Lightning Route
Encyclopedia
The Capital City Street Railway, also known as the Lightning Route, was the first city-wide system of streetcars established in Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 on April 15, 1886. This early technology was developed by Belgian-American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 inventor Charles Joseph Van Depoele
Charles Joseph Van Depoele
Charles Joseph Van Depoele was an electrical engineer, inventor, and pioneer in electric railway technology. Van Depoele was born in Lichtervelde, Belgium. At a tender age he dabbled in electricity, and became so thoroughly infatuated with the subject that he entered upon a course of study and...

. James Gaboury was the owner of the horse drawn system
Horsecar
A horsecar or horse-drawn tram is an animal-powered streetcar or tram.These early forms of public transport developed out of industrial haulage routes that had long been in existence, and from the omnibus routes that first ran on public streets in the 1820s, using the newly improved iron or steel...

 that was converted to electricity. One trolley route ended at the Cloverdale
Cloverdale, Montgomery
Cloverdale is a neighborhood within the American city of Montgomery, Alabama. It is the largest garden-landscaped neighborhood in the state of Alabama. Built in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it is one of Montgomery's "genteel" areas...

 neighborhood. This early public transportation system made Montgomery one of the first cities to "depopulate" its residential areas at the city center through transportation-facilitated suburban development. The system operated for exactly 50 years, until April 15, 1936 when it was retired in a big ceremony and replaced by buses.

Racial segregation

It was on this system that Montgomery's segregated racial seating was established in the early 1900s, which continued on the city buses after 1936. There was a Montgomery streetcar boycott from 1900 to 1902 to protest segregated service. However the city council passed the Montgomery Streetcar Act in 1906 that further mandated a continuation of segregation. Segregation ended with the famous Montgomery Bus Boycott
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a political and social protest campaign that started in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, USA, intended to oppose the city's policy of racial segregation on its public transit system. Many important figures in the civil rights movement were involved in the boycott,...

 started by Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was an African-American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. Congress called "the first lady of civil rights", and "the mother of the freedom movement"....

 and led by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and E. D. Nixon that lasted from December 1, 1955, to December 20, 1956.

City ownership

In 1974 the City of Montgomery took over ownership of the system that was then known at the Montgomery Area Transit System
Montgomery Area Transit System
Montgomery Area Transit System is the operator of mass transportation in metropolitan Montgomery, Alabama. The organization was founded in 1974, after years of tumultuous relations between private bus operators and riders. In 1998, the city performed a cost cutting experiment by replacing all 17...

 or MATS. Since the centennial of the Lightning Route in 1986 there have been various initiatives to re-establish a light-rail system in Montgomery. In place of light rail a system of tourist trolley
Tourist trolley
A tourist trolley, also called a road trolley, is a rubber-tired bus , which is made to resemble an old-style streetcar or tram....

s (diesel buses) known as the Lightning Route Trolleys currently operates in the city's historic districts.

See also

  • Berlin Straßenbahn
    Berlin Straßenbahn
    The Berlin tram network is the main tram system in Berlin, Germany. It is one of the oldest tram networks in the world having its origins in 1865 and is operated by , which was founded in 1929. It is notable for being one of the largest tram systems; there are 22 tram lines operate across a...

     - a Berlin electric streetcar system that started operation in 1881.
  • James F. Blake
    James F. Blake
    James F. Blake was the bus driver whom Rosa Parks defied in 1955, prompting the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Blake served in the Army in the European theatre during World War II. He worked as a bus driver for Montgomery City Bus Lines until 1974.One day in 1943, Parks boarded the bus and paid the fare...

     (1912-2002) - worked as a bus driver for MATS until 1974 and issued an arrest warrant for Rosa Parks in 1955.
  • Browder v. Gayle
    Browder v. Gayle
    Browder v. Gayle, 142 F. Supp. 707 , was a case heard before the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama on Montgomery bus segregation laws...

  • First Transit
    First Transit
    First Transit, a division of FirstGroup America, is a United States-based subsidiary of the United Kingdom-based FirstGroup. It provides contract public transit and paratransit services, transit management services and transit consulting throughout North America...

     - company that currently operates MATS under contract with the city of Montgomery.
  • History of trams
    History of Trams
    Tram, streetcar or trolley systems were common throughout the industrialized world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but they disappeared from many cities in the mid-20th century. In recent years, they have made a comeback...

  • Old Alabama Town
    Old Alabama Town
    Old Alabama Town is a collection of restored 19th and 20th century structures reflecting the lives of the people who settled and developed central Alabama...

     - lies along the contemporary trolley route and trolley tickets may be purchased here.
  • Richmond Union Passenger Railway
    Richmond Union Passenger Railway
    The Richmond Union Passenger Railway, in Richmond, Virginia, was the first practical electric trolley system, and set the pattern for most subsequent electric trolley systems around the world. It is an IEEE milestone in engineering....

     - a Richmond, Virginia electric streetcar system that started operation in 1888.
  • Union Station (Montgomery)
    Union Station (Montgomery)
    Union Station, also known as Montgomery Union Station or Montgomery Union Station and Trainshed, in Montgomery, Alabama was built by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and opened in 1898...

    - a preserved Lightning Route streetcar is housed in a building near the old railroad station. The station serves as the hub for the Lightning Route Trolley system.
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