Page 8In Canada, by 1890, some electric lines had been established for as long as five years. The Saint John City Railway Company had anticipated possible future use of electric traction early as 1887, and received specific legislative permission in 1890 to electrify its lines. In the same year, two companies, The New Brunswick Electric Company, and the Eastern Electric Company, were chartered for the purpose of supplying electric light and power to Saint John. These companies were allied with the management of the street railway, but were not directly connected with it until 1892. On January 18th of that year, a new company, The Consolidated Electric Company, was incorporated, acquiring all the assets of both power companies as well as the Saint John City Railway Company.
The Consolidated Electric Company announced immediate plans to electrify and extend the street railway system in Saint John, including constructing the King Street route, and sought permission in the form of an act of the Provincial Legislature. The act was passed on April 7th 1892, giving the company full privileges to operate an electric street railway in Saint John.
It took the rest of 1892 to plan and raise the money for electrification. Six electric horse cars were bought from the West End Street Railway of Boston, Massachusetts, and poles and trolley wire erected. The flat horsecar rails were hastily bonded and a copper ground wire was laid between the rails and connected to them at intervals. In places the only connection was made by a spike tightly driven in between the rail ends. Papers announced that spring as conversion neared completion, "The electric surface railway is soon to be a reality, and the cry of the motorman will be heard in the land". There were many skeptics who predicted serious effects of the high speeds of up to 25 miles an hour and the nerve racking noise and well as the danger of electrocution from falling wires.
By Good Friday, March 31st 1893, work had progressed to the point where a test run could be made. On that day, just as churchgoers were leaving the afternoon Good Friday services, the first electric street car ran in Saint John.
On April 1st, the Daily Telegraph announced:
"Yesterday the first electric car made its appearance on the streets of Saint John. It did not make a trip over the whole route, but convinced itself to the few hundred yards of space between a little above the car sheds and towards the foot of Indiantown. The car was brought out from the car sheds at about 3 o'clock, in charge of electrician Bliss, and was found to work very satisfactorily. A large crowd nearly blockaded the street while the car was on the route. A car will be run over the entire road in a few days".
On April 3rd, the second test run was made and carried passengers who wished to see this test. There was snow, sleet and freezing rain which coated both rails and trolley wire. This made operation most difficult but the test was a success and proved the cars could cope with anything. Public service started on April 12th 1893. It only took 5 electric cars, 12 minutes to complete a run. Early in May, the last horse car made its final run, and on July 19th, the last fourteen of the street railway horses were sold at an auction for $25 per horse.
The cars acquired from Boston were former horsecars with sixteen-foot bodies, equipped with Bemis trucks and 15 horsepower motors. As electrification proceeded, cars with twelve-foot bodies made their appearance, and it is probable that these were some of the old Saint John horse cars equipped with electric motors.
All the electric cars of the Company were electrified horse cars either from Boston or Saint John; All had wooden trolley poles and were single-ended, being turned on wyes at each end of the line. A new 133 horsepower generator was installed; This unit was similar to that previously used for electric lighting but was much larger, weighing 8.5 tons. It was the largest electric machine then in use in the Maritime Provinces. The power house was situated at the South-West corner of Dock and Union Streets, and still stands today, although much enlarged, having served throughout the entire fifty-five year period of electric car operation.
It soon became obvious that the horse car rails were unsuitable for carrying the faster and heavier electric cars, and in fact the cars themselves, being horse cars of relatively light construction, suffered from the higher speeds and occasional derailments. No real serious mishaps took place, although little misfortunes cropped up with unpleasant frequency. Car number 20 seemed to be the most jinxed.
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The closest approach to a fatal accident happened on June 2nd 1893 when conductor Shaw, noticing that his car was not running well, looked out from the back platform and was hit on the head by a 4.5-pound trolley wheel which fell from the end of the pole and "about used Shaw up", inflicting painful, but as it proved, not serious injuries. The wooden trolley poles ave trouble, and several times cars were immobilized by broken poles.
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