BusTalk

[Mr. Linsky]

I've never been too much on following the traction end of our industry although I rode many a trolley car to Jamaica when I was a youngster.

What has always been a wonder to me though was how the cars made their way around trolley barns considering that their maneuverability was so limited.

Seen below in the early thirties at a Capital Traction Company facility in Washington, D.C. is a car (the type and make of which I will have to leave to our traction experts to determine) sitting atop a seemingly complicated piece of machinery that obviously shifts the vehicle to whatever location is desired (reminds me of the machines that stack cars in Manhattan parking lots).

Some company history per Wikipedia;

The Capital Traction Company was the smaller of the two major street railway companies in Washington, D.C. in the early 20th Century. It was formed through a merger of the Rock Creek Railway and the Washington and Georgetown Railroad Company in 1895. The company ran streetcars from Georgetown; Capitol Hill; Chevy Chase, MD; the Armory and Mt. Pleasant. In 1933 it merged with the its major competitor the Washington Railway and Electric Company to form the Capital Transit Company.

Photo courtesy of Shorpy Archives.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, New York

[N4 Jamaica]

That's a transfer table. We may have had a few around New York, but I cannot recall one. Think of how a turntable at a railroad roundhouse allows locomotives to be spotted in any of ten or twenty positions. A transfer table allows lateral motion between various tracks in a repair shop. I think (but am not certain) that newer shop designs avoid the need for a transfer table by designing the yard at one end or the other with enough switches and trackwork so cars can be spotted on any track. If a streetcar barn is limited to one or two rectangular blocks of a dense neighborhood, the firm might have considered (a century ago) to install a transfer table.
Joe

[Rob]

Along these lines, I just yesterday read a photo caption in George Meiser IX's book "Passing Scenes Vol 8" published by the Historical Society of Berks County, showing a totally empty 7 track (?) car barn at Exeter Street in Reading (which became the Rdg Bus Co/BARTA facility) stating that on April 23, 1922 during a fire drill, 150 responding employees completely emptied the facility of 38 street cars in exactly 6 minutes. This was a "turnout " equiped facility, no transfer tables that I ever saw photos of. I guess that was good. It is not identified whether they were all under their own power or if any were in any state of repair.

[Mr. Linsky]

Speaking of Capital Traction Company, I found this very interesting image among the National Photo Company's Collection in the Library of Congress that indicated that Capital was also into buses very early on.

Seen somewhere in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area are six brand new 1928 Yellow Coach Type Y's with 'Parlor Car' bodies by Lang and mounted on a 225 inch wheelbases featuring mechanical transmissions, balloon tires and 4-wheel air brakes.

The line-up of the buses and the very neat and attentive look of the uniformed drivers indicates that they are ready for inspection.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc. Jamaica, New York

[bystander]

Hi, everyone. I'm still around.

The reason for the transfer tables in DC was simple. It cost a lot of money to build underground conduit and switches were Special Trackwork virtually hand built to the application. When you had overhead wire, you just threw in a switch on the track and a gizzy on the overhead for the pole. But that would have been too expensive with the conduit track. Capital Transit had no "Ladder Tracks" on the conduit, but overhead yards like Benning or Western had plenty of them.

Like everything else, it was MONEY.

[HwyHaulier]

Yeah, I'm still around, too. Agree with rationale of use of Transfer Tables, at sites on the track subject to the "Conduit"
rule or law. Surely couldn't get much equipment out of one of the buildings, should there be a fire...

Noted Mr 'L' post with photo of the 1928 YELLOW COACH "Y" types. It tells us, among other things, the classic CTCo
silver and green paint treatment had a great deal of history...

.....................Vern....................

[JimmiB]

Transfer tables were and still are common at railroad shops. This one is at the Amtrak shops in Wilmington DE.

Photo credit: Penn Central Historical Society