The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1877-03-26
STREET CARS.

introduced on their line the ugnt ano
tidy little one-horse car known as the
"bob-tail." With this car the conductor
is dispensed with, and the drivers plat.
form in front is guarded from the intru-
sion Of passengers getting on and of, by
high shset-iron fender. Each passenger
is made his own fare collector, and ladies,
whether their arms be loaded with mar
ket baskets, shopping bundles or babies,
are expected to get on and of the cars
as best they can. In small
place like Wheeling, and on routes
where travel is light, this "bob-
taJf" car is, perhaps, as satisfactory
as any other, and more economical to the
company using them. But in larger
cities, notably Chicago and New York,
a great outcry has been raised against
their use. On routes where the cars are
frequently crowded and jammed by all
sorts of people, the well-behaved and the
rowdy, the tin.id lady and the drunken
rough, the aged helpless and
the youthful heather, where pri'
vate right, nor tender corns are
respected, where the inebriste lout makes
free to plunge into the lap of his nearest
nelghbor, or make q resting post OF his
or her shoulder, where fares can only be
made to reach the patent cash box by be-
ing "passed up" to the great discom-
fort of him whose seat is nearest to that
contrivsnce, ON such routes the "bob-
tail would undoubtedly be nuisance,
and we are not surprised that in Chicago
the patrons of at least one line solidly
refused 10 pay fare unless they had the
protection Of conductor. But IN
Wheeling, where few ride and most peo-
ple are civil, the "bob-tsil" will prove
popular.
Another innovation Is being resisted
with all the prejudice and bitterness that
characterized the moss-backed barbarian
who has survil ed the age to which he
belongs; that is the introduction OF
steam on the streets. A company In
Baltimore got permission from Council
to try an experiment with steam, on one
line, for term of ninety days. The par
ticulsr engine on trial did not prove
eminently satisfactory. II may have
been unreasonable in the horses To do so,
yet they persisted in soaring at the
engine as it passed them on the street.
But if this engine did frighten horses, 1t
does not follow that all steam contrl-
vances for propelling cars on streets will
do the same thing. Indeed, we learn
from the Philadelphia papers that "dum-
miles, have been introduced upon many
of the streets OF that city, with most un-
satisfactory results. An article which
we transfer to the columns of the REGIS
TER from the Times of that city, gives
an account of trial trip OF the new
steam cars placed upon the streets by
their leading passenger railway company
From it we learn that these cars "are OF
about the sane size as the ordinary street
cars, move about noiselessly, emit no
smoke from their engines, and appear to
give the horses little concern, although
Market street was almost choked with
teams" as they passed. "They are more
easily stopped" says the Times, ethan II
horse-car, being controlled by powerful
brake independent of the steam, which is
also applied as brake. The weight OF
a car, engine and boiler, in working
order, is 1922 pounds. The trip ap-
pesred to give good satisfaction, and the
novel train WAS frequently cheered BY
the crowds on the sidewalks"