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| Biloxi, MS/Narrow streets doomed trolleys https://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=31482 |
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| Author: | Sloan [ Sun May 29, 2011 7:39 am ] |
| Post subject: | Biloxi, MS/Narrow streets doomed trolleys |
http://www.sunherald.com/2011/05/28/314 ... -cars.html |
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| Author: | Harry Nicholls [ Sun May 29, 2011 9:24 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Biloxi, MS/Narrow streets doomed trolleys |
When I was stationed on TDY in Biloxie, I did quite a bit of research on the old Trolley By The Sea. The one story I was told by old timers that had been employed by Miss Power was the trolley along teh beach was closed after the big hurricane that washed out most of the tracks. This seemed to be supported by the news files of the period. The tracks in the city were still used for delivery of coal to the power plant and for serving the docks for the trawlers. Then, the system was serviced by aan interchange track at the depot wit one track going from teh street to the main line of L&N. Which brings up an interesting story told by one gentleman: It seems the last trolley in the evening was parked on the interchange track and the motorman would go into the depot for coffee. One night, a few pranksters hooked a rope from the trolley to the train when it arrived to unload passengers. The train left before the last trolley run and the motorman walked out in time to see his trolley leave without him as the rope did it's job and yanked the trolley down the tracks with the resulting wrecking of the car. No one was on the trolley during it's short trip. Another story was that the end of the line at Pass Christian ended at an old large oak tree. The sister of the last superintendent told me this: The last trolley had a regular passenger that lived near the end of the line and, as was is his usual habit, he would get a little loaded. He often stood on the platform talking with the motorman. One night, the superintendent got a very late night call from the motorman: "You had better come down here and pull this car in as it won't run." "What's wrong with it?" was the reply by the superintendent. "I don't know. I won't run." The superintendent called the master mechanic who rolled out another trolley and the two of them proceeded to the track end. Much to their surprise, the trolley was there - smashed against the tree trunk and no motorman was around. The next day, the story came out when the regular passenger was located. He was standing at the front end talking as usual. He had been rolling the brake wheel back and forth. When the end of line was getting closer, the motorman gave the wheel a twist but the wheel did not set the brakes so he gave it a big roll and the brakes started to hold just as the tree arrived at the front end of the trolley. By then, both of the men had bailed out. The motorman never did come in to collect his last paycheck. I enjoyed my time in Biloxie when I was introduced to the surviving trolley employees. |
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