Bright cool windy day. Arose 8 A.M. To Hayes room. To church & S.S. Dr. Taylor spoke on Mexico. Took walk in P.M. with Misses Gallup, Anthony, Closson, Messrs Hayes, Finch. Larkin and me; to Thomas's corners etc. Returned. To Epworth League. Bunch at our house after league. Out to Dot Reynolds home on 9:06 P.M. car. Chewed rag etc. Walked home. Fine time. To bed 12:40 P.M.
**********
I guess the snow made driving impractical so other means of transportation were used. I was curious about the existence of a streetcar in Schenectady, so I looked it up and found this information on Wikipedia:
**********
I guess the snow made driving impractical so other means of transportation were used. I was curious about the existence of a streetcar in Schenectady, so I looked it up and found this information on Wikipedia:
Schenectady had a local streetcar system and electric interurban passenger service. The Schenectady Railway Co. had local lines and interurban lines serving Albany, Ballston Spa, Saratoga Springs and Troy. There was also a line from Gloversville, Johnstown, Amsterdam, and Scotia into Downtown Schenectady operated by the Fonda, Johnstown, and Gloversville Railroad. The nearly 200 leather and glove companies (178) in the Gloversville region generated considerable traffic for the line. Sales representatives carrying product sample cases would begin their sales campaigns throughout the rest of the country by taking the interurban to reach Schenectady's New York Central Railroad station, where they connected to trains to New York City, Chicago and points between.
The bright orange FJ & G interurbans were scheduled to meet every daylight New York Central train that stopped at Schenectady. Through the 1900s and into the early 1930s, the line was quite prosperous. In 1932 the FJ&G purchased five lightweight Bullet cars (#125 through 129) from the J. G. Brill Company. These interurbans represented state of the art design: the "bullet" description referred to the unusual front roof that was designed to slope down to the windshield in an aerodynamically sleek way. FJ&G bought the cars believing that there would be continuing strong passenger business from a prosperous glove and leather industry, as well as legacy tourism traffic to Lake Sacandaga north of Gloversville. Instead, roads were improved, automobiles became cheaper and were purchased more widely, tourists traveled more widely, and the Great Depression decreased business.
FJ&G ridership continued to decline, and in 1938 New York state condemned the line's bridge over the Mohawk River at Schenectady. This bridge had once carried cars, pedestrians, plus the interurban, but ice flow damage in 1928 prompted the state to restrict its use to the interurban. When in 1938 the state condemned the bridge for interurban use, the line abandoned passenger service. The desirable Bullet cars were sold. Freight business had also been important to the FJ&G, and it continued over the risky bridge into Schenectady a few more years.
No comments:
Post a Comment