15th & New
>>> York Avenue were being delayed do to heavy traffic and the fact that
>>> streetcar movements at that intersection caused missed opportunities for
>>> cars to go on their proper routes. Streetcars were always backed up two
>> or
>>> more blocks waiting for a green light to go their respective ways at
>> 15th &
>>> New York. Third, traffic congestion along Benning Road was increasing and
>>> those two lanes of streetcar track would make more room for autos. Now,
>>> nearly 70 years later, suddenly traffic is no longer a concern for the
>>> operation of streetcars on Benning Road.
>>> 
>>> Not to mention that the new Washington streetcar system uses overhead
>> wire,
>>> hanging above the streets, inside the District of Columbia. I supposed
>> that
>>> this took "an act of Congress" to allow overhead wire in D.C.
>>> 
>>> I'm glad the streetcars are coming back, however, why did they have to go
>>> in the first place?
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Sun, Dec 22, 2013 at 11:47 AM, John Swindler <j_swindler at hotmail.com
>>> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Benning Road from front of tour bus during recent TRB meeting.  About
>> half
>>>> the span wires were in place, but no contact wire.  Work was underway at
>>>> turnback near Union Station.  Grading completed no construction yet on
>>>> carbarn at east end of the line.  A stated purpose is to help
>> revitalize a
>>>> run-down area.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2013 16:00:29 +0000
>>>>> From: bobrathke at comcast.net
>>>>> To: pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org
>>>>> Subject: Re: [PRCo] DC Streetcar
>>>>> 
>>>>> An interesting animation teaching people the things we learned from
>>>> parents and friends in the "old" streetcar era. Attached are a couple of
>>>> photos I took in Georgetown on 11/3/78. I had thought that the sign was
>> a
>>>> remnant of the streetcar days in D.C., but it may have been posted
>> later to
>>>> warn bicyclists of the rail that was still in the street 16 years after
>>>> trolleys ended in the District.
>>>>> 
>>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>>> 
>>>>> From: "DF Cramer" <alto_trombone at hotmail.com>
>>>>> To: pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org
>>>>> Sent: Sunday, December 22, 2013 6:26:15 AM
>>>>> Subject: [PRCo] DC Streetcar
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>> 
>> http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/21163/watch-ddots-beautifully-animated-streetcar-video/
>>>>> 
>>>>> We now have to teach people how to react.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Dennis F. Cramer
>>>>> http://home.windstream.net/dfc1/
>>>>> 
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>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Herb Brannon
>>> 
>>> 
>>> *In Pittsburgh.............................A City And.........A State of
>>> Mind *
>>> Let's Go Pens
>>> Let's Go Steelers
>>> 
>>> 
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>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Herb Brannon
> 
> 
> *In Pittsburgh.............................A City And.........A State of
> Mind *
> Let's Go Pens
> Let's Go Steelers
> 
> 
> 
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