1892 - Hamilton Street Railway Coversion to Electric Powered Cars

“One of the generators at the power house gave out yesterday at noon and several cars had to be taken off. Everything is running smoothly today.

“Electric cars will be running on James street south possibly by Thursday next.”²

²  “The Tracks Too Wide : An Awkward Blunder on the Electric Line on James Street ”

Hamilton Times.    July  05, 1892

The very next day, another Times report appeared concerning the Hamilton Street Railway and its operation :

 “An unusual runaway incident occurred on King street west yesterday afternoon. W. Pray & Sons new white hearse, to which was attached a spirited team of horses, was proceeding leisurely along the street on a return trip from the cemetery when an electric car came along behind the hearse, and as the big gong was ringing merrily, the horses took fright and bolted. The driver turned them onto Pearl street, and they raced down the incline from King to Hunter street at a breakneck pace that threatened to land the rig in the gully at the bottom of the hill. To avoid such a catastrophe the driver pulled the horses around to the right and, turning too sharply, the hearse overturned, totally wrecking one side of it. The driver escaped with a few bruises, and the horses were uninjured. It will cost a couple of hundred dollars to repair the hearse.”³

³  ““The ‘Deadly’ Electric Gong : One of Pray & Sons Hearses Badly Wrecked in a Runaway Accident”

Hamilton Times.    July 06, 1892.

The Hamilton correspondent for the Toronto Mail contradicted the Times report that the tracks on Barton street had been incorrectly laid. The Times was quick to respond:

 ‘It appears that there is no foundation whatever for the rumor circulated yesterday that the tracks on Barton street were too wide for the new electric cars. The service on that street will be commenced on Friday, and the people are looking anxiously for it’ – Hamilton correspondent, Toronto Mail.’

“The only foundation for the rumor is the fact that the rails were laid too far apart, as stated in the TIMES. After the other city papers had contradicted the statement, a TIMES reporter took a walk down Barton street and found a gang of men industriously shifting the south to make the track the correct gauge. The shifting process is now going on between the bridge and James street. ‘It looks too wide all along,’ said one of the workmen to a resident of the vicinity in the presence of a TIMES reporter, ‘and it has to be shifted.’ The before-referred-to resident of the vicinity remarked ‘The rails are so far apart that even the slow horse cars cannot be kept on the track.’ The work of shifting will occupy some days.”⁴

⁴ “The Track is Too Wide : And  a Force of Men is Shifting the South Rail Today ”

Hamilton Times.    July  07, 1892

While the proper track width issue with the Hamilton Street Railway was addressed in short order, the matter of accidents involving the new electric cars would prove to be more difficult to solve:

“Fred Granger, an expressman, had a decidedly interesting experience this morning . He was driving along Stuart street, near the Grand Trunk depot when an electric car coming at a terrific speed behind him down the Stuart street hill dashed into his rig, throwing Granger out into the roadway and knocking down his horse. Granger endeavored to turn out of the way just before the collision, but too late. As it was the animal narrowly escaped being killed. The rig was badly wrecked. Some of the passengers thought the car was going over the hill at a speed of at least 20 miles an hour.

“Mr. Donald Smith and a little lad of 10 years , a relative, were driving near the corner of York and Park streets yesterday afternoon, when they were run into be an electric car. Both were thrown out of the rig, but with the exception of a few bruises, escaped uninjured. Mr. Smith’s horse also escaped, but the rig fared badly and the harness was broken up considerably.

“Complaints have been made to the Mayor about the high rate of speed at which the cars are run on York street, and this morning Mr. Blaicher had a talk with the street railway authorities about it. He was assured that immediate steps would be taken to prevent any more trouble.”⁵

⁵ “Run Into By the Trolley : One Rig Smashed Up Yesterday Afternoon and Another This Morning ”

Hamilton Times.    July  19, 1892

Once again, the matter of the Hamilton Street Railway’s operation was addressed in the Hamilton Times, this time in an editorial:

“Is it really necessary for the proprietors of the street railway to kill somebody, and be tried for manslaughter or compelled by courts to pay heavy damages to the sorrowing relatives, before they can make up their minds to quit trusting to luck and to take ordinary precautions for public safety ? We have heard of so many narrow escapes from being run down by a car meeting and passing one which had just stopped to let passengers off that we cannot be surprised to hear any day that someone has been killed by a car whose approach he could not see on account of the car he had just left. WE would like to impress upon the public that it is better to stand still a minute or two after leaving a car, and before crossing the road, so as to let the car move out of the way and expose one that may be coming in the opposite direction. But strangers will not think of doing this, and even citizens will forget it. The whole trouble can be avoided by issuing an instruction that a coming car must stop and not pass one which is standing to let off passengers. This may interfere with the pleasurable excitement of riding at the rate of 25 miles an hour amid a cloud of dust, but it will save life and limb. If the street railway proprietors persist in depending on their luck, let the City Council take the matter up, as was done in Buffalo, and pass a bylaw on the subject.”⁶

⁶  “Before Irreparable Mischief is Done ”

Hamilton Times.    July  20, 1892