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 ...

) tram or streetcar.

Summary

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

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 Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

, 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 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 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 ...

or steel rails (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 explosions. 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 horsecars replaced horse-drawn omnibuses as a public transit mode in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

. 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 is still used today by the Toronto streetcar system and three lines of the Toronto subway. {{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 , publisher = Firefly Books , year = 1986 , page=unpaged The Metropolitan Street Railway operated a horsecar line in then-suburban North Toronto 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 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) began. In 1902, the first electric tramcar in India ran from Esplanade to Kidderpore on 27 March and on 14 June from Esplanade to Kalighat. 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– Pydhone 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 Munici ...

, and Bori Bunder to Pydhonie via Kalbadevi routes. The initial fare was three annas (15 paise 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 , 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 in

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, Mumbles and Swansea Docks from 1807. The Gloucester and Cheltenham Tramroad (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' predecessor in

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

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 List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

. 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, 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.

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 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

the very first streetcar appeared in New Orleans in 1832, operated by the Pontchartrain Railroad Company, followed by those in 1832 on the New York and Harlem Railroad in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. Middleton, William D. (1967). ''The Time of the Trolley'', pp. 13 and 424. Milwaukee: Kalmbach Publishing. {{ISBN, 0-89024-013-2. The latter cars were designed by John Stephenson of New Rochelle, New York, and constructed at his company 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 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 (botany), berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa (genus), Musa''. In some countries, Cooking banana, bananas used for ...

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

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 of an overhead trolley system on streetcars for collecting electricity from overhead wires. His spring-loaded trolley pole 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 The Bleecker Street Line was a public transit line in Manhattan, New York City, United States, running mostly along Bleecker Street, Crosby Street, and Lafayette Street from the West 14th Street Ferry in Chelsea to the Fulton Ferry in the Financ ...

until its closure in 1917.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsyl ...

, had its Sarah Street line drawn by horses until 1923. The last regular mule-drawn cars in the US ran in Sulphur Rock, Arkansas, until 1926 and were commemorated by a U.S. postage stamp 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 pr ...

, 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 of ...

ended in 1932, and a mule tram in Celaya, Mexico, 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 , , {{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 also pull passengers on this line and steam locomotives are used during special events. , - , Döbeln Tramway , Doebeln-straba

, {{Coord, 51.119467, N, 13.119690, E, type:landmark, name=Döbeln Tramway , Döbeln, Saxony , {{Flagicon, Germany Germany , {{TrackGauge, 1000mm, allk=on , 1892 , , - , Douglas Bay Horse Tramway , Douglas-IOM-horse-tram1

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

Middle Middle or The Middle may refer to: * Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits. Places * Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man * Middle Bay (disambiguation) * Middle Brook (disambiguation) * Middle Creek (d ...

, {{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, Punjab , {{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 ci ...

Hokkaido is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...

, {{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,

Île-de-France The Île-de-France (, ; literally "Isle of France") is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France. Centred on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the country and often called the ''Région parisienne'' (; en, Pa ...

, {{Flagicon, France France , {{TrackGauge, 3ft , 1992 , Located in Disneyland Paris. , - , {{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, 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, California , {{Flagicon, USA USA , {{TrackGauge, 3ft , 1955 , Located in the Disneyland Resort. , - , Main Street Vehicles (Magic Kingdom) , Horse trolley Main street Circle Magic Kingdom Walt Disney World

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, a ...

, {{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, ...

. , - , {{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,

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, an ...

, {{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 ...

- Gmunden Horse Railway, the first railway line in Continental Europe 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,

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 , 20040610 Victor Harbor Tramway

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