41st & Haverford Avenue Steam Dummy Depot In the years before the technology was perfected that enabled electric trolley car service,
various alternate systems were tried, including cable cars, electric battery cars, and steam dummies.
Steam dummies disguised their steam boilers and complex mechanisms "so as not to frighten horses."
This depot was constructed at 41st & Haverford Avenue in about 1877 to house steam dummy cars.
June 8, 2007, Mike Szilagyi photo

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