Great photos of Manhattan street railways, The historical perspective is most interesting as well. I might add that befor electric propulsion, Manhattan cars used a cable system. The cables were located in an underground conduit between the rails with the cabl grips on the cars extending through the opening in the conduit. . When electrification came of age, it was the choice to use the coduit for the trolley wire so to speak and equipping cars with electrical equipment and insulated contact shoes for power pickup. The system was preferred since it eliminated the need for street poles to support trolley wire used elsewhere. It thus became the standard approach in Manhattan. There was little of the conduit design in the outer boroughs , consisting only that which was associated with Manhattan car lines entering Brooklyn ie Manhattan Bridge and Williamsburg Bridge lines. Some Tars crs were equipped with these contact shoes as well as overhead poles . These cars were on routes that crossed from Manhattan into the Bronx I believe.
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