Many power stations and substations
were located within and around city lines to convert the high-voltage coming from
them to voltages that could be used at the local level. The power stations
supplied current in areas where it was needed. These substations (and many of
the steam and power stations) were owned by the trolley companies.
Most power stations had alternative
and backup power sources on the same property. For example, a power station
located south of Albany, New
York along the Hudson River was primarily a hydroelectric power
plant; however, when the weather reduced the flow of water over the Stuyvesant Falls, the facility relied upon an
auxiliary steam plant to supplement the power output of the power station. This
facility was able to supply three kinds of current and two kinds of power.
Most traction companies were given
right-of-way deeds by the city to lay track down major thoroughfares. Depending
on the route and the amount of traffic, a trolley would run a loop around parts
of the city or run back-and-forth routes along a single street, with a
turnaround at the end of the line. Single-track was laid primarily in the city,
and some double-track was installed in the busier parts of downtown to
facilitate busy routes. This required many trolleys to operate efficiently in
both directions on a street.
Independent trolley companies were
allowed to string copper wire lines above the streets, too; however, many
citizens saw them as eyesores above the city streets. One of the many
stipulations required by a city was for the trolley company to improve the
roads by adding roadway a certain amount of feet from either side of the
tracks. This, in most cases, freed the city of about half the roadwork needed
to maintain and improve roads within the city. In fact, the trolley companies helped
to build better roads within a city, thus creating an environment in which the next
transportation marvel – the automobile - would benefit.
The success of the Union Passenger
Railway in Richmond, Virginia
in 1888 created demand for electrified streetcars in cities and towns across
the United States.
Only days after the Richmond
lines began running, people waited in line for hours to ride the new
electrified streetcars. Orders poured in from all over the country for the
technology. By 1889, there were already 200 electric streetcar lines already
running or on their way to being built.
Editor's Note: Part 7 of this
multi-part series will run in two weeks.
Previous Blog Entries in This Series
The
American Streetcar (Part 1)
From
Stagecoach to Streetcar (Part 2)
From
Horse-Drawn Streetcars to Cable Cars (Part 3)
The
Birth of the Electric Streetcar (Part 4)
Electric Streetcars and Trolley Technology (Part 5)
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