Subway, Elevated, Trolley & Traction Lines photos

[healey36]

Washington, D. C., February 16, 1958:



The sweeper leads the way; Constitution Avenue and 7th Street, in front of the FTC Building.

Courtesy of the U. S. Library of Congress.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Interesting photo. Don't see any poles up or any overhead wire for that matter....

[healey36]

I was under the impression that much of the D. C. system operated on a third rail (as in the photo Jim K. posted a couple pages back).

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I was under the impression that much of the D. C. system operated on a third rail (as in the photo Jim K. posted a couple pages back).

Yes, but there is a pole on the sweeper, and I'm not sure that it would not be under the wire to clear the track and that third rail for those PCC cars. Maybe one of those pushes the sweeper when needed?

[healey36]

Yeah, I don't know; I just presumed the sweeper could draw from the 3rd-rail, only requiring the pole in areas without the under-pavement rail.

Trolleys on Woodward Avenue in Detroit, sometime in the first decade of the last century:



Kinda makes me want to go out and wax the snow-shovel.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Kinda makes me want to go out and wax the snow-shovel.

Errr...............................no.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Not a trolley but a tram line in Milan....

[Jim K]

Chicago around 1908...................

[healey36]

Turnouts and the associated third-rail configurations are always interesting on these elevated lines.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

[Jim K]

Quite a little testimony! Jim K

Text Appearing Before Image:
SHALL I SEND YOU PRICES AMD PARTICULARS ? THOMAS F. CAREY, gol™,mass STREET RAILWAY JOURNAL. 351 PHILADELPHIA,l).8.A. _ igt J. G. BRILL COMPANY A Tale of Two Cities: A traveler for our Supply Department said the other day that the Oswego Traction people told him that they had run our 21-E truck for nine years without the change of a single bearing. At Butler (Pa.) he heard much the same story, except that they have had the trucks a shorter time—four years. Nothing to do but oil the boxes every six months—the bearings and everything else are just the same as when the trucks were new. That is because the solid forged side frames, with their diagonal cross-braces, are always square, and keep every part exactly where it ought to be. The journal-boxes deserve part of the merit, as far as the bearings are concerned, for they are dust-proof—made so by a patented method that is won-

Text Appearing After Image:
BRILL 21=E TRUCK (Patented) derfully effective. With boxes that keep the dust out and frames that never get out of square and cant crystallize and break, there is no reason why the truck shouldn't run long, and always run smoothly. The arrangement of the springs gives an easy, steady movement to the car—quite different from the ordinary single truck, that bounces like a small boat in a gale and pounds the rail-joints apart. In Great Britain the is used almost universally, as they need a specially steady truck under their heavy and high double-deckers—one that has frames that wont sag at the ends. Our truck carries the car two inches lower than any other—a particularly good point, since single trucks are mostly used in city service, where cars should be carried as low as possible. Notice the four pairs of large diameter coil-springs at the sides of the journal-boxes. They furnish a low, easy support for the frame and keep the boxes upright and working freely in the jaws.

Image:

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Now if I could only get those patterned wheelsets in my Q-car drive of that truck!!!

[Chris Webster]

I was under the impression that much of the D. C. system operated on a third rail (as in the photo Jim K. posted a couple pages back).

Within the city, DC's streetcars were like slot cars - they got their power from a slot in the middle of the rails. The 3rd rail was actually underground and "plows" ran atop that underground rail - the slot in the street was used to get the power from the plow up to the streetcar. In the suburbs, the streetcars switched to overheard wire. There are some pictures of the slot car like track attached to this wikipedia article: Streetcars in Washington, D.C.

Some modern streetcars around the world have a center 3rd rail that is at ground level - that 3rd rail is divided into sections and power only switches on when the street car is directly above that segment.

[healey36]

Thanks, Chris; that largely confirms my understanding of power for the DC system. I've seen photos of cars out around Glen Echo that are running on overhead.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

So the sweeper cleared the rails and center power access, but what cleared the rails and center access for the sweeper?