A photograph taken in the 1890's at the East Side Railway streetcar shops in Milwaukie, Oregon. The operators and crew are posing beside the streetcar "Mabel", one of their typical cars that had names instead of numbers. The East Side Railway was noted for establishing the first "long distance" (14 miles!) inter-urban streetcar line in America. The electric powered line began construction in 1891 and opened service from Portland to Oregon City Feb. 16, 1893. In the years to come, the line changed with various owners and names and the cars became numbers instead of the quaint female names. The last streetcar ran in January, 1958 when the Portland Traction Co. ceased operation forever. The end of an era! Now, they are putting it all back again and calling it "light rail". What goes around, comes around?