. The street railway review . s have a population of782,845. The mileage of surface lines is 305, all of which areoperated by electricity, except miles. To operate this vastsystem seven power houses for generating the electric currentare required. There are cars and employes. Lastyear 196, passengers were carried, of which ,513were revenue passengers and were free transfer pas-sengers. The passenger earnings were .$8,536, and the oper-ating expenses were .$6,!56. The Boston Elevated Railway Company took possession of theproperty of the Wes
. The street railway review . s have a population of782,845. The mileage of surface lines is 305, all of which areoperated by electricity, except miles. To operate this vastsystem seven power houses for generating the electric currentare required. There are cars and employes. Lastyear 196, passengers were carried, of which ,513were revenue passengers and were free transfer pas-sengers. The passenger earnings were .$8,536, and the oper-ating expenses were .$6,!56. The Boston Elevated Railway Company took possession of theproperty of the West End Street Railway Company October under a lease for 25 years, and is making prepanjtion;-, tobuild elevated lines on plans now under way and to be completedat an early date. The history of street railroading in Boston dates back to to that time all the bridges leading into Boston weretoll bridges and many of the roads leading into the city wereturnpikes on which tolls were charged. Between Boston and. OFFICE BUILDING OF THE BOSTON ELEVATED RAILWAY CO. 526 ^tM^S^s^MnS^Acw- there was a demand for local transportation facilities larger thananyone had supposed. The success of the Cambridge and theMetropolitan Railroads led to the construction of new lines bythem and the extension of the lines already in operation. Othercorporations were formed and opened territory adjacent to thosein operation, and others were established as competing lines. Atone time there were no less than 18 different companies, eachoperated separately. There seemed to be an epidemic on the sub-ject, and the value of a street railway franchise was greatly ex-aggerated. Numerous charters were obtained which were neverused and many small roads were built long in advance of anysufficient demand to justify their cost. After a time, howevei-, consolidation brought the number downto five. These were the Metropolitan, the South Boston, theCambridge, the Higland, the Middlesex and the Lynn & B
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Keywords: ., book, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectstreetrailroads
