A horsecar was an animal-powered streetcar or tram. The Swansea and Mumbles Railway was the world's first passenger Railway service, located in Swansea, Wales. A tram, tramcar, trolley, trolley car, or streetcar is a railborne vehicle, of lighter weight and construction than a Train A tram, tramcar, trolley, trolley car, or streetcar is a railborne vehicle, of lighter weight and construction than a Train
The first passenger services in the world were started by the Oystermouth Railway in Wales, using specially designed carriages on an existing tramline built for horse-drawn freight dandies. The Swansea and Mumbles Railway was the world's first passenger Railway service, located in Swansea, Wales. A dolly is a portable Anvil used to hold a Rivet in position while it is being clenched with a " snapper " Fare-paying passengers were carried on a line between Oystermouth, Mumbles and Swansea docks from 1807. Oystermouth (a corruption of the Welsh name Ystumllwynarth) is an electoral ward and a Village in the Mumbles Community Mumbles (otherwise The Mumbles &ndash Welsh Y Mwmbwls) is a large village with adjacent headland stretching into Swansea Bay. Swansea ( Abertawe "mouth of the Tawe " is a city and county in Wales.
Other forms of public transit developed out of the early omnibus that first ran on public streets in the 1820s. These were local versions of the stagecoach lines, and picked up and dropped off passengers on a regular route, without the need to be pre-hired. For other meanings see Stagecoach (disambiguation. A stagecoach (also called diligence) is a type of four-wheeled enclosed Horsecars on tramlines were an improvement over the omnibus as the low rolling resistance of metal wheels on iron or steel rails, (usually grooved from 1852 on), allowed the animals to haul a greater load for a given effort than the omnibus. Rolling resistance, sometimes called rolling friction or rolling drag, is the resistance that occurs when a round object such as a ball or Tire Tramway track is used on tramways or Light rail operations Grooved rails (or girder rails are often used in order to make street running feasible A tram, tramcar, trolley, trolley car, or streetcar is a railborne vehicle, of lighter weight and construction than a Train The horse-drawn streetcar combined the low cost, flexibility, and safety of animal power with the efficiency, smoothness, and all-weather capability of a rail right-of-way.
In the USA some of the earliest streetcars appeared in Baltimore, Maryland in 1828 and in New York City in 1832. Manchester is the largest city in the US state of New Hampshire and the largest city of northern New England, an area composed of Vermont, New Hampshire ( is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The City of New York These 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 USA operating over 6000 miles of track and carrying 188 million passengers per year using horsecars.
In spite of its early start, it took many years for horse-drawn street cars to become widely acceptable across Britain; the American George Francis Train first introduced them to 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. George Francis Train ( March 24, 1829 &ndash January 5, 1904) was a businessman author and an eccentric figure in American Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. This article is a general one on trams in London For a specific article on the organisation responsible for running the current generation of trams in London see London Trams 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. The Tramways Act was an important step in the development of urban transport in Britain This is a list of town tramway systems in the United Kingdom by Home Nation and by Regions of England. Many companies adopted a design of a partly-enclosed double-decker carriage hauled by two horses. A double-decker tram is a Tram that has two Levels Double-deck trams were once popular in some European cities like Berlin and London The last horse-drawn tram was retired from London in 1915.
The first horse-drawn rail cars on the continent of Europe were operated from 1828 by the České Budějovice - Linz railway. Dam Square, or simply the Dam (de Dam is a Town square in Amsterdam, the capital of The Netherlands. Amsterdam (pronounced) is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland in the west Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the Continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European Czech rail records, dates in brackets indicate when the record was reached or when the railway infrastructure was put into operation Europe saw a proliferation of horsecar use for new tram services from the mid-1860s; many towns building new networks. This is a list of cities and towns in Europe that have (or once had town Tramway (urban tramway or streetcar systems as part of their Public transport system
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, which the streetcar company was charged with storing and then disposing of. Since a typical horse pulled a streetcar for perhaps a dozen miles 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 streetcars following the invention by Frank J. Sprague of an overhead trolley system on streetcars for collecting electricity from overhead wires. A tram, tramcar, trolley, trolley car, or streetcar is a railborne vehicle, of lighter weight and construction than a Train Frank Julian Sprague ( July 25, 1857 in Milford Connecticut - October 25, 1934) was an American naval officer Overhead lines or overhead wires are used to transmit Electrical energy to Trams Trolleybuses or Trains at a distance from the His spring-loaded trolley pole used a wheel to travel along the wire. For the weapon see Trolley pole (weapon. trolley pole is a tapered cylindrical pole of Wood or Metal, used to transfer Electricity In late 1887 and early 1888, using his trolley system, Sprague installed the first successful large electric street railway system in Richmond, Virginia. This article is about the city of Richmond the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Long a transportation obstacle, the hills of Richmond included grades of over 10%, and were an excellent proving ground for acceptance of the new technology in other cities. Within a year, the economy of electric power had replaced more costly horsecars in many cities. By 1889, 110 electric railways incorporating Sprague's equipment had been begun or planned on several continents. By the turn of the century, there were almost no horsecars left in the USA.
Pittsburgh, PA had the last horsecar line in the US in regular service, where the Sarah Street line lasted until 1923. The Panama-California Exposition was an exposition held in San Diego California between March 9, 1915 and January 1, 1917 California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. Other large metropolitan lines lasted well into the early twentieth century. Even New York City had regular horsecar service, on the Bleecker Street Line, until its closing in 1917. The City of New York The Bleecker Street Line was a Public transit line in Manhattan, New York City, United States, running mostly along Bleecker Street Toronto's horse drawn streetcar operations ended in 1891. Toronto (təˈrɒntoʊ colloquially pronounced or) is the largest city in Canada and is the provincial capital of Ontario In less developed countries, animal power tram service often continued well into the 20th century; for example, the last mule tram service in Mexico City ended in 1932, and a mule-powered line in Celaya, Mexico survived until 1954 [1]. Mexico City (in Spanish: Ciudad de México, México DF, México or simply Méjico) is the Capital city of Mexico Celaya is a city and its surrounding municipality in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, located in the southeast quadrant of the state The Douglas Bay Horse Tramway still operates as a tourist attraction in Douglas, Isle of Man, near a heritage steam railway and electric trams. The Douglas Bay Horse Tramway is a horse-drawn Tramway in Douglas on the Isle of Man. Douglas (Doolish is the capital of the Isle of Man and its largest town
Replica horsecar lines are in operation at all Disney theme parks except Tokyo and Hong Kong as part of the parks' Main Street, U.S.A. "themed land". Douglas (Doolish is the capital of the Isle of Man and its largest town The Isle of Man (Ellan Vannin ˈɛlʲən ˈvanɪn or Mann (Mannin) is a self-governing Crown dependency, located in the Irish Sea at the geographical Train Conductor (North America The Conductor is the railway employee charged with the management of a freight passenger or various other types of Train, and is A fare is the Fee paid by a traveler allowing him or her to make use of a Public transport system rail, Bus, taxi, etc is a 115 acre (466535 m² Theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort located in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan, near Tokyo. Hong Kong Disneyland ( is the first Theme park inside the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and is owned and managed by the Hong Kong International Theme Parks Main Street USA is the first "themed land" inside the entrance of the many Magic Kingdom -style parks run by The Walt Disney Company around the
Plantation Animal Tramways
Tropical plantations (for products such as henequen and bananas) made extensive use of animal powered trams for both passengers and freight, often employing the Decauville narrow gauge portable track system, in some cases these systems were very extensive and evolved into interurban tram networks (as in the Yucatan, which sported over 3,000 kilometers of such lines). Henequen ( Agave fourcroydes Lem is an Agave whose leaves yield a Fiber also called henequen which is suitable for Rope and Twine For the fruit see Banana. For other meanings see Banana (disambiguation. Paul Decauville (1846-1922 was a French pioneer in light railways A narrow gauge railway (or narrow gauge railroad) is a Railway that has a Track gauge narrower than the of Standard gauge railways In Australia "interurban" is a general term for Intercity rail. Yucatán is one of the 31 states of Mexico, located on the north of the Yucatán Peninsula. Surviving examples may be found in both the Yucatan [2] and Brazil [3]. |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld
External links
- "Douglas Bay Tramway on the Isle of Man"
- Trolleys: The Cars That Built Our Cities by Transit Gloria Mundi
- Reader's Companion to American History, Public Transportation: the Horsecar
- Colombia's horsecar history and restoration process
- History of Columbus, Ohio horsecar lines from 1863 to 1892
- "Pennsylvania Trolley Museum"
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