Memories From My Youth - III

Clang, clang, clang went the trolley. Those were the opening words of a song about street cars. Amusing to me, that noise was the thing most remembered about those old electric-powered rail cars that once clattered through the streets of America's large cities. They were not all noisy, of course, especially the latter ones, and I loved them.

When I was young, street cars were reasonably fast, they were clean (no exhaust), comfortable and convenient. They were frequent - you never had to wait more than a few minutes - they stopped at almost every other corner, and were very low cost. Fare was 10¢, or you could buy three tokens (for three rides) for a quarter.

By using transfers, you could jump from one line to another, and transfers were free. You could ride all over the city for a dime.

In my home town of Kansas City, the geography is defined by two rivers - the Kansas River (known as the Kaw) flowing east across Kansas and the Missouri River flowing south from Montana. Reaching higher ground at Kansas City, the Missouri takes a hard left turn, just where it is joined by the Kaw, and heads east across the state toward St. Louis to mix with the Mississippi.

Downtown Kansas City, Missouri is on high ground, but a west bound street car line had to transport passengers across the West Bottoms, through Kansas City's famous Stock yards and packing house districts, into Kansas City, Kansas.

The drop from Kansas City, MO into the West Bottoms was essentially a cliff. To make the descent, the transit company dug a tunnel, starting several blocks short of the cliff's edge, then making a gentle drop to the lower ground. I frequently rode that line and loved entering the tunnel on a hot summer day to glide through the cool darkness and emerge into the sunlight on the lower side.

One street car memory was from August 15, 1945. Radio news had informed that the Japanese government was about to sign General MacArthur's unconditional surrender documents and a large crowd began to gather on 12th Street. When the announcement of the surrender came, the huge crowd burst into joyous song, and all the boys started kissing the girls. I was soon smeared in lipstick from ear to ear.

A street car operator, on his assigned route down 12th street, edged into the crowd. Someone went to the back of the car, grabbed the rope to the trolley and pulled it down, disengaging the car's source of power. Throughout the evening that street car sat there in the middle of 12th Street, the operator in his seat watching the celebration.

My wife also remembers street cars. when she was a small girl her father worked for a time as a street car operator. Sometimes at night, when passenger traffic was light, he would let her ride along to the end of his line and return. Truth be known, he even let her operate the car at times. No cause for alarm here... street cars rode on tracks - no steering required.

Most street cars have disappeared from cities across the country. Happily the city of San Francisco has restored a few of the cars which now ply Market Street. You'll even see one with Kansas City Public Transit Company lettered on its bright yellow side. If that old car could talk, it might remember cool summer nights in Kansas City when a small girl sat at its controls on Troost Avenue.