Just saw the latest King Kong. Went with very high expectations which weren't totally fulfilled. But, it was very good and I enjoyed it very much. If you liked Jurassic Park you'll probably love King Kong.

Regardless, one of the very impressive things about the movie is the depiction of early 1930s New York. At least it seems a lot like what 1930s New York might have been like.

I can't speak to the historical accuracy of the automobiles, but one thing that really puzzled me was they had cable cars instead of electric trolleys (unless those are third rails running down the middle of the main boulevards).

I don't know the exact dates but I am virtually certain there were no cable cars left in New York (not on the streets anyway, maybe a bridge still had them) past 1908, certainly not past 1910 (can't find my cable car book). So, why would they use cable cars?

I could attribute it to normal Hollywood disdain of historical accuracy, but in that instance I'd be flummoxed to know they even knew there were cable cars in New York, ever?

So, if anybody else sees, or has seen the movie, be interested in at least confirming they are cables cars, and won't ruin it by telling you what happens to any of them.....

Haven't seen the movie, but Manhattan streetcars were powered by a center third (and fourth) rail located under the street. Contact was made by a plow that ran in a slot, almost like a cable car slot. This system lasted until around 1947. You are right, cable cars last operated in Manhattan in 1901.

Learn something new every day.....

Did the electric slot cars use the cable car conduits?

I am not sure, but probably not. The underground space requirements are somewhat different and the track structure for an electric car has to be heavier. Also there was much electric conduit mileage that was never cable.

Yes the Third Avenue Railway used a conduit system much like Washington DC to grab the electricity. So was all this 'history' merely graphics that were computer generated?

Bob Kutella

I haven't seen the new King Kong nor planning on seeing it, but talk of streetcars in a movie reminds me of those Pacific Electric cars in 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit', they were neat to see even though you could see the tires underneath them, and the theme about ridding the PE cars is similar to that Twin Cities article in the current issue of Trains.

In Washington, Capital Traction lines used the cable infratructure in the conversion to electric service following the 1898 cable powerhouse fire. I am not as certain about the origins of the electric era conduit for the rest of the system.

Wesley

I think 90% of the movie was CG. I really liked the shots of the ship engine room too, and when it got stuck on the rocks.

Are there any electric slot trolley cars preserved? Guess it would be hard to operate one.

There are lots of conduit-plow-capable cars preserved, including all the DC cars in the NCTM collection. But you won't find them with plows installed.

The current collector, or plow, was built to be easily removable. In most conduit systems the expensive conduit was only installed downtown, where local ordinances required it. Anywhere else, ordinary trolley wire was used. At the changeoverpoint there was a track pit like the pits in Jiffy Lube. A plow-man in the pit whipped off the removable conduit plow, the trolley pole was raised, and off they went.

So, there are lots of cars preserved that have trucks equipped to hang a plow, but none of them have plows currently installed, as there is no operating conduit system anywhere in preservation.

There is some exposed conduit track almost under the 125th St. Rte. 1 Broadway Line subway station (which is on a bridge over Manhattan Valley), and in Georgetown, D.C. London, England also had an extensive system until about 1952.
According to Prof. Hilton in "The Cable Car in America", systems that did reuse the cable car track and conduit quickly replaced it, since the electric cars were much heavier than the cable cars

There are plows available if there was a place to use them?

We have a decent supply of plows if the market were to pick up again (smile).

A few years ago we succeded in acquiring a set of conduit yokes with rails attached for eventual display from a street construction project. This was a rare find since the iron is so brittle that the yokes easily shatter, and contruction crews don't want to take the TLC needed to extract a yoke intact. In our case the yokes and rails came out as a unit encased in concrete and we paid the crew to remove the concrete in order to expose the yokes.

The plow hanger on the trucks was a simple piece of angle iron bolted on to the truck frame. On double truck cars the #1 end carried the plow.

Wesley

Folks,

I have no interest in the King Kong movie either, but I will add to this thread the fact that there is one New York cable car left.

It is beautifully restored by and displayed at the Shoreline Trolley Museum in Brantford, CT.

Cable car 20 was built in 1892 and converted to electric in 1899. During its working life it was also 33. it came to the museum in 1948. Other Branford cars equipped for the conduit lines that was discussed abve are: 830, 994 and 629.

as many readeers here know, I live in San Francisco and I thought you'd be pleased to know that this is the winter time when we locals get to ride the cable cars. Other times they are too full of tourists to get near them!

Ted Miles

The Streetcar was ax ex-Brisbane (australia) car now at the Wellington Tramway Museum in New Zealand. Some cosmetic changes were made (such as removing the trolley pole, painting it etc) to make it look more like a Third Avenue car.

THE PHYSICS IS IMPOSSIBLE.

THE BIOLOGY IS IMPOSSIBLE.

THE STORY IS STUPID AND IMPOSSIBLE.

I HAVE NEVER SEEN THE ORIGINAL KING KONG, BUT, THE NEW KING KONG IS PETER JACKSON'S MOVIE SO WE SAW IT YESTERDAY.

I HAVE NEVER BEFORE HAD A MOVIE AFFECT ME SO POSITIVELY AS PETER JACKSON'S KING KONG.

DO SEE IT. ON A LARGE SCREEN WITH A GOOD SOUND SYSTEM. It won't be the same on your home television.

And now I know a lot more about how New York streetcars were powered.

Yes, to the best of my knowledge, the New York street scenes were quite accurate. I thought the tramp steamer scenes were great. And the dinosaurs were very accurate and realistic, even if some of the behavior wasn’t.