At what point were bars placed along the windows of Brooklyn trolleys?
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The window bars on most streetcars and interurbans were there because the tracks were so closely spaced together on the streets that, if you stuck your head or arm out the window, you were at risk of loosing it when another car was passed.
I know that, and remember them, however I see hundreds of images of cars without bars and for modeling purposes would be interested in the year this modification was introduced.
That might spoil your day !
Some systems did not have tight clearances and did not need window bars. On single ended cars window bars were needed only on the left side. Window bars made washing the windows difficult. The window washers would wash the top of the window, then go inside the car and raise all the windows all the way up. Then they could go back outside and wash the lower half of the window, which was now above the bars. This resulted in it taking a lot of time to wash the windows. In this area the companies screwed blocks inside the window track that would let the windows only go up about three inches. Then the window bars could be removed.
Very interesting about bars only one side. I didn't know that. Thanx.
I do not have an answer as to when windows on Brooklyn trolley cars were barred. There does not appear to be any record of laws / rules requiring barred windows on trolley cars. However, by looking at dated pictures of Brooklyn trolley cars, barred windows were not consistently found, and they were not on PCC cars. My guess is barred windows date back to the early 1930s on Brooklyn cars.
Thanx. Interestingly, Brooklyn trolleys would run in coupled trains of up to five cars until this practice was banned in 1925 by the city. So running models in pairs or more would be prototypical.
