Frank J. Sprague Made Richmond Cradle of Electric Transportation
Just 48 Years Ago Next Month

By Allyn Tunis

Electric Transportation, often called the key to civilization, which is dependent upon a common source of power supply such as now is obtainable over long-distance because of the development of high-tension power transmission, was born in Richmond.

Today's plans for progressive electrification of main trunk-line railways, which engineers predict is inevitable and promises to be the next great industrial advancement in this country, had its origin on what today is known as the Clay Street line.

While the entire credit for the development of such an epochal invention as electric traction belongs to no one individual, the late Frank J. Sprague's achievements in this city proved so successful that he was rightfully called "The Father of the Trolley Line."

When Sprague invaded Richmond in 1887 he awoke the world of transportation to an acknowledgment that the electric railway, though an infant, had a future, His success here brought him contracts for building 113 street railways within two years.

Less than a half-century has passed since the first overhead trolley car in the United States buzzed its way over Richmond tracks. Those 12 miles of rail over which the tiny four-wheel affair ran today are part of the system operated in Petersburg, Portsmouth and Norfolk.

Many men and women are living who vividly recall that day in 1888 when a queer-looking little car started on its way over Richmond streets. It scared old ladies and frightened dogs. But the success of that undertaking marked the first definite stride in the development of electric railway transportation in America.

Baltimore lays claim to operating the first electric car, which was run by a motor powered by storage batteries. Sprague was the first to develop and first to operate the trolley system, powered by energy supplied from a central station in Richmond.

Chicago and New York had their cable cars, but as they had proven unsatisfactory, especially from a safety standpoint, electrical engineers worked energetically to produce a better system of urban transportation. This was accomplished here.

First Trolley Car Hailed as 'Marvel'

That the first street cars were considered marvelous is attested by the following paragraph taken from the Richmond Dispatch of May 4, 1888:

"Yesterday the cars were run regularly and very satisfactorily and greatly to the delight of the residents of that section who had long waited impatiently for the appearance in the midst of the horseless cars. When the cars did come there were crowds on the streets to bid them welcome, to compliment their beauty and to marvel at the manner of their running without either mules or dummies."

Sprague and his associates assaulted a confederacy of physical difficulties, adverse financial and operating conditions and all the ills of a new and untried system when they set to work in Virginia.

"We had little to show," said this pioneer engineer, "but faith was strong and the contract was taken under terms, price and guarantee easily placing it ordinarily in the 'knave or fool class.'"

The engineer explained that his agreement called for the completion in 90 days of the equipment of a road having about a dozen miles of track, at that time unlaid, and with the route only provisionally determined; the construction of a complete steam and electric central-station plant of 375 horsepower capacity, and the furnishing of 40 cars with 80 motors and all the appurtenances necessary for their operation. Thirty cars were to be operated at one time, and grades as steep as 8 per cent had to be mounted.

Sprague's assistants on the Richmond work were two young officers, Lieutenant Oscar T. Crosby, a West Point graduate, and Ensign S. Dana Greene, from Mr. Sprague's own alma mater, the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. Although the assistants were without experience they had the same energy, pluck and endurance which characterized their chief.

The Richmond construction syndicate clamored for operations to begin; there were excuses without number.

Helper Goes After 'Tools' That Prove to Be Mules

"I shall never forget," Mr. Sprague laughed, "my feelings when, after inspecting the improvised car sheds at the end of the line, I reached the foot of the steepist hill on my return and faced a grade varying from 4 to 10 per cent and about a mile long. The condition of the track was simply execrable; it was built for profit, not for performance.

"The many curves were sharp, some with 27 feet radius; they had only one guard rail and spread easily."

"One night," he recalled, "about 9 o'clock, we started out. We went steadily up hill, around several curves and finally reached the highest point on the line, in the heart of the city, where we stopped.

"An enthusiastic crowd soon gathered, and in the delay I was in hope that the motors would cool down sufficiently to permit us to continue the journey. No sooner, however, had we started than I felt a peculiar bucking movement, afterwards very familiar, and knew that we were disabled. The trouble was due to a crossed armature, then to us a little known difficulty.

"I told Greene, in a tone that could be overheard by those near, that there was some slight trouble with the circuits and directed him to go for some instruments so that we could locate it. Then turning out the lights I lay down on a seat to wait, while the crowd gradually dispersed.

"After waiting a long time for Greene's return with those 'instruments,' inwardly hoping and praying that he would be late, he came in sight with four of them--big, powerful mules, the most effective aids which could have been found in Richmond under the circumstances.

That was one of many similar night experiences, but the experiment had been a critical one. We then knew that with all the weight of the car used for traction more than a 10 per cent grade could be ascended.

"We had begun experimental runs in November, 1887, but various troubles, particularly sleet, had brought us toward the end of the following January, when it became vital to begin regular operation.

"The day was one of disappointments; we carried crowds of people, but car after car would suddenly stop in the street and refuse to move under any conditions. New gears had a freak way of locking. The men got under the cars, took off the disgruntled gear and continued, if possible, with a single machine, or bodily hauled the car off the track so that another could go by.

My first impression was that it was a mechanical fault; that the gears were not properly cut or the castings had been distorted, and there seemed every evidence of this after inspecting those that had been running. But an Irish mechanic, Pat O'Shaughnessy, who had been with me for years and who had a most happy mechanical judgment, insisted that it was lack of proper oiling, and after a while we had the cars running again.