Nostalgia & History > Louisville commuter operations, way back when?

My son is in an urban planning class, and they’re going through the history of rail and bus transit in different American cities. 

He’s been assigned Louisville, KY. I have no feel for the trolley/interurban history of the Louisville area, and no idea whether there was commuter service on any of the class 1 RRs either. 

Can anybody steer  us in the direction of books, web sites, etc that would touch on this subject?

A capsule history would be most welcome also. 

march_hare Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My son is in an urban planning class, and
> they’re going through the history of rail and
> bus transit in different American cities. 
>
> He’s been assigned Louisville, KY. I have no
> feel for the trolley/interurban history of the
> Louisville area, and no idea whether there was
> commuter service on any of the class 1 RRs
> either. 
>
> Can anybody steer  us in the direction of books,
> web sites, etc that would touch on this subject?
>
> A capsule history would be most welcome also. 

A comprehensive book was just published recently on Louisville's street railways: Louisville's Street Railways - and How They Shaped the City's Growth
https://www.butlerbooks.com/louisvilles-street-railways.html
The cost may be a bit high to justify for a class assignment but I am told the book is very good.  I gave it to my dad as a Christmas gift. 

TARC is the name of the Louisville transit authority.  They may have some brief transit history on heir website.  Interestingly their offices are located in the former Louisville Union Station once used by L&N, Monon and PRR (and later C&O).

Native and resident Louisvillians here on TO will likely be able to provide more detailed information but I do not recall coming across evidence of true commuter trains in Louisville.  I suspect the L&N may have run local trains to the south and east/northeast that could have served as defacto commuter trains but that would have been about it.  I believe there was trolley service across the K&I Bridge to New Albany, IN and the interurban that crossed the Big Four Bridge and ran to Indianapolis might have had local service to Scottsburg and the like.

Certainly a challenging assignment!

niagara484



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/19 09:06 by niagara484.

Here is a link to the Offiical Guide of the Railways, 1910.  This will list local passenger service in the era just before Henry Ford's Model T starts taking business away from the steam railroads and electric streetcars.  Try searching for "Louisville". 
http://cprr.org/Museum/Official_Rail_Guide_1910.html
" This 1485 page volume is a huge file, so use will require a fast internet connection."

- Doug Debs

I produced a video on the history of Louisville's street railways with interviews by two well recongnized historians from Louisville with illustrations from U of L archives, slides and the only known movies of the Louisville Railway Company (from 1941 and 1946). It contains maps of both the streetcar lines and the associated Louisville & Interurban system (abandoned by 1935). It also has a ride across the Big Four bridge in the last run of an Indiana Railroad interurban car in 1939. The title is "Streetcars of River City".
Here's a link to it's listing: https://www.ribbonrail.com/HerronRail/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=68

Jim Herron
www.herronrail.com