C. F. Zimpel engineered the NO&C, ordered cars, eqpt., approved structures, etc. 1834 pur. 2d hand PM DR DD (open upper deck) “Orleans” fm. Pontchartrain RR (BLT Worsdells in GB 1831, design for carriages on Liverpool & Manchester Ry. - first class type) - three compartment plan. The NO&C used this design for streetcar operations, BLT several which served until Stephenson BT cars replaced them in 1868 (P - N). Pontch. RR had 3 more of these which poss. NO&C pur. - modifications: double steps inverted “V” each end, driver's seat at apex of steps, LGT back-to-back seats (benches), canvass top to shade riders, running board steps along each side - access to 3 CPT doors. Facing, fixed TV seats ea. CPT. DP #162 7/31/54 Monday Evening Edition, long description by city atty. J. Livingston, calling cars “hideous boxes” (NO&C in dispute with city over operating franchise fees, temp. suspension of streetcar service). Poss. more info if city atty. records of 1854 still in existence. Harper & Merrick leased NO&C 1/1/37 to 7/1/38 (had done some contracted work for NO&C) thus poss. influencing car designs/changes (G). DP 12/2/66 called the famous DD cars “skyscrapers” (1864 P - S p. 106, G p. 15) in oper. for 31 years with 2 years remaining, for more years than electric cars, in some instances, built sixty years later! Scale drawing this section. Also see DP 6/30/07 magazine section p. 4. Cars operated on “Lafayette” Line (later Jackson) 1835-68, poss. Napoleon and Louisiana Lines (beginning 1850) and did operate on the short-lived Magazine-Race, later LaCourse, Line.
Other cars before 1868: NO&C poss. oper. conventional (single-deck) cars - P (line drawing) in G p. 32, platform car fitted for experiment in 1867. In same year, NO&C RB & SLD 12 of such cars to Orleans RR Co. (No. 8) for their inauguration.
There were two poss. models of DD cars that NO&C operated. NC p. 38 has P (print) with inverted “V” steps arrangement on the car's sides. Francis (“Frank”) Henry Temple Bellew made that print which supposedly exists at the Cabildo (State Museum), according to NC. Ballou's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion featured it in Vol. 9, p. 156 in 1855. The car seems to be based on illus. in Illustrated London News of Nov. 9, 1853 of a DD car with almost identical side-mounted steps which actually inaugurated Paris' first tramway, opened that year, promoted by Joseph Alphonse Loubat. Loubat designed the Paris car, and did travel in the U. S. In 1853, he visited New York City and N. O., even buying property in N. O. At first, authors of S regarded the Bellew print as an inaccurate drawing of a Worsdell DD, but the Loubat connection raises questions.
A DD model which appears as early as the mid 1850s is another poss. — see G p. 37 and S p. 107. The photo in S shows a side panel illus. on NO&C car 63. No other evidence this type operated in N. O.
The last roster of NO&C streetcars before BT replacements came in 1868: G p. 46 cites a listing of 6 DT, 5 “single horsecars” (apparently after 12, or a portion of them, were RB & SLD).
In 1868, NO&C ordered 60+ PM BR BT models from Stephenson, P - S p. 107, car 35. It was reported the NO&C considered Brill at first, but Stephenson got the order. BT cars used on all NO&C lines, animal traction except on St. Charles above Napoleon where Lamm Thermospecific locos were used. In 1870, NO&C had 54 cars, and 61 by 1872. In 1874, NO&C regular service required 40 cars on St. Charles, 14 on Jackson, and 5 on Napoleon and Louisiana. These improvements were the policy of the company's president, Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard.
In the 1880s, Supt. C. V. Haile launched a massive car rehabilitation program. Many cars completely RB as to be considered new cars. DR replaced BR in some instances, and PM were fitted with stabilizers (see S p. 107, car 63, and p. 106 (interior view) from P — bulkhead inscription bears “Louis Y. Atter, NO&C RR Co 1891” (unfortunately research failed to find who Mr. Atter was!). No. 63 surely not a St. Louis Car Co. product — must be a RB Stephenson.
NO&C 1888 annual report claims 50 BT completely RB. Next year's report states 21 RB since 1887, and the 1890 report says 17 more RB and “Two new BT cars BLT.” The Lamm locos were withdrawn 5/1/89, after this date mules pulled all NO&C streetcars. Just before electric cars replaced BT, the Department of the Interior reported there were 235 mules and 66 cars in service.
While their BT were Stephenson-BLT, the NO&C did order parts from Brill:
| 140 Ash Sash | ON 1924 1/19/88 |
| 1000 “Ft. Panels” | ON 1977 2/21/88 |
| " | ON 2345 2/14/89 |
| 85 Ash Sash “Glazed” | ON 2599 6/22/89 |
| 112 Ash Sash Frames | ON 3031 6/14/90 |
| 127 Ash Sash | ON 3975 1/8/92 “soon” |
N. O. City Ord. 3/23/35 permitted J. Arrowsmith to BLD this street ry. to carry burial parties to cemeteries and develop his real estate. City bore much of the expense. Engineering firm of Thomas Harper & George Merrick BLT the railroad and poss. its equipment. The 2nd District City Council meetings discussed the cars' design (the B contains minutes of those meetings, and the complete minutes are in the N. O. City Library's Louisiana Collection. Poss. Worsdell influence in this eqpt.). No P or drawing discovered — complete minutes not yet researched. Council asked cars capable of carrying caskets as well as seated passengers. OSR quickly failed, poss. early as 1837. 1838 revival not successful (N). Disposition of equipt. unknown (H & M sold the cars — G p. 15). Note: Ripley's “Believe It Or Not” featured the Orleans St. RR “streetcar to cemeteries” in newspaper column, standard regular format, with sketch of one streetcar.
Copyright © 2008 Louis C. Hennick. All rights reserved.
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