Streetcars in Atlanta

This article is about the first-generation 19th and 20th century streetcar system in Atlanta. For the modern Downtown Loop streetcar line opened in 2014, see Atlanta Streetcar.
A view of a horsecar on Peachtree Street in 1882

Atlanta streetcar, 1910. Pay-as-you-enter cars were being introduced at the time

Streetcars originally operated in Atlanta downtown and into the surrounding areas from 1871 until the final line's closure in 1949.

The first such transportation began with horsecars in 1871, and electric streetcar service started in the 1880s.[1] In addition to streetcars in Atlanta proper, there were also interurban railways from Atlanta to outlying towns. The last streetcar service on the old network ended in 1949; the streetcar system was quickly replaced by a trolleybus system and with buses.

After decades of planning, construction of a new streetcar system, the Atlanta Streetcar, began in early 2012.[2] Consisting initially of a single route, this new streetcar line opened in December 2014. Planning for a larger network, including on an abandoned loop of intown rail tracks now known as the BeltLine is under way.

  1. ^ Carson, O. E. (1981). The Trolley Titans: A Mobile History of Atlanta. Glendale: Interurban Press. ISBN 0916374467.
  2. ^ Jeremiah McWilliams (February 1, 2012). "Atlanta kicks off streetcar construction". Atlanta Journal-Constitution.