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The History of San Diego's Horse Cars

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The History of San Diego's Horse Cars December 2015 The History of San Diego’s Horse Cars By William Niedrich Part Two The shed made from the former St Louis horse car was dismantled about the mid 1960’s and the parts were stored in Mr. Gerdes garage where Charlie started making his sketches and drawings. In 1987 Mrs. Gerdes donated the horse car parts, along with some other items, to SDERA. Charlie passed away in July 1989. Later, in 1991, Mrs. Gerdes donated his notes, sketches and brown paper drawings to the Association. At that time, she permitted copies to be made of her husband’s photo of the shed (Photo on page 5). The vellum drawings were not included. Mrs. Gerdes remembers seeing them when her husband was alive, however, she has never been able to locate them. Continued on page 4 Page 2 SDERA Trolley Lines Ex SAN DIEGO PCC CARS TO GET A NEW LEASE ON LIFE IN EL PASO San Diego Electric Railway Association DBA San Diego Electric Railway Co. Inc 922 West 23rd Street National City, CA 91950 (619) 474-4400 In the December 2015 issue: Ex San Diego PCC’s page 2 Horse cars page 4 Happenings At the Depot page 6 2016 Calender preview page 10 Letters to the Editor page 11 Upcoming Events Back Page SDERA operates the historic National City Depot museum Written by Carolina Worrell, which is located at Managing Editor, RailWay Age 922 West 23rd Street, National City, http://www.railwayage.com CA 91950 and is open Saturday and Sunday The Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority (CRRMA), from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. working with the City of El Paso, Tex., has agreed to terms with Or visit us on the web at: Brookville Equipment Corp. for the complete overhaul, www.sdera.org restoration, and modernization of six Presidents’ Conference San Diego Electric Railway Committee (PCC) streetcars originally manufactured in 1937. Association, Inc This agreement is for the forthcoming 4.8-mile El Paso Streetcar Project, which will return the City of El Paso’s PCC vehicles to v Mike Reading - President service for the first time since 1974. v Tom Carnes - Vice President v The contract, valued at $18.8 million, includes completely Jody Surowiec - Secretary v Jeff Trimble - Treasurer stripping down the vehicle frames, repairing and replacing structural v Jim Anderson - Director car-body components, a complete rewiring, truck re-manufactures, v Mitch Beauchamp - Director door upgrades, and integration of modern technologies to “pro- v Richard Finch - Director v vide a modern transit solution wrapped in a nostalgic, historical Mike Reneau - Director v Jason Ballard - Director package,” Brookville said. Key modern amenities will include the v Chris Higgins - Web Master integration of HVAC units, a wheelchair lift system to ensure ADA v Sam Judd - Legal Counsel accessibility, WiFi hotspot access, bike racks, and fareboxes. v Richard Finch - Editor v The PCC restorations will begin in November 2015 at Dave Slater - Editorial staff v Jody Surowiec - Editorial Staff Brookville’s manufacturing facility in Brookville, Pa. As currently v Tom Sapien - Librarian envisioned, the six streetcars will be refinished in El Paso’s original v Jim Anderson - Curator of Special paint schemes from the 1950s (green, orange and white), 1960s Collections Gift Shop Manager/ (blue and white), and late 1960s and early 1970s (light blue, red Facilities Director v John De Lalla - Special Events/ and white), with two of each scheme included in the order. Docent Coordinator Continued on page 9 v Bill Steinmetz-Groundskeeper December 2015 Page 3 A Salute To Our URGENT REQUEST Volunteers! FOR VOLUNTEER DOCENTS AND They are as follows: CASHIERS Dave Slater Please consider sharing your Tom Carnes interest in railroads and Chris Higgins Jim Anderson San Diego’s historic streetcars Jim Price with our visitors. Chuck Bencik Our dedicated group of Randy Butler docents needs your help to Robert Butler ensure that the Depot is Mitch Beauchamp properly staffed. Jeff Trimble Docents guide our visitors Mike Reneau through the depot and the Richard Finch grounds. George Geyer Training and support are Dan Kelly Gary Johnson provided by our docent Sergio Lopez coordinator and other Mike Reading experienced docents. Reference Eddie McCann material is on hand, including Jody Surowiec talking points for the tour, and John DeLalla general procedures for operating Robert Baxter the depot. Shifts are for 3 hours: Missy Cheeseman 10 AM to 1:00 PM, and Anthony Carideo 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM. Sean McColgan Please contact John DeLalla Patrick McColgan at: [email protected] Scotty Lewis Tim Lewis or 858-847-3138 for additional information and to Attention Members: Please look carefully Tom Sapien at the mailing label. If your membership “Pete” Pearson join our group of docents. has expired, or will Mike Quigg expire soon, and you wish to renew your membership, or become a new Matt Zacharzuk member, we offer the following levels: Life,(for a single member) $400; Family, Bill Steinmetz $35(please include names); Regular(or Conrad Gomez Individual) $25; Senior age 60 and up, $15; Junior for ages 17 and below, $15. Hubert Jansen Checks can be made out to, SDERA Steve Mitton and mailed to SDERA, 922 West 23rd Street, Jason Ballard National City, CA 91950 WE COULDN’T OPERATE WITHOUT Come visit, YOU! and enjoy all the improvements Thanks! in your Museum! Page 4 SDERA Trolley Lines Horse Cars from page 1 ABOUT THE FIR STREET PHOTOGRAPH About The Fir Street Photograph (Photo right) shown in this article on Fir Street, is enlarged from a portion of a panoramic photo taken by a professional photographer. The scene was shot from the front of the block-long Florence Hotel, in Florence Heights, with the horse car in the foreground and a portion of downtown and San Diego Bay in the background. The purpose of the picture San Diego Street Car Company’s horse on Fir Street, was to promote the new street between Third and Fourth streets near the Florence Hotel about 1888-1889 car service to the hotel. The stylish lady is looking On the roof, at each end, are The photograph is one of several directly at the camera. lamp vents. Inside the cabin, to appear in a brochure Both passengers are seated in below the vent and mounted to advertising the merits of the the best rows for riding on a establishment, i.e., “Largest and the end wall, is the lamp case horse car. The other rows have which holds the oil lamp. best furnished rooms of any wheel boxes or covers protruding At night, the lamps provide hotel in Southern California.” above the floor. To obtain a low light for the passengers. and “Rates $2.50 to $3.00 per day.” center of gravity and to allow Knowing this much about the a low step on and off the car Also in back of the lamp is a photo, we can assure the brand for the passengers, the top of hole through the case and wall new car was brought up “Out the wheels are above the floor which allows the light beam of Service” from one of the car level. The wheel box covers the to pass through a bullseye lens barn/horse stables downtown. wheel to protect the passengers, mounted on the outside just Service did not start on the line, much the same as on a motor below the platform’s hood. identified on the car’s side, until bus today. The seats are of the Different lines using the same July 7, 1888. The car arrived a rocker back (swing over) type. tracks had different colored lens. few weeks before from The only other person in the A waiting customer at night St. Louis, Missouri. So the photo picture is the driver who is could tell if the car was coming was taken on a sunny afternoon patiently waiting while the or going and what line it was on. during that short period. photograph is being taken. The two passengers are posing. He is not wearing the prescribed When a passenger wanted to The young girl, seated up front, company gray uniform and cap stop the car in order to get off, is no doubt a hotel employee as so he is probably one of the a bell strap or cord was pulled. she is wearing a servant’s type employees who normally works This rang a bell attached to each uniform. at the barn and stables. platform’s hood. December 2015 Page 5 THE FIFTH STREET & UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS LINE During the mid-1880’s, San Diego was experiencing boom times. Local transportation was expanding and needed more equipment. In 1887, the street car company placed several orders for horse cars. The last order was to the St. Louis Car Company for 12 cars. Most of the cars, as mentioned earlier, were of the closed type with no frills. However, several of the cars were to be of the more Shed made from a former St. Louis horse car from the San Diego Street Car expensive convertible design. Company prior to being dismantled about the mid 1960’s. Continued to Charles Gerdes photo Horse Cars The driver then reined in on page 8 the team and set the brakes by turning the brake crank on the dash in front of him. The horses carried bells, too. They were fastened on each side of the horse collar. The tinkle of these bells sounded different from sleigh bells, however they served the same purpose as a warning of their presence. Protection from the sun or inclement weather on open cars was provided by light canvas curtains.
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