The Streetcar That Ate the Profits: Third Street Line May Shut Down
A federal receiver gets permission to issue $15,000 in certificates, but the order bars any more money from being sunk into Seattle's losing Third Street railway.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The order issued by Judge Hanford last Monday allowing Receiver Rackus, of the Rainier Power & Railway Company, to issue receiver's certificates to the amount of $15,000 was filed in the United States court yesterday. The order authorizes certificates to bear interest at 8 per cent., to be disposed of at not less than par, the proceeds to be applied in payment of existing debts and future necessary expenses for repairs, but no expenditures to be applied to the repairs or settlement of the affairs of the Third street line. The Rainier Power & Railway Company owns three separate properties, the Third street road, the electric light plant and the Western mill. The Third street line is not paying running expenses, and in fact it has been a losing proposition from the start. The result is that the road has been a constant drain on the finances of the other two properties. The order became necessary, as the Third street line is getting far in arrears in the payment of its running expenses, and it is probable that it may become necessary to discontinue its operation. In that case all money hitherto paid out for the repairs and expenditures of the road would be lost.
“The Third street line is not paying running expenses, and in fact it has been a losing proposition from the start.”
Seattle's early streetcar wars were not romantic: lines were speculative real-estate plays, and when ridership or cash flow failed, the rails could be abandoned almost overnight. The Third Street line's crisis foreshadows today's debates over transit funding, maintenance backlogs, and who pays when a route cannot cover its costs.
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