In 1872 (some sources say 1871) the first street railway in Dallas was a mule car line that ran from the Court House to the Houston and Texas Central Railroad depot. In 1875, four different mule car lines were in operation. By the summer of 1889, four steam-powered city lines had been constructed and were successfully carrying passengers. In 1889 the first electric streetcar line was built, just the first of many more such lines built in the city by various transit companies. A cable car line was proposed in 1890, but by 1891 only 3,000 feet of it had been built and it was never completed. Eventually, the existing mule and steam powered railways were converted or were abandoned as the electric cars provided faster, more reliable and pollution-free service.

In 1917 all the various companies were consolidated into one: The Dallas Railway Company. This later became the Dallas Railway and Terminal Company (The company also owned the Interurban Terminal building.) and finally the Dallas Transit Company.

The Texas Electric Railway interurban also once operated local streetcar service in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas. In 1925 they sold this line to Dallas Railway.

Streetcars (trolley cars) and cable cars both run on tracks in city streets. Although a streetcar running on electricity gets its power via a trolley pole from the overhead wire, a cable car is pulled along by a special cable located under the street in a slot between the rails. This cable runs continuously at 9 miles per hour. The cable car operator is called a "gripman," because he controls a special "grip," that grabs onto the cable to run the car, and lets go of the cable when he wants to stop the car. Cable cars once operated in many cities around the world, but were replaced by more efficient, lower cost trolley cars. The only surviving cable cars are the famous ones of San Francisco that have been running for over 100 years.

Close Answer Window

An interurban was an electric rail vehicle, similar in appearance to city trolleys, that provided transportation between cities and towns. They were large, fast cars and many could travel at speeds of 60-70 mph. At one time, interurban lines radiated out from Dallas to Terrell, Fort Worth, Denton, Sherman, Corsicana, and Waco. Interurbans also carried freight and express and some hauled conventional railroad freight cars. A few interurbans served meals; one even had sleeping cars. Although the few surviving interurban lines flourished during World War II, most had fallen victim to automobile competition and improved highways by 1940. The famed Texas Electric Railway managed to keep running until December 31, 1948.

A cosmetically restored Texas Electric car is on display in Plano, Texas, at the Interurban Museum, a short walk from the DART Light Rail downtown Plano station.

We are converting our dining car from an interurban express "motor" (like a self-propelled boxcar) that ran between Dallas and Fort Worth in the 1930s.

Close Answer Window

The first streetcars, pulled by horses or mules appeared in 1828. By 1886, 300 US cities had horse car lines. These lines pioneered many features used in later streetcars and trolleys: zoned fares, marked stopping places, straps for standees to hold on to, and signaling bells for passengers. In 1876 some streetcar lines were powered by little steam "dummy engines" disguised to keep from scaring horses.

Seeking a more economical way to power streetcars (Horses ate even when they were not working.), Andrew F. Hallidie developed cable cars. The system used a continuously running cable (driven by a central power house) in a trench below the street between the tracks. A device controlled by the driver gripped the cable to tow the car along, or released it to stop. Although cable cars were first used in San Francisco, they ran in 27 other US cities as well. Chicago had the largest cable car network in North America.

Over the years many ideas -- some ingenious and some downright weird -- were proposed to power streetcars, but none proved to be practical until electricity was chosen as the propulsion means.

Leo Daft's approach was to use tiny electric locomotives to pull horse cars. Power was collected from a low-voltage third rail in city streets. Later he implemented electrified horse cars that picked up power from two overhead lines on which rode grooved wheeled trollers which had a bad habit of frequently dropping off the wires. Daft systems were trouble-ridden and never achieved any satisfactory degree of reliability. Someone commented that the apparatus looked like trolling for fish. This description later evolved into the word "trolley."

Charles Van Dopoele devised a trolley pole to collect current from a single overhead wire. However, he didn't know what a good idea he had and abandoned it for the Daft method of current collection. Van Dopoele systems were in use in 4 or 5 cites by 1886.

Then came Frank Sprague who pioneered the practical electric trolley car. The major breakthrough came when he invented an ingenious design for mounting the electric motors on the axles of a street car truck. (Previously the electric motor was often mounted on the front platform of the cars which powered a chain drive mechanism to the front wheels.) In 1888, Sprague opened his first streetcar system, using the Van Dopoele method of current collection, in Richmond, Virginia. When the system finally achieved reliability after some initial difficulties, it became famous for being the largest trolley system in the world and spawned similar street railways all across the world.

In 1902, Sprague made a tremendous breakthrough when he invented the multiple unit control whereby a single motorman could control all cars in his train simultaneously. He fathered practical citywide trolley systems, modern subway and elevated trains, automatic train safety controls and high speed elevators plus other practical applications. When he died at age 75 in 1934, he was still busy working on even more inventions.

Close Answer Window