Hot Springs Street Railroad

Streetcars in Hot Springs, Arkansas

Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge

Hot Springs Street Railroad
Overview

Loading platform and streetcars ready for the race track crowd
Headquarters	Hot Springs
Locale	Arkansas
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge

The Hot Springs Street Railroad ran from Hot Springs to the race track.^[1] The future extension of the street railroad to the race track was reported in the Forrest City Times in January 1894.^[2] The same company that owned this street railway, also owned the other Hot Springs public utilities companies for water, gas and electricity.^[3]^[4]

The limited number of streetcars owned by the Hot Springs Street Railroad, together with the fact that all those people attending the races wanted to go to the grounds and return to the city at practically the same time, necessitated the adoption of some unusual methods in handling passengers.^[5]

At the race track was a loading yard, which was 800 feet (240 m) long by about 125 feet (38 m) wide, enclosed in a picket fence 8 feet (2.4 m) high. At one end was a loading shed 180 feet (55 m) long and 35 feet (11 m)wide, and from which several gates gave entrance to the grounds. The loading yards contained storage tracks for twenty-five cars. All the cars going to the races were put in special service and no fares are collected on them. Instead, the fares were collected as the passengers went through the gates leading into the grounds.^[5]

At the end of the races about twenty-five cars are waiting in the loading yard and fares are collected as passengers passed through the gates. Four cars were drawn up to the loading platform at a time and were started out at close intervals. The method had the great advantage of securing all fares without trouble.^[5]

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References

↑ Humanities, National Endowment for the (1918-09-21). "The Sentinel=record. (Hot Springs, Ark.) 1900-current, September 21, 1918, Image 3". p. 3. ISSN 2693-1044. Retrieved 2021-09-13.
↑ Humanities, National Endowment for the (1894-01-12). "The Forrest City times. [volume] (Forrest City, Ark.) 1871-1919, January 12, 1894, Image 8". Retrieved 2021-10-17.
↑ Humanities, National Endowment for the (1913-08-21). "The log cabin Democrat. [volume] (Conway, Ark.) 1908-current, August 21, 1913, Image 4". p. 4. ISSN 2692-9090. Retrieved 2021-10-17.
↑ Humanities, National Endowment for the (1914-04-12). "The Sentinel=record. (Hot Springs, Ark.) 1900-current, April 12, 1914, SECOND SECTION, Image 10". p. 2. ISSN 2693-1044. Retrieved 2021-10-17.
1 2 3 Handling Traffic at the Hot Spring Races. In: The Street Railway Journal. Volume 29, No 12, p. 494. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

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Hot Springs Street Railroad

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