Chicago's Streetcars-- Part 2

Horses pulled those Chicago streetcars at first, but soon was replaced with a San Francisco system of cars hooked on an underground cable.  In the 1880s, the whole Chicago system was rebuilt and at the time, the city had the world's largest cable car system.

Eastern  cities began experimenting with electric streetcars that drew power from a wire strung above the tracks.  Chicago began switching over to the new system in the 1890s.

By World War I, Chicago had new things to boast about: more miles of track, more routes and more cars than any other city.  "The clang of the trolley bell and the click-clack of wheels bumping over rail joints were the background music of neighborhood life."  And, they allowed Chicago to spread out as workers didn't have to live near their jobs.

Drawbacks, of course, included not being able to get off the tracks to skirt accidents.  Gas buses began appearing in 1927 and began replacing the streetcars.

After World War II, gas buses began replacing them as well as the superhighways into the city.

And, That Was That.  --Cooter

Chicago's Streetcars-- Part 1

From the October 25, 2012, Chicago Tribune "For almost 100 years, streetcars traversed Chicago" by Ron Grossman.

"At 6:16 AM on June 21, 1958, Al Carter hopped aboard a green-and-cream Vincennes Avenue trolley car a block from the end of the line, dropped a token into the farebox and asked the conductor to sign his transfer."

Carter was from the city's South Side and was looking to have his immortality in history's footnotes as the "last straphanger to ride a Chicago streetcar."  He had also been the last visitor to enter Chicago's Century of Progress in 1934.

That streetcar rolled into a car barn, closing an era that began in the city back on April 25, 1859, when the first streetcar began running along a single railroad track in the middle of State Street between Madison and 12th streets.

More to Come.  DaCoot

A Streetcar Named Milwaukee-- Part 2

 Foes of Milwaukee's proposed streetcar system have dubbed it "A Streetcar Named Disaster" and saying it is just the latest in urban fads for cities across the country. The system would cost $65 million, mostly paid with by federal funds and the rest from tax increment financing. 

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett claims that the value of property along the lines would increase and that, "You'd be hard-pressed to name a vibrant North American city that doesn't have fixed rail as part of itsmass transit arsenal."

Transportation experts agree that there is a certain "coolness" to modern streetcars like in Seattle or Toronto or traditional systems like in San Francisco.

Nearby Kenosha, Wisconsin, installed a vintage streetcar line along its redeveloped lakefront in 2000 and even used one car called the "Green Hornet" which was used in Chicago up until 1958.

The city has a website at www.themilwaukeestreetcar.com   The opposition has its own site at  www.astreetcarnameddisaster.com .

Personally, I Like the Idea.  --Cooter

A Streetcar Named Milwaukee-- Part 1

From the October 25, 2012, Chicago Tribune "Milwaukee's transit debate: Streetcar desire vs. disaster" by Richard Wronski.

"The last time a streetcar rattled along the rails in this city, in 1958, the Braves played at County Stadium and Pabst, Schlitz and Miller were the brewers that made the city famous.

Today the Brewers play at Miller Park and the Braves are long gone, but the streetcars may be making a comeback."

And, who knows where Schlitz and Pabst are made these days?

Mayor Tom Barrett wants a brand-new streetcar system to traverse a 2-mile route theough the city's East Side, downtown and Historic Third Ward areas.  He wants to base it on Portland, Oregon's popular and successful system.  Its system has also been the model for cities nationwide, including Kansas City, Missouri which is planning a $93 million line.

Chicago hasn't caught on, however, preferring to work on bus and rapid-transit lines.

Stella!!  Stella!!!  --Cooter