Street Railroads, Streetcars and Trolleys
Compiled by Don Strack
This page was last updated on December 15, 2007.
This information is in the form of expanded research notes, and exists as a first draft of an as-yet incomplete research project. I have lots and lots of newspaper clippings and other notes that have yet to be compiled into any sort of history — work continues.
Streetcar Information:
Salt Lake City Streetcars — An index page for the history and operations of Salt Lake City's streetcars.
Ogden Streetcars — An excerpt from the book Ogden Rails by Don Strack.
Logan Streetcars — Basic information about the history and operations of Logan's streetcars.
Provo Streetcars — Basic information about the history and operations of Provo's streetcars.
Streetcars vs. Trolleys vs. Trams — A Wikipedia article about "trams". Scroll down about 2/3 for an interesting discussion about North America's use of the term "streetcars" and "trolleys" to describe what the rest of the world knows as "trams".
(Much more research is needed into the relationship between Utah Light & Railway and Electric Bond & Share. EBS was a trust formed in 1905 by General Electric to control the generation of electric power in the U.S., and to increase the use of electricity by building electric railroads, both street railways and interurban railways.) (Google search 1) (Google search 2)
Streetcar Conspiracy:
On July 13, 1944, Salt Lake City Lines, a subsidiary of Pacific City Lines, took over the entire transit operations of Utah Light & Traction. At the time that Pacific City Lines purchased the transit operations of UL&T, PCL was an Oakland-based holding company which controlled 12 properties in 3 western states: Montana, Washington and California. PCL's wartime earnings allowed the purchase of the Salt Lake property just a few months after acquisition of the utility-owned transit system in Sacramento, the capital of another western state, California. National City Lines had held a substantial interest in PCL but had relinquished control during a major refinancing in 1940. Management and operating methods were, however, little changed, and except for equipment numbering practices, there were few external differences between PCL and NCL properties. By spring 1946, National City Lines was again in control of Pacific City Lines. (part from Motor Coach Age, Volume 29, Number 3, March 1987)
The so-called "streetcar conspiracy" does not apply to Salt Lake City's streetcar system. National City Lines' purchase of Salt Lake City's transit system in 1944 came at a time when there was only a single route remaining. And its abandonment had been approved in May 1941, three years before.
Notable "Streetcar Conspiracy" links:
- Wikipedia article about the General Motors Streetcar Conspiracy
- Bradford Snell's GM conspiracy defended
- Zachary Schrag's comparison on both sides of the argument
- Martha Bianco's discussion of the subject (separate Bianco bibliography)
- Cliff Slater's "General Motors and the Demise of Streetcars", which blames the market, not a GM conspiracy, for the demise of streetcars
- A rebuttal against the conspiracy from "The Straight Dope"
- Guy Span's "Paving The Way For Buses", published in Bay Crossings, April 2003, Volume 4, Number 3
Bus Information:
(Click here for bus information, including histories of bus transit systems in Utah, and the history of Utah Transit Authority.)
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