by Harold Ahlstrom
The following are notes from railroad historian Harold Ahlstrom and were found at the Fenton Historical Society in Jamestown, NY.
In the study of interurban lines, there were many facets and areas of interest. My specialty was always the rolling stock, what the company had, and the use and scheduling of same. You had to know a line very well to know the percent of spare cars owned over and above the basic basic schedule.
The Warren and Jamestown line, in its last days, was very simple. They had three lightweight cars and one old heavyweight which had been rebuilt to one-man operation. They needed three to maintain the schedule, the so had one to spare. In percentage, this was high, but a two car wreck would crimp the service. They had no reason to run specials or any seasonal changes of schedules, so this was probably the right reserve for them, or all that they could afford.
The Chautauqua Traction, in its heyday, had twelve closed cars and four opens. Their heaviest schedule needed five cars, but the need for specials to Sylvan Park and the Chautauqua Institution called on the entire fleet at times. Some of the closed cars were old and small and not in basic service, but were there when they needed to handle a crowd.
The Jamestown, Westfield & Northwestern was unique in that it was a fairly new line and its ten cars were bought almost together, 1914 and 1916. There were never more than four cars on the line at once, but they used a “each crew has their own car” system, so as many as eight cars could be on the line during a working day. Having no old, partly worn out cars, they had to cover themselves with all new equipment. The reserve was called in for picnic specials to Midway Park, and baseball specials to meet the New York Central for Cleveland excursions. As the two lines were under the same ownership, they had the advantage of pooling cars in extreme periods.
Source: Ahstrom, Harold. Date unknown. From the collection of the Fenton Historical Society, Jamestown, NY.