Monday Streetcar Blogging

From 1963, Perley A. Thomas streetcar 832, running outbound on the Canal Line to the Cemeteries Terminal. 832 is approaching Galvez Street. The Canal Street neutral ground transitions from concrete to grass just past Claiborne Avenue.

The 800-series streetcars were essentially the same design as the 900s, with one major exception. The doors on the 800s were manual, and the 900s were automatic. The manual doors weren't a problem for operations, though, because the city required NOPSI to operate streetcars with 2-man teams, a motorman in the front and a conductor in the back. NOPSI howled about two-man operation for decades, arguing that the system doubled their labor costs and that streetcars could just as easily be operated by one person.

Some little details in the photo: Notice the crowbar-like tool that's mounted on the front of the streetcar, right over its number. This is the tool the motorman used to throw the manual switches at crossovers along the line and at the terminal. The route sign indicates he's operating on the Canal line (at the time, the only line running on Canal Street, of course), and that particular streetcar was the 40th run to leave the barn that day.

When streetcar service was discontinued on the Canal line in 1964, the 800-series streetcars were scrapped. A few were saved by trolley museums in other parts of the country.

(Photo courtesy of Earl Hampton)

You can ping this entry by using http://www.nola-blogs.com/cgi-bin/mt/ruebourbon.cgi/979 .