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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 15, 1903)
Limbo for Derelict Street Cars "TT ir J I i t 77 1 f 1 ' i Y J 1 1 """ ; "' t 1 . 11 V-l M-.v - ) V - : - x ; -. , . .. . 1 ,' . v.. ! . ..." v , ONK OP THE LUNCH STANDS AND ITS PATRONS. Photo by ft Staff Artist FIRST HORSK CAR THAT RAN ON THE STREETS OF OMAHA AS IT APPEARS TODAY IN THE OLD BARN NEAR HAN BOOM PARK.-Photo by a Staff ArUst. MAHA has hnd street railway ser- Ol vice for thirty-five years and dur 1 Ini that time has seen a sample of almoKt every sort of equip ment ever run on wheels over tramways. T'hlrty-flve years ago tho line In service boasted of one car of the '.'bus" variety; -today several hundred cars of' many types and various degrees of com fort ' and convenience are In use on the linen. In defense of the company, It must be admitted that ft standard car of goodly street railway company, like many other Institutions, was holding- on and fighting for its life. . ' When prosperity's bright beams again warmed the currents of local business Into life, the street railway company began to plan was abandoned. Other uses were sug gested for them, and in other ways they are being utilized, those that remain. Just at present, the favorite end for the dlamanteled horse car 13 the Fide walk res taurant: or. "lunch barge,' as Its patrans expand and one of the first evidences was ., call It. In 1897 the peripatetic dispenser In the forn of new cars. Gradually the trailers disappeared, until now they are seen on only one line, and there' they are the heavier and' roomier coaches that were brought here for the cable service or for . of tamales and red hots took onto himself the notion of traveling on wheels. Soon he had .expanded Into gorgeous wgons, with stained glass windows and side 4 that would put ft rainbow to blush. Wfth the passing proportions and designed for the greatest the first of the trolley lines. The bora ; of the first exposition, In 1893, tjiee too be t WAITING ROOK AT JUNCTION OF D UNDEE AND FARNAM LINES. Photo by a Staff Artist convenience of patron and management la rapidly superseding the aggregation, that came of consolidation and experiment. When the present Omaha Sc .Council Bluffs 8tret, Railway company's .system was called Into, existence, It was the welding together of a horse railway, a cable 'tram way and a trolley line, each with Its own peculiar style of. vehicle, and a. due re- ' spect for -economy suggested the adaptation, of the rolling stock as far as possible ' to the uses of the new concern. For ' a number of years after the consolidation, the cable cars rolled and Jerked merrily along In the wake of the grip, but the , horn cars were immediately relegated to such use as oould be made of them on the trolley lines. , First, the dinkey bobtails, of which only ft few were In service, were abandoned altogether, but the more pretentious "double-cndera" became trailers to the motor cars that whUzed and roared along Omaha streets after the fall of 1889. Many of these trailers were put into service Just as they came from the horse car line, for ft long time the' fare-box with Its In junction to the passenger to deposit his fare in the box Immediately on entering the oar still occupying a prominent place. This led to , ft great deal of confusion, many people conscientiously dropping their nickels into the box, only to be again asked to pay fare by the conductor, radi ant In his new uniform and bright bell punch. Eventually the fare box went the way It should have traveled at the very outset, but the trailer still Jerked and Jolted Its way over the rails, to the mani fest and often forcibly expressed dis pleasure of the passenger and the con ductor, who was required to "brake" as wU as take fare on those cars. This was during the hard times, when tho car has gone. Just what has become of all of them could hardly be told by the officers of the company. Many were re built once, for uses as motor bodies, being sawed In two, a section built In the middle and the new poach mounted on a motor platform. This didn't ' prove successful, for the coach body lacked the rigidity nec essary to withstand the strain of running over the rails and In a little while the gan to fade, for the discovery was made by someone In an Inspired moment that a street car would make a mucli more sub stantial If not so gorgeous a lunch stand, and soon the humble horse car was being hauled out from Its retirement fitted up with ft gasoline stove and some dish racks, and turned Into ft restaurant. 'These have come to be familiar sights In certain dis tricts,' and their owners are usually pros- '"' - -- " ' ' ' " , perous and pleased with the result of their adventure. - In at least one Instance the company has benefited by the suggestion and ' at tho Junction of the Dundee and Farnam street lines has maintained as a waiting room ft car that once followed a pair of pranelny bronchos over the route of the "red line." Soon this will be done away with, for In a very little while the Farnam cars will run through from the South Tenth street ter minus to the end of the track In Dundee. The first horse car began Its missionary work In this city In 1868, and had, no rival until 1887, when the cable was put in. The horse cars ran to the depot, to Hanscom park to Thirteenth and Vinton, to Thirtieth and Cuming, Twenty-sixth and St. Mary's, Twenty-sixth and Lake and to Eighteenth and Lake streets. When the cable lines were put in they run from Tenth and Mason, Twentieth and Lake and Thirtieth and Dodge streets, a'ong Dodge and Har ney streets. In 1889 began the erection of the complete electric syBtem' which is In operation today. Today Omaha has more than ninety miles of electric street, car service, combining eight different lines. The Omaha street railway Is rated as among the best In the United States In the matter of equipment and In the matter of service is second to none. In other cities the cars are larger, the stops are longer and the cars do not travel as fast as here. The local cars are smaller than those of other cities, but they Mart off quickly, the cars have no gates to hamper the passengers In boarding and alighting and they are more numerous. By this method a larger number of passen gers can be carried and the routes can be traveled faster than with the heavier cars operated In other cities. , While no serious mishaps have marred the history of the local street raKway, many singular accidents have occurred. In discussing these things, W. A. Smith, at ptesent general manager of the street car system, said: ' "I think that ft large per cent of tho accidents are due to the injured party being; in what we call a state of mind. I can figure out no other reason why a person possessed of all his senses will walk right into ft street car, when its bell Is clanging (Contineud on Page Sixteen.) WHERE TWO OLD HORSE CARS MA KB A PALATIAL RESTAURANT. Photo by ft Staff Artist. .4 if If