Streetcars

 

Home
About
Horsecars
Streetcars
Interurban Railroads
Steam Roads
Passenger Stations
Ralston
Worthington
Photos

 

Photo of the Month

Apr. 2008
Oct. 2007
June 2007
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

Electric Streetcars

1891-1948 Streetcar Rosters

1905 Streetcar Schedules

1906 Columbus Street Railway Map**

1908 CRP&L Co. Streetcar #590

1914 CRP&L Co. Car #1000 Part I & Part II

1914 A Walk Up High Street

1927 Columbus Street Railway Map*

1939 C&SOE Co. Brochure

1948 End of The Streetcar Era

 1948 Columbus' Streetcar Track Gauge

2007 Columbus Streetcar Remnants

What Color Were Those Streetcars?

        In 1888 an experimental electric streetcar line was built in Columbus, Ohio.  It ran on Chittenden Avenue from High Street to the State Fairgrounds, a distance of about half a mile.  From that shaky start it only took until 1892 to completely replace the horsecars.  The advantages in speed, cleanliness, increased capacity and economy caused officials to put those horses to pasture as fast as they could. For the next 54 years Columbus would rely on the streetcar for basic transportation around the city and to promote city growth. 

        The name for the streetcar company changed over the years.  At the time of the conversion to electric there were two companies, the The Columbus Consolidated Street Railway Company which was the dominant company and the Glenwood & Green Lawn Railroad Company which ran the West Broad Street and Green Lawn cemetery lines.  As soon as the G&GLR Co. electrified it was taken over by the CCSR Co. 

        In 1892 the CCSR Co. was reorganized as the Columbus Street Railway Company.  In 1893, in another move the streetcar and electric light business was brought together and called the Columbus Railway & Light Company.  In 1904 the company became the Columbus Railway, Power & Light Company.  In 1937 the company became know as the  Columbus and Southern Ohio Electric Company.

        IN 1933 a modernization program was started that introduced trolley coach and motor bus service.  This transition away from streetcars was completed in September, 1948.  This fifteen year modernization program is described in 1948 End of The Streetcar Era

        The Streetcars section of columbusrailroads.com is a work in progress.  Additional material will be added as time permits.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*1927 Columbus Streetcar System Map published in the March-April 1990 issue Motor Coach Age.  Used by permission of E.H. Miller.

**1906 Columbus Streetcar System Map as published in the1906 Street Railway Journal.

 

Home | About | Horsecars | Streetcars | Interurban Railroads | Steam Roads | Passenger Stations | Ralston | Worthington | Photos

This site was last updated 04/28/08