GEMS OF SYMMETRY AND CONVENIENCE: SO RICHMOND PROUDLY DESCRIBED ITS ELECTRIC TROLLEYS, THE FIRST TRULY SUCCESSFUL SYSTEM IN THE WORLD

Initiated in 1888, Richmond, Virginia's trolley system, featuring four-wheeled electric cars, was the pride of the city. Within scarcely three months after the system opened, it was transporting 12,000 passengers daily at speeds up to 15 miles per hour. Not only was it, for its time, the largest street railway in the world, it was also "the first trolley system anywhere to operate with a sufficient degree of reliability and economy to represent a truly practical means of urban transportation". The author places operation of this system in historical perspective and provides a fascinating account of early street railway transportation. As one might expect, there are excellent illustrations for the article. Accompanying the article is a column "Vanishing Americans", which gives location of still-operational trolley lines and trolley museums and a description of them. Also featured in this issue is a section in color titled "Old Post Cards Bring Back The Age of the Trolley" (pp. 25-32). The nostalgia power of this section is almost overwhelming, especially the tranquillity of "Rush Hour on West Superior Street, Cleveland, Ohio". Trolley enthusiasts should make this issue a collector's item.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00028738
• Corporate Authors:

  American Heritage

  Forbes Building, 60 Fifth Avenue
  New York, NY  United States  10011
• Authors:
  • Middleton, W D
• Publication Date: 1973-2

Media Info

• Pagination: 7 p.
• Serial:
  • American Heritage
  • Volume: 24
  • Issue Number: 2
  • Publisher: American Heritage
  • ISSN: 0002-8738

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: History; Streetcars
• Geographic Terms: Richmond (Virginia)
• Subject Areas: History; Public Transportation; Railroads;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00057566
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Nov 6 1981 12:00AM