Saturday, September 1, 2018

Schmidt - Anaconda Street Railway

From the Schmidt Photo Collection, the Anaconda Street Railway.

I found this very intriguing, since you almost never see anything about this operation.  There's a single photo in the Middleton interurban book, but that's about it.  The Street Railway Division was separate from the BA&P, and so far I haven't been able to find out much about it, such as what voltage it used.  In spite of the street railway name, it used heavy interurban cars, and one motor would pull up to four coaches.  The main purpose of the line appears to have been carrying workers from the city of Anaconda to the smelter.  One end of the line was at Opportunity, another great choice for a destination sign.


Motor 16 at the carbarn

Motor 18

A motor pulling four coaches.  This appears to have been a common consist.
Notice the BA&P locomotives to the left.

This is the BA&P yard, with a street railway train on the hill, heading towards the smelter.

The smelter, with street railway tracks below it.


Update:  Frank adds: compare the above photo with this recent image from Google Street View:


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