Interurban

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In Australia, interurban is a general term for intercity rail.

An interurban, also called a radial railway in parts of Canada, is a streetcar line running between urban areas or from urban to rural areas. The term was mostly used in North America. The lines were mainly electrified in an era when steam railroads had not yet adopted electricity to any large degree.

The first interurbans were constructed in the 1880s, but most were constructed between 1900 and 1908, with few being constructed after that point. From approximately the end of the First World War the industry was in decline, accelerated by the growth of the private automobile; the Great Depression of the 1930s drove most into closure. Only a couple survived beyond the 1960s.

To minimize cost of construction, an interurban typically ran along public right-of-way, either next to a public highway in rural areas, or within city streets in urban areas. It was somewhat less common for interurbans to have lengthy stretches of private right-of-way. Occasionally interurbans were operated along mainline steam railroads. Fares were cheaper than steam railroads and service was more frequent but typically slower. Due to the characteristics of the electric motor, interurbans could operate on steeper grades, going where steam engines could not.

With the demise of the interurban, many routes were taken over by intercity bus services. Most local intercity services have since been discontinued; buses now typically run express between cities. A few interurbans, built to rather high standards, have survived, as have several that still operate only freight service, but the vast majority are long abandoned.

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[edit] Definition of "Interurban"

Real-world lines fit on a continuum between wholly urban street railways and full-fledged railroads. George W. Hilton and John F. Due, in The Electric Interurban Railways in America, define an interurban as a system which shares most or all of four characteristics:

  • Electric power
  • Passenger service as primary emphasis
  • Heavier, faster equipment than urban streetcars
  • Operated on street trackage in cities but on roadside tracks or private rights-of-way in rural areas

The definition of "interurban" is necessarily blurry. Some streetcar systems evolved into partly interurban systems with extensions or acquisitions, while other interurban lines became, effectively, light rail systems with no street running whatsoever, or became primarily freight-hauling railroads with a progressive loss of passenger service.

Another distinction is made between "interurban" and "suburban". A suburban system is oriented toward a particular city center in a single urban area, serving primarily commuters who live in the suburbs of a city. An interurban is more like a regular railroad local train service, moving people from one city center to another with no single center. However, unlike a local train, the interurban serves a smaller region and has more frequent service, and is oriented to passenger rather than freight service, although some small-load freight service was common, especially in the days before trucks (lorries).

[edit] Interurban technology

In general, interurbans operated with technology somewhere between that of a streetcar line and a full-scale railroad. The vast majority of interurbans were electrified, utilizing simply strung overhead wire, or, on heavily trafficked high speed lines, the more complicated wiring system known as catenary. In either case, power was transferred from the wire to the locomotive (in the case of an interurban freight line) or interurban passenger car by way of a trolley pole or pantograph. A few systems, usually in heavily populated urban areas, transferred electricity to the trains by way of a third rail running parallel to, and outside of, the rails holding and guiding the train. Power was transferred to the train using a "shoe" attached to the locomotive or car.

[edit] Electrification

Most interurban railways in North America were electrified using low-voltage direct current systems popular with street railways.[1] This enabled interurbans to use urban street railway systems with ease. However, these systems had difficulty in maintaining voltage over long distances. Thus, interurbans developed the practice of generating power at higher voltages and stepping down power to the 600 volts needed to power the cars at substations spaced out along the line. By 1905, 600 volts had become the industry-wide standard.

The interurbans also had to develop their own powerhouses for electricity as there were few commercial power companies in existence at the time. Some of these power houses produced high-voltage AC power that would be stepped-down and converted to DC at the substations. Because of this choice, many interurban railway companies became electric companies.

Most power was distributed to the cars using overhead trolley wires or pantographs. Some companies preferred outside third rail. Third rail was cheaper to maintain and improved conductivity, but it was more expensive to construct as it did not mitigate the construction of transmission lines and poles. Third rail was also more dangerous to trespassers and animals. Also, in the winter, third rails were difficult to keep clear of ice.

In 1904, a single-phase alternating current system became available and was distributed by Westinghouse and General Electric. But the system soon proved expensive to maintain and operate, and it increased wear and tear on equipment and track. It was a short-lived experiment and none were installed after 1910.

Another experiment in electrification came in 1907 with high-voltage DC (1200 volts). This system was allowed for easy conversion from other DC systems and was cheaper to maintain. But it was developed so late that few railways adopted it.

[edit] Gauge

Most interurbans were built to standard gauge, but there were a fair number of exceptions. Interurbans often used the tracks of existing street railways through city streets, and when those street railways were not built to standard gauge, the interurbans had to use non-standard gauges as well or face the expense of building their own trackage through urban areas. Many municipalities had ordained the use of non-standard gauges so that railroad freight cars could never be switched on the public streets.

[edit] Passenger service

[edit] Freight service

[edit] United States

In the late 1890s, electrified systems called streetcars, which had been developed by Frank Sprague, expanded rapidly. By 1900, just over 2,100 miles of track had been laid, and by 1916, at their peak, over 15,500 miles were in service. Most of the interurban track that had been laid was located in Ohio and Indiana; both states had 3,000 miles of track. In Michigan and Illinois there was another 2,000 miles of track which was interconnected. In Texas and in California thousands of miles of additional track was also laid down by different companies. The first Interurban in Texas was the Denison and Sherman Railway, completed in 1901. In Central Virginia, interurban lines connected City Point and Hopewell with Petersburg, and Petersburg with Richmond. Another connected Richmond with Ashland.

A streetcar of the Pacific Electric Railway makes a stop at Mission San Gabriel Arcángel (just outside Los Angeles), c. 1905.
A streetcar of the Pacific Electric Railway makes a stop at Mission San Gabriel Arcángel (just outside Los Angeles), c. 1905.

In the early 1900s, interurban transportation was very popular in both rural areas and cities. Although slower in speed than steam driven passenger trains, the interurban system made up for speed by increased frequency of service. After 1910, the popularity of the Ford Model T automobile began to diminish the interurban passenger load, and during the 1920s, many interurban systems were declared bankrupt. As a result of this shift in transportation methods, the small and unprofitable lines were discontinued. By the 1930s, the interurbans began to disappear, although some of their rail lines were taken over for the use of freight drawn by steam engines. Most were replaced with buses. By the 1960s, very few lines remained; the Pacific Electric Railway in California was abandoned in 1961, and the Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad near Chicago in 1963.

[edit] Remaining lines

Few historic interurban lines are still operated in their original form, although a number of more recently-constructed transit lines could be considered interurbans by Hilton and Due's standards above.

South Shore train in the streets of Michigan City, 2002.
South Shore train in the streets of Michigan City, 2002.

Other lines that have some characteristics of an interurban include:

Other portions of interurbans remain in service as parts of regular freight-hauling railroads; for instance, portions of the Sacramento Northern Railway were operated by the Union Pacific Railroad. The longest surviving portion of the Sacramento Northern is now owned by the Sierra Northern Railroad.

[edit] Canada

In 1887 the St. Catharines and Niagara Central Railway, the first interurban line in the world, started operations. It ran between St. Catharines and Thorold, Ontario, Canada. Not only was this the first interurban line in the world, but it was also one of the first commercially successful implementations of electric streetcars in the world.

In Southern Ontario, intercity streetcar lines were called radial railways, because their routes generally radiated from a central city. The longest routes from Toronto included one running to Lake Simcoe and another to Guelph. A portion of one of these lines is preserved and plays host to a working museum of streetcars and other transit vehicles at the Halton County Radial Railway in Rockwood. A notable feature of Toronto's radial railways was that because the city streetcar tracks of the Toronto Railway Company (later taken over by the Toronto Transportation Commission) were built to a wider gauge (which is still used to this day), radial cars from the outlying areas could not pass the city limits, requiring passengers to change trains.

Some of the closer sections of Toronto's radial railways were assimilated into the city's streetcar network, and with the city's expansion, some communities once linked by radial railway now have relatively central stations on the Toronto subway. On a regional level, GO Transit's commuter railway network is designed on a similar radial principle, though it uses much heavier-capacity mainline trains.

There were also significant radial systems operating from Hamilton, St. Catharines, Windsor, and throughout the Grand River Valley, the last of which may see a revival should Grand River Transit obtain funding to build a light railway between Waterloo, Kitchener, and eventually Cambridge, running partially on the tracks of the former Grand River Railway. Hamilton and the Niagara Region are also investigating the possibility of reviving former interurban railway routes as modern light rail.

[edit] Europe

In Europe, lines that fit the interurban definition were rare historically. A whole large interurban system in continuous service exists however since 1894 at Upper Silesia in Poland connecting cities and towns of this densily populated region (See Silesian Interurbans for more information). More common were either wholly urban, street-running tram systems or light rail systems operating wholly on dedicated rights of way. See tram-train for information about modern European systems running on the streets in cities but on railway lines outside them.

[edit] Germany

In Germany, Interurbans that fit the whole definition were uncommon. However, in many instances the definition is almost met.

One of these cases are the many early sondary (connecting) railway lines that were built in the onset of the 20th century. Many of them were street-running in urban and suburban areas while using a dedicated right of way in less populated areas. Those lines were usually operated with mainline stock, however very few were electrified. Most of them have disappeared or were moved onto a full dedicated right of way due to increasing street traffic and safety concerns. One of the few such railway lines still in service is the steam operated narrow-gauge Molli train between Bad Doberan and Kühlungsborn West on the shore of the Baltic Sea in the north-eastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pommerania which is street-running inside Bad Doberan and has its own right of way on the rest of the line.

Another not uncommon case are interurban tramways. Germany has numerous areas where several larger cities are clustered together, and there were always places not served by mainline railway lines. Often urban tramways companies jumped at the opportunity and built over-land tramway lines, sometimes linking two existing tramway networks together. Those lines were run with standard tramway cars.

After WWII these Interurban tramways were modernised and now dubbed Stadtbahn. All of them are street-running in city areas and use a dedicated right of way between cities, and all of them are electrified. Rolling stock used is either standard tramway cars or special heavier cars which still qualify for tramway use in street-running lines as regulated in BOStrab. Generally, the stadtbahn systems fit the definition of an interurban once their network leaves city boundaries.

One particularily large effort was the Stadtbahn Rhein-Ruhr which was meant to grow to a length of 300 km (180 miles), spanning over 10 cities of the Ruhrgebiet industial area, building upon already existing interurban and urban tramway lines. Although those plans were later abolished due to exploding costs, 17 stadtbahn lines between Krefeld in the west and Dortmund in the east were finished and today one can travel from Krefeld to Bochum without using a single mainline train. The only link missing is between Bochum and Dortmund.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Hilton and Due, pp. 53-65.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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