Hingham Municipal Lighting Plant, MA 1896-97, Laying Tracks Next to Electric Ltg. Lines

By Joe Maurath, Jr.; posted September 27, 2020

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Photo of a street railway construction crew working on their newly installed tracks along Main Street in Hingham, MA, just north of the intersection of Cushing Street with one of the town's electric utility pole lines extending alongside the tracks. For a closeup view of this pole with its small distribution transformer click "Next'. Most of the houses on both sides of this scenic road are still standing. This is MA SR 228 looking north.

According to town records, "Early in the spring (of 1896) the work of laying the tracks of the electric railway was commenced and summer was well advanced before all of the wires, etc., necessary to the full equipment of the road were placed into position. The arrangement made by your (municipal lighting) Board with the management of the electric railway company in regard to poles necessitated the changing of all of our wires on the line of the road (along the most frequently travelled routes in town)... Although this to a certain extent was done by the employes of the road, their inexperience in regard to the particular work required for properly constructing lines for electric lighting required the constant supervision of the department, and although additional men were employed the work was of such a character that the progress made was necessarily slow."

The report further comments that corrective measures were promptly taken by the Light Plant in order to minimize any further inconveniences to customers when either their residential service or street lamps in their area no longer worked due railway company employes' errors in handling the wires, poles and related equipment.

The street railway system in Hingham, MA was in operation until 1927.

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