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An 1871 advertisement offering to lease the operation of the
People's Street Railway for five years. The line was leased in March of that
year by D. Nase, who ran it until it was closed in 1876.
At this same time Mr. Reynolds retired as president and was succeeded by Mr. Magee. The new president hoped the People's Street Railway had seen its darkest days. Under the management of Mr. Nase the line continued on a regular basis and on occasions even made a small profit. Fifteen-minute service to Indiantown was maintained, and extra cars were put on to extend the service later into the evening.
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The daily car on Prince William Street was discontinued about 1872, and on
April 8th, 1874 an act of the Provincial Legislature was passed ordering the
company to take up the rails if it would not maintain the service. The rails
were removed and sold for $1,130.00. About this time, five new double-ended
cars were built, or rebuilt from older cars and the turntables were abandoned.
As Mr. Nase's lease was drawing to a close, old financial problems arose again. North America was in the midst of a deep depression which followed the financial panic of 1873. Numerous fires in Portland, coupled with the reduction of service on the Indiantown ferry had had a very serious effect on traffic. Mr. Nase finally abandoned the People's Street Railway in early 1876, after facing increased losses. Tenders were put out for someone to lease the line but failed to get any response. A meeting was held to discuss what should be done with suggestions of complete restoration to closing the company for good. It was finally decided to sell the railway's 27 horses through an auction on April 1st 1876. Prices ranged from $9 for "Old Boney" to $71 for "Billy Ferris", bringing in a total of $1,430. They decided to keep the rolling stock for the time being as it would be no extra cost to store them. These consisted of five new double door cars in good condition, one old car in poor condition, still lettered "Reed's Point and Indiantown", and five sleighs.
Once the cars had stopped, the residents of Portland and Indiantown realized the benefits they had been given. Some offers were made to operate the route, but it was the old story of "too little, too late".
On June 21st 1876, it was decided to press the claim against Mr. Nase for $2,791.62 for depreciation and arrears on rent. Depreciation was high because for the preceding three years the line had been allowed to run down with little being spent for upkeep. The committee also decided to wind up the affairs of the company before it ate up all the assets, as it had "eaten up the horses". The directors were authorized to dispose of all property including cars, rails, buildings and leases, but to retain the charter in case conditions changed in the future. The rails were sold to Harris & Company, the car builders, who began to lift them from the streets on July 18th. By the end of the summer of 1876, the line of the People's Street Railway was no more.
The charter still had thirty years to run, so there was still
talk of someday rebuilding the line. One or two proposals were made to
reorganize with new capital as soon as the depression ended, but all plans were
forgotten temporarily when the catastrophy of the Great Saint John Fire of 1877
occurred.
The fire began near the corner of Union and Smyth Streets, and soon spread widely among the wooden buildings. In the span of nine hours , almost the entire central portion of Saint John had been completely destroyed. Among the many sufferers that day was the People's Street Railway Company, losing all of its records, books and accounts.
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This is the last mention of any of the old rolling stock, most of which either perished in the fire or was otherwise soon destroyed. Thus for another decade Saint John was without street cars, and the entire enterprise lay dormant.
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