INC NEWS - weekend listening: transportation & trolleys in Durham (20 min interview)

[John Schelp]

When you get a chance, you may be interested in last night's broadcast of Shooting the Bull. The radio show covered transportation, neighborhood streets and trolleys in Durham (past and future).

To go to the beginning of the interview, use your cursor to move the white ball to 11 mins and 6 seconds... 

http://www.bullcityrising.com/2008/10/shooting-the-bull-podcast-for-october-23-2008.html

have a good weekend,
John 


Background

1920 map of streets and trolley lines in West Durham... http://www.owdna.org/1920map.htm

Durham's street cars lasted from 1887 until they were phased out 1925. Here are excerpts from Durham Sun columnist and historian, Wyatt T. Dixon:

* The history of Durham's street transportation system is an interesting one. It began in 1885 when the Durham Street Railway Company was organized to operate a street railway system, and the mule-drawn cars made their appearance for the first time about two years later... In 1901, the second chapter in the story began with the purchase of the company's franchise by the Durham Traction Company, now a part of the Duke Power system, and the replacement of the lowly mule by electricity... The final chapter began with the demise of the street car for the gasoline driven bus which form of transportation continues today... Of the three forms of transportation, the streetcar was doubtlessly the most popular. (page 184)

* Durham's first street cars were drawn by mules and the car line extended from a point near the present Duke University women's campus [East Campus] down Main Street to Ramseur Street. (page 249)

* Electric street cars served the people until 1925 when they were replaced by buses. The change-over was completed sometime later. (page 271) 

* Durham is said to have been the first city in North Carolina to replace [street cars] with buses. (page 29)

* The bus finally replaced the streetcar. Restricted to its tracks, the streetcars faced competition from the operation of automobiles called "jitneys" which operated in areas not served by streetcars. This was one of the compelling reasons for the change to the bus system. (page 184)

* When the street car system gave way to the bus tracks were not removed and they remain in some sections as mute reminders of another era in Durham's life. (page 249)


Source: How Times Do Change. Central Carolina Publishing Co. Durham. 1987. (Dixon's columns appeared from the 1940s until the 1980s.)