Holyoke Street Railway

Holyoke Street Railway
Logo of the Holyoke Street Railway Co. as a contractor for the PVTA c. 1978-1987
Logo of the Holyoke Street Railway Co.
as a contractor for the PVTA c. 1978-1987
The Holyoke Street Railway at one time provided both interurban rail (top, 1937) and bus service (bottom, 1973); the latter would replace the former however both remained in tandem service from 1921 to 1937.
The Holyoke Street Railway at one time provided both interurban rail (top, 1937) and bus service (bottom, 1973); the latter would replace the former however both remained in tandem service from 1921 to 1937.
Overview
OwnerHolyoke Street Rwy. Co.
Area served
  • Amherst and Sunderland Street Railway
Transit typeLight rail
Bus (1921–1987)[1][2]
Chief executiveLouis D. Pellisier Jr.
(1955–1991)
Headquarters63 N Canal Street
Holyoke, MA
01040-5836
Operation
Began operationSeptember 24, 1884[3]
August 7, 1891 (electrified)[4]
1921(bus)[1]
Ended operationSeptember 6, 1937 (rail)[5]
July 1, 1987 (bus)[2]
March 13, 1991 (dissolved)[6]
Technical
Track gauge4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge[7]: 907 
System map[a]

Legend
0mi
mi
Chicopee Center
4.99
6.84
 Westfield-Holyoke
Chicopee Falls
04.6
4.77
 Bray's Turnout
West Springfield-
Holyoke
03.81
3.33
 Elmwood
Willimansett "Y"
01.92
2.11
 Oakdale
Willimansett Bridge
over Connecticut River
1.98
 Prew Ave. (Springdale)
00.00
 City Hall
Hadley Falls Bridge
over Connecticut River
1.68
 North Pleasant St. (Highlands)
South Hadley Falls
01.36
3.70
 Mountain Park
Mount Tom
Railroad
5.43
 Smith's Ferry
Hartford St.
(Chicopee)
01.42
7.28
Mount Tom
Junction
Northampton
Street Railway
Fairview
03.36
2.30
 Newton Smith's
4.43
 South Hadley Center
Amherst & Sunderland
Division begins
South Hadley–
Granby Line
06.37
The Notch
Holyoke Range
Granby–
Amherst Line
08.68
Sherman's Turnout
10.9
Mill Valley bridge
(South Amherst)
12.49
Amherst Center
13.82
Connecticut Valley
Street Railway
East & Main Sts.
14.73
15.15
Massachusetts Agricultural
Experiment Station (UMass)
Orient Springs
(West Pelham)
16.5
16.91
 Leverett & Summer Sts.
19.61
 Grave's Turnout
21.50
 Sunderland
(end of line)
Key
Holyoke Street Railway
other companies 
Springfield Street Railway
This diagram:

The Holyoke Street Railway (HSR) was an interurban streetcar and bus system operating in Holyoke, Massachusetts as well as surrounding communities with connections in Amherst, Belchertown, Chicopee, Easthampton, Granby, Northampton, Pelham, South Hadley, Sunderland, Westfield, and West Springfield. Throughout its history the railway system shaped the cultural institutions of Mount Tom, being operator of the mountain's famous summit houses, one of which hosted President McKinley, the Mount Tom Railroad, and the trolley park at the opposite end of this funicular line, Mountain Park.

In the history of American railroad engineering, the system was the first in the United States to make use of exothermic welding, better known as thermite welding, to lay track for regular use.[8][9][10] Railway engineer George E. Pellissier would not only be the first in the country to implement this now-standard operating procedure, but would further develop Hans Goldschmidt's welding process for the street railway, subsequently serving as an engineer and superintendent for the inventor's Goldschmidt Thermite Company before returning to Holyoke as an assistant general manager.[10][11][12]

Operated by the Holyoke Street Railway Company, abbreviated on livery as the Hly. St. Ry. Co., the streetcar system began operation on September 24, 1884, consolidated with the Amherst and Sunderland Street Railway in 1907, and ceased operations as a streetcar operator in 1937.[5] Regular bus operations began in 1921, and soon after the incorporation of the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority in 1977, the company began serving as a contract operator. This service continued until 1987, when a dispute between labor and management led regular bus service to an abrupt end, with would-be passengers still waiting at stops, on July 1, 1987.[2][1]: 611  After four years of inactivity and with a municipal school bus contract failing to pass negotiations, the company liquidated its assets and had dissolved by 1991.[3][6]

Today their former headquarters serves as the main facilities of the Holyoke Department of Public Works, now known as the Pellisier Building, for the family which owned and managed the system in its final decades.[13] A second car barn of the Amherst and Sunderland Street Railway division functions as facilities for the town of Amherst's own Department of Public Works.[14]

  1. ^ a b c Wright, Henry Andrew (1949). The Story of Western Massachusetts. Vol. II. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc.
  2. ^ a b c "PVTA blasts bus lockout in Holyoke". Springfield Union-News. Springfield, Mass. July 2, 1987. p. 4.
  3. ^ a b "Holyoke's Fine Trolly System; Its Expansion From a Two-Mile Horse Car Line in 1884 to Its Present Great Proportions". Springfield, Mass. September 2, 1923. p. 37.
  4. ^ "Holyoke". Springfield Republican. Springfield, Mass. August 8, 1891. p. 6. The first electric car was run over the road yesterday afternoon about 2 o'clock and it ran very well. The car was run the whole length of the line and people gathered on the street corners to watch its progress. Superintendent Loomis and some of the directors occupied front seats and smiled their approval. The horses along the line did not seem to mind the cars much
  5. ^ a b "1880s-Chariots of Change". Chariots of Change - Digital Exhibit. Wistariahurst. 2013. Archived from the original on January 13, 2013.
  6. ^ a b [Query- "Holyoke Street Railway Company"], Massachusetts Corp. Card Search, Corporation Cards of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Secretary of the Commonwealth
  7. ^ Poor, H. V.; Poor, H. W. (1901). "Street Railways in Massachusetts". Poor's Manual of Railroads. Vol. XXXIII. New York: American Banknote Company.
  8. ^ "Worcester Polytechnic". Springfield Republican. Springfield, Mass. January 30, 1905. p. 9. The speaker described the work of rail welding on the Holyoke street railway lines, this road being the first road in the United States to make use of thermit welded jounts.
  9. ^ "Thermit Rail Welding in Holyoke". Street Railway Journal. XXV (7). New York: McGraw Publishing Company: 317–318. February 18, 1905. G. E. Pellissier, civil engineer of the Holyoke Street Railway Company, presented on Jan. 27 a paper before the Civil Engineers' Society of Worcester Polytechnic Institute on thermit [sic] welding...When the thermit process was introduced in the United States the Holyoke Street Railway Company decided to try it on a mile of track which was about to be reconstructed, and accordingly an order for 160 joints was placed with the Goldschmidt Thermit Company...The welding was commenced on Aug. 8, 1904...The work...was the first piece of track in the United States laid with thermit joints
  10. ^ a b Pellissier, George E. (December 24, 1910). "Welding Entire Rail Sections at Holyoke, Mass". Electric Railway Journal. XXXVI (26). New York: McGraw Publishing Company: 1245–1246.
  11. ^ "Personal Mention–George E. Pellissier". Electric Railway Journal. New York: McGraw Publishing Company: 743. October 20, 1917. From 1906 until 1912 he was engineer and superintendent for the Goldschmidt Thermit Company, New York, N. Y., engaged in developing the Thermit process particularly as applied to electric railways
  12. ^ For examples of role in Goldschmidt Thermit Company see Pellissier, George E. (March 1908). "Blow-Holes in Thermit Welds—Their Cause and Prevention". Reactions: A Quarterly Publication Devoted to the Science of Aluminothermics. New York: Goldschmidt Thermit Company. pp. 28–29.
  13. ^ Indoor Air Quality Assessment: Holyoke DPW, Pellisier Building (PDF) (Report). Massachusetts Dept. of Public Health. August 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 18, 2018.
  14. ^ Merzbach, Scott (February 2015). "Amherst commissions study of Department of Public Works headquarters, future needs". Archived from the original on September 18, 2018.


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