At the Western Railroad Museum we are working on repairing Key System 271, a 1901 St Louis Car wooden streetcar that was extensively modified over the years. It is the first car the Bay Area Electric Railroad Association acquired - in 1946 - so is as important to our history as to that of the Key System. Our current work involves replacing end sills that have almost turned to powder and repairing collision damage. The end sill work requires replacing the platform flooring. The floor covering looks and behaves like roofing felt, albeit heavier than what I have used under shingles. (It definitely is not linoleum or transit rubber.) Could roofing felt be possible? Are/were there other similar materials that streetcar companies used that look like roofing felt?

Any evidence that the material once had grit (roofing granules)? When I worked building maintenance for the Chicago Transit Authority years ago, we still used roll roofing for a few select walking surface applications. One of the most interesting was 4" wide strips that had been applied to planking in the track in line with the trolley rail where it was gapped through switches. These installations were OLD, so old that I could find no one who could answer what the purpose of this originally was. The best was from an old timer who noted it was done when the North Shore was running, because their trains were a "different size." Makes no sense, because the North Shore cars still fit the same clearance diagram, but then again, a lot of things the CTA did made no sense. My best guess was that it was intended to define the clearance limit in places it wasn't really evident, to ensure that track and walkway renewal materials weren't piled where they would foul the track, but this is just a guess on my part.

Either way, that roofing material had lasted the forty odd year life of the planking, and still had a little of the grit on it. The old roll roofing would certainly work for a quick and dirty non-slip walking surface.