The Town Crier: Trolley Town

The Town Crier is going to make a sales pitch today, but as any good salesman knows you’ve got to lead the “customer” to making the right decision, buying what you’re selling. and we should know, as for every carpet sold there was first a salesman or saleswoman that closed that sale.

Dalton is full of great salesman, many of them lured from all over the world to come sell carpet and rugs. So before I go for the close of the deal I’m pitching, let me lead you gently there until you will know that a no is a no-no.

What do you know about trolleys? Trolleys are the rail car, downtown, get around ride that started back in the 1850s and are still popular in cities all over the world, including the U.S. In the U.S. we call them trolleys in the East and out West they call them streetcars. In Europe and a lot of the rest of the world they’re called trams.

They came along once the rails were developed for the railroads in the early 1800s, mainly the 1830s and 1840s. Trolleys caught on in the U.S. before they did in Europe. The roads in Europe were pretty well made, including being paved in stone, brick or a type of asphalt since cities in Europe had been around for centuries. They had had plenty of time to work on the roads. Some of the ones the Romans made are still around.

In the U.S. most cities and towns here hadn’t been around long at all. The roads were pretty bad, even in the towns. Therefore rails in the street made for a smooth, easy ride compared to a horse (or mule or ox) dragging a wagon through the mud, dirt and rocks of American streets. With a steel wheel rolling on a steel rail, the friction is very low and the ride comfortable. Soon, many cities in the U.S. had trolley lines going. As some of the inventors of the day improved the equipment they traveled back and forth between the U.S. and Europe and increased the popularity of the street transportation.

The first trolleys were horse-drawn or mule-drawn. A driver would start and stop and adjust the speed of the animal, but didn’t have to steer him at all. Animal power was the way to go from the beginning in the 1850s for about 40 years, until the 1890s when electric power started taking over.

The issue with horse-drawn trolleys was that you needed a lot of horses since a horse could only work so many hours (about five) before it got tired and had to be replaced with a fresh horse. Then the horses (or mules) had to be fed, housed and cared for. and apart from the trolley drivers, there had to be a team of folks taking care of the animals back at the barn.

Did I mention that there was “fertilizer” that had to be dealt with as well? There were street cleaners that somebody had to pay for to clean up after the passing trolleys. If you’ve seen old movies or cartoons you’ve seen the “street sweeper” with his white suit, white cap, garbage can on wheels and a broom and shovel. and he usually had a mustache. Then, since you’re in the middle of a city, you have to transport the “fertilizer” somewhere, and that costs money.

The coming of electricity meant the horses could be retired and the companies could cut back on labor costs, both the horse labor and the horse handler labor. In some cases the horses were kept as backup for a while, like up in Canada near Niagara, where, for a couple of months in the winter when the river froze there was no hydroelectric power available. In a few cities horse lines ran into the early 1900s, but by the 1920s they had all but disappeared.

The electric system generally worked with the trolley having a pole that went overhead and ran along an electric line over the street, running the electricity to the motor. There were, and are, different power sources like steam engines, gas, hydrogen and even pressurized air, but electric is the most popular.

One exception to electricity you probably are familiar with is the cable cars they have out in San Francisco. These streetcars have a steel cable moving underneath them under the street. A mechanism in the cable car grabs the moving cable and lets the cable pull it along to the next stop, where the car lets loose of the cable and comes to rest. Other cities, including New York and Chicago, had cable cars in the old days, but they have survived in San Fransisco because the city is so hilly and the cable car system works really well in up-and-down terrain, keeping the ascent a steady speed and keeping the car from gaining speed when going downhill.

One benefit of trolleys is they are easier and cheaper to install than a subway system, and, for the folks traveling on them, you don’t have to climb a bunch of stairs when you get to your stop to get up to the street. On the trolley car you’re already there. Another benefit is since you don’t steer them, the tracks can be laid so they can go through very narrow spaces consistently. and even now, steel wheels on steel tracks are more efficient than rubber tires on asphalt.

In popular culture you’ve seen plenty of scenes on trolleys in the movies, and cable cars on TV. There was a trolley on “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood.” and even model railroaders add trolley cars to the streets of their miniature layouts. This ensures everyone has a warm feeling about trolleys.

Dalton has a “tourist trolley,” which is a regular bus but designed and decorated to look like an old-fashioned street trolley. The allure of having a vehicle that looks like that is to bring back a nostalgic feel for the old trolleys, and also it brings a sense of simplicity and even friendliness to local travel. Tourists visiting our area can get on the tourist trolley and although it’s basically a city bus it feels more like a neighborhood vehicle that’s going to take you to restaurants or shops that are warm and welcoming. Which ours does.

That’s the windup, here’s the pitch: Let’s get a real streetcar trolley for Dalton! The Town Crier has been thinking about this for a while and thinks it’s a great idea. We’re already known as a train town (as well as the Carpet Capital of the World, Soccertown and several other notable things), so why not add Trolley Town to our list of enticing attributes?

Here’s my idea. The trolley would run downtown in a loop. Let’s say it starts near the Freight Depot and Morris Street and the track runs right alongside the railway right-of-way downtown. I’ve looked and there’s enough room there for one more track to put in along the main lines that run through town.

The rail line right-of-way is controlled by contract by the railroads but it’s owned by the state of Georgia. All we have to do is make a small, little side deal with the state. How hard can that be?

So, as the trolley goes up beside the main lines you can enjoy the view of the trains passing while reminiscing about railroad lore. At the far end of town where the tracks split into a Y the trolley would circle up past the Filling Station and then come back down the center of Hamilton Street. We already have the space there for the tracks where the center islands are. The trees would need to go, but we have trees along the sidewalk.

Once you get to a restaurant or shop you want to visit, you pull a string, ring the bell and the driver stops the trolley. Yes, it will cost a bit to install the system to begin with, but once it’s in it’s there for a very long time, so that cost is spread over years and decades. But the trolley will be bringing in some money as well.

Here’s my winner of an idea. Apart from a minimal fee, say 25 cents per ride, our trolleys can be modified. The benches can be pulled out and dining tables with seats put in. Groups can rent the trolleys for meals. The Dinner Trolley pulls up in front of whatever restaurant you want on the street and your meal is brought out to your table. While you dine, you’re riding around Dalton enjoying the evening. After a loop or two, you stop again at the restaurant and the table is cleared and dessert is brought out for another loop. We could call it a Loop à la Mode. What an evening! People will come from all over to take the Dinner Trolley. and with our weather here, we can run it from March to December I bet.

Well, that’s my pitch. Ready to lay some tracks and build on all the things we already have going for us? The Town Crier is!

Mark Hannah, a Dalton native, works in video and film production.

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