Bloomsburg tram

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bloomsburg tram
Gauge : 1435 mm ( standard gauge )

The Bloomsburg tram in the US state of Pennsylvania ran from 1901 to 1926.

First, on June 1, 1892, the Bloomsburg Electric Street Railway Company was founded to build trams in the city. Since the financial means for the construction could not be raised, the company was later dissolved again. On August 1, 1895, the North Susquehanna Transit Company was founded , which applied for a concession to build a line from Danville via Bloomsburg to Espy . Both projects were initially not implemented. On February 9, 1899, the Bloomsburg and Berwick Electric Railway Company was founded, which runs a route from Bloomsburg via Espy to Berwickplanned. The two companies merged on October 31 of that year to form the Columbia and Montour Electric Railway Company . Construction began on March 8, 1901, and the first section of the standard-gauge line from Bloomsburg to Espy went into operation on July 30 of that year . On October 4, 1901, Berwick was reached, where there was a connection to the Berwick tram from 1910 to 1924 . In its first full year of operation, 1902, the hourly train carried over a million passengers, making it one of the most successful interurban trams in Pennsylvania.

On August 12, 1901 the Catawissa and Bloomsburg Electric Railway Company was founded, which opened a route from Bloomsburg via Rupert to the west head of the bridge over the Susquehanna River on May 30, 1902 . From 1904 the railways of this line drove over the bridge to Main Street in Catawissa . There was an hourly service between Bloomsburg and Catawissa. In addition, on October 2, 1904, the Danville and Bloomsburg Street Railway Company, founded on September 1, 1903, opened a line to Danville. In Danville there was a connection to the local tram service . The trams to Danville ran every 90 minutes.

On May 26, 1911, these two railway companies merged with Columbia & Montour, which was renamed the North Branch Transit Company on December 9, 1913 . The company went bankrupt on September 27, 1915, as many workers who lived along the route and used the tram to get to work became unemployed. Nevertheless, the railway company set a transport record in 1918 with over 2.3 million passengers. By 1925 that number had decreased by almost half. On May 1, 1926, the Hazleton Auto Bus Company bought the train and closed the entire network on June 26 of that year. Buses now took over the transport tasks.

Sources and further information

Individual evidence
  1. ^ Rohrbeck 1997.
literature
  • Benson W. Rohrbeck (1997): Pennsylvania's Street Railways West Chester PA: Traction Publications. Page 168.
  • Benson W. Rohrbeck (2007): Pennsylvania Street Railway Atlas West Chester PA: Ben Rohrbeck Traction Publications. Page 71.