Interurban
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.
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).
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, ususally 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.
Electrification
Most interurban railways in North America were electrified using low-voltage
direct current systems popular with
street railways.
[Hilton and Due, pp. 53-65.] 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.
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.
Passenger service
Freight service
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. In Central
Virginia, interurban lines connected City Point and Hopewell with Petersburg, and Petersburg with Richmond. Another connected Richmond with Ashland.
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.
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.
The
Philadelphia and Western Railroad is now
SEPTA's
Norristown High Speed Line, and has many characteristics of a
rapid transit system, including full grade separation and high platforms. The
Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad is now
NICTD's
South Shore Line, and still includes a
street running section in
Michigan City, Indiana, but has many characteristics of a
commuter rail operation, including sharing the trackage of the
Metra Electric Line (formerly the
Illinois Central Railroad) into downtown
Chicago.
In
Los Angeles, the
LACMTA Blue Line uses much trackage that was the
Pacific Electric's route between Los Angeles and
Long Beach. There is street trackage at both the Long Beach and Los Angeles ends of the line, and a short subway section at the Los Angeles terminus.
Other lines that have some characteristics of an interurban include:
*The
Green Line "D" Branch in
Boston, a streetcar line on a grade-separated right-of-way formerly belonging to the
Boston and Albany Railroad, a steam railroad
*The
Ashmont-Mattapan High Speed Line in
Boston, a streetcar line on a right-of-way formerly belonging to the
Dorchester and Milton Branch Railroad, a steam railroad
*The
IRT Dyre Avenue Line in
New York City, a
rapid transit line on a section of the former
New York, Westchester and Boston Railway, an interurban
The
Iowa Traction Railroad (former
Mason City and Clear Lake Railway) still operates electric freight service. Several others, such as the
Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railway and
Central California Traction Company now operate as
diesel locomotive powered freight lines. The
Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad operates freight service along the passenger
South Shore Line.
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.
The first interurban line in the world opened in
1887 and 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 streetcar 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.
In Europe, lines that fit the interurban definition were rare historically. 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.
*
*
*
List of interurbans*
:Category:Interurbans*
Railway electrification*
Box motor - an interurban car for freight transport
*
Steeplecab - a style of
electric locomotive popular on interurbans for freight service
*
Boxcab - another style of electric locomotive
*
Interurbans: The technology of economical local transport in the United States*
Dave's Electric Railroads, a collection of electric railroad, interurban, and streetcar photography from many eras
*
Principle (sic) Interurban Car builders of the U.S*
Roster of Preserved North American Electric Railway Cars*
The Last Interurbans
