Evening star., 1962-01-21


ciate editor of The Star and la
ter editor, who had learned
firSt-hand of an underground
system in Budapest.
Spearheading the develop
ment of the Connecticut avenue
area north of Calvert street co
Chevy Chase, the Rock Creek
Railway began operations in
1888.
Then in 1895 it purchased the
Washington and Georgetown
line and changed its name to
the Capital Traction Co.
That year the cable line to
Georgetown was extended to a
connection with the Washing
ton & Old Dominion Railway
crossing the Potomac River on
the old Aqueduct Bridge tits
foundation still stands near Key
Bridge.
The deal also required that
the Capital Traction Co. pur-
chase the rocky hillside at
Thirty-sixth and M streets
where D. C. Transit's present
headquarters (now refurbished)
stands as a landmark.
At the turn of the century
the Washington Traction and
Electric Co. was formed by ac-
QUESTION of about 10 rail COM
panies then operating through
out the city. The company
later became known as the
Washington Railway and Elec-
trio Co.
Firms Merge
In 1888, after a long fight
the two companies - Capital
Traction Co. and Washington
Railway and Electric-merged
to become the Capital Transit
Co. For the riders it meant free
transfers and the weekly pass
A decade earlier, the first bus
service was begun along Six
teenth street, and the growth o1
bus companies-particularly ir
the outSkirts-waS on the rise.
In 1886 the first of the
streamlined streetcars were
purchased by Capital Transit
and shortly thereafter the So
called Pee cars came along
CA special presidential confer
ence was held to design the
most modern streetcar stand
ards, and the result was the
Pee carr
Streetcars reached a height
of service during World War Il
when gasoline and tire short
ages cut back use of buses anc
the family car. In 1943, Cap.
ital Transit carried 536,201 ,65s
passengers, and 895 streetcarE
carried 81 per cent of the total
Decline Begins
Actually the first rail line
to be converted to bus operation
was in 1928 when Bladensbure
road was repaved. After thai
a number of lines substituted
buses.
In 1885, the trolleys that rar
along Connecticut avenue to the
swimming pool and picnic
grounds at Chevy Chase Lake
and along the pike all the way
to Rockville came to an end.
That year also saw the enc
of streetcars to LeDroit Park
the Anacostia- Congress Heights
line. and the P street. George.
town trolley. In 1887, streetcarE
were taken off the Kennedy
street line.
Capital Transit pulled the
streetcarS off the Rosslyn-to-
Benning route, one Of the Oldest
lines in the system, in 1949. II
had started in 1872 as the
Columbia Railway Company
with eight cars and 10 horses
In 1895, it became a cable line
and was converted to electricity
in 1899. It didn't reach out tc
Rosslyn until 1886.
Then in 1856 the George
town-Rosslyn Streetcar line tt
Washington Circle was dis
continued and buses took ovel
a shuttle service between Wis
consin avenue and M street anc
Rosslyn.
More Conversions
Two years later the Brook
land streetcar line was con-
verted to bus and in January
1860, the end came for another
favorite-the Cabin John lint
that took the carnival Grove
to Glen Echo.
It hadn't been too many
years that children had waitec
for the old open cars to rur
them to the amusement park
in the Spring through the
wooded right-of-way high ovel
the old canal.
1t was the end that year to-
of the Friendship Heights
streetcar as we'll as the Georgis
avenue line. These were thu
lines that switched from un'
derground to overhead power
when leaving the old bound.
aries of the District-a switch
that required the services of
man in a pit-a marvellous op'
Grafton for wide-eyed children
Underpass Obsolete
Last December 3 the oil
Mount Pleasant line-the mos
I heavily patronized line that raj
through the commercial hear
!. of the city and along the rim
of Capitol Hill-was converted
1t meant the city had a whit,
elephant on its hands-the Du
I pont Circle underpaSS too mar
row for buses.
That date also saw the ent
of the Eleventh street rail line
With the final bell next week
the end of the U street car line
that once served the ball park