St. John's was once on par with San Francisco for streetcars, says author of new book

San Francisco's streetcars are iconic, apart of the identity and heritage of that city and others around the globe, including Toronto and New Orleans.

Even St. John'shad its very own streetcars from 1900 until 1948, well before the hustle and bustle of the city's public buses.

But while the streetcars of St. John's remain a long and distant memory, Kenneth Pierowayis determined to keep their history alive with his latest book about Newfoundland and Labrador's transportation industry, complete with before-and-after photographs from around the city where the lines once ran.

"Gathering the photographs wasn't too bad. I had a lot of great help I must say. The City of St. John's archives, The Rooms, Larry Dohey," Pieroway told CBC Radio's On The Go, referring to the late archivist.

"Larry Doheywas absolutely amazing in his work and I can honestly say that without Larry's input, this book would not be."

Own photography

Pierowayshot all of the modern photographs. Waiting for the perfect day and the perfect lighting was the most difficult challenge for him, he said.

And it wasn't just the struggle with Newfoundland's ever unpredictable weather, or hoping for the perfect sunny day;Pierowaywould often wait patiently near his subject, watching forthe natural light to shift perfectly to unveil a particular column or window ledge in a building before hitting the shutter on his camera.

One example is in hisimage of former Prime Minister Walter Monroe's house wherePierowaystudied the exact moments in which the sunlight would fall perfectly on two columns which stand on the front of the property.

"But the sun only came aroundlate in the evening for about three days in June between 7 p.m. and 7:15 p.m.," he said.

"So I missed the first year.I had to keep note of this knowing that thosethree days I hadliterally a couple of minutes' window just for the sun to come around just right, and then of course I had to have the clear, sunny skies. So it took a while to get that shot."

LittleSt. John's

Pierowayhas two other books under his belt about Newfoundland's railway history. Rails Across the Rock and Rails Around the Rockultimately led him to Streetcars of St. John's.

He saysnot many locals knew the province's capital city even had a streetcar system, which wasgone before Confederation.

The streetcar system was so well-oiled, he said,that wait times for passengers was only about 10 minutes between stops.

He also attributes the whole project to Robert Reid, who builtthe Newfoundland Railway and was offered $140,000 to build a street railway in St. John's,pave Water Street with cobblestone and build an electric plant in Petty Harbour to operate the cars. The plant in Petty Harbour still exists today.

Eight cars would run from the crossroads where Water Street splits into Topsail Road today, all the way down Water Street,double-tracked, to the King George V institute at 93 Water Street. The fare was two cents per passenger.

"We have to look at in a historical perspective. We did ours at the same time as San Francisco, Boston, New York, Vancouver, Chicago, Toronto all these great cities in North America. Essentially, little St. John's was on par with the greatest cities in North America at the time," he said.

"Without Robert G. Reid we would probably not have our streetcar system.In some ways our system was actually better."

Streetcars of St. John'sis published by Flanker Press.Pierowayis holding a book launch Sept. 17 at Chapters on Kenmount Road.

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