A streetcar named "Entertainment"

Most of us move about the city in automobiles, before that we generally rode in transit busses but before that there were the streetcars. Steel street car tracks (Rails) were embedded in the streets; originally these cars were pulled by horses but the routes were short and they mainly operated in the downtown area. The conductor moved the car forward by turning a wheel in front of him which supplied more current to the motor. Notice I did not say he drove the streetcar because he could not steer it, it just went wherever the tracks led him. If a conductor came to a fork in the road he had to stop and change the switch in the street manually to go in a different direction, there were concrete platforms in the middle of wide streets, one car width away from the curb where you could stand and board the streetcar. There was traffic whizzing by on both sides of the platform. The electricity was delivered to the streetcar by long poles at the rear of the car which had small rollers that rode against the overhead wires, Sometimes when a car crossed an intersection that had had wires going in both directions one of the poles would jump off the wire and thrash about wildly with sparks flying everywhere. The conductor would have to stop and go around back and pull on the rope attached to the pole to put the roller back in contact with the wire.

Streetcars ran to all parts of the city and beyond. Sometimes you would have to transfer from one line to another to get to your destination. There were routes along the way that crossed all routes from east to west such as the one called “Cross-town” You could get a small slip of paper called a “Transfer” and get off your car and get on the ‘Cross-town” without paying another fare, sometimes you might transfer several times to get to your destination. When I first started riding them they had woven cane seats and backs, There were advertisement signs about 12” by 24” telling you the wonders of different places and products. These were located near the ceiling in a curved holder that ran the entire length of the car on both sides. There were hand stirrups hanging from the ceiling that you could hold on to in case the seats were all occupied and you had to stand. The streetcar swayed quite a bit when traveling about 30 miles per hour. Can you imagine that people could ride in this manner with today’s seatbelt laws? In later years these hand stirrups were replaced with chrome poles that ran from floor to ceiling. You had to watch your surroundings as you looked out the window to determine when you were close to where you wanted to get off, you would then pull on a cord located just above the windows and it would sound a loud buzzing noise. The conductor would stop at the next corner that was designated as a “Bus Stop” which had an orange ring around a telephone pole. I don’t remember what they called these stops before there were buses. Streetcar stop? If something was in the way the conductor would stomp on a large button rising out of the floor which would emit a loud clang from a bell located from the floor. There was a flip down seat behind the conductor but he usually stood while we were moving. There were no women or African American conductors then. Above the driver was a box that contained a roll with all the routes printed on it, when he started out he would crank it till the rout name showed such as “Price Hill” this way as the street car approached you could tell if it was the one you wanted. There were more cars which passed by on the same street but were going to different destinations. When the streetcar came to the end of the line there were two ways the car was readied for its return trip to the city where they all originated from. Sometimes there were “loops” which were areas where the track looped around a teardrop shape and rejoined itself. On some streetcar routes the tracks the rails just came to an end, on these cars the seat backs were hinged so the conductor would go through the car and flip the seats in the opposite direction, the rear of the car became the front as the car could be operated from either end. The poles leading to the wires were also reversed.


On of the things I remember most from those days was the “Sunday Pass”. For 25c you could buy a pass that would allow you to ride any route from beginning to end for as long as you wanted. You could get on or off as you choose if you wanted to stop at the zoo or the Conservatory or some other point of interest. Me and one of my friends use to ride from morning to night. This was a big deal as we did not have a car or even knew anyone who did.

On of the things we enjoyed most were riding the inclines which was like a giant escalator of ski lift. They ran from the bottom to the top of the hills which surrounded Cincinnati, these hills were too steep for the streetcars to climb. The streetcar drove onto the platform which was level with the tracks at the front but was about 15 foot tall at the rear which made the track surface level. This platform was pulled to the top of the hill with giant cables where it docked and the streetcar was able to drive forward on the level street beyond. To us this was as good as going to Coney Island Amusement park and riding the roller coaster or the carrousel.


In the early 1940’s the transit company bought a fleet of streamline streetcars, I haven’t been able to find a picture of one of these but they were very sleek looking and seemed to glide quietly without the noise of the old streetcars. They only last a couple of years until they switched to Trolley busses, These were also electric and were connected to the overhead wires with poles, the same as the old streetcars. They eventually converted to Gas guzzling busses which were diesel powered. And the magic died when they appeared. There are still streetcar tracks buried under most of the streets where they ran, especially downtown. They simply paved over them.