Harold Cox Birney Book

[daveklepper]

Harold Cox (still alive, I hope) offered this find book as a free download about 18 years ago, and I took advangage of it.   Now I find it missing, and I believe I may a have a definite need for it.  I find the book for sale at various venders with blogs, but I do not find any downloading.  Anyone have it who is willing to share?  Any suggestions other than sending one of the second-hand vendors a check?

[DSchmitt]

This site has a link to view  "The Birney Car" on-line.  Is it the book you are looking for.  Link is in the middle of the list of books.

http://www.trainweb.org/elso/ttc-ref.htm

 

[daveklepper]

THANKS!!!!!

[daveklepper]

Found an error:

Birneys operated on the Conner Street line through WWII.  Car 2350 ran under its own power from the James Street carhouse to the Branford Electric Railway museum trackage in the summer of 1947.

[daveklepper]

Here is a photo of 2350 at the Museum from the website:

Please post any of your pictures of Birney that lasted long enough for you to photograph them.   Thanks.

[Electroliner 1935]

While I didn't take photos, I did ride the Ft. Collins Birney Car which is still running. 

http://www.fortcollinstrolley.org/history.html

[daveklepper]

As downloaded from the website given, which involves everything and anything related to Toronto transit, the Contents page lacks page numbers.  Whether this meant that Harold Cox never really completed the book, or this is a peculiarity of the particular website is a question.  For my own use, I added the page numbers and wish to share:

Contents

Introduction   page 3

The Background    4

Miscellaneous Notes  18

General Tables

United States

Alabama         22

Arkansas     & Arizona    23

California       24    

Colorado        28

Connecticut    28

Florida           30

Georgia          31

Illinois           33

Indiana           37

Iowa               41

Kansas           42

Kentucky       44

Louisiana       45

Maine            46

Maryland       48

Massachusetts  48

Michigan       52

Minnesota      55

Mississippi     55

Missouri         56

Nebraska        57

New Hampshire  58

New Jersey     59

New York       60

North Carolina   66

North Dakota  68

Ohio                68

Oklahoma       N/A

Oregon            N/A

Pennsylvania   75

Rhode Island    78

South Carolina  78

South Dakota    78

Tennessee        80

Texas               80

Utah                 83

Vermont          83

Virginia           83

Washington     85

West Virginia  88

Wisconsin        88

Wyoming         91

 

 

Canada

British Columbia    92

Manitoba                92

New Brunswick      92

Newfoundland       92

Nova Scotia           92

Ontario                  94

Quebec                  96

Other Countries

Argentina             97

Australia              98

Brazil                   98

Colombia             98

Cuba                    100

Ecuador               100

Manchuria           100

Mexico                100

Netherlands         102

New Zealand       102

Peru                     102

Addenda, Body Types and Plans

Addenda             102

Birney Body Types 102

Birney Plans        106

Other Single-truck Lightweight Car Designs   109

American Car Co. Lightweights

Cincinnati Car Co. Lightweights

Cincinnati Car Co. ST Curvesides

Single-truck Nearsides  112  

St. Louis Car Co. Lightweights

Southern Car Co. Lightweights

Single-truck Brill Master Unit

The New Birney    118

Birney Buses         118

Back Cover      

Copyright 1966 by Harold E. Cox.
E-mail: [e-mail]
Information cited from this source, either in print or electronic form should be cited by URL with electronic notification to the copyright holder.

 

 

Photo Credits

The photographs in this book have been secured from a variety of sources. These are indicated below:

Frank Buttes
Lester Brander
Thomas Dworman
George Yater
Barney Neuberger
H. B. Olsen
Barker Gummere
Stephen D. Maguire
Allan H. Berner
Luther Cummings Jr.
New York Chapter, NRHS
Leonard Y. Tripp
Loris Bass
Richard L. Wonson
E. R. Mohr
Lewis H. Hoy
Edward Watson
Paul Stringham
Otto Goessl
Harry S. Lee
Charles Smallwood
LeRoy O. King, Jr.
St. Louis Car Company
Electric Railway Journal
Tom Gray
Bert Ward
Alvin W. Hudson   
David M. Buechler
J. Seletto
A. C. Bellamy
Graham C. Stewart
D. L. Stearns
J. T. Labbe
E. Harper Charlton
Herb Woods
James P. Shuman
Frted W. Schneider III

[RME]

For my own use, I added the page numbers and wish to share:

This is very useful, as it carries over the direct live links to the book pages.  I think it should be "stickied" somewhere appropriate, perhaps here in the Transit forum.

Thanks!

[daveklepper]

And for Fort Collins Birneys:

[daveklepper]

And one of the three cars, this from San Diego to Sacramento Northern, that closed out the Chico local service in December 1947.   Now at Western Railway Museum www.wrm.org:

[daveklepper]

Since the posted contents page works well as a URL, why not keep this thread active by finding and posting Birney Car color pictures?

I'll try and do my part.  Hope to post Halifax soon, just need the wideband connection.  Possibly Sunday.

Today, on my computer at least, with a narrow-band server, the contents page seems to have been hacked.   If this appears to be true when I use wideband, I think I can do the required repair.

[daveklepper]

Contents page OK on wideband server, and as here is a Halifax Birney:

Is that the real color of the pavement?

Here the current heritage operation in Fort Collins:

and regular service:

 

 

[Firelock76]

David, somehow I doubt in that Halifax shot the pavement is that reddish color.  What we're seeing could be due to color shift in an old slide depending on the quality of the film used.  It looks like red clay or even brick dust which I doubt Halifax used for paving material,  those Halifax winters would have destroyed it in no time at all. 

[daveklepper]

[quote user="Firelock76"]

David, somehow I doubt in that Halifax shot the pavement is that reddish color.  What we're seeing could be due to color shift in an old slide depending on the quality of the film used.  It looks like red clay or even brick dust which I doubt Halifax used for paving material,  those Halifax winters would have destroyed it in no time at all. 

[/quote above]

 

Since I had worked on the photo to bring it to the point where I posted it, I decided to work on it some more.   Is this worthwhile?

 

 

And just to keep the record straight for purists, here is the photo as found on Wiikapedia:

 

[Firelock76]

Nice job David!  I'm sure that grey pavement is closer to the mark than the red in the original photo.

[daveklepper]

In an historical recap, SAN ANTONIO Express News recalls the 55-year run of the south Texas city's steetcars, abandoned in 1933 in favor of an all-bus system. At the time, it was the largest U.S. city to completely give up urban rail transit. The most modern steel cars were shipped by ocean freighter to New York City to operate on the Third Avenue Railway System [TARS]:  (But the pix is a Birney, not sold to TARS)

<https://tinyurl.com/yaajzo3b>

<https://tinyurl.com/yabqlvxc>

And the news feature:

<https://tinyurl.com/yccxczdc

San Antonio's 55-year streetcar ride, by David Hendricks, 2 Sepember '71

Within the history of streetcars across the United States, San Antonio was a latecomer. The city also was the first of U.S. large cities to abandon streetcars.

Yet, streetcars — what they were called in the South instead of trolleys, as they were known in the North — had a 55-year run in San Antonio as the city’s main public transportation system, reaching a peak of 90 miles of routes. Streetcars operated in San Antonio from 1878 to 1933, reshaping the city’s commercial, residential and social lives along the way.

Houston, Galveston, Austin and even Seguin and Uvalde were served by streetcars before San Antonio, even if they were drawn by mules. San Antonio followed because the railroads arrived late, in 1877, just one year before streetcars.

The railroads were requisite because rail delivered the streetcar vehicles and the metal tracks necessary for the systems, explained Hugh Hemphill, Texas Transportation Museum director and author of “San Antonio on Wheels.”

Once the railroads delivered the equipment and materials, San Antonio pounced on the opportunity to establish its initial streetcar line among the buggies and carriages in use. The first line opened on June 9, 1878, but did not connect downtown to an outlying residential area or train station. It stretched from Alamo Plaza to San Pedro Park.

The reason: to give San Antonians a breath of fresh air.

“Downtown San Antonio was nasty. Commerce Street was vile. To describe downtown as unhealthy would be an understatement. The worse place in San Antonio was Main Plaza in front of San Fernando Cathedral. The square had trees, so people put animals there to eat, poop and pee. The place reeked to high heaven. There was a lot of disease and flies. The stench would stun an ox,” Hemphill said.

The first streetcar route still took an hour to take about 20 people each way in a car pulled on rails by mules. The route was built and operated by the San Antonio Street Railway Co., led by Augustus Belknap.

Streetcars changed downtown immediately. Commerce Street dominated downtown commercially before 1878, but the merchants declined to widen the narrow street to make way for streetcars because of the existing congestion. But two blocks north of Commerce Street was Paseo del Rio Street that ran between houses and agricultural fields. Paseo del Rio Street was widened to accommodate streetcars and rechristened as Houston Street.

“Every streetcar line began and ended at Houston Street. Commerce Street lost its pre-eminent position. All the best shopping moved to Houston Street. There were far fewer horses and mules on Houston Street and not as much smell,” Hemphill said.

A second streetcar line opened to ferry passengers between downtown hotels and a no-longer-existing train station on Jones Street, called the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio rail depot, near the Hays Street Bridge. A third streetcar line opened for the same reason to the Missouri Pacific station where Houston Street ends at Medina Street on the near West Side.

The owners of the Hot Wells Hotel and Spa on the South Side built a streetcar line to transport intercity train passengers between the resort and the downtown stations, Hemphill said.

In 1889, the wealthy residents were moving north of downtown to a tax-haven suburb called Alamo Heights, a shift facilitated by streetcars. A new route was created by the San Antonio Rapid Transit Co. that year to bring the domestic staffs — the maids, cooks and gardeners — to the big houses there and, just as importantly to Alamo Heights residents, to take them away at the end of the day.

“The wealthy did not want those people living there. They had to get out. If blacks were found at night there, they might be lynched,” Hemphill observed.

House builders started looking elsewhere eventually. After Alamo Heights, all of the hilly and leafy land surrounding downtown was developed, so house builders looked to the flat land west of downtown. They built a dam and dug a hole for what was called West End Lake, now known as Woodlawn Lake, as a feature to attract new housing. A streetcar route called the West End Streetcar Co. in 1887 helped, too.

As the streetcar tracks reached out in all directions from downtown, land values increased dramatically. “Streetcars turned scrub land into real estate. They created desireable land where people wanted to live,” Hemphill said. Lots alongside streetcar routes selling for $5 an acre suddenly could demand $100 or more.

A big change occurred in 1890 in San Antonio. The streetcars became electrified by connecting to overhead power lines, giving the tired mules a rest. Electric streetcars had begun in 1888 in Richmond, Virginia. The electric streetcars were faster, could climb steeper hills, add seating and provide more comfort to the passengers with protection from extreme temperatures and dust.

But streetcar operations were not profitable. Fares were capped at 5 cents by charters with the city of San Antonio that also stipulated discounts for students and free rides for police and fire fighters. Operating costs were rising as streets were widened, meaning the streetcar companies had to pay to shift the tracks to stay in the middle of the streets. The city also was receiving some of the fare revenues to maintain streets with tracks.

Four streetcar companies consolidated, therefore, into the San Antonio Traction Co. in March 1899. Competition emerged after the turn of the century as automobiles called jitneys offered rides to people waiting along streetcar routes.

Lawsuits arose, and two involving San Antonio’s streetcars went to the U.S. Supreme Court. When a state law required student fare discounts, the San Antonio Traction Co. filed a lawsuit, arguing its city charter allowed full 5-cent fares. The San Antonio Traction Co. lost its case over local control.

In 1917, the San Antonio Traction Co. was merged with the San Antonio Gas and Electric Co. and renamed the San Antonio Public Service Co., or SAPSCO, Hemphill explained. A lawsuit filed by SAPSCO to raise fares ended with a U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed SAPSCO to raise its fare to 7 cents, but the city could still reduce the fare to 5 cents under certain circumstances.

Nevertheless, the seeds of the streetcars’ demise were sprouting. In addition to more people being able to afford automobiles, downtown stores moved north to be closer to customers, reducing ridership. Buses, with rubber wheels that did not need tracks and could offer faster, more flexible transportation, cut into the streetcar business.

The Great Depression also was a factor, with fewer people working. “In 1932, some people couldn’t even afford the 1-cent fare (charged for short inner-city rides). They walked or rode bicycles. San Antonio was on the decline,” Hemphill said.

City Hall eventually found itself facing default on bonds as retailers left downtown, eroding property values. In 1933, SAPSCO offered to pay the city $250,000 to stop offering streetcar service ahead of its 1940 contract. Needing the money, the city took the deal, Hemphill said.

“San Antonio was the first major city in America to abandon the streetcars,” Hemphill said.

The last run of a streetcar in 1933 was ceremoniously staged with mules pulling the car as a throwback to the early days. The tracks then were removed or paved over. Many of the streetcars were scrapped with some sold to buyers in New York.

Streetcars still have their enthusiasts. One is San Antonio clinical psychologist Dr. John Worsham, a former Trinity University faculty member, who as a boy frequently rode streetcars in Waco during World War II.

“Streetcars were supported by developers because it made it possible to get around, so cities could expand and extend out further. It turns a village into a city. This is something we need to understand in San Antonio, which is what it is like to not have a car and to move about without crowding,” Worsham said.

At 55 years of age, San Antonio’s streetcar era expired. One echo of its existence is VIA Metropolitan Transit’s rubber-wheeled, streetcar-replica trolleys that started in 1983 with downtown area circular routes. The VIA trolleys remain popular today.

[e-mail]

Edward B. Havens

Tucson, Ariz. 

__._,_.___

[daveklepper]

The Bezek server is giving me problems in trying to edit the previous post.  Because of a specific health problem, I have not been able to take my laptop to the University yesterday or today.  When I can do so, possibly tomorrow, Tuesday, I will edit the previous post, and any other posting of mine that requires editing, post the picture of the San Antonia Birney, and probably some other pix as well.

Am able to edit today, found the pix had been posted but just did not show up with the narrow-band server.  And here is a still improved photo of the Halifax Birney, with a comment to follow:

From Wikapedia:  Historically, the Halifax Peninsula had an extensive streetcar transit system dating to the late 1800s. Operated by various private companies including the "Halifax Street Railway Co.", the "Nova Scotia Power Co." (not the same company as the present electric utility), the "Halifax Electric Tramway Co.", the "Nova Scotia Tramways and Power Co.", and the " Nova Scotia Light and Power Company, Limited", the streetcar system was abandoned by NSL&P on March 26, 1949. Streetcars were replaced by an electric trolley coach system, however, the last electric trolley coaches were replaced by conventional diesel buses on January 1, 1970 operated by the Halifax Transit Corporation.  Halifax became an all-Birney operation.  See page 92.

[daveklepper]

Again, I urge others to post Birney pictures.

[Miningman]

Levis County Tramway.......Quebec.   Levis is across the St. Lawrence from Quebec City

A Little boy looking at car 83 and another car at CNR station. 8/1944 Sprague Library/Joseph Testagrose Collection

[daveklepper]

I have some doubts that car 83 was in revenue passenger-carrying service in Levis in August 1944.  The date may be the date the photo was printed, or 83 had special duties.

But thanks for the photo, and it is interesting to see what Birneys may have replaced.  Even though Levis converted to bus in 1947, it had bought three Birneys from Montreal in 1945!

[Miningman]

Do not know anything specific about Levis car #83 but here is the 3 picture set from the "collection"

Levis County Railway 

Levis, Quebec 

Levis Tramways 49. Sprague Library/Joseph Testagrose Collection 

Little boy looking at car 83 and another car at CNR station. 8/1944 Sprague Library/Joseph Testagrose Collection 

Car 102 on Haute Ville. 5/26/1946 Anthony Clegg/Joseph Testagrose Collection

 

[daveklepper]

Particularly greatful for the picture of 102.  This may have originally been built for left-hand operation and remodeled for right-hand.

[daveklepper]

A Fort Smith, AK, Birney can be viewed at the website of the Fort Smith Trolley Musuem.  When I try to post the picture, it dissapears.

[DSchmitt]

From Wikipedia  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Smith_Trolley_Museum

 

 

 

From their Facebook page  https://www.facebook.com/FortSmithTrolleyMuseum/

 

[daveklepper]

Great.  Thanks for posting

[daveklepper]

The last passenger operatoin of Birneys in New York City, which at one time did have them providing sevice on lighter lines in Brooklyn and The Bronx, was on Steinway Lines in Queens,  Birneys leased from Third Avenue Railways were used, painted in TARS cram-yellow and red, but labeled Steinway Lines.

[daveklepper]

Anyone wishing to have a pdf of the complete book can email me at

[e-mail]

 

And I will attach the pdf to my reply.  Of course no charge.

I will be fulfilling Harod Cox's wishes in doing this.

[daveklepper]

Charlie Hebo:  WAs simiply trying to prove how train travel made possible better service for my clients because of the ability to carry sensitive equipment with me instead of having to check it (or buy a second seat for the equipment?).

[daveklepper]

This was supposed to be on the General Forum on the Billy Graham thread.  How it came to migrate to this threade is a very good question.  What was supposed to be here is an invitation to anyone who wants the pdf versioni of the Cox Birney book that I preapred with the pages on this thread, just email me at [e-mail], and the pdf will be sent as an attachment to the return.  Of course no charge.  I am sure this is what Harold Cox wanted, because he made all pages available for free on the internet.

[daveklepper]

And it seems as if the rest of the thread has now been removed?