Ontario Tramway (California)

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Descent of the mule train in Ontario, California

The streetcar in Ontario (California) existed from 1888 as a horse tram . In 1895, the operation, which is characterized by great differences in altitude, was electrified and operated as a tram until it was closed in 1933 .

history

Ontario , east of Los Angeles and south of the San Gabriel Mountains , emerged as a planned settlement from 1882. Ontario's main street was Euclid Avenue; a 60 meter wide and 13 kilometer long road that was planted in four rows with trees. Euclid Avenue, which rose sharply to the north, led via Upland to San Antonio Heights and was crossed by two railroad lines, at the southern end of the Southern Pacific Railroad and in the middle of the Sante Fe .

The rapid development of Ontario led to the commissioning of a single-track, standard-gauge horse - drawn railway on August 14, 1888 . The route with a total length of 13.6 kilometers ran mainly on the median of Euclid Avenue from Ontario to today's San Antonio Heights. Two cars were available for operation. Horses were initially used as draft animals, later, as is often the case in the United States, two mules per cart. The first operating company was the Ontario and San Antonio Heights Railroad Company .

The steep incline of the route - indicated a difference in altitude of 360 meters - required careful braking on the descent in order to prevent the car from running into the draft animals. This was remedied by a single-axis trailer platform made by a blacksmith from Ontario. The platform was folded up and pushed under the wagon on the way up and, when coupled to the wagon, served to transport the mules on the way down. The platform was equipped with its own brake. Another advantage of the type of operation, which is also known at the time as the “gravity railway”, is the saving of draft animals, since they can recover during the descent and can be used for the next ascent. A similar form of operation was practiced on a stretch of the horse-drawn tram in Denver, where the draft animal found its place on the rear platform of the wagon as it descended. The travel times given are one to one and a half hours for the ascent and 20 to 30 minutes for the descent.

Electrical operation began on September 24, 1895. The power plant was located in San Antonio Heights next to an amusement park, which added traffic to the tram. After several changes of ownership, the tram came into the possession of Pacific Electric in 1914 . Pacific Electric adjusted the tram's timetable to its trains departing from Upland. According to a timetable from February 1924, 34 journeys were offered between Upland and Ontario, 16 of which were connected to trains on the railway line. During rush hour there was a tram every 20 minutes, at other times there were hourly connections. After sections of the route had already been abandoned in 1924, the remaining operations between Ontario and Upland were shut down on October 6, 1928. According to the operating company, the operating costs could not be earned on the route.

A second route existed from 1911 to 1933 from Upland via Claremont to Pomona, 10 kilometers west of Ontario . Initially, a continuous operation from Ontario to Pomona was offered, before both routes were operated separately from 1914 onwards when there was competition from buses.

Aftermath

For the 75th city anniversary of Ontario in 1957, a reconstruction of a mule wagon was made using old photographs. The reconstruction was initially forgotten; since 2000 it has been a memorial on Euclid Avenue.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ontario & San Antonio Heights Line at The Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California (English).
  2. ↑ Entry tram . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . Fourth edition, Leipzig 1885–1892, Volume 18 (Annual Supplement 1890–1891), p. 899.
  3. ^ Koffman, image , p. 314.
  4. ↑ lower values ​​for Mule Car at The Historical Marker Database; higher values ​​in Koffman, Bild , p. 314.
  5. ^ Ontario & San Antonio Heights Line at The Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California (English).
  6. ^ Pomona Upland Line, Pomona Claremont Line at The Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California (English).
  7. ^ Mule Car at The Historical Marker Database.

literature

  • JL Koffman: The special picture. In: Tram magazine. Issue 18 (November 1975), p. 314f.

Web links