Horsecar
A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is an
or streetcar.Summary
The horse-drawn tram (horsecar) was an early form of
History
Canada
In 1861,
India
The first horse-drawn trams in India ran a 2.4-mile (3.9 km) distance between
The Bombay Tramway Company was set up in 1873. After a contract was signed between the Bombay Tramway Company, the municipality and the Stearns and Kitteredge company, the Bombay Presidency enacted the Bombay Tramways Act, 1874 licensing the company to run a horsecar tram service in the city.
United Kingdom
The first tram services in the world were started by the
In spite of its early start, it took many years for horse-drawn streetcars to become widely acceptable across Britain; the American George Francis Train first introduced them to Birkenhead Corporation Tramways' predecessor in Birkenhead in 1860 but was jailed for "breaking and injuring" the highway when he next tried to lay the first tram tracks on the roads of London. An 1870 Act of Parliament overcame these legal obstacles by defining responsibilities and for the next three decades many local tramway companies were founded, using horse-drawn carriages, until replaced by cable, steam or electric traction. Many companies adopted a design of a partly enclosed double-decker carriage hauled by two horses. The last horse-drawn tram was retired from London in 1915. Horses continued to be used for light shunting well into the 20th century. The last horse used for shunting on British Railways was retired on 21 February 1967 in Newmarket, Suffolk.
United States
In the United States the very first streetcar appeared in New Orleans in 1832, operated by the Pontchartrain Railroad Company, followed by those in 1832 on the New York and Harlem Railroad in New York City.[7] The latter cars were designed by John Stephenson of New Rochelle, New York, and constructed at his company in New York City. The earliest streetcars used horses and sometimes mules, usually two as a team, to haul the cars. Rarely, other animals were tried, including humans in emergency circumstances. By the mid-1880s, there were 415 street railway companies in the US operating over 6,000 miles (9,700 km) of track and carrying 188 million passengers per year using horsecars. By 1890 New Yorkers took 297 horsecar rides per capita per year. The average street car horse had a life expectancy of about two years.[8]
Elsewhere
The first horse-drawn rail cars on the Continental Europe were operated from 1828 by the České Budějovice - Linz railway. Europe saw a proliferation of horsecar use for new tram services from the mid-1860s, with many towns building new networks.
Tropical plantations (for products such as
Decline
Problems with horsecars included the fact that any given animal could only work so many hours on a given day, had to be housed, groomed, fed and cared for day in and day out, and produced prodigious amounts of manure,[8] which the streetcar company was charged with storing and then disposing. Since a typical horse pulled a streetcar for about a dozen miles (19 km) a day and worked for four or five hours, many systems needed ten or more horses in stable for each horsecar.
Horsecars were largely replaced by electric-powered
Many large metropolitan lines lasted well into the early twentieth century.
Operational horsecars
A few original horsecar lines have survived or have been revived as tourist attractions, and in recent years several replica horsecar lines have been built. Below is a list of locations around the world with operational horsecars that are open to the public.
See also
- Cable car (railway)
- Carville (San Francisco)
- Dandy waggon
- Hay Railway
- List of horse-drawn railways
- Omaha Horse Railway
- Rail transport in Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
- Slate waggon
- Trolley (horse-drawn)
- Wagonway (horse-drawn railways)
References
- ^
ISBN 0-9691501-1-3.
- ^
Robert M. Stamp (1989). Riding the Radials, Toronto's Suburban Electric Streetcar Lines. The Boston Mills Press. ISBN 1-55046-008-0. Retrieved 2016-04-16.
Chapter 1 - The Spinal Cord of Yonge Street
- ^ a b c d [1] Archived 2013-09-27 at the Wayback Machine CTC website. Accessed 16 August 2013.
- ^ "Growth of Mumbai & its Municipal Corporation". Quarterly journal of the Local Self Government Institute (Mumbai). 1976. p. 13.
- ^ David, M. D. (1995). Mumbai, the city of dreams: a history of the first city in India. Himalaya Publishing House. pp. 199–200.
- ISBN 9788129134974. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
- ISBN 0-89024-013-2.
- ^ a b Eric Morris (Spring 2007). "From Horse Power to Horsepower" (PDF). Access. No. 30. Berkeley, CA: University of California Transportation Center. pp. 2–9. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-01-24. Retrieved 2014-02-17.
- ^ Allen Morrison. "The Tramways of Yucatán - Part 4". Retrieved 2008-12-23.
- ^ "E.F.S. - The Decauville Section". Retrieved 2008-12-23.
- ^ "New York Loses its Last Horse Car" New York Times; Friday, July 29, 1917. Page 12 (Cable Car Lines in New York and New Jersey)
- ^ "Sulphur Rock Street Car; Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture". Retrieved 2008-12-23.
- ISBN 9781554881734.
- ^ Allen Morrison. "The Indomitable Tramways of Celaya". Retrieved 2008-12-22.
- ^ "Ardenwood Historic Farm – official website". East Bay Regional Park District. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
- ^ "Döbeln Tramway – official website (in German)". Traditionsverein "Döbelner Pferdebahn e.V.". Archived from the original on May 29, 2016. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
- ^ "Douglas Bay Horse Tramway – official website". Isle of Man Heritage Railways. Archived from the original on December 13, 2003. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
- ^ "Ghora Tram: Historic Horse Tram Returns to Gangapur!". Indian Railways Fan Club. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
- ^ "Historical Village of Hokkaido – official website (in Japanese)". Historical Village of Hokkaido Foundation. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
- Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
- ^ "Koiwai Farm – official website". Koiwai Farm Ltd. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
- ^ "Main Street Vehicles (Disneyland) – official website". Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
- ^ "Main Street Vehicles (Magic Kingdom) – official website". Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
- ^ "Pferdeeisenbahn (Kerschbaum) – official website (in German)". Verein Freunde der Pferdeeisenbahn. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
- ^ "Spiekeroog (in German)". Inselbahn.de. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
- ^ "Victor Harbor Horse Drawn Tram – official website". Victor Harbor Horse Drawn Tram. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
External links
- Colombia's horsecar history and restoration process Archived 2018-06-30 at the Wayback Machine
- History of Columbus, Ohio horsecar lines from 1863 to 1892
- Pennsylvania Trolley Museum
- Reader's Companion to American History, Public Transportation: the Horsecar
- Trolleys: The Cars That Built Our Cities by Transit Gloria Mundi Archived 2021-02-11 at the Wayback Machine