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54-613: The lake itself provided water for the coal-fired steam turbines that powered the electric streetcars of the Rock Creek Railway , the trolley line built by the Chevy Chase Land Company to connect residents of its new suburb to Washington, D.C. The railway's terminal complex, some 1.7 miles due north of the Maryland-D.C. border, sat just north of the park. It included the power house with its tall chimney,

108-419: A "unified and interoperable solution" for ground-level power supply, are scheduled to be published by the end 2024, detailing complete "specifications for communication and power supply through conductive rails embedded in the road" as specified in the proposed technical standard prTS 50740 in accordance with European Union directive 2023/1804. The first modern ground-level power supply system to be developed

162-694: A band led by 22-year-old Meyer Davis displaced the Marines as the park's main dance band. Wrote the Washington Post: The lure of the dance is proving potent these evenings at Chevy Chase Lake. The cars [streetcars] to the Maryland resort are crowded each night by Washington's young people who wish to keep time to the melodies provided by the Meyer Davis orchestra for dances on the big Chevy Chase pavilion. Various amusement devices, including

216-576: A car barn, a turnaround loop, and a small station. It also served as the southern terminus of the Chevy Chase Lake & Kensington Railway , which connected the town of Kensington to D.C. The park operated from spring to fall. In preparation for the 1912 season, the park received a carousel , renovations to its dance pavilion, and new walks and benches. Music was provided by the United States Marine Band . In 1916,

270-541: A mile beyond, square post lumber for the remaining mile—drove streetcars all the way to 18th and U Streets. On September 16, 1892, service opened on the six-mile extension of the line, making the Rock Creek Railway the first D.C.-based streetcar to operate in Maryland. Congress approved two proposed extensions on April 30, 1892. One was a northern spur to the National Zoo that was never built, but

324-513: A presence signal that may be analog or digital, and optional standard bidirectional communication; ease of inspection and replacement for the wearing parts of the sliding contact; and standard tests, markings, maintenance, and operational environment conditions. The 50717 standard does not encompass, but specifies for normative purposes, three architectures for ERS infrastructure: Type A architecture with two parallel surface-level conductive rails, one positive and one negative; Type B architecture with

378-610: A request for regulation and standardization of electric road systems. Shortly afterward, a working group of the French Ministry of Ecology recommended adopting a European electric road standard formulated with Sweden, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Poland, and others. The first standard for electrical equipment on board a vehicle powered by a rail electric road system (ERS) has been published in late 2022. The standard, CENELEC Technical Standard 50717, specifies

432-524: A single streetcar ride was 5 cents, or 6 rides for 25 cents. (It would rise to 7 cents in 1919.) To boost ridership, the line advertised its route past the National Zoological Park , which opened in 1889. And like many streetcar companies, the Chevy Chase Land Company built its own trolley park : Chevy Chase Lake Amusement Park , which opened on 1894 just east of Connecticut Avenue at the railroad's northern terminus. A central feature

486-399: A single surface-level or raised track with short segments where each two segments in series consist of one positive and one negative segment; and Type C architecture with three parallel conductive rails, one positive and one negative below surface level in 1.5 cm wide channels, and one or more rails earthed at surface level. Following standards, encompassing "full interoperability" and

540-467: A tram is passing over them, thereby eradicating any risk to other road users. The tram has two collector shoes, and two segments of rail are active at any given time, to avoid interruption of power when passing between segments. APS was developed by Innorail, a subsidiary of Spie Enertrans but was sold to Alstom when Spie was acquired by Amec . It was originally created for the Bordeaux tramway , which

594-627: Is expected to supply 500kW of power for electric heavy trucks, as well as power for road utility vehicles and electric cars . Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) trialed its Acumulador de Carga Rápida (ACR) system in 2007 in Seville . The system is capable of charging from strips on the ground or from overhead wires. Sections of the Seville MetroCentro tramway around the Seville Cathedral were converted to

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648-442: Is planned to deliver up to 800 kW per vehicle traveling over a powered segment of the rail, and the system is estimated to be the most cost-effective among the four tested systems. The new systems are expected to be safe, with segments of the rail being powered only when a vehicle is traveling over them. The rails have been tested while submerged in salt water and were found to be safe for pedestrians. The co-director for one of

702-531: Is planned to open in 2024 using a ground-level power supply system derived from Alstom APS . The second, with technology developed by Elonroad, is scheduled to undergo laboratory testing for skid effects on motorcycles before being deployed along two kilometers on the A10 autoroute south of Paris. Alstom , Elonroad, and other companies have, in 2020, begun drafting a standard for ground-level power supply electric roads. The European Commission published in 2021

756-472: Is the Ansaldo Stream system. STREAM is an acronym that stands for " S istema di TR asporto E lettrico ad A ttrazione M agnetica", meaning "System of Electric Transport by Magnetic Attraction". The system uses a channel in the road made of insulating composite fiberglass material which contains a flexible copper strip; a vehicle passing over the channel with a special magnetic contact shoe raises

810-664: The Washington and Georgetown Railroad as part of an attempt to consolidate the streetcar system. Negotiations in August led to a deal in which the RCR issued stock with a total par value of $ 12,000,000, of which $ 10,750,000 was given to W&G stockholders. The actual value of RCR stock and bonds at the time was $ 1,500,000 ($ 54,940,000 today ). On September 21, 1895, the two formed the Capital Traction Company ,

864-520: The ACR ground-level power supply system. ACR's first commercial installation was aboard Urbos trams supplied to MetroCentro in 2011, allowing the permanent removal of overhead lines around the cathedral. Line 1 of the Tranvía de Zaragoza has also used ACR since its second construction phase was completed in 2013. The use of ACR avoided the installation of overhead lines in the city's historic centre. ACR

918-522: The APS system for use with buses and other vehicles. The system has been tested for safety when the road is cleared by snowplows , under exposure to snow, ice, salting, and saturated brine , and for skid and road adherence safety for vehicles, including motorcycles. Alstom will trial its electric road system (ERS) on the public road RN205 in the Rhône-Alpes region between 2024 and 2027. The system

972-525: The East Coast. By 1922, a second dance pavilion had opened, featuring bands led by Davis and Joseph Shirley “Pete” Macias (1898-1947), a native Washingtonian who became a popular local nightclub pianist and bandleader. The last known newspaper advertisements for the amusement park appeared in 1936, suggesting that the park closed after the summer season. Rock Creek Railway The Rock Creek Railway , which operated independently from 1890 to 1895,

1026-607: The French Ministry of Ecology working groups on electric road systems stated that rail-based ERS are the most advantageous, though the specific rail technology has yet to be standardized. France plans to invest 30 to 40 billion euro by 2035 in an electric road system spanning 8,800 kilometers. Ground-level power supply technologies are considered the most likely candidates for electric roads. Two projects for assessment of electric road technologies have been announced in 2023. The first French public road with an electric road system

1080-683: The Japanese war effort. In 1937, the disused car barn at Chevy Chase Lake was converted into an equestrian riding ring for a polo club led by Mildred Pepper, wife of Sen. Claude Pepper , D-Florida. In 1980, the Chevy Chase Lake waiting station at the northern end of the line was disassembled and moved to Hyattstown, Maryland . Ground-level power supply Ground-level power supply , also known as surface current collection or, in French, alimentation par le sol ("feeding via

1134-671: The Land Company was extending Connecticut Avenue, down whose center the railroad would run, from the Rock Creek valley past the D.C.-Maryland line and into the land that would become Chevy Chase, Maryland. Tracks were laid from the original terminus at U Street NW up 18th Street through the neighborhood today known as Adams Morgan , where it formed a junction with the Metropolitan Railroad at Columbia Road. Turning west along Erie Street (today's Calvert Street),

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1188-459: The authorization to lay track east along Florida Avenue to North Capitol Street was eventually used. On March 2, 1893, the Rock Creek Railway opened a 1-mile extension that ran from its former terminus at 18th and Florida east along U Street NW through the neighborhood of Shaw to 7th Street NW. This double-track line intersected with several downtown lines and made Adams Morgan more readily accessible from downtown . The downtown portion of

1242-461: The batteries of trucks and electric cars , and among the tested systems are two ground-level power supply systems tested since 2017, in-road rail by Elways-Evias and on-road rail by Elonroad. Elonroad later developed an in-road rail system for highway use at speeds up to 130 kilometres per hour (81 mph). The systems were found to be more economical than the tested overhead line system and dynamic inductive charging system. The in-road rail system

1296-465: The carousel for the youngsters, await non-dancing visitors to Chevy Chase Lake. The following year, Meyer took over management of the entire park, which became the foundation of his sprawling dance-band business. By the time he relinquished it in the early 1930s, Davis would be the "biggest businessman among U.S. band leaders," as Time put it in 1941, a wealthy society figure whose operations included some 80 bands with 1,000 musicians playing all along

1350-456: The conductor to the surface, allowing power to flow to the vehicle. Segments of the strip are powered only when a vehicle passes over them. The system was developed in 1994 and trialed on a public tram line in 1998, which was eventually dismantled in 2012. Alstom APS uses a third rail placed between the running rails, divided electrically into 11-metre segments. These segments automatically switch on or off by radio control according to whether

1404-548: The conduit system, which remained in operation until 1962. The system was generally safe, but tended to get clogged by mud and dirt. The system fell out of favor within a few years due to the cost of excavating the conduit, and was generally replaced with overhead lines. Stud contact systems were implemented from 1899 to 1921. Systems by the inventors Dolter and Diatto were used in Tours, Paris, and several towns in England. Power

1458-608: The contractor Siemens-Halske implemented a concrete conduit underneath one of the trolley rails, with a narrow opening that allowed a "plow" to be inserted and make electrical contact with wires held by insulators at either side of the conduit. The system was used in several cities in Europe and the United States, where it was known as the "Budapest System". Washington, D.C. installed its first conduit current collection system in 1895. By 1899 all downtown lines were converted to

1512-558: The earliest such systems using conduit current collection . Since the turn of the 21st century, systems such as the Alstom APS , Ansaldo Tramwave , CAF ACR , and Elways have been introduced that use modern technology to eliminate some limits and dangers of the older systems, and to supply power for buses, trucks, and electric cars . With the increased efficiency and energy density of capacitor- and battery-powered systems, ground-level power supply systems are used in smaller portions of

1566-433: The first company created during "the great streetcar consolidation." The deal also took advantage of a peculiar facet of the Rock Creek Railway, whose revenues were rather sparse but whose charter placed no limits on the amount of money that might be raised through the sale of stock and bonds. "This providential clause was turned to good advantage in the reorganization of the prosperous Washington and Georgetown Railroad which

1620-416: The following: an ERS voltage of 750 volts; a contact shoe capable of withstanding impact of gravel and similar road debris at the maximum operating speed; a weak link that breaks off the current collector at the structural fixing points if the force is larger than the maximum specified by the vehicle manufacturer; automatic monitoring of the presence of ERS infrastructure; automatic engagement and disengagement;

1674-414: The ground"), is a concept and group of technologies whereby electric vehicles collect electric power at ground level from individually-powered segments instead of the more common overhead lines . Ground-level power supply was developed for aesthetic reasons, to avoid the presence of overhead lines in city centres. Ground-level power supply systems date to the beginning of electric tramways , with some of

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1728-504: The improved streets of the city, was constructed with great difficulty, and at an enormous expense. Connecticut Avenue (extended) having as yet been unimproved, and the country being very rugged, a succession of deep cuts and fills were necessary, as well as the bridging of several deep ravines," wrote Electrical World. Some 454,000 cubic yards were removed, including 242,000 of solid rock, 97,000 of loose rock, 32,000 of hard pan, and 83,000 of earth: an average of 75,000 cubic yards for each of

1782-421: The last in operation until being decommissioned in 1958 and 1962, respectively. For decades, these systems were not reintroduced because they didn't meet modern safety standards. A number of ground-level power supply systems were developed from the 1970s through the 1990s, but were not reliable or safe enough for commercial use. The first ground-level power supply system developed to modern safety standards

1836-532: The line approached the Rock Creek gorge. Bridging the valley was the railroad's single most difficult engineering challenge. The company hired the Edge Moor Iron Works to build an iron truss bridge at Cincinnati Street NW (now Calvert Street NW). The 775-foot, 1,226-ton bridge, whose six trusses sat on 125-foot-high iron trestles, was officially completed on July 21, 1891. On the previous day,

1890-688: The line fostered the suburb of Chevy Chase, Maryland . In 1923, Capital Traction gained the right to run its streetcars on the tracks of the Kensington Railway, which allowed it to operate through service from downtown D.C. through Chevy Chase Lake to Norris Station in Kensington. Twelve years later, Capital Traction was given permission to replace streetcars on the Chevy Chase line with buses. The last streetcars ran on September 15, 1935. The trolley poles, safety domes, and most of

1944-503: The line to charge batteries—for example, during station stops for buses and trains. Conduit current collection systems were implemented as early as 1881 with the Gross-Lichterfelde Tramway . The system is primarily composed of a channel, or conduit, excavated under the roadway; the conduit is positioned either between the running rails, much in the same fashion as the cable for cable cars , or underneath one of

1998-635: The line used the underground Love conduit system, while the Connecticut Avenue section used cheaper, more reliable overhead wires. Rock Creek streetcars were equipped for both, and switched from one delivery method to the other on every run at 18th and V Streets NW, a process that took 30 seconds or less. (In 1899, the Love conduit would be replaced by overhead poles. ) In 1894, the line regularly operated 20 streetcars on 15-minute headways —and 7-minute headways on Sundays and holidays. The price for

2052-502: The railroad began operations on its first quarter-mile of track, connecting Connecticut Avenue NW and 18th Street NW along Florida Avenue (recently renamed from Boundary Street). Overhead trolley poles were forbidden in this part of the city, so the railroad used the Love conduit system between the rails to provide power to the cars. (These original tracks would be removed in 1899 as the city's streetcar network developed. ) Meanwhile,

2106-417: The railroad purchased the Washington and Georgetown Railroad Company and changed its name to the Capital Traction Company , which would become one of the two major streetcar companies that operated in and around Washington, D.C., in the early decades of the 20th century. The line fostered the development of several neighborhoods of northwest Washington, D.C. , and suburban Maryland. The Rock Creek Railway

2160-524: The railroad's six-track car barn. Coquelin Run, a small tributary of Rock Creek, was dammed to create a lake to supply water to the railroad's northern power house . This generating plant, which burned coal that arrived on a B&O siding , used the Thomson-Houston system installed by General Electric to deliver electricity to streetcars via overhead poles. The poles—ornamented iron within the city and

2214-496: The railroad, under the terms of its charter, had transferred both of its bridges to the city of Washington, D.C. (In 1911, the rickety Rock Creek bridge would be shored up by narrowing its roadway from 40 feet to 25 and adding timber cribbing, which would in 1922 be replaced by steel joints and asphalt surface. The bridge itself would be replaced in 1935 by the Duke Ellington Bridge ; to minimize traffic disruption,

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2268-512: The rails; a car is connected to a "plow" that runs through the conduit and delivers power from two electric rails at the sides of the conduit to the car's electric motor. Plows were manually attached and detached from cars as they switched rail lines. Cleveland opened a conduit line in 1885. Tram companies in Budapest trialed a conduit current collector system in 1887. Overhead lines were met with public opposition for aesthetic reasons, so

2322-801: The side of the cylinder and kept the exposed top electrified. The Dolter switches used pivot arms, which tended to get stuck in the electrified position. Similar systems were operated by Thomson-Houston in Monaco from 1898 to 1903, and by František Křižík in Prague on the King Charles Bridge from 1903 to 1908. Stud contact systems were short-lived due to safety issues. Conduit current collection systems were used in several major cities, including Monaco, Dresden, Prague, Tours, Washington, and London, but posed maintenance issues and road safety issues. The Bordeaux and Washington conduit systems remained

2376-468: The six miles. A bridge was built to carry road and track across Klingle Ford Road . The overhead wire was hung from poles set every 125 feet: iron poles manufactured by John A. Roebling’s Sons Co. The line ended just south of the grade crossing of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 's Georgetown Branch at Connecticut Avenue. Here the Rock Creek built a terminus complex that included a small station and

2430-653: The trestle was moved 80 feet downstream on rollers and kept in use until the new bridge was completed, whereupon it was demolished on December 17 of that year .) Returning to solid ground, the track joined the recently graded extension of Connecticut Avenue NW north of Rock Creek and turned then ran north-northwest. The line continued on Connecticut to the District line at Chevy Chase Circle , then on trackage built by Newlands' Chevy Chase Land Company 1.7 miles due north to just past Coquelin Run in today's unincorporated Chevy Chase, Maryland . “The road bed, after leaving

2484-475: The waiting stations were removed the following week. The tracks remained for several years, but when the Export Control Act was passed barring the sale of most scrap metal to Japan it had a loophole for old rails, which made Rock Creek rail very lucrative. At that point, the tracks in Maryland were pulled up and sold to Japan by the state of Maryland. It's likely the tracks were melted down for use in

2538-453: Was constructed from 2000 and opened in 2003, becoming the first modern commercial ground-level power supply system. From 2011, the technology has been used in a number of other cities around the world. The French government reports no electrocutions or electrification accidents on any tramway in France from as early as 2003 until as recently as December 31, 2020. Alstom further developed

2592-576: Was founded by Francis Newlands as part of a plan to develop streetcar suburbs in northwestern D.C. and adjacent Maryland. He and his partners incorporated the company on June 23, 1888 (just four days after D.C.'s first electric trolley company, the Eckington and Soldiers' Home Railway ). The railroad's officers were the same as the Chevy Chase Land Company's: Newlands, president; Edward J. Stellwagen, vice-president; Howard S. Nyman, secretary; Thomas M. Gale, treasurer, and A. J. Warner, manager. In 1890,

2646-831: Was included in the Newcastle Light Rail in Australia and Luxembourg's new tram system . Derived from Ansaldo Stream and developed by Italian company Ansaldo STS (which later became Hitachi Rail STS), the Ansaldo TramWave ground-level power supply system successfully entered commercial application in 2017, with the opening of Zhuhai tram Line 1 first phase in China. The tram is the first fully low-floor tram system adopting ground level power supply technology. Later in 2017, Western Suburb Line in Beijing

2700-624: Was one of the first electric streetcar companies in Washington, D.C. , and the first to extend into Maryland . Created to increase the value of land owned by the Chevy Chase Land Company , the railroad began service in 1890. By 1893, it stretched more than seven miles from the Cardoza/Shaw neighborhood of D.C. to Coquelin Run in Maryland. The trip from Chevy Chase to downtown took about 35 minutes. In 1895,

2754-428: Was severely crippled by its fixed capital ceiling of only $ 500,000", according to a 1966 history of D.C. streetcars. The Rock Creek line fostered development along upper Connecticut Avenue, helping to spawn several northwest Washington, D.C. , neighborhoods: Adams Morgan , Woodley Park , Cleveland Park , North Cleveland Park , Forest Hills , and Chevy Chase . Similarly, and as explicitly intended by its founders,

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2808-445: Was supplied from studs set in the road at intervals, which connected to the traveling cars with contact shoes or contact skis . The studs were cylinders with their tops flush with the road surface. Underneath there was a switch mechanism that made an electrical connection with the top of the stud when a car with a strong electromagnet at its underside passed over it. The Diatto switches contained mercury, which often leaked or adhered to

2862-500: Was the Ansaldo Stream , although a competing system, Alstom APS , was the first to be commercially implemented in 2003. This success led to a proliferation of commercial implementations of ground-level power supply systems. During the late 2010s, advancements in technology led to ground-level power supplies seeing increasing reliability and economic feasibility. Electric roads power and charge electric vehicles while driving. Sweden has tested electric road systems that charge

2916-482: Was the power house's artificial lake, landscaped for boating. One more source of passenger traffic was the Chevy Chase Lake & Kensington Railway (later, the Kensington Railway Company), a streetcar line that opened in 1895 and ran two winding miles north from the Rock Creek's terminus to the town of Kensington . On March 1, 1895, Congress authorized the Rock Creek Railway to purchase

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