as Maryland's biggest city and one of America's largest metro areas Baltimore's transit system
has seen millions of riders throughout its years of operation most if not all
residents are no doubt familiar with the Light Rail and metro subway but long before we had
these ways of getting around there were street cars and well the streetcar of the
past are now obsolete some of the remains still linger today we discover Baltimore's
lost street cars I'm your host Ryan silkash and you're watching it's history [Music]
let's set the stage by first getting to know the streetcar's predecessor the Omnibus the
first Omnibus service started in 1826 in France which soon after evolved into the first wide
scale commercial public transit Venture in 1828 Paris the Omni bus was pioneered by retired
French General Stanislas badri but not for the reason you'd expect you see the general ran a
steam bath outside of Nance and wanted to entice more customers to travel there by making it more
accessible to them the omnibus's name also has an intriguing origin basically it's a play on
words from the name Hatter whose shop was next to the city's Terminus the header named omnis
had a sign that read omnis Omnibus in front of his shop the perfect name for the Newfound
Transport Service stemming from the Latin word Omni meaning all people the name Omnibus meant
that it was is a bus that anyone could ride the Omnibus quickly spread out by 1836 16 omnibuses
operated in Paris covering 35 routes carrying around 14 passengers per trip so where does
Baltimore play in with this well the Omni bus's influence wasn't limited to just one city or even
country as many cities continue to grow with their populations Rising steadily upwards there was a
cry for urban transportation to which omnibuses were the answer in 1827 Abraham Brewer a Manhattan
Stagecoach operator brought the Omnibus to America it caught like wildfire reaching many key cities
in the following years such as Philadelphia and Boston and of course for the purpose of our story
Baltimore the first Omnibus route ran from the corner Franklin Street and Utah to Baltimore and
gay and Pratt and then Market Street and Fells Point The Baltimore Sun had a glowing review of
the new service quote in other cities in addition to the general convenience these lines have tended
to enhance the value of property in the outskirts of the city enabling persons to reside at a
distance from their place of business in more healthy localities without the loss of time and
fatigue of walking whilst the cost is but a trife the introduction of the Omnibus meant that people
no longer had to live close to where they worked or pay nearly as much to travel into Baltimore
this was an amazing new convenience that we all know today they could just simply commute instead
and this trend only continued to grow on June the 7th 1844 a line of omnibuses started running
between governstown with stops at the Star Tavern and Cold Spring hotel and as you can no doubt
imagine 1844 was an extremely successful year as November the 29th of that same year saw the
introduction of the blue line of omnibuses running from Pennsylvania Avenue to The Point Market
it where a dollar could buy you 16 tickets in 1845 the Green Mount Cemetery line started running from
Howard to Madison streets and in 1847 the York Road line made travel to and from Towson Town
and the surrounding areas much more feasible the Omnibus continued to grow from there and with more
and more lines popping up over the years it must have seemed Unstoppable but the next innovation
in Baltimore's Transportation was already on the horizon America's first streetcar lines opened in
1832 in New York City and it was around this time that the significant improvements were made on the
rails themselves these street cars were a step up over the Omnibus as they ran on Rails rather
than unpaved roads and thus allowed far quicker much more comfortable transport these street cars
usually had a driver and a conductor the conductor was responsible for collecting fares assisting the
passengers upon boarding and departure as well as alerting the driver when everyone was on board
and ready to go earlier street cars were pulled by horses and mules but it's important to note
that the extreme health and sanitation risk due to the manure animals Left Behind caused significant
problems anyhow these streetcars reached Baltimore in 1859 the first of which were greeted by a crowd
of curious onlookers at the foot of Broadway in Fells Point to watch the maiden voyage
in 1876 the Baltimore and Hampton began operations with mules pulling their cars on a line that ran
from Charles Street and Huntington Avenue which is today's 25th Street to Roland Avenue and
36th Street in Hampton in 1881 the world's first electrically operated streetcar was inaugurated on
May the 12th this was an innovation brought about by German engineer and inventor Ernest Warner
Siemens and it really took hold after Siemens presented the world's first electric locomotive at
the 1879 Berlin commercial Exposition a few years prior common knowledge suggests that America's
first commercially operated electric streetcar began service in Richmond Virginia in 1888 however
sources suggest that in 1885 just four years after the world's first electric street car was
inaugurated Baltimore started its service making it the title holder I'd be grateful if an expert
could clarify the facts in the comment section below anyhow Baltimore's system was built by
Leo Daft an engineer from England who was also the founder of the Daft electric company in Greenville
New Jersey Daft began working on the railway line in the early 1880s following his success with the
electric railroad Network in Newark New Jersey in 1883. he signed a contract with the Baltimore and
Hampton company arranging for him to replace the tracks from Charles and 25th Street in Baltimore
to 40th Street and Roland Avenue in Hampton they needed to be replaced because the steep grades and
tight curves of the track were challenging as such Daft converted the Baltimore Hampton line
from horse-drawn cars to electricity via a unique third rail system the electricity that ran the
streetcars was generated from dynamos installed in a car barn at the then Oak Street and Huntington
Avenue the voltage generated by the dynamos then ran through the third rail to motorhouses in the
small engine like cars that towed the larger Passenger cars this first line ran from 25th
and Howard streets through Huntington and Hampton to Roland Avenue and what is now 40th Street these
new Innovations in electric street cars were generally very well received by the public b
h directors on the other hand were much more skeptical when it was first put into practice a
quote from one of the directors States the man who undertakes to operate this section by electricity
in the present state of the art is either a Nave or a fool nevertheless daf pushed forward and a
large crowd gathered on August the 15th 1885 to ride the electric street car for the first time it
carried 40 passengers and traveled at 12 miles per hour it ran 20 trips total that day all of which
with no accidents within a year 29 000 passengers were being transported on that line alone each
month but it's important to note that the electric street car wasn't the only Transportation option
vying for its place many forget that Baltimore had a cable car system as well short-lived as
it was the cable car system was a project of the Baltimore traction company its first day
of service was on May the 23rd 1891 and around 60 000 baltimoreans paid a nickel each to ride
from Druid Hill Park to Patterson Park the cars traveled around 11 miles per hour and
were powered by steam engines and powerhouses throughout the city in the end however nothing
lasts forever and with the ever improving front of Transportation dafs electric street cars 2 had an
expiration date as more and more Transit companies converted to the use of conventional buses street
cars were gradually pushed into obsoletion it wasn't just that the post-world War II Rise of
automobiles saw many companies retiring streetcar lines but families were moving out of the city to
suburbs and this was Out Of Reach of streetcar service meaning that ridership continually
declined as more and more people started driving their own Vehicles those who did not use street
cars began finding them obtrusive Automotive companies began lobbying and potting for their
removal then the arrival of the underground Metro years later would pile further on top
of the streetcar's Grave long story short by 1963 the last line was converted into a bus route so
by now you might be wondering what remains of this great Network well let's take a look
let's first look at some of the cars that operated along the streetcar lines many of them have found
permanent homes in the Baltimore streetcar Museum where you can still see them today they look like
they did when they were in full service and luckily my friend from Baltimore was able to
check it out in depth for us now I'm in car 6119 this is known as the iconic Baltimore streetcar
150 of these Peterbilt type cars were built in 1930 by the JG Brill Company in Philadelphia
and the Cincinnati car company now this is car 264 and it was built between 1900 and 1901. now what's
unique about car 264 is that every piece of it is original to how it was in 1917. so what was it
like to operate one of these streetcars well let me show you so you arrived at your stop now what
well you got to get the people on so you open the door everyone comes through deposits their
coins right here there would have been a little jar located right here next you close the door
they let the guy up front know that you know what
it's time to go have you ever wondered how they make that iconic trolley ding ding sound
this collection really is spectacular car 417 for example is the only car in the Baltimore streetcar
museums collection have operated on each type of power used on Baltimore Street Railway horse cable
and electric it began as a horse car for the City passenger then transitioned into a trailer car
for a cable line until it was converted into an electric operation in 1896 where it stayed
in service until the early 1900s it seated 20 passengers and since it didn't have a heater it
had a supply of straw that passengers could bury their feet in to keep warm during the winter car
554 was built specifically for summer service The Brownell Car Company of St Louis Missouri
constructed it for the Baltimore traction company the car was open for passengers to board and
depart off running board and could accommodate up to 45 people at a time without an air conditioning
unit cars of this type helped passengers keep cool on hot summer days while most street cars were
initially built only for summer or winter service car 264 was an important example of the so-called
convertible car a car that could run all year long by removing or replacing side window sashes during
warm weather the side window sashes were removed and stored in the car house they could be put back
on during cold weather to keep passengers as warm as possible car 1164 in the collection was built
by the JG Brill company of Philadelphia and was an open car design only for warm weather it could
seat up to 60 people and was most popular on its run to Riverview Park it ended service in 1923
cars aren't the only thing that remain from the age of street cars however here and there you
might see an old track line from the street cars and trolleys embedded in the concrete
and Cobblestone such as on tame Street in the Fells Point neighborhood they run down the road
branching off to the left and right and though cars drive over it now it's not so difficult
to picture the trolleys and street cars of the time cruising down them loaded with passengers
and though the past street cars are obsolete they are not entirely gone they saw somewhat
of a comeback in the 1990s with the arrival of the light rail which uses similar technology
not much outside of the museum remains of Baltimore's lost street cars however our
guests did a very in-depth video over on his channel covering some of the objects that we
couldn't show here so make sure that you head over to his channel and check it out otherwise if you'd
like to enjoy these episodes commercial free click join and hit that subscribe button for new videos
every Thursday and Saturday at 6 PM Eastern until next time this is Ryan silkash signing off