Cleveland's Transit Vehicles: Equipment and Technology

Toman, James; Hays, Blaine S.

ISBN 10: 0873385489 / ISBN 13: 9780873385480

Published by Kent State University Press, 1996

About this Item

First printing, near fine oversized hardcover with couple of small spot stains and light surface wear to covers in near fine jacket showing barely a trace of wear. 271 pages loaded with black & whites. Remains an attractive copy of this work intended to be a companion volume to Horse Trails to Regional Rails that here focuses on the more technological aspects of Cleveland's public transportation history. Near Fine in Near Fine Dust Jacket.

Seller Inventory # 12369

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Cleveland's Transit Vehicles: Equipment and Technology
• Publisher: Kent State University Press
• Publication Date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0873385489
• ISBN 13: 9780873385480
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First edition.
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • Transport - Rail

About this title

Synopsis

From the beginnings of the horse car era to the “sardine days” or World War II, Cleveland transit operators provided high quality service while introducing procedures and equipment that were widely copies elsewhere.

The social and political aspects of Cleveland’s public transportation history are the subject of this companion volume to Horse Trails to Regional Rails. The focus here is on the technological aspects of the system.

From the start of street railway operations in 1859 until the end of the surface electric era in 1963, the city was crisscrossed with hundreds of miles of track and overhead wire, and with thousands of poles to keep the overhead wire in place. Thousands of streetcars, and then thousands of buses, carried millions of passengers. The old Cleveland Transit System alone carried over 493 million passengers in 1946, and that total does not reflect the ridership of various suburban carriers.

In this volume are described and listed both the early vehicles and the modern ones.

It is not so much a nostalgic look at earlier times as it is a description of how ongoing developments in the industry changed the way the public transportation system carried out its mission. In Cleveland this was accomplished with rare efficiency and with good speed.

The authors confess, whoever, to one nostalgic piece. In 1965, Jack Ainsley, a Cleveland rail fan, wrote his reminiscences about taking the streetcar through the Detroit-Superior Bridge subway. His narrative is in part 3. His recollections help from the technological focus of this volume and give it a more human face.

From the Back Cover

From the beginnings of the horse car era to the "sardine days" of World War II, Cleveland transit operators provided high quality service while introducing procedures and equipment that were widely copied elsewhere. From the start of street railway operations in 1859 until the end of the surface electric era in 1963, the city was crisscrossed with hundreds of miles of track and overhead wire, and with thousands of poles to keep the overhead wire in place. Thousands of streetcars, and then thousands of buses, carried millions of passengers. The old Cleveland Transit System alone carried over 493 million passengers in 1946, and that total does not reflect the ridership of various suburban carriers. In this volume are described and listed both the early vehicles and the modern ones. It is not so much a nostalgic look at earlier times as it is a description of how ongoing developments in the industry changed the way the public transportation system carried out its mission. In Cleveland this was accomplished with rare efficiency and with good speed.