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Photo of the Month - June 2007
The Kelton Avenue Shops, at Kelton Avenue and Oak Street on Columbus' east side near Franklin Park, was where the Columbus Railway and Light Company (later named the Columbus Railway Power and Light Company) performed all their heavy repairs. From 1895 - 1902 they even built some of their own streetcar bodies there, equipping them with trucks and electrical equipment from commercial manufacturers. In this view #317 and #236 are sitting on saw horses while their trucks are being repaired in the foreground. The hoist frame mounted to the ceiling structure over the truck repair area is very creative. It both pivots from the center of the frame and allows the hoists to roll on the frame itself so that a motor or truck can be picked up on one track and set down next to it. You can see both the four-wheel truck for #236 and the two maximum traction trucks for #317 being worked on. Maximum traction trucks had only one motor driving the axle with the large wheels. The truck also has a non-powered axle with small wheels. The Columbus street car company was a heavy user of maximum traction trucks on its streetcar. Streetcar #236, according to company records, was a closed single truck trailer built in 1893 by the Brownell Car Co and equipped with a J.G. Brill Co. non-powered truck. It would have been pulled by a similar four-wheel car equipped with two 50 HP motors. Streetcar #317 was a closed, double truck motor car built in 1898 by the Barney & Smith Car Co. of Dayton, Ohio. It was equipped with J.G. Brill Co. trucks and General Electric 76 HP motors. #317 was one of 26 street cars built in 1898. Six were closed cars built by the Columbus Railway Company, ten were open cars also built by Barney and Smith and 10 were like #317. #317 could seat 40 customers on two bench seats along the sides of the car. Bench seats left space in the middle of the car for standees. |
