End of an era
Tram cars were once very popular in Cape Breton.
(Editor’s note: This is part two of this series. The previous story ran June on page A7 in the June 5 edition of the Cape Breton Post.)
Last week we heard about the romantic era of tram/trolley cars in Glace Bay and Cape Breton, so today we can talk about “the rest of the story.” This is about the people, those who ran it, those who used it, those who remember it.
After 1902, trams ran 365 days a year. Later they got one day off a month. Motorman Aubrey Cameron used his one and only day off to go to Russel Theatre for the early show and Savoy Theatre for the late show. It was his monthly entertainment and leisure.
Eventually the employees got a day off each week and even a week’s vacation after that. When Norman MacLeod did his shift he kept his ‘polar bear swim’ routine going by stopping for a swim at Grand Lake. Of the other employees who were remembered, one walked across Canada, another became a senator and another superintendent of N.S. Light and Power Co. I read a funny story about Big Dan Ferguson who had an upset woman passenger because the train was late. She threatened if he was her husband, she would poison him. His retort, if she were his wife, he would drink that poison. In the 1940s, two women, Kay MacAskill and Kathleen Wylde, were also employed.
There were problems with “rowdyism” on the tramcars. Some of these would involve drunkenness and a $10-15 fine didn’t seem to be much of a deterrent. Teens were pranking back then too and if they got kicked off the trams for smoking they’d throw rocks. Spitting on the floors was a real issue. When the teens pulled off the trolley pole shutting down the power the conductor had to get off the car, replace the wire, run alongside and jump back on once the car was going again. An elderly man bragged to me that he had done exactly that.
In an electrical storm, the trolley pole had to be taken off as they’d wait out the storm. But come Saturday night, people wanted to go to town to shop. Then you might find 85 people in a 40-person car. You’d be lucky to get a strap to hold onto but it probably wasn’t necessary anyway when you were all crammed in like sardines. At the end of the line, the motorman had to change ends, literally, trading trolley poles, headlights, passenger seats and his own chair to head back the way he had just come. Duties of the job also included chasing cows off the tracks, checking at all railway crossings, and dealing with winter conditions. One notable storm in 1930 shut down the trams for two weeks with casual labor working around the clock to finally get the cars back running.
I heard another story of a young couple in the 1930s, Sarah and Stan MacLean, former operators of a B&B on South Street, who took the tram to Sydney
for their honeymoon, ate out at a restaurant and returned to Glace Bay to start their married life. It was a big deal then, like a trip to Halifax or Toronto today. Another lady said she took a four hour S&L Railway train home from Louisbourg Saturday mornings, took the tram to Sydney and connecting to a bus to return to her teaching job on Sunday (leaving around 4 p.m. and arriving ‘well after dark”).
People I spoke with remembered taking the tram, with their moms lifting them up because they were barely toddlers.
In the late 1920s, with the depression and post-war, financial times were difficult. Cars and buses were coming along. The Cape Breton Electric Co. Ltd., which ran the tram system, applied to close down the Glace Bay section prior to their bankruptcy in 1931. Not only their jobs but the whole Glace Bay tram service was in jeopardy. It took a lot of people to run the whole system, upwards of 75 between conductors, motormen, plowers, sweepers and maintenance people in the barns and for the tracks, not to mention the thousands of patrons.
The people stepped up. With a $15 buy-in each, $5,000 was raised and with employee/ government co-operation, wage cuts, tax exemptions and so forth, they hoped for about a year. They were so much more successful than that. Forming C.B. Tramways Co., they kept things going for 14 years. They kept the service and their jobs.
In 1944, their real payday came when they sold out to C.B. Bus and Tram Co. Ltd. for $216,000. Who could complain about an $8,000 return on a $15 investment? Gordon Elman took over - lock, stock and barrel. By this time, buses were taking over and the trams were only used in muddy spring weather. Buses never did have the ‘glamour of the old electric tram cars.” Some people even said they were clumsy, dirty, polluting, and caused traffic congestion. There were no conductors catering to your comfort, convenience and collecting your fare with kindness. They got government permission on April 30, 1947, to close down the trams. Buses filled that void till they went bankrupt in 1957.
So where did all the old tram cars go? Are there any in any of the local museums? They were such a large and needed part of our lives for so long. Now, they’re just nostalgic memories brought up in old movies.
What’s Happening in the
Bay?
Second Wind Community Concert Band will perform a musical celebration, Welcome Summer Solstice, a concert at the CBU Boardmore Theatre, Wednesday, June 21, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for adults are $15 and children $2.