A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is an animal-powered (usually

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...

)

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

or streetcar.

Summary

The horse-drawn tram (horsecar) was an early form of

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

rail transport Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...

, which developed out of industrial haulage routes that had long been in existence, and from the

omnibus Omnibus may refer to: Film and television * ''Omnibus'' (film) * Omnibus (broadcast), a compilation of Radio or TV episodes * ''Omnibus'' (UK TV series), an arts-based documentary programme * ''Omnibus'' (U.S. TV series), an educational progr ...

routes that first ran on public streets in the 1820s{{{citation needed, date=February 2022, using the newly improved iron or steel rail or ' tramway'. They were local versions of the

stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...

lines and picked up and dropped off passengers on a regular route, without the need to be pre-hired. Horsecars on tramlines were an improvement over the omnibus, because the low

rolling resistance Rolling resistance, sometimes called rolling friction or rolling drag, is the force resisting the motion when a body (such as a ball, tire, or wheel) rolls on a surface. It is mainly caused by non-elastic effects; that is, not all the energy nee ...

of metal wheels on

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

rails Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Rail (rail transport) or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' ( ...

(usually grooved from 1852 on) allowed the animals to haul a greater load for a given effort than the omnibus, and gave a smoother ride. The horse-drawn streetcar combined the low cost, flexibility, and safety of animal power with the efficiency, smoothness, and all-weather capability of a rail track. Animal power at the time was seen as safer than steam power in that early locomotives frequently suffered from

boiler explosion A boiler explosion is a catastrophic failure of a boiler. There are two types of boiler explosions. One type is a failure of the pressure parts of the steam and water sides. There can be many different causes, such as failure of the safety valve ...

s. Rails were seen as all-weather because streets of the time might be poorly paved, or not paved at all, allowing wagon wheels to sink in mud during rain or snow.

History

Canada

In 1861,

Toronto Street Railway The Toronto Street Railway (TSR) was the operator of a horse-drawn streetcar system from 1861 to 1891 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its successor, the Toronto Railway Company, inherited the horsecar system and electrified it between 1892 and 1894 ...

horsecars replaced horse-drawn omnibuses as a public transit mode in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. Electric streetcars later replaced the horsecars between 1892 and 1894. The Toronto Street Railway created Toronto's unique broad gauge of {{RailGauge, toronto. The streets were unpaved, and a step rail was employed. The horsecars had flanged wheels and ran on the upper level of the step. Ordinary wagons and carriages ran on the broad lower step inside. This necessitated a wider gauge. This broad

Toronto gauge Toronto-gauge railways are tram and rapid transit lines built to Toronto gauge, a broad gauge of . This is wider than standard gauge of which is by far the most common track gauge in Canada. The gauge is unique to the Greater Toronto Area and i ...

is still used today by the

Toronto streetcar system The Toronto streetcar system is a network of nine streetcar routes in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). It is the busiest light-rail system in North America. The network is concentrated primarily in Dow ...

and three lines of the

Toronto subway The Toronto subway is a rapid transit system serving Toronto and the neighbouring city of Vaughan in Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). It is a multimodal transport, multimodal rail network consisting of three Pa ...

. {{cite book, title=Not a One Horse Town , author-link = Mike Filey , first = Mike , last = Filey , isbn = 0-9691501-1-3 , location =

North York, Ontario North York is one of the six administrative districts of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located directly north of York, Old Toronto and East York, between Etobicoke to the west and Scarborough to the east. As of the 2016 Census, it had a popu ...

, publisher =

Firefly Books The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production ...

, year = 1986 , page=unpaged The

Metropolitan Street Railway The New York Railways Company operated street railways in Manhattan, New York City, United States between 1911 and 1925. The company went into receivership in 1919 and control was passed to the New York Railways Corporation in 1925 after which al ...

operated a horsecar line in then-suburban

North Toronto North Toronto is a former town and informal district located in the northern part of the Old Toronto district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Currently occupying a geographically central location within the city of Toronto, the Town of North Toronto w ...

from 1885 until the line was electrified in 1890; this horsecar line also used Toronto gauge. {{cite book , url = http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM255028&R=255028 , title = Riding the Radials, Toronto's Suburban Electric Streetcar Lines , author = Robert M. Stamp , publisher = The Boston Mills Press , year = 1989 , access-date = 2016-04-16 , isbn = 1-55046-008-0 , quote = Chapter 1 - The Spinal Cord of Yonge Street

India

{{main, Trams in India The first horse-drawn trams in India ran a {{convert, 2.4, mi, km, adj=on distance between

Sealdah Sealdah is a neighbourhood of Central Kolkata in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Etymology Jackals (''sheal'' in Bengali) howled around Sealdah. Antiquarians identify it as Shrigaldwipa (Jackal Island). Nearby Beliaghata wa ...

and Armenian Ghat Street on 24 February 1873. The service was discontinued on 20 November of that year.
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927004918/http://www.calcuttatramways.com/history.aspx , date=2013-09-27 CTC website. Accessed 16 August 2013. The Calcutta Tramway Company was formed and registered in London on 22 December 1880. Metre-gauge horse-drawn tram tracks were laid from Sealdah to Armenian Ghat via Bowbazar Street, Dalhousie Square and Strand Road. The route was inaugurated by George Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon, Viceroy Ripon on 1 November 1880. In 1882, steam locomotives were deployed experimentally to haul tram cars. By the end of the 19th century the company owned 166 tram cars, 1000 horses, seven steam locomotives and 19 miles of tram tracks. In 1900, electrification of the tramway and reconstruction of its tracks to {{RailGauge, ussg (

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

) began. In 1902, the first electric tramcar in India ran from

Esplanade An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortress or city walls to provide cle ...

Kidderpore Khidirpur or Kidderpore is a neighborhood of metropolitan Kolkata (Calcutta), in Kolkata district, West Bengal, India. Etymology Most plausibly, the name is a corruption of ''Khidrpur'' or ''Khizarpur'', Khizr/Khidr being the guardian sai ...

on 27 March and on 14 June from Esplanade to

Kalighat Kalighat is a locality of Kolkata, in Kolkata district, West Bengal, India. One of the oldest neighbourhoods in South Kolkata, Kalighat is also densely populated — with a history of cultural intermingling with the various foreign incursions i ...

. The Bombay Tramway Company was set up in 1873. After a contract was signed between the Bombay Tramway Company, the municipality and the Stearns and Kitteredge company, the Bombay Presidency enacted the Bombay Tramways Act, 1874 licensing the company to run a horsecar tram service in the city. On 9 May 1874 the first horse-drawn carriage made its début in the city, plying the

Colaba Colaba (; or ISO: Kolābā) is a part of the city of Mumbai, India. It is one of the four peninsulas of Mumbai while the other three are Worli, Bandra and Malabar Hill. During Portuguese rule in the 16th century, the island was known as Kolbhat ...

–

Pydhone Pydhonie is a neighbourhood in South Mumbai. Etymologically the name is derived from the Marathi word ''Py'' which means feet, and ''dhoné'' which means "to wash". Thus the name means "A place where feet are washed." The name Pydhonie or "foot ...

via

Crawford Market Crawford Market (officially Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Mandai) is one of South Mumbai's most famous markets. The building was completed in 1869, and donated to the city by Cowasji Jehangir. Originally named after Arthur Crawford, the first Municipal ...

, and

Bori Bunder Bori Bunder (also known as Bori Bandar) is an area along the Eastern shore line of Mumbai, India. Background This place was used as a storehouse for goods imported and exported from Mumbai. In the local language, 'Bori' mean sack and 'Bandar' ...

Pydhonie Pydhonie is a neighbourhood in South Mumbai. Etymologically the name is derived from the Marathi word ''Py'' which means feet, and ''dhoné'' which means "to wash". Thus the name means "A place where feet are washed." The name Pydhonie or "foot ...

via

Kalbadevi Kalbadevi is an old neighbourhood in Mumbai (Bombay), India. It is named after Goddess Kalbadevi, the Hindu Goddess. Kalbadevi area is one of the busiest areas during peak hours. The area has mostly traders in watches, bicycles, steel utensils, e ...

routes. The initial fare was three

annas Annas (also Ananus or Ananias;Goodman, Martin, "Rome & Jerusalem", Penguin Books, p.12 (2007) , ; grc-x-koine, Ἅννας, ; 23/22 BC – death date unknown, probably around AD 40) was appointed by the Roman legate Quirinius as the first High ...

(15

paise Paisa (also transliterated as ''pice'', ''pesa'', ''poysha'', ''poisha'' and ''baisa'') is a monetary unit in several countries. The word is also a generalised idiom for money and wealth. In India, Nepal, and Pakistan, the ''Paisa'' currently equa ...

pre-decimalisation), and no tickets were issued. As the service became increasingly popular, the fare was reduced to two annas (10 pre-decimalisation paise). Later that year, tickets were issued to curb increasing ticket-less travel. Stearns and Kitteredge reportedly had a stable of 1,360 horses over the lifetime of the service.{{cite book , last1=Aklekar , first1=Rajendra B , title=Halt station India : the dramatic tale of the nation's first rail lines , year=2014 , publisher=

Rupa & Co Rupa Publications is an Indian publishing company based in New Delhi, with sales centres in Kolkata, Allahabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Jaipur, Hyderabad and Kathmandu. Genesis Rupa Publications was founded in 1936 by D. Mehra and R. K. Me ...

, isbn=9788129134974 , page=193 , access-date=23 April 2019 , url=http://rupapublications.co.in/books/halt-station-india/

United Kingdom

The first tram services in the world were started by the

Swansea and Mumbles Railway The Swansea and Mumbles Railway was the venue for the world's first passenger horsecar railway service, located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. Originally built under an Act of Parliament of 1804 to move limestone from the quarries of Mum ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, using specially designed carriages on an existing tramline built for horse-drawn freight dandies. Fare-paying passengers were carried on a line between

Oystermouth Oystermouth (a corruption of the Welsh name ''Ystum Llwynarth'' or ''Ystumllwynarth'') is a village (and former electoral ward) in the district of Mumbles, Swansea, Wales. It is part of the Mumbles community (civil parish). Description The wa ...

Mumbles Mumbles ( cy, Mwmbwls) is a headland sited on the western edge of Swansea Bay on the southern coast of Wales. Toponym Mumbles has been noted for its unusual place name. The headland is thought by some to have been named by French sailors, ...

and Swansea Docks from 1807. The

Gloucester and Cheltenham Tramroad The Gloucester and Cheltenham Tramroad, also known as the Gloucester and Cheltenham Railway, connected Gloucester and Cheltenham with horse-drawn trams. Its primary economic purpose was the transport of coal from Gloucester's (then new) docks to ...

(1809) carried passengers although its main purpose was freight. In spite of its early start, it took many years for horse-drawn streetcars to become widely acceptable across Britain; the American

George Francis Train George Francis Train (March 24, 1829 – January 18, 1904) was an American entrepreneur who organized the clipper ship line that sailed around Cape Horn to San Francisco; he also organized the Union Pacific Railroad and the Credit Mobilier in th ...

first introduced them to

Birkenhead Corporation Tramways Birkenhead Corporation Tramways operated a tramway service in Birkenhead between 1901 and 1937. History In 1860, Birkenhead started the first street tramway in Britain, shortly before London. The Birkenhead Corporation Tramway company was fo ...

' predecessor in

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...

in 1860 but was jailed for "breaking and injuring" the highway when he next tried to lay the first tram tracks on the roads of

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. An 1870 Act of Parliament overcame these legal obstacles by defining responsibilities and for the next three decades many local tramway companies were founded, using horse-drawn carriages, until replaced by

cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

, steam or electric traction. Many companies adopted a design of a partly enclosed double-decker carriage hauled by two horses. The last horse-drawn tram was retired from London in 1915. Horses continued to be used for light shunting well into the 20th century. The last horse used for shunting on British Railways was retired on 21 February 1967 in

Newmarket, Suffolk Newmarket is a market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. Located (14 miles) west of Bury St Edmunds and (14 miles) northeast of Cambridge. It is considered the birthplace and global centre of thoroughbred hor ...

United States

In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

the very first streetcar appeared in New Orleans in 1832, operated by the

Pontchartrain Railroad Pontchartrain Rail-Road was the first railway in New Orleans, Louisiana. Chartered in 1830, the railroad began carrying people and goods between the Mississippi River front and Lake Pontchartrain on 23 April 1831. It closed more than 100 years late ...

Company, followed by those in 1832 on the

New York and Harlem Railroad The New York and Harlem Railroad (now the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line) was one of the first railroads in the United States, and was the world's first street railway. Designed by John Stephenson, it was opened in stages between 1832 and ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Middleton, William D. (1967). ''The Time of the Trolley'', pp. 13 and 424. Milwaukee:

Kalmbach Publishing Kalmbach Media (formerly Kalmbach Publishing Co.) is an American publisher of books and magazines, many of them railroad-related, located in Waukesha, Wisconsin. History The company's first publication was ''The Model Railroader'', which be ...

. {{ISBN, 0-89024-013-2. The latter cars were designed by John Stephenson of

New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle (; older french: La Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the seventh-largest in the state of ...

, and constructed at his

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

in New York City. The earliest streetcars used horses and sometimes mules, usually two as a team, to haul the cars. Rarely, other animals were tried, including humans in emergency circumstances. By the mid-1880s, there were 415 street railway companies in the USA operating over {{convert, 6,000, mi, km of track and carrying 188 million passengers per year using horsecars. By 1890 New Yorkers took 297 horsecar rides per capita per year. The average street car horse had a life expectancy of about two years.{{cite magazine , url=http://www.uctc.net/access/30/Access%2030%20-%2002%20-%20Horse%20Power.pdf , title=From Horse Power to Horsepower , publisher=University of California Transportation Center , author=Eric Morris , date=Spring 2007 , magazine=Access , issue=30 , pages=2–9 , location=Berkeley, CA , access-date=2014-02-17 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140124204000/http://www.uctc.net/access/30/Access%2030%20-%2002%20-%20Horse%20Power.pdf , archive-date=2014-01-24

Elsewhere

The first horse-drawn rail cars on the

Continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...

were operated from 1828 by the České Budějovice - Linz railway. Europe saw a proliferation of horsecar use for new tram services from the mid-1860s, with many towns building new networks. Tropical plantations (for products such as

henequen Henequen (''Agave fourcroydes'') is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae, native to southern Mexico and Guatemala. It is reportedly naturalized in Italy, the Canary Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Hispaniola, the Cayman Islands and ...

and

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...

s) made extensive use of animal-powered trams for both passengers and freight, often employing the

Decauville Decauville () was a manufacturing company which was founded by Paul Decauville (1846–1922), a French pioneer in industrial railways. Decauville's major innovation was the use of ready-made sections of light, narrow gauge track fastened to steel ...

narrow-gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structur ...

portable track system. In some cases these systems were very extensive and evolved into

interurban The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 a ...

tram networks (as in the Yucatan, which sported over {{convert, 3,000, km, mi, sp=us of such lines). Surviving examples may be found in both the Yucatan{{cite web, url=http://www.tramz.com/mx/yu/yu70.html, title=The Tramways of Yucatán - Part 4, author=Allen Morrison, access-date=2008-12-23 and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

.{{cite web, url=http://www.tsfr.org/~efbrazil/efs_decauville.html, title=E.F.S. - The Decauville Section, access-date=2008-12-23

Decline

Problems with horsecars included the fact that any given animal could only work so many hours on a given day, had to be housed, groomed, fed and cared for day in and day out, and produced prodigious amounts of manure, which the streetcar company was charged with storing and then disposing. Since a typical horse pulled a streetcar for about a dozen miles ({{convert, 12, mi, km, disp=output only) a day and worked for four or five hours, many systems needed ten or more horses in stable for each horsecar. Horsecars were largely replaced by electric-powered

streetcars A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

following the invention by

Frank J. Sprague Frank Julian Sprague (July 25, 1857 in Milford, Connecticut – October 25, 1934) was an American inventor who contributed to the development of the electric motor, electric railways, and electric elevators. His contributions were especially ...

of an overhead trolley system on streetcars for collecting electricity from

overhead wire An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as: * Overhead catenary * Overhead contact system (OCS) * Overhead equipmen ...

s. His spring-loaded

trolley pole A trolley pole is a tapered cylindrical pole of wood or metal, used to transfer electricity from a "live" (electrified) overhead wire to the control and the electric traction motors of a tram or trolley bus. It is a type of current collector. Th ...

used a wheel to travel along the wire. In late 1887 and early 1888, using his trolley system, Sprague installed the first successful large electric street railway system in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

. Long a transportation obstacle, the hills of Richmond included grades of over 10%, and were an excellent proving ground for acceptance of the new technology in other cities. Within a year, the economy of electric power had replaced more costly horsecars in many cities. By 1889, 110 electric railways incorporating Sprague's equipment had been begun or planned on several continents. Many large metropolitan lines lasted well into the early twentieth century.

had a regular horsecar service on the Bleecker Street Line until its closure in 1917.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, had its Sarah Street line drawn by horses until 1923. The last regular mule-drawn cars in the US ran in

Sulphur Rock, Arkansas Sulphur Rock is a town in Independence County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 456 at the 2010 census. Geography Sulphur Rock is located approximately six miles east of Batesville along Arkansas Highway 69 and about four miles north ...

, until 1926 and were commemorated by a

U.S. postage stamp Postal service in the United States began with the delivery of stampless letters whose cost was borne by the receiving person, later encompassed pre-paid letters carried by private mail carriers and provisional post offices, and culminated in a ...

issued in 1983.{{cite web, url=http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=3727, title=Sulphur Rock Street Car; Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, access-date=2008-12-23

's horse-drawn streetcar operations ended in 1891.{{cite book , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cw6yAF4EHCAC , title=From Horse Power to Horsepower: Toronto: 1890-1930 , publisher=

Dundurn Press Dundurn Press is one of the largest Canadian-owned book publishing companies of adult and children's fiction and non-fiction. The company publishes Canadian literature, history, biography, politics and arts. Dundurn has about 2500 books in print, ...

, author=Mike Filey , author-link=Mike Filey , date=1996 , page=74 , isbn=9781554881734 In other countries animal-powered tram services often continued well into the 20th century; the last mule tram service in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

ended in 1932, and a mule tram in

Celaya, Mexico Celaya (; ) is a city and its surrounding municipality in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, located in the southeast quadrant of the state. It is the third most populous city in the state, with a 2005 census population of 310,413. The municipality ...

, survived until 1954.{{cite web , url=http://www.tramz.com/mx/ce/ce.html, title=The Indomitable Tramways of Celaya, author=Allen Morrison, access-date=2008-12-22

Operational horsecars

A few original horsecar lines have survived or have been revived as tourist attractions, and in recent years several replica horsecar lines have been built. Below is a list of locations around the world with operational horsecars that are open to the public. {, class=wikitable !Location !Image !Coordinates !Address !Country !Track gauge !Year originally built !Notes , - ,

Ardenwood Historic Farm Ardenwood Historic Farm is a Regional Historic Landmark in Fremont, California. It is managed by the East Bay Regional Park District. The Ardenwood Historic Farm consists of the Ardenwood Station, the former Ohlone village and burial site, a bla ...

, , {{Coord, 37.561714, N, 122.042165, W, type:landmark, name=Ardenwood Historic Farm , Fremont, California , {{Flagicon, United States USA , {{TrackGauge, 3ft, lk=on , 1988 ,

Diesel locomotives A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving wheels ...

also pull passengers on this line and

steam locomotives A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

are used during special events. , - ,

Döbeln Tramway The Döbeln Tramway or ''Döbelner Straßenbahn'' is a tramway in the German town of Döbeln. It is the only horse-drawn tram line to operate on its original urban route in Germany, and one of only a handful in the world. The Döbeln Tramway w ...

, {{Coord, 51.119467, N, 13.119690, E, type:landmark, name=Döbeln Tramway ,

Döbeln Döbeln ( hsb, Doblin) is a town in Saxony, Germany, part of the Mittelsachsen district, on both banks of the river Freiberger Mulde. History * 981: First written mention of Döbeln (Margravate of Meissen). * Around 1220: Döbeln is described ...

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

, {{Flagicon, Germany Germany , {{TrackGauge, 1000mm, allk=on , 1892 , , - ,

Douglas Bay Horse Tramway The Douglas Bay Horse Tramway ( gv, Raad Yiarn Cabbyl Vaie Ghoolish) on the Isle of Man runs along the seafront promenade for approximately , from the southern terminus at the Victoria Pier, adjacent to the Isle of Man Sea Terminal, to Derby Ca ...

, {{Coord, 54.167378, N, 4.460777, W, type:landmark, name=Douglas Bay Horse Tramway ,

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals *Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking *Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil W ...

, Middle , {{Flagicon, Isle of Man Isle of Man , {{TrackGauge, 3ft , 1876 , , - , Ghora Tram , , {{Coord, 31.450257, N, 73.563902, E, type:landmark, name=Ghora Tram ,

Ghangha Pur Gangapur is a village near Buchiana mandi in Jaranwala Tehsil in Faisalabad District, Punjab, Pakistan. It is located at 31°27'12N 73°33'57E with an altitude of 193 metres (636 feet) and is part of Union council 39 of Jaranwala with a populatio ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

, {{Flagicon, Pakistan Pakistan , {{TrackGauge, 2ft, lk=on , 1898 , , - , {{Interlanguage link multi, 北海道開拓の村, jp, lt=Historical Village of Hokkaido , , {{Coord, 43.044230, N, 141.499428, E, type:landmark, name=Historical Village of Hokkaido ,

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

, {{Flagicon, Japan Japan , {{TrackGauge, 2ft6in, lk=on , 1983 , , - , Horse-Drawn Streetcars (Disneyland Park (Paris)) , Disneyland Paryż 2013 (14)

, {{Coord, 48.871276, N, 2.779073, E, type:landmark, name=Horse-Drawn Streetcars (Disneyland Park (Paris)) ,

Marne-la-Vallée Marne-la-Vallée () is a new town located near Paris, France. Disneyland Paris, Walt Disney Studios Park, Val d'Europe, Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée, ESIEE Paris, and École des Ponts ParisTech are located in Marne-la-Vallée. Statu ...

Île-de-France , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 = +01:00 , timezone1_DST = CEST , utc_offset1_DST = +02:00 , blank_name_sec1 = Gross regional product , blank_info_sec1 = Ranked 1st , bla ...

, {{Flagicon, France France , {{TrackGauge, 3ft , 1992 , Located in

Disneyland Paris Disneyland Paris is an entertainment resort in Chessy, France, east of Paris. It encompasses two theme parks, resort hotels, Disney Nature Resorts, a shopping, dining and entertainment complex, and a golf course. Disneyland Park is the origin ...

. , - , {{Interlanguage link multi, 小岩井農場, jp, lt=Koiwai Farm , , {{Coord, 39.753788, N, 141.020163, E, type:landmark, name=Koiwai Farm ,

Shizukuishi is a town located in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 16,263 in 6354 households, and a population density of 27 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Geography Shizukuishi is located in the Ōu Mou ...

, Iwate , {{Flagicon, Japan Japan , {{TrackGauge, 3ft , 1904 , , - , Main Street Vehicles (Disneyland) , Disneyland-HorseDrawnStreetcar

, {{Coord, 33.810506, N, 117.919564, W, type:landmark, name=Main Street Vehicles (Disneyland) ,

Anaheim Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most p ...

, California , {{Flagicon, USA USA , {{TrackGauge, 3ft , 1955 , Located in the

Disneyland Resort The Disneyland Resort, commonly known as Disneyland, is an entertainment resort in Anaheim, California. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division and is home to two theme parks (Di ...

. , - , Main Street Vehicles (Magic Kingdom) , Horse trolley Main street Circle Magic Kingdom Walt Disney World

, {{Coord, 28.417105, N, 81.581644, W, type:landmark, name=Main Street Vehicles (Magic Kingdom) , Bay Lake,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, {{Flagicon, USA USA , {{TrackGauge, 3ft , 1971 , Located in

Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, th ...

. , - , {{Interlanguage link multi, Pferdeeisenbahn Budweis–Linz–Gmunden#Pferdeeisenbahn-Wanderweg, de, lt=Pferdeeisenbahn (Kerschbaum) , Austrian horse railway1

, {{Coord, 48.584936, N, 14.470366, E, type:landmark, name=Pferdeeisenbahn (Kerschbaum) ,

Rainbach im Mühlkreis Rainbach im Mühlkreis is a municipality in the district of Freistadt in the Austrian state of Upper Austria Upper Austria (german: Oberösterreich ; bar, Obaöstareich) is one of the nine states or of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Aus ...

Upper Austria Upper Austria (german: Oberösterreich ; bar, Obaöstareich) is one of the nine states or of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, a ...

, {{Flagicon, Austria Austria , {{TrackGauge, 1106mm, lk=on , 1828 , Reconstructed portion of the Budweis-

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital of ...

Gmunden Gmunden () is a town in Upper Austria, Austria in the district of Gmunden (district), Gmunden. It has 13,204 inhabitants (estimates 2016 ). It is much frequented as a health and summer resort, and has a variety of lake, brine, vegetable and pine-c ...

Horse Railway, the first railway line in

to carry passengers. , - , {{Interlanguage link multi, Spiekerooger Inselbahn, de , Spiekeroog-Museumspferdebahn 2

, {{Coord, 53.769413, N, 7.689123, E, type:landmark, name=Spiekerooger Inselbahn ,

Spiekeroog Spiekeroog is one of the East Frisian Islands, off the North Sea coast of Germany. It is situated between Langeoog to its west, and Wangerooge to its east. The island belongs to the district of Wittmund, in Lower Saxony in Germany. The only vi ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

, {{Flagicon, Germany Germany , {{TrackGauge, 1000mm, al=on , 1885 , , - ,

Victor Harbor Horse Drawn Tram The Victor Harbor Horse Drawn Tram is located on the shores of the city of Victor Harbor, South Australia, Victor Harbor, South Australia, Australia. A tramway links the city's visitor information centre with the nearby Granite Island (South ...

, {{Coord, 35.556095, S, 138.624294, E, type:landmark, name=Victor Harbor Horse Drawn Tram , Victor Harbor,

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, {{Flagicon, Australia Australia , {{TrackGauge, 5ft3in, lk=on , 1864 , {{Cite web, title=Victor Harbor Horse Drawn Tram – official website, url=http://horsedrawntram.com.au/, publisher=Victor Harbor Horse Drawn Tram, access-date=August 26, 2016 {{Clear right

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

The oldest surviving horse drawn tramway operating in Douglas on the Isle of Man
{{Commons category, Horse-drawn trams
Colombia's horsecar history and restoration process
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180630164628/http://www.tranviadebogota.com/ , date=2018-06-30
Pennsylvania Trolley Museum
* ttp://www.transitgloriamundi.com/trolley_videos/trolley/narration.html ''Trolleys: The Cars That Built Our Cities'' by Transit Gloria Mundi{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211022018/http://www.transitgloriamundi.com/trolley_videos/trolley/narration.html , date=2021-02-11 {{Public transport {{Authority control Horse transportation