. The Street railway journal . ttingforth the many phases in which this opposition took form, andperhaps the old officials and employees of the horse railways ( )CTOBER 8, 1904.] STREET RAILWAY JOURNAL 535 were the most skeptical of any as to the electric system becom-ing a success. The earlier operations were all attended withheavy net losses, but, as the electric companies met and over-came one failure after another, it became apparent to the pub-lic that electric motive power was to revolutionize street transit,and the early opposition ceased, except as to certain localities. It is interest
. The Street railway journal . ttingforth the many phases in which this opposition took form, andperhaps the old officials and employees of the horse railways ( )CTOBER 8, 1904.] STREET RAILWAY JOURNAL 535 were the most skeptical of any as to the electric system becom-ing a success. The earlier operations were all attended withheavy net losses, but, as the electric companies met and over-came one failure after another, it became apparent to the pub-lic that electric motive power was to revolutionize street transit,and the early opposition ceased, except as to certain localities. It is interesting to note that for the fiscal year 1888-89, °f atotal car-mileage of 16,500,000, 525,000 miles were operated byelectric motive power, two-fifths of this being mileage of trailercars; and it was not until the year 1892 that the electric-mile-age constituted one-half of the total car-miles. The last mile-age of horse cars in Boston was operated as late as the year1901, although for some years prior to that but one unimportant. SECTION OF 1SENTLEY-KNIGHT CONDUIT AS LAID IN BOSTON line was equipped with horse power. This line was thatthrough Marlborough Street, Boston, in the residential BackBay district, and so persistent was the opposition to the intro-duction in that street of electric power that the line was finallyabandoned and the tracks removed. From the commencement of operation with electric powervery careful accounts were kept of the many failures and of thecosts of maintenance, and for the first few years the mostsanguine of men could not have demonstrated from the resultsobtained any possible economic future for the trolley enlightened and energetic manner in which the variousdifficulties occurring were overcome by the engineers of theelectric companies constitutes one of the marvels of nineteenthcentury progress, probably without a counterpart in any otherindustry. It was also extremely difficult to determine the prob-able earning capacity of electric lin
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectstreetr, bookyear1884
