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.

   

Horsecar Beginnings in Jalisco

The "Attack on Guadalajara" in 1860, during the
"War of Reformation" against the French.
(Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, México)

    Being the center of a newly-established state comes with both upsides and downsides, as it was in the "Fortress Valley" (where the name "Guadalajara" comes from; in Arabic, "wādī al-ḥajārah") in the late 1860s. By 1866, the city had just been retaken from the French after their intervention seized it in 1864, and in this relative after-peace, the city flourished as new rail lines from the western United States connected Jalisco state to the outside world and European immigrants moved south for new beginnings. The same year, in 1866, Guadalajara's city council awarded a franchise for an animal tramway to the Tranvìas de Guadalajara (TdeG). However, due to a variety of issues, the franchise was not put into operation until January 1878. It did not take long for other competitors to arrive, as the Tranvìas de Mexicaltzingo (TdeM) and the Tranvìas de San Pedro (TdSD) were formed in 1880 and 1881, respectively. By the 1890s, the Guadalajaran horsecars had expanded so much that the city was now crisscrossed by almost 25 miles of track. Two of the longest lines reached out to neighboring city Zapopan in the west from the heart of Guadalajara and Oblatos in the east, often using locomotives in place of mules when traffic was at its heaviest.

A standard John Stephenson horsecar on the Guadalajaran streetcar network.
(Allen Morrison)

Electrification by... Textiles?

The Atemajac Yarn and Fabric Factory, circa late 1800s.
(Ticcih Mexico)

    Normally, whenever a streetcar line tries to electrify, it's almost always an internal matter as shareholders and executives harumph among themselves where and how to electrify. In Guadalajara, the push for electrification came not from the three streetcar companies, but from a group of textile mills in the Atemajac district (on the city's north side, along the Zapopan line). Their intentions were made clear: they wanted to build an electric streetcar line into Guadalajara proper, but they failed to raise the necessary capital to do so. The first electric railway eventually came five years later when the three horsecar companies merged with the local electric utility to create the Compañía de Tranvías, Luz y Fuerza de Guadalajara (Streetcar, Light & Power Company of Guadalajara, CLTFG) in 1905. The first electric streetcar line ran between Agua Azul (on the city's central south side) to San Pedro Tlaquepaque (southwest) on September 14, 1907, replacing the original TdSD horsecar line. In 1908, one of the textile industry's proposed electrification projects, the line between Zapopan and La Experiencia, was competed, serving the mills in the latter district. This proved to be the last action the CLTFG did as an independent business.

A McGuire Cummings car on Calle Tolsa in Colonia Moderna, circa 1907.
(Allen Morrison)

The "Mexican Niagara Falls"

A "stereo photograph" of Juancatlàn Falls and hydroelectric plant
looking west, date sadly unknown.
(UC Riverside, California Museum of Photography)

A "CHIC" lettered ticket for "urban service".
(Allen Morrison)

    In 1909, at the height of the streetcars' popularity, the CLFTG was put under new management as it was absorbed into the Compañía Hidroeléctrica e Irrigadora del Chapala (Chapala Hydroelectric & Irrigation Company, or CHIC). Power for Guadalajara's streetcars now came from a hydroelectric power plant 18 miles south of Guadalajara at Juanacatlàn Falls, known in its day as the "Mexican Niagara Falls" (and known today for being quite dead and polluted), and another in Oblatos, the Las Juntas hydroelectric plant. Oddly, the line to the latter plant remained under mule power for much of CHIC's existence. Under CHIC, the streetcars experienced yet more expansion as the company looked into suburban routes through the outer fringes of Guadalajara, expanding service on its San Pedro and Zapopan lines. New private right-of-ways were also constructed to keep the trolleys clear and enable higher service speeds, creating a pseudo-interurban line to Zapopan. Most of the activity still centered around downtown and central Guadalajara, with popular downtown loop lines along Calle Industria and Calle Repùblica.

A Map of the Guadalajaran streetcar system at its greatest extent,
showing the old trolley car routes and the modern trolley bus routes.
(Allen Morrison)

Notable Streetcars

"Double Deck" Car No. 50 outside of the Guadalajara Cathedral.
(Allen Morrison)

An American Car Company motor car leads a Danville trailer
on one of the two suburban routes.
(Allen Morrison)

    Guadalajara's first electric fleet was just about the same as other Mexican cities at the time, featuring single-truck streetcars, double-truck cars, funeral cars, and trailers. The first double-truck cars in the city were double-decker cars Nos. 50 and 51, and proved to be quite popular on high-trafficked lines past the Guadalajara Cathedral. These cars also featured decency drapes down the sides of the open top, enabling "respectable ladies" to ride upstairs without risk of perverse stares. Replacing the single-truck cars on the suburban routes were new double-truck single-level streetcars and trailers from the Danville Car Company of Danville, Virginia, USA, and the American Car Company of St. Louis, Missouri, USA, between 1910 and 1911. These cars were rendered in a handsome brown-and-cream livery, giving them a deluxe finish that offset them from the original green-and-cream or yellow of the older cars. The last cars built new for the Guadalajaran system were 11-window double-truck cars from the Mexican Tramways Company of Mexico City in 1921, commissioned by CHIC. When built new, these cars ran bidirectionally with two trolley poles. After the demise of the Guadalajara system, the cars returned to Mexico City for continued passenger service in 1944, where they were rebuilt with one pole and one direction only. Regrettably, no Guadalajaran streetcars exist today.

The last type of cars built for Guadalajara in Mexico City service, after rebuilding into single-ended cars.
(Allen morrison)

How Do You Say "Bustitution" in Spanish?

Mexico City Car No. 44 on Av. Juarèz in Guadalajara, late 1920s.
(Allen Morrison)

    In 1924, the old bus menace finally reared its ugly head in Guadalajara, promising cheaper fares and faster, more direct services than the trolleys. This undercutting of business forced CHIC to sell off control of the streetcars to the Compañía Occidental de Transportes (Western Transport Company, COT) of San Antonio, Texas, becoming a division of the American Central Utilities. In order to offset the losses incurred by bus competition, the COT wielded an enormous scythe as it cut nearly every streetcar service in the city by 1928, with only the suburban San Pedro Tlaquepaque and Zapopan lines and downtown services remaining. As buses continued to infest the city, the COT also soon grew tired of incurring yet more operating losses and sold the system in 1933 to the state of Jalisco, who established the Cooperativa de Tranviarios de Guadalajara (Streetcar Workers' Cooperative of Guadalajara, CdeT) in 1936 to manage and operate the line. As workers' cooperatives were often an effective way to manage independent streetcar systems in Mexico, it was thought that putting Guadalajara's system in the direct hands of the people might improve things. It did not, and after eight years of hardscrabble struggling, the last cars to San Pedro Tlaquepaque and Zapopan ran on July 3, 1944. There was nothing left after that.

A Tunnel To Somewhere

A trolleybus makes its way up Calle Mezquitàn, where
trolleys once roamed 50 years earlier.
(Foster M. Palmer)

    Thirty years after the last streetcar in Guadalajara, electric traction found the opportunity to entrench itself in the Fortress Valley once again. In 1974 a new highway called "Avenida Federalismo" tore right through the center of the city, replacing part of the former main street of Calle Mezquitàn that served as the Zapopan line. Interestingly, though it was a major highway, special considerations were made to provide a 4.1-mile "public transport tunnel" that was just about the same size and profile perfect for a light rail line. This rail route was provided in part as a concession to the fact many houses were bulldozed to make room for the major roadway. However, due to budgetary concerns, the projected new light rail line had to wait. For the next decade, imported trolley buses from Chicago, Illinois, USA began serving areas of Guadalajara where the trolleys once roamed with the underpass as the main "hub" of the X-shaped system. In 1988, with the necessary capital finally gathered, the trolley buses were removed along Avenida Federalismo for a brand-new light rail line under the banner of the Sistema de Tren Eléctrico Urbano (Urban Electric Train System, or SITEUR). Cars, electrical infrastructure, and other telecommunication systems were provided and continue to be provided by Siemens of Germany. 

The new Guadalajaran Light Rail system narrowly avoids hitting a hapless bicyclist
northbound on Line 1, 1991. The car was built by ConCarril with help from Siemens.
(Steve Morgan)

Unidad Deportiva Station on Line 1 in 1990.
(Steve Morgan)

    SITEUR Line 1 opened on September 1, 1989, and currently operates between Penfèrico Sur on the city's south side to the Auditorio on the north side, following Avenida Federalismo's transit tunnel through the city center with at-grade median and level running north and south. Line 2 opened on July 1, 1994, as an all-underground line running east from the city center, and is one of the busiest lines on the system, making it a perfect candidate for an extension. Line 3 is the newest line to open, having been in development from 2014 to September 12, 2020, and retraces the original Zapopan and San Pedro Tlaquepaque suburban lines by running across the full breadth of Guadalajara. Rolling stock and infrastructure for this line was provided by Alstom of Canada. With a Line 4 between Tlaquepaque to Tlajomulco in the south using an existing right of way, it seems that all is not lost for Guadalajara's mighty streetcars.

SITEUR Line 3 in 2020, featuring their new Alstom "Barcelona Metro" 9000 Series
light rail cars. Note the solid steel overhead conductor rails in lieu of a catenary and wire.
(Urban Transport Magazine)

   

Thank you for reading today's Trolley post, and watch your step as you alight on the platform. My resources today included Allen Morrison's writeup on the Guadalajara streetcar system, the SITEUR website, and the credits under each photo caption. The trolley gifs in our posts are made by myself and can be found under “Motorman Reymond’s Railroad Gif Carhouse”. On Thursday, we finish our Central American adventures by looking at the streetcars of Panama! For now, you can follow myself or my editor on Twitter, buy a shirt or sticker from our Redbubble stand, or purchase my editor's self-developed board game! It's like Ticket to Ride, but cooler! (and you get to support him through it!) Until next time, ride safe!