What's Left of Baltimore's Forgotten Streetcar Network?
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- Опубликовано: 22 май 2024
- Check out Salvage Arc - • Lost History: Baltimor...
Chapters:
00:39 - Before the Streetcar: Early Transportation in Baltimore
02:11 - The Lost Omnibus Network of Baltimore (1800s)
04:11 - The Arrival of the Streetcar: How It Changed Transportation in America (1830s)
04:59 - Baltimore's First Streetcar Network: Connecting the City (1859)
08:13 - Baltimore's Short-Lived Cable Car Network: A Unique Piece of History (1890s)
08:43 - The Downfall of Baltimore's Streetcar System: What Went Wrong? (1940s)
09:41 - Rediscovering Baltimore's Lost Streetcar Network: What Remains Today? (2021)
In the early 20th century, Baltimore had an extensive streetcar system that connected neighborhoods and communities throughout the city. However, by the mid-20th century, the streetcars had been phased out in favor of buses and other forms of transportation.
Despite their disappearance, the legacy of Baltimore's streetcars still lives on in the memories of those who rode them and in the infrastructure that remains scattered throughout the city. In this video, we explore the forgotten history of Baltimore's streetcar system, from its origins to its decline, and uncover the stories of the people and communities that were impacted by this transportation revolution. Join us on a journey through time and rediscover the lost world of Baltimore's streetcars.
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IT’S HISTORY - Weekly tales of American Urban Decay as presented by your host Ryan Socash.
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» CREDIT
Scriptwriter - Imana Schoch,
Editor - Kamil Krawiec,
Host - Ryan Socash
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» NOTICE
Some images may be used for illustrative purposes only - always reflecting the accurate time frame and content. Events of factual error / mispronounced word/spelling mistakes - retractions will be published in this section.
Check out Evan's channel www.youtube.com/@SalvageArc
You really need to research the influence of Standard Oil and Firestone Tire and Rubber Company in regard to the demise of public transportation. It was a conspiracy. They bought up the street car companies and shuttered them in favor of buses and cars. It was a great way to sell more tires, fuel and lubricants.
I had often heard that General Motors bought up many of the street car companies to shut them down and sell more buses. The points you made about expanding city boundaries and accessibility make sense too!
Richmond Virginia generally gets the "1st" award because its engineer, Frank J. Sprague solved several problems that plagued earlier systems, and his particular system of operation became adopted not only around the U.S. but around the world. There were several cities that had earlier electric streetcars, but all of these suffered from operational issues and in many cases, these were replaced by Sprague's system as soon as it became available. Sprague was able to operate multiple cars on the same track at different speeds, or in different directions, was able to couple several powered cars together and operate them as a single unit, etc. Denver is another U.S. city that had a pre-Sprague system operating c.1885, which like the rest ended up replaced by a Sprague-type system a few years later.
He said an expert!
Thank you for the additional information.
Baltimore gets the "1st" award for many many things. This is just one example of that.
What's left of Baltimore would be an interesting topic.
A shythole frankly is what is left. I had the displeasure of living there for work for about 3 years right off of Greenmount avenue. Thank God I'm gone from that place. See Ryan's video on Camden NJ and pay attention to the part where it shows the current Camden. Baltimore is the same thing. I know Camden as well, I lived 20 minutes outside of it for 20-plus years.
@@kman-mi7su glad you’re gone
@@curlycanna2440 I'm glad I'm out of that shythole of a city too. Sad a once industrial powerhouse has morphed into that.
Lucky, I've been here 27 years and I'm so tired.
The crooked politicians have done a fantastic job of destroying the city. So sad.
The car numbers in Baltimore,were part of a rather unique system! The first number was the Route,and the other number was the car assignment,i.e.,1010,Route 10,number 10,and that would be a closed car! A car with 50,or above would be an open! See the Baltimore Streetcar Museum books on the rosters,as the are complicated,as new equipment came,cars were changed and sent onto other routes! The whole system was changed after WW1,to what is now known! The Howard Street line(today's light rail)cars carry 5000 series numbers in honor of the Brill Standard Baltimore cars! Philadelphia had Brill cars of a very similar type,which were Standard,before the Mitten Management came in,and went to the Nearsides,but that's a another story!! Thank you,for a capsulated history,as it difficult to squeeze in 150 years into 10 minutes! Thank you! 😇!
I grew up in Baltimore and often rode the #8 street car that traveled along York Road and Greenmount Avenue. I also remember the trackless trolleys --- buses that had overhead wires for power.
New Orleans still has electric streetcars running along tracks similar to the ones you mentioned in this video. They also run busses, which are accessible by the same fare system. My hometown of Wichita, KS, is sorely lacking in that department. We have a bus system, but it doesn't run 24hrs a day like other cities i have visited. I belong to our local historic preservation society, and we have a couple of electric streetcars in storage, waiting to be restored.
At several intersections and other locations around the city you can still see the original overhead trolley wire poles. The remaining poles had served a dual purpose when the streetcars were still running as traffic light, road signage, or guy wire supports. After the streetcar service ended they continued to serve their other function down to today. You can distinguish them by their round ball or pointed bulb top cap. They are embedded in the concrete walkways instead of being bolted down as newer traffic poles are. I lived on the #15 streetcar line as a young child and remember riding them on shopping trips downtown.
we lived near the old street car barn for the Number 8 route in Irvington. there was a bar called "the loop" where the turn around loop was for the cars not going all the way to Catonsville. the old tracks are still buried in the asphalt as well
The Loop was in the basement of a corner house at South Woodington Road and Frederick Avenue. The streetcar loop was across Woodington on the opposite corner, which was about two blocks west of the Irvington Carhouse. I saw all the streetcars being pulled out to be scrapped during the Summer of 1964. A sad sight for me...
Another reason for the end of Electic Streetcars/Light Rail/Trollies…. During the Great Depression capital reinvestment declined. During WW2 the was a huge need to move workers as War Industry approached 24/7 levels. However, there was rationing for new tires & gasoline. To get about rail systems were matching urban need. There tended to be a big expansion in the number of needed transit vehicles.
Following WW2, the desire to buy private cars & the rise of the suburbs hurt electric mass transit. It was also clear there would have to be a massive investment in the older systems. It was much easier to purchase diesel buses instead. So many of the older system just disappeared.
I really love Baltimore's current light rail system. Very safe, convenient, and smooth. And, while not a streetcar per se, it is a nice reminder of the past.
I agree!
Been trying to get a decent form of public transportation here in Baltimore ever since 😔
Baltimore the Perfect Progressive City.
@@ablewindsor1459 progressive nightmare
1958 `s TV show Rescue 8 Filmed an episode in a streetcar junk yard. Thirty cars pailed three high.
I believe the Fells Point tracks were used at night to move freight via small 0-4-0 saddle tanker steam engines, and were not streetcar tracks.
John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin all mentioned using the omnibus to travel from the coast to Paris in the late 1700s.
I like the how there are still rails seen on the streets and there are a few of them still surviving today. I think I heard the Christmas Carol, “Come Let Us Adore Him” playing quietly in the background…
Many of the rails you still find in Baltimore streets are not streetcar rails, but railway rails. This is particularly true near the Inner Harbor and Wicomico Street. Yes, there really were freight trains operating intermixed with cars. I vividly recall riding in the back seat of a car in the 1960s. While we were stopped at a traffic light, a diesel locomotive in the same lane stopped directly behind us.
You can easily identify streetcar rails in Baltimore, as they are spaced 5-feet 4.5-inches apart instead of standard railroad gauge of 4' 8.5".
alot of it will stay with balt city's historic biulding laws some, the brick streets and houses /bars in fellspoint..
Reminds me of The Kingston Trio's song MTA, one of my favorite songs from childhood. "He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston, he's the man who never returned."
Minnesota still has a few streetcars in operation that give a history lesson while taking you around like the one by lake Harriet from its historic station. They also have several historical train depot you can take a ride from on a steam engine, most notably in Duluth.
Also just wanted to say I love It’s History, it reminds me of the PBS series The Lost Twincitties.
As a train/tram fan, I'm so happy to be from Hong Kong and lived a few years in San Francisco, arguably the last two cities in the world that managed to keep their street level rail transport around not just as a tourist attraction but actually a functional piece of the city's infrastructure.
Love that we still have our streetcars here in new orleans
Great video. I wanted to provide a brief correction to your video. The tracks that run through Thames Street in Fells point actually belonged to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. While Baltimore used a wide gauge for their streetcar system (among the widest in the United States), the tracks in Fells point are standard railroad gauge.
Fells point (especially that area of Thames Street) has served as a major port and major industrial center for Baltimore's canning industry. Railroad frequently ran trains through the neighborhood in order to service the many factories and Maritime companies based in the area.
Last time I was this early, I could still hop on a street car from the stop by my house to down town.
There is the seashore trolley museum in Biddeford Maine very interesting to go to.
They have active track they run on out in the country where they're located along with buildings with maintenance, and other vehicles from around the country and the world.
In Amsterdam, NY, you could go to Schenectady, and Albany as well as local towns of Johnstown, Gloversville, Fonda, and Mayfield.
You can still see where the trolley tracks ran just underneath the asphalt on many local streets.
I remember riding the street car out of Overlea in Baltimore on it's last day of operation.
Also a factor was a change over to a lot of main streets in Baltimore becoming one-way in the 1950’s.A man named Henry Barnes was the idea man behind that
Plus, Baltimore was in the process of becoming a modern city starting off with the creation of Charles Center. City officials like Barnes didn't want relics of the past (streetcars) running right smack through the middle of the Center and ruining the image of a modern metro area.
Great video, the O Come All Ye Faithful music in the background was actually really nice!
Please do more streetcar history’s!!
Great work!
Wicked haircut dude, great presentation as well, as always
Here in Victoria Australia we call them TRAMS OR TRAMWAYS steretcar not a term used here
Going like a Bondi tram is a phrase stuck in my head.
This video was amazing, thanks for sharing. :] I would love to see a trolley video like this for StL! ❤
Also thanks for shouting out the Brownell Car Company if the Lou! 🫶🏻
Your content is always excellent. Great work. I appreciate your effort Sir. Thank you.
I have faint memories of riding the streetcars as a child with my Grandmother on Belair Road in the late 50's and later when they were changed to the bus like electric trolly cars before they changed over to the real busses like we have now.
I love when people from outside of Baltimore do reports on it. ❤
Any particular reason for choosing the Christmas carol "O Come, All Ye Faithful" as the background music?
We have a few of Baltimore’s historic streetcars in active service in San Francisco.
Thanks again John in Chicago
There is a bike trail that runs on the old trolley number 9 route
Other awesome video young man you can come to Minnesota investigate the tunnels on the other side of the Mississippi where all the gangsters were at those tunnels haven’t filled in Capone was in there that would be cool to investigate they should push you out more often LOL from Minnesota keep up the good work
In Winnepeg street cars were repurposed......to raise chickens. Lots of windows to allow in the light and keep those lil raptors laying.
Cool🚞
How did they made it, that the electric current on the 3rd rail on the ground was safe for pedestrians? We have electric cables hanging above the streets all around in Europe and the streetcars take the electricity from there. Ground electrivity rail is used only in Metro/Subway/Tube, but if somebody falls there by accident and touches the electric rail, gets killed by electric stream! So how was that done back then, that it was safe? You have any scheme or picture, that would descibe that?
I know you see uS Canadians, can you do a video on us 😢 I’m so happy we kept our original streetcar routes in Toronto
Getting rid of the streetcars was terrible. The light rail is a mere shadow. We used to ride the streetcar from Overlea all the way downtown. As mentioned in the video, service all the way to Catonsville was provided as well. All the progressive green proposals going around today are just bids for federal bucks and they will never match the service we had in Baltimore with the streetcars.
I’m from Baltimore and I never knew they had streetcars
I remember seeing some near the science center at the inner harbor I would go there when I was younger, I remember there used to be tracks there, and now they’re gone
@@matthewmizrachi1877 That was the B&O Railroad's spur to the old McCormick Spice plant on Light Street. It ran all the way down Key Highway to Light St. serving industries along the way. Was a busy track at one time.
@@shortliner68 interesting, I never knew that, that’s really cool
Native to Baltimore Maryland.👋🏾
As a reoccurring Planning issue..the street cars are a traffic solution..
This is Awesome, >Joe Baltimore MD.
Which channel does better, it's history or weird history???
My hometown Columbia SC claims it was the first all electric trolly system not sure how accurate that is
I think they are way older than the 19th century hence they were 'founded' as in found and repurposed. Great fun video and going to check out the in depth reporting. Thank you.
So much History, so little time......
Hampden, not Hampton
My aunts were around when Baltimore still used them one of my aunt friend was killed and decapitated on Harford Road by a trolley car
My great-grandfather was killed by a streetcar on Belair Road in 1930.
@11:40 Car 554, where are you?
They got put in the vacant buildings throughout Baltimore
Which one is named Desire?
I wonder if he's done a video on route 66 yet (a little unoriginal, I know)
Thumbnail reminds me of the Japanese washing machine building!
😂
Along with many other US cities.
👍👍😎✌️🤟Until car manufacturers bought them up and retired them so you would have to buy their cars instead.
Buses. GM and others conspired to destroy street cars all.ovrr the US and sell them buses instead. They were fined $1,000 for this crime.
Is any of those street cars named, Desire?
The Desire line was,and still is,a line in New Orleans! Originally trolley,now bus! New Orleans Public Service,now Regional Transit! Thank you 😇!
NO BUT WE HAD ONE NAMED DELORES
@@chuckschafer942 Question:in what city was that line?It sounds Southern,or California?? Thank you! 😇!
@@roberthuron9160 NEW ORLEANS
Thank you GM for getting rid of these antiquated systems of transportation and providing us with clean, reliable, modern and enhancive bus service.
😂😋😅😄😆😝😂😛😖
I presume the "sarcasm light" is lit.
DONT FORGET "HENRY BARNES"
They should have converted those to little homes.
Baltimore is soooooo scary!
Baltimore is STARVED for reliable transit. The great 2005 route cuts, which discontinued routes and split some, 2017 with the introduction of BaltimoreLink has only made the service worse. I used to take the bus from Old Court Metro all the way down to Patapsco via one bus. As well as a single bus line going fro Reisterstown Metro station to Cherry Hill. Now the routes have been split meaning it takes much longer to get to the destinations I used to take. Along with the cut to the Red Line and the absolute mess that the Hogan administration did with the Purple Line. I opted not take public transit in this city unless I absolutely need to or it's a nice day during rush hour travel.
I have given MDOT/MTA as well as countless other suggestions on how to make service better with all the servers and studies they do. MTA would do almost non of the implementations suggested or take into consideration for at least a pilot program.
Street car lines being introduced would make a significant impact on ridership in the city and take care of the road. Especially for East-West travel which is the worst commute you can take in the city; which the Red Line would have taken had it been not cut. It would have had an opening date in the year 2022-2025. Now MTA is doing no-build studies for BRTs and right-of-way dedicated bus lanes which don't help much when cars park in the lanes or at bus stops.
Here's hoping that Governor Wes Moore will make the changes we need as he's made improving transit one of his priorities.
He won’t…..unfortunately.
Great video. Wish we could bring back the old glory of Baltimore! It feels like most US cities are declining on multiple levels which shouldn’t be happening. But we are supporting Ukraine.
Charles street is the east/west dividing line and Baltimore st the north/south
OTHER WAY CHARLES IS N/S BALTIMORE IS E/W NAMED "SUN SQUARE"
@@chuckschafer942 pull up your map east of Charles is the east side of the city. Go to Baltimore and Charles and you'll see what I mean
@@h.Freeman CHARLES ST RUNS NORTH SOUTH BALTIMORE RUNS EAST WEST
@@chuckschafer942 and Charles separates the east from the west. I can see Baltimore's educational system is still lacking. I had to leave to get a good education. So I understand your plight. Hopefully you'll get some hooked on phonics lessons at some point.
Obsolution
The museum is fantastic though its in a well dodgy area
It's Hampden, not Hampton.
Sad. They were so convenient
Joseph ryan celiz merrege to julie ann jison in pinas one child in canada now
Probably a little bit of info overload for most of us but interesting to be sure
Thanks for showing the decline of US transportation.
@7:15 Those exposed third rails weren't dangerous?
That would never fly in today's PC world.
They couldn't afford to pay for all the warning signs and stickers, fencing, guards and other safety equipment.
Yes, they were dangerous. They killed several cows. By some miracle, they never killed any people. I think they were 400 Volts DC.
The SkyTrain system in Vancouver BC uses a third rail.
What they were talking about here was an underground third rail that ran between the two tracks. It was a conduit system that could be found in New York City, Washington, D.C. , London, Paris, Berlin, Marseilles, Vienna, Budapest, and Prague in Europe and other European Cities, Baltimore never had a conduit system. The power rails were contained in a conduit midway between and below the two surface rails on which the cars operated, in much the same fashion as the cable for cable cars. The conduit contained two "T" section steel power rails of opposite polarity facing each other, about 12 inches (30 cm) apart and about 18 inches (46 cm) below the street surface. Power reached the car by means of an attachment, called a plough (US - plow), that rode in the conduit beneath the car. The plough had two metal shoes attached to springs that pushed sideways against the power rails. The plough was normally connected to a platform that could slide laterally to conform with variations in the placement of the conduit, for example in some areas there was a conduit for cable cars adjacent to the one for electric cars.
The current was carried by a flexible cable from the plough through the platform to the car's controller and motor(s). The running rails were not part of the electrical circuit. In the United States, the cars were sometimes popularly but incorrectly called trolleys but did not typically draw power through a trolley pole from an overhead wire as (strictly defined) trolley cars do.
Listen private companies could not pay , plow and maintain track and there was NO government investment in rail. The endless billions of GM and Oil companies in roads and buses on every level killed the ridership of streetcars. What happened is a ugly dirty story. The final was GM buying the systems and tearing them out.
Good they repurpose them as homeless shelters, or RV”S for the homeless ?
Makes me laugh that with all of the killing in Baltimore you and thousands of other people are thinking about who was first to have street cars!!! I'd be worried about just living in Baltimore!!! It's no wonder the Colts left.
imagine we rebuild our nation with streetcars and others instead of disastrous wars in ukraine.
Baltimore used to be a beautiful and thriving city. That was before a certain ethnic group took it over.
anti-Irish sentiment in this day and age?
I've always wondered, what the hell is a shondell?
Obsolescence.
Obsolescence