St. John's Street Railway Company

The St. John's Street Railway Company was formed by Robert G. Reid in 1896 to build an electrical railway in St. John's to provide urban transportation using street cars.[1]

St. John's Street Railway
Overview
LocaleSt. John's, Newfoundland
Transit typeStreetcar
Operation
Began operation1900
Operator(s)St. John's Street Railway Company
CharacterStreet running
Technical
ElectrificationThird rail, 50 Hz, 600 V DC

The company was given the rights to build an electrical generating station at Petty Harbour and build a transmission line to St. John's from the Petty Harbour Generating Station. The power was 50-cycle power. The first street cars were from the Larivière Car Company out of Montreal, Quebec.[1] The cars had a maximum capacity of 50 passengers and traveled at 8 miles per hour.

The streetcar system used the same narrow gauge as Reid's Newfoundland Railway.[2]

St. John's streetcar system was built three years before the first automobile was imported into Newfoundland, a Rolls Royce, owned by Reid.[3]

In 1925 the Newfoundland Light and Power Company took ownership of the company. The cars were then changed out with cars from the Birney Car Company of Ottawa and could reach 20 miles per hour.[1]

According to "Occupied St John's: A Social History of a City at War, 1939–1945", the public, and visiting sailors, relied on the streetcar system, during World War 2, as ownership of automobiles was confined to the wealthy, and the owners of taxis.[4]

Kenneth G. Pieroway published a history of the streetcar system in September 2019.[2][5]

See also

References
  1. Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador, Volume five, page 317, 318
  2. Joan Sullivan (2019-10-05). "Pieroway's latest a compelling reflection on city's transportation history". The Telegram. Archived from the original on October 7, 2019. Retrieved 2019-10-07. St. John’s narrow-gauge street railway was built by the R. G. Reid Company (who of course also constructed the island’s railway system) with a first run on May 1, 1900.
  3. Frank J. Kennedy (2006). A Corner Boy Remembers: Growing Up in St. John's. Breakwater Books. p. 101. ISBN 9781550810622. Retrieved 2019-10-07.
  4. Steven High (2010). Occupied St John's: A Social History of a City at War, 1939-1945. McGill-Queen's Press. pp. 3, 121, 147. ISBN 9780773581104. Retrieved 2019-10-07.
  5. "St. John's was once on par with San Francisco for streetcars, says author of new book". CBC News. 2019-09-11. Archived from the original on 2019-09-13. Retrieved 2019-10-07.
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