The Truth About The Streetcar Conspiracy

[Ocklawaha]

Maybe the best 30 minutes of TV investigation ever filed on the subject. I found only one error, and even that was a remark that came right out of the General Motors Bus Plant. "Replace Streetcars with buses because buses were cheaper to operate..." This is simply not true today and I doubt it was when GM fed the line to the cities. If your wondering what this has to do with Jacksonville Transportation, consider we were among the very first, if not THE first victim of this scheme. Our system got a huge proposal about 1930 to sell out to Colonial Stages, a forerunner of toady's Greyhound Lines Southeast. They played this offer in the press for months until it was withdrawn. At this same time the City and the Traction Company were in a war over the streetcar franchise. Using Colonial to paint an incredibly unbelievable bus plan to wet the appetite of the citizenry was cool, pulling the offer off the table for a couple of years was a masterpiece.

Finally in 1932, the city having bankrupted the company, Jacksonville Tractions franchise was sold to Motor Transit Company of Boston. The next day, General Motors announced Jacksonville was going to be home to "a new type of automobile distribution center, and the only one of its kind in the South." The new franchise included a demand by Motor Transit that the streetcar system not only be abandoned, but that it's wires had to come down, track had to come up, and the cars themselves destroyed. Fortunately, the company decided that giving the cars away to local residents was easier then wanton destruction, and in the end many of our cars were/are(?) scattered around town serving as shed, chicken coops, Florida rooms, and quite often part of the house itself (Hopefully some reader or resident will come forward and give up the location of any known surviving car). Motor Transit Company was owned by National City Lines, which was owned by General Motors, Firestone, Standard Oil and Phillips Petroleum.

...And they wonder why I love those stupid "potato-chip-truck-thinks-its-a-trolley," vehicles of our JTA. I really do love them though, I'd love to see all of them serve our city as artificial reefs about 10 miles off Jacksonville Beach.


http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=6882337546307300051&hl=en&fs=true%20style=width:400px;height:326px%20allowFullScreen=true%20allowScriptAccess=always%20type=application/x-

OCKLAWAHA

[CS Foltz]

Yep..............artificial reefs are about all they are good for! What ever JTA buffoon thinks that a bus is more efficient than a trolley must be puffing, ingesting or drinking something that I would not care to partake of!

[nestliving]

nice video Ock. thanks for sharing.

[thelakelander]

Pretty cool video.  We should do a Jax version.

[Ocklawaha]

The good ol' boys were downright proud of their work, though those in this photo went to prison!

I'm certainly game for it if y'all are Lake. BTW after the "Streetcar 101 Tour With Churches," this Saturday, Stephen and I were told about a visible section of rail west of Johnson and Houston Streets. There was once a car line that zig zagged through La Villa from Bay to Beaver, but while it makes for good photo opportunities, it probably belonged to the Atlantic and East Coast Terminal Company Railroad. The A&ECT was a very interesting and compact shortline railroad, owned by the Atlantic Coast Line and Florida East Coast. The FEC Freight Station was on this railroad, but in the La Villa Nuke Warhead Test, it too was wiped out. Just west of the Jacksonville Terminal Company, (Prime Osbourne for the younger folks), before Bay goes under I-95, there is a short bridge abutment on the South Side of the street. In the 1980's and earlier the street was lower, it went under this steel bridge and the turn at Myrtle was more flush with the level of the Myrtle Avenue Subway. This little railroad went down at least two east west streets from the edge of downtown to a connection with the Jacksonville Terminal Company Railroad at the old Myrtle Street Tower. It had dozens of switches into all sorts of old warehouses and light industrial places. 

Our own streetcar history is as horrible in those last few years as anything in Ohio, California (Roger Rabbit) or anywhere else. I haven't found a large system like ours being zapped by these crooks before us!

OCKLAWAHA