General Info

TRIVIA FROM Florida's Largest Trolley System: Jacksonville Traction Co. Let's take a walk back in time and visit Jacksonville's past. We once had the Jacksonville Traction System, which included operations on the Ortega Traction System and South Jacksonville Municipal Railways. With over 60 miles of track, this was by far the largest Streetcar system in Florida (and the first major system abandoned). Tampa/St. Petersburg (the longest lived), Miami/Coral Gables (Coral Gables used Interurban Cars), and finally Pensacola, rounded out the BIG FOUR systems in the State. There were many others, including small lines in St. Augustine, Palatka and Fernandina Beach, and many more. Welcome Aboard our trip down memory lane! ------------------------------------------ Single Truck, (ie:4 wheels) Streetcars were common on lightly used neighborhood lines. Old or new. In a last ditch economy effort before the end of service, Jacksonville received a newer version of these cars in a small fleet of "Single Truck BIRNEY SAFETY CARS." High school boys in Ortega quickly found that by overloading the rear of the car and jumping up and down, they could cause it to derail! The company slapped restrictions on where folks could ride and the problem was solved. Many of the "Safety Cars" run in Heritage lines across the nation without any problems. ------------------------------------------ How much track still lies beneath the streets of Jacksonville? No one really knows for sure. Modern streetcar, or heritage trolley construction disrupts the downtown flow only for a short time moving at about a block a week. The project in EL RENO, Oklahoma, moved with lightning speed, and they did it the hard way. They completely dug out the rails of the Oklahoma (Electric) Railroad, went down about four feet, put a new roadbed in place, with new track and ballast, then repaved the streets. The net result is beautiful and has brought a "ghost downtown" back to become a major destination in Oklahoma. ------------------------------------------ The "Double ended, double truck, BIRNEY car" were among the last and most modern cars delivered to Jacksonville. The new T.E.Co. line in Tampa uses an original BIRNEY CAR and also most of the replica fleet are copies of this same design, with AC and ADA alterations. Most of our BIRNEY'S ended up in Savannah, Georgia. When they were retired from that system, as in Jacksonville, they were sold at auction for use as sheds. The story goes that there are still several old Jacksonville cars sleeping on concrete blocks, somewhere in the countryside, in an area that stretches from St. Augustine to Savannah. ------------------------------------------- The old Car Barn in Brooklyn, stood at the South approach to the Acosta Bridge. Used for years as the "Bus Garage" most of the city did not know the tracks were still in the floor. In an upstairs room was a complete archive of the old Traction System, perhaps the most complete this side of Los Angeles and their Pacific Electric. ------------------------------------------- In the political firestorm over the Skyway, the City was afraid that the "Heritage Trolley," concept would cause the Federal Government to pull the plug on their "free people-mover". With the JTA moving into it's new HQ, the Trolley Barn was quickly sealed off. Seems it was in the way of the "NEW" Acosta bridge approaches. Several City Councilmen, Eric Smith and Jim Wells, amoung them hosted a televised meeting at the Trolley Barn, with some of the original "Motormen" of the old JTCo. The idea was to save the oldest part, the part showing in this photo, and use it for a Trolley Museum with a Heritage Line. On the day of the event, we saw the place was stripped clean. An elderly man came to me with an accountant ledger from Jacksonville Traction. As he gave me the book, I asked him, "Where did you get this?" He stared at the ground and said, "I know it was wrong, but yesterday they had me take ALL of the records to the Northside Landfill, I'd be fired if they knew I took a book!" With all the Television Crews, The Times-Union, and a fair size crowd present in the giant old building, you COULD have heard a pin drop. We even mounted a "Dump Dig" but nothing was ever recovered. This made it's mark and endeared me to the JTA forever. -------------------------------------------- Wonder where the trolleys are today? Are they gone, or are they rusting beneath the Palms? In retrospect, why, oh why, did the City and State, allow us to lose that rail line to the Beaches? -------------------------------------------- Our own SOUTH JACKSONVILLE MUNI RY., operated from the Car Barns, over the old Acosta bridge into San Marco and San Jose, at the time, it reached far out into the country. Electricity was still a novelty and roads would be illuminated with electric street lights and were called "White-Ways". Beach Blvd. is an example of the first major non-trolley "White Way" in the County, but while there was no Trolley line, there WAS the Florida East Coast, Jacksonville Beach/Mayport branchline until about WWII. Worse still in the stupid decisions department, St. Elmo Acosta, a Jacksonville Commissioner wanted the city to buy the old railroad and convert it into a modern interurban trolley system...guess you know what happened. -------------------------------------------- Giant electric utility company "Stone and Webster" also had a Streetcar management division. They operated the Jacksonville system under a contract. Along with Stone and Webster, came the "big cars", the classic "TURTLEBACKS." For years and years, a huge old Turtleback rested just a couple of blocks North of Beaver Street in the West Side. The doors still worked on it and the craftsmanship of the wood work was incredible. When the idea for a Heritage Trolley hit the papers, the City (wanting to win a demonstration grant for the Skyway) served notice on the old cars owner that he must remove it or be fined. They attacked it with chain saws and it was quickly reduced to sawdust. The McKinney Avenue Heritage Trolley in Dallas uses an original Turtleback in daily operations. The old car (which might have some Jacksonville roots) has stacked up the miles and the City says it is as reliable as any of the new LRV´s, and MORE so then any of the City's buses. ---------------------------------------------- Billie Burke, from Jacksonville's years as the "Hollywood" of the East, said we were the most swinging city on earth. Billie Burke was a famous actress of the time, She starred in The Father of the Bride, and as Glenda The Good Witch, in the Wizard of OZ, fame enough to charter a Streetcar for promotional purposes or to entertain friends whilst touring the city. ---------------------------------------------- Besides charters and tours, in the days before automobiles were common, Trolley lines almost all had "Funeral Cars". These were rolling palaces of stained glass, wood and velvet. They had a small compartment for the coffin and plenty of room for the mourners. Evergreen Cemetery is a prime example of a "Trolley Cemetery". --------------------------------------------- The strength of Light Rail is it's flexibility. Commuter Rail can NOT run downtown, in street, or curbside. The same is true for large DMU units. Light Rail on the other hand, if properly built and planned CAN run on railroad track. There are even newer Light Rail Vehicles that are Diesel Powered (electric is an option) and fully railroad compliant. So with an heritage line in place, we could add futuristic new LRV's as time and money permit. They COULD operate over our Heritage line as well as LRT or even some of the old freight trackage, a railroad compliant LRV could go anyplace.