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Bobby Ogage posted:

Trolley cars in Vermont.RRStationStateSt-1923Notice the black bands on the trees. Is that sticky stuff to prevent Gypsy Moth caterpillars from decimating the leaves?

The Burlington RR station postcard is amazing.  Thanks!

Re: the black bands, the height looks about right for gypsy moths.  Wikipedia says they were introduced in Massachusetts in 1868 and spread throughout the Northeast.  Ontario also had them. So, it very well could be.  Those look like hardwood trees, too.

Tomlinson Run Railroad

This post card of Cooper Square in New York City fascinates me. Cooper Square is at the junction of 3rd & 4th Avenues and E6th Street. It is the home of Cooper Union, one of the finest colleges in the USA.

The post card depicts Cooper Union (building with the flag), the 3rd Avenue El and trolley cars on 4th Avenue in 1917. On November 14, 1832 the world’s first streetcar line ran on the Bowery and 4th Avenue, between Prince and 14th Street. Street cars of the Third Avenue Railway ran underneath the El.

Notice the cobble stone roadways. Those stones lead to the installation of iron street car rails in the streets for a smoother ride than the carriages of the day could provide. Horse drawn street cars evolved to electric street cars, and the buried third rail between the tracks supplied safe hi-voltage electricity to run the street cars.

The post card is hand colored, and the color of the street cars may not be authentic.

 

Cooper-Sq-1917

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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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