Customer Reviews

Baltimore Streetcars: The Postwar Years

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On one hand, a reviewer of this book COULD demand more narrative analysis of the Baltimore Transit Company as a business operation, or more details about its roster of rolling stock and maps of the routes served. What were the dynamics between the company's top leadership and the public utility commission that regulated public transit back in those days? One suspects that some colorful personalities were involved, but this book doesn't delve into that subject. A review Baltimore's streetcar operators and their work-a-day culture would have added another layer of interest, especially in light of the post-war era's rapid changes in technology and society. That is also absent.

On the other hand, this book's fascinating collection of photos and captions are the reader's reward. Resplendent streetscape details are captured in prints derived mostly from large-format, black & white negatives. While the streetcars are of course the subject, the same photos are also a window on post-war Baltimore and its unpretentious people in unposed, candid moments. This time-capsule quality alone makes this book very enjoyable. In the end, the lack of operating stats and other trivia is forgivable.

Rails criss-crossing vitually every street in gritty downtown baltimore. A 4,000+ foot long "EL" somewhere in the central city.....trolleys traveling down dirt roads with horse-drawn carts. Trolleys over rivers and lakes. PCCs and deck-roof cars running at the same time until the end in 1963.

These are just some of the fine collection of images you will enjoy within the covers of this book. True - it is missing some key technical information on rolling stock, and a more detailed map would have been nice. But the photos in this book wil without doubt take you back to a more simpler "analog" time that existed in America.

To be sure, some of Baltimore has improved since the 1950's, but it was a time when its streecars had character, and was its main mode of transport.

For an escape back in time for the transit enthusiast, this book will not dissapoint you.

I purchased this book from Amazon.Com as a gift for my 82 year old father. I grew up in Baltimore City, MD and remember the electric streetcar, the trip downtown to see the decorated windows of the department stores at Christmas.
My father has always loved the lure of the streetcar and memories of his youth riding the trolley to end of the line.
My father loved the book and has referred to it many times when working on his "Picture Box Scenes" of the Baltimore trolley lines. The Baltimore Street Car Museum even has three of his trolley scenes on display.
I highly recommend this book, as I not only love the book myself, but I am so pleased to see my father's eyes light up every time he opens it and brings back a time that only seems like yesterday to him.