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CLANG, CLANG, WHEN THE TROLLEY DING, DING, DING WENT THE BELL Long before super highways and jet airliners, the short lived but well loved electric railways dominated the scene. Almost every American City and town from the late 1880's to the 1930's was marked by the steel strips of the trolley track.
Westport was no exception. A trolley car slipping down Route 6 was a common sight to Westporters. It ran from Fall River to New Bedford, stopping at Lincoln Park. Many residents still remember the ride on the clunking cars of the Dartmouth and Westport Street Railway.
Mabel Crosby, lifetime resident of Westport said she enjoyed the trolley to Lincoln Park where she once road the hobby horses. Mrs. Crosby was in her eighties. "Inside it was as nice as a luxury car. It was bouncy, but not too uncomfortable", Mrs. Crosby said. "Of course people today would think it was too hard, but I thing it was sure nicer than a subway", she added. Another
Westporter who remembered the trolley was John Keevy Jr. whose first trolley
ride was when he was a young boy. He had no idea that soon the trolley
would be a thing of the past for Westport. Mr. Keevy describes his first
trolley ride as "Exhilarating". He was the director of the Boston Street
Railway Association. He says he never expected to be so involved in preserving
the history of the electric railways when he took that first ride. "The park was built as a method of generating more business," said Keevy. The park featured twin ferris wheels one of which still remains. The steep roller coaster, the same one standing today, was another one of the original attractions, along with the hobby horses. In their day, trolleys were thought to be the best form of transportation. They were faster and more efficient than their predecessor, the horsecar. At first small cars pulled along a track by horses were sufficient but as the demand for interurban service grew they just weren't practical. "Horsecars were like stagecoaches at first, on bumpy rails. As demand increased they just required too many horses", said Mr. Keevy. Another cause in the decline of the horsecar was an epidemic which wiped out many of the needed horses. Keevy said oxen were used to keep the cars running. But the system was in need of change. "As you can see", said Mr. Keevy, "electricity was the answer to the problem". In the early days of the electric railways, the same tracks used for the horsecars were used for the trolleys. In fact, many of the horsecars themselves were converted into trolleys. But these cars and tracks were literally falling apart and were eventually replaced by more stable machinery. The inside of the old trolleys were "cozy". The seats were either rattan or wood and on the upper portion of the side walls were advertising posters, much the same as those found on busses today. An oil lamp hung from the ceiling for evening trips. The motorman (trolley driver) stood most of the time unless he took a "short rest on a small round stool." Tickets (a dime) were collected by the conductor, who also gave the official go ahead to the motorman. Often the trolleys were crowded in the spirit of "there's always room for one more". But trolley cars were not only used for transportation. Some cars had no seats at all, but rather a large tank of water inside. These were used to settle the dust on roads. A large pipe swung out from underneath and sprinkled the roadways, which by this time were being frequented by the gas guzzling automobile. The heyday of the trolleys was in the early 1900's, but was soon to come to a screeching halt. According to Mr. Keevy, the main reason for the decline of electric railways was their inflexibility. "Narrow streets couldn't accommodate both cars and trolleys. There wasn't enough room for more than a single track", he says. There were many accidents between autos and trolleys. If a car or truck was parked too close to the track, trolley service was held up. This was the prime example of the trolleys' inflexibility - they couldn't leave the track to avoid a problem. After a few struggling years, service from Fall River to Lincoln Park ended and by 1947 the Union Street Railway stopped all trolley service. |
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