Electric Trolley

Photo from Jim Warner's Old Photo of Fort Wayne album (source)

Note how many people are getting on the trolley. Given Murphy is back at the intersection, I believe this was the "transfer block." All of the trolley lines either came down this road or down the cross street. I remember the trolley wires still being up, but they had been replaced by buses before I rode public transit. I do remember seeing the operator getting out when one of the wire shoes jumped off and putting it back on. The trolley bars are spring loaded, so when a shoe slipped off, it would pop up above the overhead wire. The operator would pull on the feed wire that goes down behind the trolley to lower the shoe and then move the feed wire back and forth to align the shoe with the overhead wire before letting go and allowing the shoe to contact the wire again. At intersections that had trolley wires in both streets, there was a diamond where the wires crossed each other. Sometimes a trolley shoe would throw sparks as it went through a diamond.

I remember the end-of-the line turnaround on East State. A 1951 aerial confirms it was in this parking lot.

Don Brown posted
I can see the International Harvester Tower in the background.
Howard Pletcher Last trolley coach ran in 1960.

Howard Pletcher commented on Don's posting

Howard Pletcher commented on Don's posting
[Passengers would leave through the back door while people entered through the front door and paid their fare under the watchful eye of the driver.]