History: August 2005 Archives

Hoping to duplicate the success of the New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad Company (NO&C), the New Orleans City Railroad Company (NOCRR) purchased Square 365 for the purpose of constructing a transportation facility. Square 365 is bounded by N. Dupre, Iberville, N. White, and Canal. With a construction budget of $5,142, the company constructed a two-building car barn on the square in 1861. The original Canal Street line opened on June 1, 1861, running from the barn to the river. Since the line proved to be popular, service was soon extended lakebound past the barn to the cemeteries. The cars used at this time were “bobtail” cars from the John C. Stephenson Car Company of New York. The cars were mule-powered.

In 1876, the city gave NOCRR permission to operate a steam-powered street railway line from Canal and Carondelet Streets downtown to Lake Pontchartrain. This became the West End line, and the steam motive equipment for the line was stored and serviced at Canal Station until the line was electrified in 1898.

Canal Station in 1990, showing the post-1964 modifications to the Canal Street side.

With the discontinuance of the Canal streetcar line in 1964, NOPSI converted Canal Station to an all-bus facility. The company turned over the transit system to the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (RTA) in 1983. RTA demolished Canal Station in 1992, to make way for the A. Philip Randolph SIS facility. In 2003, a streetcar barn returned to Canal Street, in the back section of the Randolph facility.
Canal Station was extended back to Bienville Street in 1883, with the acquisition of Square 366. The station’s tracks were extended across Iberville Street and a new barn was constructed for the steam equipment.

The barn housing the steam equipment, as well as the blacksmith and saddlery shops were destroyed in a fire on January 20, 1887. Losses were put at approximately $100,000, but service on the Canal line was not interrupted. The facility was re-built, with the original 1861 buildings being incorporated into two larger buildings.

Canal Station was electrified in the spring of 1894, and the Canal line began operating Brill semi-convertible electric cars in August of 1894. The station was turned over to New Orleans Public Service, Incorporated (NOPSI), in 1924, as part of the overall consolidation of the city’s transit system.

Canal Station was the scene of numerous protests during the transit strike of 1929, with the station and its streetcars receiving minor damage from strikers. Even though NOPSI expanded the use of diesel-powered buses in the 1930s, Canal Station remained exclusively a streetcar facility. In 1940, NOPSI acquired the two adjoining lakebound squares and expanded Canal Station, adding facilities for buses. Building Number 2 was converted to a bus garage, and the expansion area became unsheltered bus storage.

Named after E. J. Morris, who was Master Mechanic of the shops at Canal Station, these cars were built by the New Orleans Railways Company in 1902 and 1903. The design of the Morris cars was based on the Barney & Smith cars in use by the New Orleans City R.R. on the West End line. (The NOCRR merged into the NO Rys. Co. in 1902.)

The Morris cars were 52 feet long and just over 8 feet wide. They seated 64 riders. Originally they were built with open platforms on either end. They were numbered 046 to 057, following in sequence behind the original “Palace” cars.

This photo of car 055 shows it running on the Canal Belt line. The open platform indicates that the photo was shot before the Morris Cars were re-fitted with closed platforms in 1904. The Morris Cars were renumbered 513 to 524 in 1917. Cars 519-524 had their motors removed in 1918 and pulled by powered cars as trailers on the Canal-Cemeteries line. The motorized cars were removed from service and scrapped from 1921-24, with 518 being kept on until 1931. The trailers were scrapped from 1930-32.

Specifications:

* Builder: New Orleans Railways Company
* Date: 1902-03
* Trucks: Taylor Hi Speed “A”
* Wheels: 33”
* Motors: four GE 800 (25hp)
* Length: 52’ 0”
* Width: 8’ 5”
* Body Length: 40’ 8”
* Number of seats: 64
* Type of seats: cross
* Cost per car: $5,440.87

The very first streetcars to operate on the Canal Line were built by the John Stephenson Car Company of New York. The cars were designed for one-man operation. The rounded front end was for the driver; passengers boarded from the rear on a set of “bobtail” steps.

We don’t have any builders’ specifications on these cars, but they appear to be similar in length to a 7-window, single-truck electric car. That puts their length at approximately 28’. They most likely seated 26-28 passengers.

The Stephenson cars were usually horse-powered, but mules were the primary power for the cars in New Orleans. Mules are tougher workers in New Orleans’ summer heat and humidity.

The Stephenson cars operated by the New Orleans City RR Company on the Canal Line were painted red and white, while the Orleans RR Company cars (like the one in the above photo) were painted green for the Bayou St. John Line and Red for the French Market Line.