San Luis Obispo County CA Archives Photo Place.....San Luis Obispo Street Railway System 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com November 27, 2006, 10:18 pm

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SAN LUIS OBISPO STREET RAILWAY SYSTEM

History and Description:

On October 3, 1888, the Ramona Hotel opened its doors to the coast traveler and
San Luis Obispo.  In photos of the hotel one finds a curious little horse-drawn
vehicle alongside of the building: a horse-drawn streetcar of the San Luis
Obispo Street Railway Company,

The fascinating, but all too luxurious little cars were purchased by the founder
of the line, George P. Bell. Edwin Goodall was president and J. Millard was
general manager.  Goodall purchased the company from Bell and sold it in 1891 to
John. L. Howard and R. E. Jack.

The Company, operating the two lines, tried to survive in a time and place that
did not show favorable conditions for the successful operation of a street
railway.  People could easily walk the short distance the cars traversed and the
merchants along Monterey Street did not. depend on the line for patronage.

Jack bought the line from Howard in 1900 and ran it until the summer of 1901. 
Exact termination dates are not known, the date being somewhere between July 9.
1901 and December 2, 1901.  The service may have existed on an on-and-off manner
during this period.  The rail and rolling stock were sold for scrap in 1902.

The rolling stock consisted of five urban type cars built by Holt Brothers Car
Works of Stockton.  The first two were closed wooden cars, the rest being open
"California" cars that were excellent for warm days.  They all had hand-friction
brake systems and were double ended.  This meant that the draft animals could
pull the car from either end; therefore, the cars did not have to be turned
around at the end of the line.  One horse was used for one car; the Company
owned nine horses.  The cars ran on narrow gauge track, 3'-0" rail-to-rail, laid
in the center of the street.  Four miles of track made up the two lines.  The
remaining car may be seen in the Ramona Depot on the grounds of the Dallidet Adobe.

Sources:
Best, Gerald M., "Ships and Narrow Gauge Rails" Howell-North, Berkeley, Cal.
        Pub. (1964) 
Louisiana Dart, Curator, San Luis Obispo County Historical Museum 
Henderson, C. W., Civil Engineer, 1894 
Price, Margaret, San Luis Obispo City Library 
"San Luis Obispo Tribune", Nov. 5, 1901, Mar. 11, 1902 
"San Luis Obispo Breeze", May 4, 1901, Dec. 2, 1901

See map:
http://www.usgwarchives.net/maps/california/sanluisobispo/1894city.jpg


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

Discovering San Luis Obispo County
by
Carleton M. Winslow


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/sanluisobispo/photos/sanluiso121gph.txt

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