Trolley Thursday 4/21/22 - Why There Hasn't Been a Trolley Post in a While

I'm usually not one to be so open about my private life on my blog, especially this one which is a testament to my own enthusiasm and passion for streetcars, but I feel I owe my loyal readers and riders an explanation of why there hasn't been any new blogposts or content lately.

Trolley Tuesday 3/22/22 - The Grimsby & Immingham Electric Railway

Interurbans are, as proven time and again on this blog, a very Ameri-centric concept. Even the word itself, "interurban" brings up more images of American railroads like the North Shore, Pacific Electric, and Key System than anything worldwide. And yet, the concept of an electric railway with full separation from a road and private right-of-ways caught on around the world anyway. In Canada, they called these kinds of roads, "radial railways" as they "radiated out into the suburbs of Toronto". At the same time as these radial railways, Canada's commonwealth owner England had their own little interurban line that was as fast and as sophisticated as their American counterparts but not called an "interurban" at all. On today's (late) Trolley Tuesday, we're Humberside as we look at the Grimsby & Immingham Electric Railway, Britain's only interurban!

Trolley Tuesday 3/10/2022 - The Southern Railway's "Brighton Belle"

Over the last three years or so of this blog, we've never avoided mentioning the Pullman Company's effect on electric traction. After all, their proximity to some of the largest transit networks in the United States led a lot of companies to depend on them for top-quality suburban and interurban cars. However, while Pullman's own streetcars were legendary in their own right, we've never touched upon the more well-known side of George Pullman's grand sleeping car empire, that being their luxury train services. Well, fret no more dear riders, as despite a relative lack of Pullman luxury electric trains in the United States, it seems the idea took off across the pond in Britain. On today's Trolley Thursday, we're looking at how the Pullman Company flourished in England and its role in making one of the most famous electric luxury passenger trains... in the world.

Trolley Tuesday 3/8/22 - The Volk's Electric Railway (and Brighton & Rottingdean Seaside Railway)

Welcome, dear riders, to another month of Trolley Posts guaranteed to entertain and inform! This month, we're covering British (and Irish) electric railways big and small, starting with what might be the smallest and oldest operating electric railway in the United Kingdom! Traveling along the crashing southeastern shore of Brighton Beach, Magnus Volk's Electric Railway might seem quite insignificant compared to the giants of interurban transit we've covered on this blog before. While whole railways may have built town centers or establish important freight corridors, Volk's Electric Railway remains just a mere tourist attraction. It is, after all, the oldest operating electric railway in the world (even predating Frank J. Sprague's patented traction motors!). On today's Trolley Tuesday, we hope you do like to be beside the sea-side as we ride along the Volk's Electric Railway!

Trolley Tuesday 2/15/21 - Empresa Ferro Carril Curitybano

When it comes to choosing what cities to cover on any given Trolley Tuesday or Thursday post, often I like to pay tribute to my friends by focusing on the city that they live in, more than ones that are more well known, larger, or more famous. As I have a longtime friend in Brazil, I thought I could pay tribute to them by focusing on their home city of Curitiba, the eighth-largest city in the country and the capital of the state of Paranà. Long known as a haven of European immigration and cattle breeding, the "City of Eternal Fog" has also featured a once-great streetcar system that cultivated both European and American influences, which today's (late) Trolley Tuesday will focus on.

Trolley Thursday 2/10/22 - The Panama Tramways

If one talks about the country of Panama (and its identically named City of Panama), most conversations stop at the giant canal built through gunboat diplomacy by 1914. However, the history of Panama does go on beyond the giant Canal, as the city had famously been sacked by privateer Henry Morgan in 1671 and reestablished a distance away by 1673. With the new Panama eventually came a new streetcar system that, like the Canal as its contemporary, continued to be a hotbed of constant reorganization, interruption, and commercial importance to the slender isthmus. On today's Trolley Thursday, we look at how electric streetcars built up Panama and what came after, if anything came after.

Trolley Tuesday 2/8/22 - Las Sistemas de Tren Eléctrico Urbano de Guadalajara

Offsetting the large urban metropolis that is Mexico City in the East lies the city of Guadalajara, in the state of Jalisco on Mexico's western side. Today, it is the third largest metropolitan area in Mexico, and second in urban density to Mexico City, with varied commercial businesses ranging from technology to finance. Back in the days of horsecars, however, the city was just finding its feet; it was both a constantly-changing site of revolution and agricultural and textile enterprises, setting the stage for a modern transit system by the late 1800s. Where is this streetcar system today, and why is there a trolleybus going into a highway underpass? All of this and more in today's Trolley Tuesday report, all about the Guadalajaran streetcar system.

Trolley Thursday 2/3/22 - Sociedad Cooperativa de Transportes Urbanos y Sub-Urbanos de Veracruz

As the first port of call for explorers, pirates, and immigrants alike, Veracruz has been held in high regard as a part of Mexican history. For railway enthusiasts, it was the eastern end of what became Mexico's first steam railway to Mexico City, some 273 miles away and for many immigrants, an entire world. For traction enthusiasts, it was site of only the second horsecar railway in the entire country, and one with a very descriptive but unwieldy name. Despite this, and being in the shadow of the Mexico City Streetcar system in both size and reach, the Sociedad Cooperativa de Transportes Urbanos y Sub-Urbanos de Veracruz (SCTV) remained a stalwart part of the city for nearly eighty years, and a welcome haven for sold-off, secondhand streetcars. On today's (belated) Trolley Thursday, we're at the True Crossroads as we look back on the streetcars of this Heroic City.

Trolley Tuesday 2/1/22 - The Streetcars of Mexico City

Bienvenidos, amigos, to another month of streetcar history from us at Twice-Weekly Trolley History! As previously announced, this month will be covering streetcar history all over Central and South America, with some rather interesting familiar faces along the way. First on our "South of the Border" tour is Mexico City, the national seat of government and one of the oldest cities in Mexico, all built on what was once Lake Texcoco and the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlàn. As well as being one of the country's largest cities, Mexico City was also once home to one of the largest and most storied streetcar networks in the country. On today's Trolley Tuesday, let's look back on the oft-forgotten but never-gone history of the Servicio de Transportes Eléctricos and its predecessors!

Trolley Thursday 1/27/22 - The Interurban Cars of the Pacific Great Eastern

Welcome to the last (belated) trolleypost of January! We hope you have enjoyed the country of Canada, as we venture south to Mexico and Central America next month. 

As for today's topic, it's one that's rather out there, even for the scope of this blog. In all the coverage we've had over the past three years, the stories of the interurbans we tell all seem to end the same: company goes belly-up due to nobody caring about its existence anymore, so the cars get sold to scrap merchants or donated to museums, or (more rarely) sold onto other uses. For many American interurban cars, their ultimate fates involved another life in the Great White North, and it is for that purpose why today's Trolley Thursday will look at the second-hand interurban cars of the Pacific Great Eastern.

Trolley Tuesday 1/25/22 - The British Columbia Electric Railway

The province of British Columbia has always been known as the "Final Frontier" of Canada's westward expansion. To the railroads like Canadian Pacific and Canadian National, there was nothing more imperative or essential than gaining a connection to the Pacific Ocean. The strongest outpost in that province proved to be Vancouver, whose reputation as a Canadian jewel city and popular filming location ensures its longevity and legacy in the eyes of many. Yet, before the Hollywood cameras, British Columbia was known for another rolling icon that took after the utility-owned interurbans of Midwest America: the British Columbia Electric Railway. On today's (belated) Trolley Tuesday, we look back on the BCER as it grew in the Saltwater City and prospered by land until the inevitable end.

Trolley Thursday 1/20/22 - The Edmonton Radial Railway (and the ERRS)

Outside of the cities of Toronto and Montreal in Ontario and Quebec, respectively, the next biggest city as one moves west cross Canada is Edmonton. Lying just southeast of Alberta's central point, Edmonton is the province's capital and home to the famous West Edmonton Mall and Fort Edmonton Park. Edmonton is also a major stop on the famous VIA Rail "Canadian" all-streamliner passenger service. However, unlike that rolling anachronism of 1950s Budd cars, their current light rail system is but a shadow of its former glory. On today's Trolley Thursday, we look back on the original Edmonton Radial Railway and the historical society that takes its name today.

Trolley Tuesday 1/17/21 - The Toronto Transit Commission (Part 2)

On last Thursday's trolleypost, we took you through the privatised history of the Toronto Railways, back when it was just a gaggle of independent companies providing a variety of quality services across the Queen City. Today, we're taking you through the modern history of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) that you know and love so much. From its beginnings in the 1920s all the way through to the "Lean Years" of the 80s and 90s, the history of the TTC is as engaging, as varied, and as beautiful as the Peter Witts, PCCs, and CLRVs we all love so much. Now climb aboard, let's get rolling, and please stand clear of the doors!

Trolley Thursday 1/13/22 - The Toronto Railways (Part 1)

What more can be said about the city of Toronto? It's the capital of Ontario, it's Canada's most populous city, and it's the one place everyone thinks of when they imagine the big cities of the Great White North. But among the canyons and crags of Toronto's skyscrapers lie another large and iconic transit system: the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). This modern municipal railway may seem so old and permanent like its contemporaries such as the San Francisco Municipal Railway and the Chicago Transit Authority, but not so. Out of the ashes of several different private street railways, the TTC rose like a phoenix to become the iconic home of Peter Witts, PCCs, and CLRVs we know today, and on today's (belated) Trolley Thursday, we see how the TTC first got formed in the Queen City where "diversity is strength".

Trolley Tuesday 1/11/22 - The London & Port Stanley Railway

As much as I would love to, dear reader, tell you about the mostly-unknown-yet-fascinating history of London's tram network, that will actually have to wait for another few months (plus comedian Jay Foreman already covered it in a more succinct and funny way than I ever could). Instead, the "London" we're looking at today is much smaller as it is London, Ontario, a city of about 300,000 people on the shores of Lake Erie. Its closest port town, Port Stanley, was once connected to London by way of a 25-mile electric interurban railroad that was near and dear to many local Ontarians. On today's Trolley Tuesday, let's brush back the sands of time and narrow our scope as we look at a much smaller electric railway in-between the likes of Montreal and Toronto, but no less important: the London & Port Stanley Railway!

Trolley Thursday 1/6/22 - Montreal Street Railway

Bienvenue, mes amies, dans un autre "Trolley Thursday" post! As one of Quebec's largest and most-populous cities, Montreal holds a special place in the realm of French Canada as the home of the most successful ice hockey team in the NHL, the "Canadiens", and that wonderful savoury delicacy, poutine. Prior to 1959, however, Montreal also laid claim to having one of the largest, most iconic and sophisticated transit networks in the Dominion, with well over 500 kilometers of track at its peak and boasting such cars as the famous Peter Witt and PCC cars in its roster. On today's Trolley Thursday, climb aboard this Golden Chariot and tip your hat to old Notre-Dame du Montreal, as we try to avoid being caught speaking English aboard the Montreal Street Railway! 

Trolley Tuesday 1/4/22 - The Halifax Street Railway

Oh crumbs, is it January already? I was much rather enjoying my hibernation... Ah well, if my editor is poking me with a stick, I must meet his demands...

Welcome to another month, another year, and another country on Twice Weekly Trolley History, as we break free of the Land of Freedom to look at streetcars from around the world! Our first country this year is... Canada, which we will be looking at from East to West, starting with our sunny little trailer park island of Nova Scotia. Despite Halifax and the Maritimes' reputation of a proud, sea-faring region, they also possessed a seven-decade spanning street railway that helped build the city up and get Haligonians on the move. The history of the Halifax Street Railway is primed with plenty of explosions, company intrigue, and enough silly stories to sustain you for, oh, let's say twenty paragraphs. So pop open that ninth can of ravioli, imbibe in The Liquor, and rev up your Birneys as we take a look back at the history of the Halifax Street Railway!