National Historic Mechanical St. Charles Avenue American Society of Engineering Landmark Streetcar Line, 1835 Mechanical Engineers Carrollton Streetcar Shop Regional Transit Authority , December 9, 1984

St. Charles Avenue Streetcar Line, 1835

railroad stops in 1835 abandoned route present route and switch The St. Charles Street Car line is the passenger route “to use an English inven- pany, and were 4’ 8½” English standard oldest continuously operating street rail- tion, the steam powered , gauge. The cars were pulled by horses, way in the world and was one of the first rolling on a road of iron rails.” As the which used a wooden walkway between passenger railroads in the United States. tracks crossed each plantation boundary, the rails. The electric streetcars now operating on there was a slight curve to keep the line Two steam , the “New Or- the route are typical of the transportation parallel with the river, forming a huge leans” and the “Carrollton” were ordered that played a major role in American cities crescent shaped route. As New Orleans from England, probably from Benjamin in the first part of this century. grew, new streets followed the curve of Hick & Company in Bolton, Lan- The line was incorporated as the New the railroad and river, rather than the castershire. The “Fulton,” a 2-2-0 type Orleans and Carrollton Rail Road Com- usual grid of most American cities; thus with outside inclined cylinders, had been pany (N.O. & C.R.R.) February 9, 1833. New Orleans was called “Crescent City.” built for the Pontchartrain railroad in Capitalization was $300,000, with $100 According to the Street Railway Jour- 1834, and a second “New Orleans” for the shares payable in $5 installments. The nal of May 1894, the New Orleans and N.O. & C.R.R. in 1837. third railroad built in the Mississippi Carrollton railroad was “the pioneer Construction of the roadbed went River valley, it was conceived primarily as street railway in the city...but not put in apace, and there was a special notice a passenger line. operation until 1834, only three years printed on the front page of the Bee news- It was preceded by the Pontchartrain after the building of the Fourth Avenue, paper throughout the month of August. Rail Road Company, incorporated in New York line, which was the first street “The New Orleans and Carrollton Rail 1830, which ran for five miles between the railway proper in the world. The first Road Company, see with regret, that not- Mississippi River at New Orleans and a section of the New Orleans & Carrollton withstanding the police regulations of the pier on Lake Pontchartrain at Milneburg, Rail Road open for traffic extended from Parish of Jefferson, a large number of and the West Feliciana Rail Road, incor- Canal on St. Charles Avenue to the corner animals are allowed to run loose upon porated in 1831, which eventually ran be- of Jackson Avenue, and the rolling stock their road, which have already caused and tween St. Francisville/Bayou Sara and consisted of double deck cars which were are still causing considerable damage to Woodville, Mississippi. drawn by two horses tandem.” the road and the ditches on each side of it. Unlike the other two railroads, the On January 13, 1834, the horse car line Being on the eve of starting the Locomo- N.O. & C.R.R. did not have a separate, to the town of Lafayette officially began tive, it is apprehended that frequent acci- private, right-of-way, but shared the service along St. Charles Avenue from dents will result from this abuse if not streets with carts, drays, carriages, horses, Canal Street. Lafayette (now between Fe- immediately put a stop to. . . .” and pedestrians. The trains were restricted licity and Harmony Streets) was the resi- The company stated its right to take all to four miles an hour within city limits, dential suburb of the Americans who had stray cattle found on its railroad and hold and only a single track was permitted on settled there in the 30 years since the Loui- them at its depots for claim by the owners Baronne Street. siana Purchase. of the animals. The notice also said that “it The railroad was part of a sophisticated The 1¾ mile route was on Baronne, is expressly forbidden to travel upon the land development scheme. The real estate Triton Walk (now Howard), through road, either on horseback or in any vehi- promoters realizing the need for “a cer- Tivoli (Lee) Circle, Naiades (now St. cle whatsoever.” tain speedy and easy transportation” to Charles Avenue) and along Jackson Ave- New Orleans if their new town was to nue to the river. The first cars were leased develop, initiated the construction of a from the Pontchartrain Railroad Com-

Earliest illustration of a N.O. & C.R.R. train, in front of the Carrollton Hotel. Drawing by C. Rothaas, Dec. 16, 1835. New Orleans Notorial Archives, Book 91, Folio 10. On August 8, 1835, the True American newspaper mentioned that “the steam cars began running on the Carrollton Rail Road, on Thursday, and will run again this day. In a week, we understand, the road will be completed to Carrollton. The company expects a new engine out shortly. The price of passage is fixed at twenty-five cents.” However, the official opening was de- layed until late September 1835. A month later, the Bee had some con- structive criticism: “More punctuality must be observed in the hours of depar- ture... It would be no harm also to attend to the flue of the engine; so that sparks might not burn the dresses of the “The new lessees will abolish the use of source of motive power other than the passengers.” Apparently sparks were a major problem, because a year later the locomotives and substitute horse cars, of expensive horse or mule car. However, which sixty have been ordered from Phil- Pontchartrain railroad offered to “pay the various expeirments were tried. The first adelphia. The lessees intend to apply to sum of 500 dollars, to the inventor or was an overhead-cable-powered railroad. projector of a machine or plan to prevent the City Council for the privilege of lay- ing a double track on Baronne Street,” the escape of sparks from the chimney of according to the Daily Southern Star of Overhead Cable locomotive engines, burning pine wood, April 11, 1866. and which shall be adapted for use of the According to an 1887 English book, A The added trackage from Canal Street Treatise Upon Cable or Rope Traction as Company.” Patronage on the Carrollton line in- to Howard Avenue was praised by the Applied to the Working of Street and creased, requiring more frequent and reli- Daily Picayune. The old double-deck Other Railways by J. Bucknall Smith, horse cars were being replaced by the new C.E., in 1859 “Messrs. Foster and Brown, able service. Two American built steam “bobtailed” cars. The new cars had a front engines were ordered from William Nor- of the United States, proposed to employ vestibule for the driver, but only a rear ris of Philadelphia in 1836, and two more a an overhead endless traveling rope for step for the passengers, making the cars working street tramway traffic. A suitable year later. appear cut-off or “bobbed.” gripping appliance was devised for oper- The company conducted an inventory ating above the cars to catch or release the June 1, 1867, of the steam rolling stock, cable at pleasure. . . .” which showed eight locomotives (the Or- In 1869 General Beauregard followed leans, Carrollton, Alabama, Florida, up Foster and Brown’s proposed elevated Lake, Union, May and Jefferson). Four cable traction systems, devising an inge- By 1840 the population of New Or- 42-foot passenger cars had just been sold, nious cable grip or catch, for passing and leans was 102,000, having more than dou- leaving the company with ten 40-foot, clearing the overhead pulleys, by arrang- bled in 10 years, and briefly making the and three 30-foot passenger cars. There ing the supporting arm and operating city the fourth largest in the country. Be- was a 12-foot baggage car; eight 12-foot parts out of the vertical plane of the cable cause of increasing complaints of con- woodcars; four 30-foot box cars; fifteen and gripping jaw. This gripping apparatus gestion in the city, the LaCourse horse car 30-foot flat cars, and four railroad hand- was for cases in which the supporting line was discontinued. The stables known cars, as well as six double and five single pulley was between the hauling rope and as “Horse Station,” just off St. Charles horse cars. the vehicles on the lines. General Beau- Avenue (near Carondelet between Felic- The N.O. & C., having installed new regard was issued U.S. Patent 97,343, ity and Polymnia Steets) remained in use horse cars on the lower half of the road, November 30, 1869, for his “Machinery for another 50 years. During peak busi- from Napoleon Avenue to Canal Street, for Propelling Cars.” Cable traction had ness hours the Carrollton steam engines then considered what to do about the up- been considered for the whole length of stopped at the Tivoli Circle station and per half, from Napoleon to Carrollton. St. Charles Avenue but no action was passengers continued to Canal Street by An “Estimate for Completing Horse Car taken on the proposal. horse power. On weekends and evenings, Lines to Carrollton” dated February 15, In 1870 General Beauregard formed the the steam engines ran through to Perdido 1867, showed in detail the items needed New Orleans Improved Car-Traction Street. The Lafayette (Jackson Avenue) for conversion of the railroad: 18 new Company to try cable cars on a 2400-foot horse car line used the single track on horsecars at $1,300 each, 163 mules at $215 section of track on St. Charles Avenue. Baronne for the three-quarters of a mile to each, a new dwelling for employees The May 1894 Street Railway Journal Canal Street. The N.O. & C.R.R. ex- ($13,000) at the Napoleon Avenue prop- related that there had been an “experi- panded its suburban service on the double erty, and expansion of the stables. About mental line around two or three blocks tracks from Tivoli Circle to Carrollton. $25,000 was marked for track work and opposite to what is now Audubon Park.” By the end of the Civil War the N.O. & the wooden walkway between the rails. In this experiment, bracket poles sup- C. was near bankruptcy because of its The total estimated cost was $111,142, ex- ported the rope above the car. Two old control by the U.S. Military Government ceeding the available assets by about locomotives at the end of the route moved during the war. The railroad was leased to $14,900. the rope. The grip, located on the roof of General P.G.T. Beauregard and others for Steam locomotives were undesirable the car, was operated from the front plat- 25 years. for city use, but there was no practical form by levers. This experiment, proving 1834 design for a proposed depot on Baronne between Poydras and Perdido Streets. Courtesy of the New Orleans Public Library, Louisiana Division.

too expensive, was soon abandoned, al- and propel the vehicle by hand power. Canal and Broad Streets, into Canal to the though it served to identify the inventor as The company granted the request, when Clay statue, then out Canal to the Ridge a pioneer in cable traction. the men attached two ropes in front and Cemeteries, and returning to Broad The apparent reason for the system’s started from Napoleon Avenue for Canal Street. The estimated cost of a trip was failure was that it did not decrease running Street, having a full load of travelers, each $1.76. The ammonia engine was similar to expenses by the expected 30 to 50 percent. one paying twenty-five cents for the ride. a , except that a solution of The experiment was estimated to cost The men tripped off quite lively and kept water and ammonia provided the motive $2,500, but by March 29, 1872, the com- up a good pace down to Jackson Street, power. Ammonia vapor from the cylin- pany had spent $4587.50. In San Fran- when they were compelled to slacken ders was not vented but reabsorbed by the cisco, underground cables were used to their speed. Still they traveled fast enough water to be reused. The “Ammoniacal replace horse power and the expensive for those who rode. Gas-Engine” was issued patent number system was a success on the steep hills. “The first voyage was made in forty 105,581, July 19,1870. However, no sales By the end of 1870 New Orleans ab- minutes, but little short of the time of a were made to the N.O. & C.R.R. and sorbed the upriver town of Jefferson, horse. The men rested at Canal Street experiments continued. placing the new city limits at Upperline about twenty minutes: when they started The ammonia engines were soon con- Street, and putting the Napoleon Avenue on a return trip, gathering sufficient cur- verted to steam, according to the New horsecar line within the city limits. rency to compensate them well. The Orleans Republican of March 29, 1872. The railroad became strictly a passenger movement would prove much easier on “Dr. Lamm, the inventor and perfector of line with the discontinuing of freight cars the men if they would run only down to the ammonia street car propelling appara- on February 1, 1871. A letter to General Tivoli Circle, as the street from the point tus, seems to be devoting his entire exis- Beauregard from the company’s legal down to Canal Street is bad for men to tence to the discovery of a cheap and safe counsel, dated January 12, gave the opin- walk over, it being paved with cobble motor for street car propelling purposes. ion that while the 1833 Charter authorized stones. By adopting this plan the men In his indefatigable pursuits, the doctor the railroad to carry freight, the company would save themselves great labor, giving has recently applied steam or super- was not obligated to do so. Freight re- them an opportunity to make more trips. heated water as it is preferred to be called ceipts were $480.50 while expenses had People would willingly walk up to or by some, to the propulsion of street cars. been $675.25 for the previous year. down from Tivoli circle. It is hoped driv- The application assimilates with the am- A problem with horse-power, besides ers on other lines will follow the exam- monia process in this that the main appa- continual food costs, stable and wooden ple.” The following day the newspaper ratus is located at the car station, where walkway upkeep, was that the animals got announced the horse disease had run its each car is to be supplied with the super sick. In December 1872, so many horses course. heated steam, according to necessity.” were sick that service on St. Charles Ave- Although these transportation nue had to be suspended. The New Or- methods may have seemed somewhat bi- leans Republican reported the per- zarre, they had a realistic purpose—to severance of the railroad during an lower the cost of mass transit. According “epizooty” epidemic (Epizootic to Charlton and Hennick’s Street Rail- Apthane): Ammonia Power ways of New Orleans: “Residents on upper St. Charles Street The railroad company, having experi- “The potential worth of these inven- were somewhat amused and gratified yes- ence with horsepower, cable power, and tions were weighty enough to call forth terday to see cars on the track, which fact human power, then turned its attention to much capital and interest, especially on of itself was a notable one, but when it is ammonia power. But the new ammonia the part of the New Orleans & Carrollton explained that the car was pulled by four engines were not successful either. Dr. R.R. Co. and Gen. Beauregard. For in- and pushed by two men, the reader can Emile Lamm’s Ammonia Engines were stance, the N.O. & C.R.R. Co. in 1872 readily understand that every eye was mentioned in the New Orleans Times conducted comparative trials to deter- turned toward the track. The car drivers June 5, 1870. A trial trip originated at mine the ammonia locomotive’s econo- on the Carrollton line, unable or unwill- mies over animal propulsion. It was found ing to remain idle, applied to the company that to operate the ammonia locomotive for the free use of two passenger cars, the cost $6.775 per day as compared to $9.910 applicants stating that they would join in per car per day for animal traction.” Thermo-Specific Engines progenitors of fireless systems, but they the hardship which is imposed on the May 27, 1872 saw the charter filed for were late in the field, cornering all the poor dumb brutes, who lack speech to the Ammonia and Then-no-Specific Pro- European patents in the late 19th and early plead their cause against exacting man. We pelling Co. of America. The estimated 20th century. The true pioneer of the have eight of these steamers in operation savings per year was $14,671, a considera- thermal storage system was Dr. Emile on the Carrollton Road.” ble sum in those days. Lamm.” By 1874, 10 Lamm Thermo-Specific lo- The Thermo-Specific engine was more The first issue of the Carrollton Sen- comotives had been received. The same practical. It used super-heated water in 18- tinel, October 4, 1873, had an article year, the town of Carrollton was ab- inch diameter tanks located on the roof of about Lamm locomotives on the Carroll- sorbed by New Orleans, putting the en- the “motor” (it is not clear in newspaper ton railroad. Noting that the horse cars tire trackage of the N.O. & C.R.R. accounts if a “dummy” or a standard had been inadequate for peak loads be- within the city limits. mule car was employed.) Steam from the cause it was costly to keep extra horses for super-heated water propelled the engine. use at such times, the article said: However, having to constantly replenish “The remedy as used by the Carrollton the tanks rendered the experiment un- Company now-a-days has proved a suc- wieldy for tight street railway operation. cess. These cars are run from Napoleon Lamm and Sylvester L. Langdon, of Avenue to Carrollton, with ample power Electricity the New Orleans City Rail Road, formed by a of water heated at the station The first practical use of electricity as the Lamm Fireless Engine Co. in 1874. house. No fire is used in connection with motive power in New Orleans was at the Langdon had patented a spectacular the car, nor is there any noise or any World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial mechanism for streetcar propulsion, escape of steam. Little room is occupied Exposition (December 1884-May 1885) which used dual overhead walking beams by the engine, and one man is able to act as where two electric railroads were to drive a large rubber-tipped spoked driver and conductor, stopping the car by demonstrated. wheel behind the car. However, the new the brake, and starting without difficulty One was the patented invention oper- company built only more conventional and as quick as the one drove with a horse. ated by the Daft Electric Light Company. fireless locomotives. Several were bought The steamer is capable of carrying two It was about 1,100 feet long, and used a by the Crescent City R.R. Co. and the cars with ease. When at the station the center third rail for power. The line was New Orleans & Carrollton R.R. Co. steam is pumped in by a connection, and more of an amusement ride than a true Lamm’s invention was also used in the car is ready for another trip. By this railroad. France. It was built under license in Paris method there is no killing of valuable The other was quite extensive, looping and was used extensively on Paris street stock from overwork, and the only lack of around and through the exposition railways until World War I. liberality in companies would defeat grounds. It used trains consisting of a Maurice Kelly, a British author, in the abundant provision for all who might motor car with two open trailers, pow- book Fireless and Other Thermal Stor- wish to ride even if it should prove that ered from an overhead electric wire. The age Locomotives, says that “the first suc- this plan would fail in the severest of our Visitors Guide commented on “an electric cessful application of these systems com- winter by a too rapid cooling of the railway 3 miles in length, this will be the mercially was made by Emile Lamm steam—but our climate is not so severe. longest electric railway in the United during the 1870’s. It has been stated in In such cases we could at least use it dur- States, and will be well worth taking a ride other places that the Germans were the ing such a season as the present, and avoid on.” The system was operated by a

Lamm fireless locomotive on St. Charles Avenue in 1889. Courtesy of Ray Samuel. Belgian, C. J. Van Depole, who gave dem- though the N.O. & C.R.R. decided to as good as any made up north.” onstrations at exhibitions and fairs until use the Sprague system of electrification, The car seated 26, and could be oper- he could get financial backing to build a which used a single overhead wire as a ated 96 miles at a top speed of 15 miles per city street railway. He finally did so in source and the rails as a return, other hour. Night time operation was enhanced Montgomery, Alabama, where its Court systems had been considered. One was by a powerful electric headlamp, as well as Street Line was electrified in 1886. The the Short Electric Railway System, pat- two interior lights. electrification eventually extended to 15 ented by Sidney Short in 1889. It used two A month later, the Daily Picayune miles with 18 cars. Montgomery was the parallel overhead wires as source and re- published a conversation with President first city in the world with city-wide elec- turn. A small metalwheeled “troller” (or Joseph Hernandez of the N.O. & C.R.R. tric transportation replacing animal trailer) rolled on the wires, pulled by flexi- He announced that the company was powered public transportation. ble electric cables from the street car. Be- again preparing to petition the city council New Orleans waited seven years for its cause the wheeled pickup was trailed for the right to operate a sample overhead first successful electric street railway. behind, much as a boat trolling a fish lure, wire electric railroad on St. Charles Ave- the term “trolley” became a descriptive nue. He was opposed to the storage bat- term for all electric street cars powered tery concept, and said that the only route from overhead lines. The Short System was with the overhead wire. The news- was unsatisfactory because the trailer paper also mentioned that representatives could not easily be switched, and it would of the Edison General Electric Company, fall between the electric wires, sometimes and Thomson-Houston Company said Storage Battery causing a short circuit. “there was no danger attached to the op- The 1888 Annual Report of the N.O. & In May 1889 steam dummies were dis- eration of the overhead system. Hundreds C.R.R. mentioned that “In the beginning continued. That year’s annual report said of men have time and again received of the year, the Company petitioned the “the dummy system, in conjunction with shocks, but the current was so light that Honorable City Council to be allowed to that of the mule, being unquestionably they were none the worse for it.” use Electric Motor Power, of the Sprague too expensive.” Mules remained the only Opposition to electricity remained, and System, which is by overhead wires,—on motive power on the N.O. & C.R.R. not only due to fear of electrocution. The small iron posts or pipes in centre of neu- until electric cars were introduced on St. Times Democrat of October 14, 1890, tral ground, which is now being used in Charles Avenue four years later. quoted Colonel Joe Walker, president of thirty odd cities; but in this we were un- By 1889 other street railway companies the New Orleans City R.R. company, successful. Subsequently an Ordinance were interested in electric power. The who said “Electricity has been the subject was passed allowing the Storage Battery New Orleans City R.R. and the Crescent of considerable experiment for the last to be used, which so far has not proved City R.R. companies jointly formed the four years without much, if any, im- successful and is much more expensive. Electric Traction and Manufacturing provement or success in the storage bat- This practically debars this Company Company that year. The Times Demo- tery. There are only two places in the from using electricity for quick transit and crat of August 9, 1890, announced that United States where the storage battery is economy.” The city council was opposed the Electric Traction Company had tested operated. Nine cars are run on the Fourth to overhead electric wires, apparently be- a battery-powered car, the first ever con- Avenue and Madison Square (Vanderbilt’s cause of the danger of electrocution. Al- structed in New Orleans, and it was “just line) line in New York, and two in Indi-

Tramway Galop written by J. Burg- mein about 1881. The N.O. & C.R.R. was using double deck cars on its shorter lines. anapolis and the system is no further ad- mache, decorated with conventional de- vanced today than it was three years ago. signs of brown and gold. No advertise- As far as the motor itself is concerned, it is ments will be allowed, and the ventilator a success, but as to economy...it is 100 glasses are of pale green, with the road’s percent more expensive than animal name cut into the glass. In the center of power. The overhead system has made the roof is a 3-cluster of incandescent considerable advancement, . . . but it is still lights. There is a single light at each end, more expensive than mule power. I con- and by each door a supplementary lamp tend that it costs 12 cents, whereas we in case of need. Over the door is a pas- operate the mule at a cost of a fraction senger indicator. The cars are comfort- over 5 cents per mile.” Col. Walker listed able, wide seated, healthy, and bright. the daily expenses of running a mule car, Each platform is guarded or shut in by some of which were 23 cents worth of telescope gates. . . . The cost of a car com- feed for 5½ mules per car, and the car Patent illustration of Dr. Emile Lamm’s plete, but without motor is $1250. The driver at $1.67. The total cost averaged “Chloride of Calcium Engine” using new rolling stock of the road is about over a year was $7.94 per day. superheated water dated March 12, fifty-two cars, so the expense has been The Colonel said, “. . .I cannot see the 1872. It superseded the Ammonia very considerable.” time anywhere near when the system will Engines before a more conventional Each car cost $2,949.20. There were fireless locomotive was used. be such as can be adopted; in fact, that green cars for the St. Charles Avenue line, time is in the far future. The mule for yellow for Napoleon Avenue and red for many days will remain master of the situa- the Jackson Avenue line. tion.” The Colonel was right about one The official opening of the electrified thing; the economics of the battery cars. The first trial runs were made at mid- line was Wednesday, February 1, 1893. They were discontinued a year later, and night January 25, 1893. The line proved profitable. Company rec- the Electric Traction and Manufacturing The new electric cars made by St. Louis ords for the spring of 1896 showed that Company was quietly shut down, putting Car Company were closed cars, with the Carrollton route had about 30 cars 200 employees out of work. open platforms for the motorman. The with daily fare collections of $23.90 per The finally single truck was for use on 4' x 8½" gauge car. The average mileage was 151 miles per passed an ordinance on December 15, track and 500 volt direct current. The day with revenues of 15 + cents per mile. 1891, authorizing use of overhead elec- February 2, 1893 Daily Picayune de- Total expenses (including electricity and tricity on the N.O. & C.R.R. Work be- scribed the Carrollton cars as “elegantly office personnel) were 10 + cents, giving gan July 13, 1892. Tracks were extended made, and are furnished inside with car- net earnings of 5 cents per car mile. The out two thirds of a ved cherry wood, with spring seats, and three lines of the N.O. & C. had typical mile to Jeanette Street. A new car barn backs of woven bamboo. They will com- receipts of $30,956.44 per month. The and electric shops were built on Dublin fortably seat fifteen people on either side. Canal and Claiborne Rail Road, con- Street between Jeanette and Poplar (now The windows of plate glass are 2½ feet trolled by the N.O. & C.R.R., also in- Willow) Streets one block off Carrollton wide, and have adjustable brown shades, stalled new tracks in Canal Street at this Avenue, with a large electric power plant that raise or lower by pinching the double time. on Napoleon Avenue near the river. handles together. The roofs are of paper-

Patent illustration of General Beau- regard’s overhead-cable powered car, dated November 30, 1869. Present Condition The St. Charles line became the last Landmark Designation The line is maintained by the Regional streetcar route in New Orleans when the The St. Charles Avenue Streetcar Line Transit Authority of New Orleans. Canal line was changed to buses May 30, is the 74th National Historic Mechanical The streetcar line has about 15 miles of 1964. The 900 series cars (with pneumatic Engineering Landmark to be designated track (single track equivalent). There are doors) then replaced the older 800 series since the ASME program began in 1973. nine crossovers for switching the street- cars on St. Charles Avenue. In addition, 17 International and eight Re- cars to the other (parallel) tracks. The Still going on is a program of track and gional landmarks have been recognized. crossovers are used mainly during the car- roadbed improvements on St. Charles Each represents a progressive step in the nival season, when parades cause an inter- and Carrollton Avenues. New, all-steel evolution of mechanical engineering, and ruption of service. There is also a double wheels and axles with roller bearings have each reflects its influence on society, ei- crossover at the end of the line (Carrollton been installed to help reduce side sway ther in its immediate locale, nationwide or and South Claiborne), two switches at and give a smoother ride. Floors have throughout the world. Willow and Jeanette to the carbarn, and a been rebuilt and rubber resurfaced to pro- The Landmark program illuminates double track stub on Howard between vide more comfortable and secure foot- America’s technological heritage and Carondelet and Baronne. There are 104 ing. Roofs have been covered with serves to encourage the preservation of passenger stops, and the 52-passenger cars aluminum for improved weather protec- the physical remains of historically im- have a 4½ minute headway during the tion. Rebuilt all-metal doors and upper portant works. It provides an annotated morning and evening peak passenger windows have been installed for longer roster for engineers, students, educators, travel, decreasing to 15 minute average in life. Brighter lighting has been added to historians and travelers. For further infor- the evening. improve conditions for readers, giving the mation about the program and a list of all The St. Charles Avenue route became car interiors a more cheerful atmosphere. landmarks contact the American Society New Orleans oldest railroad in the fall of of Mechanical Engineers, Public Informa- 1954, when the last 1½ miles of track were This material is adapted from the book tion Department, 345 East 47th St., New removed from the old Pontchartrain Rail- The St. Charles Street Car or The New York, N.Y. 10017. road route on (the Orleans & Carrollton Railroad, by J. L. first railroad built west of the Appalachian Guilbeau, revised and reprinted 1977. mountains).

National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark St. Charles Avenue Streetcar Line 1835

The St. Charles Streetcar line is the oldest surviving interurban- urban passenger rail transportation system in the United States. Originally incorporated as the New Orleans Carrollton Roilroad in 1833, service began in 1835. A variety of motive power had been used including hores, mules, overhead cable, steam engines, and ammonia engines before electrication in 1893. The 900-series cars presently in service were designed and built Perley A. Thomas Car Company of High Point, North Carolina in 1923-24. They operate on the original 15-mile right-of-way with a 5'-2½" guage that was adopted in 1929.

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers—1984

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers 345 East 47th Street New York, N.Y. 10017 Hl0l