Continuing the first day of the Heritage Rail Alliance conference, all attendees departed the Arkansas and Missouri station in Van Buren on the bus and were taken to the Fort Smith Trolley Museum, where we parked in their lot and were turned loose to explore the property.
Fort Smith Streetcar HistoryThe Fort Smith Railway Company began operation in 1883 with three mule-drawn rail cars, offering the area's first public transportation. As these cars progressed through the unpaved streets, the "Gee" and "Haw" from the drivers could be clearly heard.
Ten years later, the first electric streetcar service was franchised to the "Fort Smith & Van Buren Electric Street Railway Light & Power Company", and two electric trolleys soon began operation. By 1899, all the lines in Fort Smith were electrified and running with open-platform cars, which made their use dependent on good weather. The riders did have a roof, but the motorman stood outside in the elements, and did the braking by hand.
In 1903, the two above-mentioned companies combined to form the Fort Smith Traction Light & Power Company. Later that same year, the company was reorganized to become the Fort Smith Light & Traction Company.
By 1911, enclosed streetcars had become the norm, since they could run year-round, but they were heavy and created more wear on the tracks. Airbrakes also became standard. The enclosed Birney "Safety Car" made its appearance in Fort Smith in 1920. It was a lighter car with a "dead man control" - designed to stop and open the door if the motorman did not exert downward pressure on the control handle or depress a foot valve. These cars were heated by under- seat electric heaters, assuring comfort in cold weather.
During the 1920's, FSL&T made some poor choices regarding bridge tolls, fare amounts and routes, getting into several legal spats along the way. This, combined with the growing popularity of automobiles and the onset of the Great Depression, took a heavy toll on the company. By 1933, FSL&T was a subsidiary of Oklahoma Gas & Electric and operating at a deficit, though it retained the name Fort Smith Traction. In August of that year, OG&E announced that the streetcars would run make their final run on November 15, and the company would be dissolved.
After the last run, all of the cars were quickly scrapped; motors and wheels were removed for salvage, and bodies sold off and used for assorted purposes. For instance, FSL&T 224, the first car to be restored by the Fort Smith Trolley Museum, spent many years as a diner in Ashdown, Arkansas, with the name "Streetcar Cafe." Within a few years, all 33 miles of Fort Smith's trolley track were ripped up and sold for salvage.
Fort Smith Light & Traction Birney Safety Car 224 built in 1926. In 1933, Fort Smith Light & Traction closed its doors and scrapped all of its cars. The motors and wheels were removed for salvage and the bodies sold off to any buyer. Car 224 became a diner in Ashdown, Arkansas with the name "Street Car Café". Later, the body was sold to Louis Hennick in Shreveport, Louisiana. After the publication of a history of the Fort Smith streetcar system, car 224 was discovered listed for sale in an antique journal. Interested citizens formed a non-profit organization - the Fort Smith Streetcar Restoration Association - and purchased the car. This soon led to the donation of another Fort Smith car body, 205, from Mulberry, Arkansas. The cars arrived in July/August of 1979 and restoration work began.
Cooperativa de Transportes Urbanos y Sub-Urbanos open bench streetcar 9, ex. Lake Shore Electric Railway 9 2009, exx. Trolleyville, U.S.A 9 2006, exxx. Cooperativa de Transportes Urbanos y Sub-Urbanos 9 1961, exxxx. Cooperativa de Tranviariosy Similares del Puerto de Veracruz 9 1939, nee Luz Fuerza y Traccion de Veracruz 9 1932, built by J.G. Brill in 1908.
Fort Smith Trolley Museum Birney safety car 1545 1982-present, ex. Ohio Railway Museum 1545 1953-1982, exx. private owner 1545 1950-1953, exxx. Kansas City Public Service 1545 1926-1950, nee Kansas City Railways 1545 1919-1926, built by American Car Company in 1919.
One of two surviving Birneys from Kansas City Public Service, this was the last single-truck Birney to operate in Kansas City on May 1, 1949. Stored for a time, in 1950 the car was bought by Jay Maeder and moved to his hometown of Milwaukee. Jay Maeder was the president of Speedrail, successor to the Milwaukee Electric interurban system, and on September 2, 1950, he was the motorman on an NMRA charter when he ran a signal and collided head-on with another train. Maeder survived, but ten passengers were killed in the wreck and Speedrail went out of business shortly thereafter. The devastated Maeder donated 1545 to the Ohio Railway Museum in December 1952 and it was moved to Worthington, Ohio in June 1953. ORM was one of the earliest operating trolley museums and 1545 was soon repainted and operational; for a time, before ORM built its bridge over Route 161, 1545 ran on an isolated stretch of track south of Route 161. After ORM began its long decline in the mid-1970's, 1545 was heavily vandalized and damaged by arsonists. In December 1982 the car was sold to the FSTM, which stripped it of its truck, motors and control equipment to restore Fort Smith Birney 224. The body has been retained intact and is in storage.
Hot Springs Street Railway double-ended double-truck open platform streetcar 50 built by St. Louis Car Company in 1904. The conference attendees rode this car but unfortunately it cannot negotiate the tight curves of the route.
The interior of car 50.
The trolley house, which is Fort Smith Light and Traction Birney Safety Car 21 built by American Car Company in 1926.
Hot Springs Railway 50 passed the trolley house.
Fort Smith Trolley Museum car 1 1/2.
Hand car shed.
There is a very nice trolley mural on the wall which local artist John Bell, Jr. designed in 1990, and directed a team of his art students in painting it. The mural depicts the 50-year heyday of street railway transportation in Fort Smith, beginning with the mule-drawn streetcars of 1883, on the far left. The second car shown is an open car, in which the motorman stood outside. After that came the semi-convertible trolley and, on the far right, the Birney "safety car," which was used until Fort Smith Light & Traction Co. closed in 1933. Four historical buildings are shown in the background, including Fort Smith's W.H.H. Clayton house and the Fort Smith Art Center.
In 1991, a tornado tore through downtown Fort Smith, knocking down the concrete-block wall of the building on which the mural was painted. Mr. Bell found a unique solution for reassembling the wall. He numbered each block so that his students could place it in the correct spot. They then touched up the paint, and added a special momento: a small funnel cloud in the top right corner, along with the date '91. In April of 1996, another twister came though "Tornado Alley," destroying many of Garrison Avenue's historic buildings and (minor in comparison) blowing one set of the museum's front doors off their hinges. A '96 was added to the mural to commemorate that event.
Hot Springs Railway 50 returned to the station.
One of the switchers from the Purina plant, built by General Electric in 1956.
Augusta Railroad 35 ton switcher 7, nee Maumelle Ordnance Works Locomotive 1, built by Vulcan in April 1942.
United States Air Force 44 ton switcher 1246 built by General Electric in January 1953. It was at that point we heard rumblings and walked over to the mainline to investigate. Here came an Arkansas and Missouri Railroad train with a very long string of military equipment.
Arkansas and Missouri C420 50, ex. Essex Terminal 106, nee Lehigh and Hudson River 22, built by American Locomotive Company in 1963.
Arkansas and Missouri C420 58, ex. Delaware and Hudson 420, exx. Conrail 2077, nee Lehigh and Hudson River 29, built by American Locomotive Company in 1963.
The southbound United States military train was captured by several people.
Missouri-Kansas-Texas caboose 126 built by International Car in 1966.
Missouri-Kansas-Texas power car 100201, nee World War II troop sleeper X2400.
St. Louis-San Francisco 2-8-2 4003, nee United States Railway Administration 20008, built by American Locomtive Company in 1919 for the Pennsylvania Railroad but they rejected it, so United States Railway Administration assigned it to the St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad. 4003 was retired in early 1952 but retained until 1954 when it was donated to the City of Fort Smith and placed on display in Kay Rodgers Park. It remained there for almost fifty years until in 2002, the city transferred ownership to the Fort Smith Trolley Museum.
Missouri-Kansas-Texas coach 910 built by American Car and Foundry in 1938 and converted to diner bunk car 100162.
After a satisfactory visit to the museum and giving attention to the museum's cats, we returned to the bus and were taken to our last museum of the day, the United States Marshals Museum, but alas that is in the next story.
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