Horsecar

A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is a tram or streetcar pulled by a horse.

The horse-drawn tram (horsecar) is an early form of public rail transport, that first ran on public streets in the 1830s, using the newly improved iron or steel rail or 'tramway'. When it arrived in Europe it was termed the "Americain Railway".

The horse-drawn tram developed out of industrial haulage routes that had long been in existence, and from the horse-drawn omnibus routes. They were local versions of the stagecoach lines and picked up and dropped off passengers on a regular route, without the need to be pre-hired. Horsecars on tramlines were an improvement over the omnibus, because the low rolling resistance of metal wheels on iron or steel rails (usually grooved from 1852 on) allowed the horses to haul a greater load for a given effort than the omnibus, and gave a smoother ride. By 1860 New York, New Orleans, Brooklyn, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Cincinnati had already a horsecar network.

The horse-drawn streetcar combined the low cost, flexibility, and safety of animal power with the efficiency, smoothness, and all-weather capability of a rail track. Animal power at the time was seen as safer than steam power in that early locomotives frequently suffered from boiler explosions. Rails were seen as all-weather because streets of the time might be poorly paved, or not paved at all, allowing wagon wheels to sink in mud during rain or snow.

In 1861, Toronto Street Railway horsecars replaced horse-drawn omnibuses as a public transit mode in Toronto. Electric streetcars later replaced the horsecars between 1892 and 1894. The Toronto Street Railway created Toronto's unique broad gauge of 4 ft 10+7⁄8 in (1,495 mm). The streets were unpaved, and a step rail was employed. The horsecars had flanged wheels and ran on the upper level of the step. Ordinary wagons and carriages ran on the broad lower step inside. This necessitated a wider gauge. This broad Toronto gauge is still used today by the Toronto streetcar system and three lines of the Toronto subway. The Metropolitan Street Railway operated a horsecar line in then-suburban North Toronto from 1885 until the line was electrified in 1890; this horsecar line also used Toronto gauge.

There were a number of horse car operators in Canadian cities in the mid to late 1800s, including in: Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City, St. Thomas, Toronto, and Winnipeg.

The first horse-drawn rail cars in Continental Europe were operated from 1828 by the České Budějovice - Linz railway, cities currently lying in Czechia and Austria respectively. Europe saw a proliferation of horsecar use for new tram services from the mid-1860s, with many towns building new networks.

The first horse-drawn trams in India ran a 2.4-mile (3.9 km) distance between Sealdah and Armenian Ghat Street on 24 February 1873. The service was discontinued on 20 November of that year. The Calcutta Tramway Company was formed and registered in London on 22 December 1880. Metre-gauge horse-drawn tram tracks were laid from Sealdah to Armenian Ghat via Bowbazar Street, Dalhousie Square and Strand Road. The route was inaugurated by Viceroy Ripon on 1 November 1880. In 1882, steam locomotives were deployed experimentally to haul tram cars. By the end of the 19th century the company owned 166 tram cars, 1,000 horses, seven steam locomotives and 19 mi (31 km) of tram tracks. In 1900, electrification of the tramway and reconstruction of its tracks to 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge) began. In 1902, the first electric tramcar in India ran from Esplanade to Kidderpore on 27 March and on 14 June from Esplanade to Kalighat.