To continue this morbid subject, the reson for burning trolley cars wasn't their destruction, it was to get rid of any non-metallic articles inside, like for example wood paneling, wood or upholstered seats, and so on. It made the actual scrapping easier.
Enough of this. Time to open my "New Jersey Trolleys in Color" book and think happy thoughts!
The picture is most reminiscent of the shots of PE Hollywood Cars stacked on Terminal Island, although they were stacked floor down. Because of steel construction, burning wasn't an option. Still sad.
Someone has a lot of streetcars, though!
The destruction of the trolley systems in this country was done by a consortium of GM, Standard Oil of Ohio, and Firestone. They bought most of the trolley systems but missed NY City, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Seattle and some of New Orleans. They wanted to sell buses, tires and fuel. This happened in 1946. I asked God about this one day some years ago, and He said that these systems were too restrictive, implying that cars and roads gave us more freedom. I agree with that, even though some metros like the one in Wash, DC seem to be working OK.
Oh, I'm rooting for someone to rescue the poor little things. 12 bids already, so I rate their chances as excellent! ;-)
Mitch
Never mind the awaiting scrapping, the real heartbreaker's seeing footage of them being burned.
Do us a favor, don't go near those cool toys with a match!
Remember all those old photos of streetcars stacked atop one another, awaiting scrapping? Well...
Details here:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/321475050381
;-)
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