Birmingham & Edgewood Electric Railway

The Birmingham & Edgewood Electric Railway was a 5.4 mile streetcar line that extended streetcar service from downtown Birmingham into Shades Valley. It was built in 1909 by the Birmingham and Edgewood Electric Railway Co. (incorporated on July 15, 1909) and officially opened on July 1, 1911. The last streetcar ran on April 27, 1949.

Streetcar tracks near Oxmoor Road intersection

Route

The line ran from the end of the South Highlands line, over Red Mountain, into Homewood, and ended in Edgewood. When the route was being planned, it was determined that the grade up Red Mountain was too steep for the streetcar, so a 72-foot deep cut was made at Lone Pine Gap below where Vulcan is today. The line passed underneath the Birmingham Mineral Railroad at the crest and continued south until it reached Central Avenue. From there it continued down Central until turning west on 28th Court South (in 1929 this was labeled as 16th Street) where it continued for two blocks. It then turned south toward Manhattan Street and continued until it reached Highland Street where it took a short jog down Winkler Avenue where it then crossed Oxmoor Road. From there it continued down Broadway Street, until it terminated at Shades Road. In 1912, the line was extended further down Broadway and Saulter Road, until it reached Old Columbiana Road. It then continued for a short distance until it reached Edgewood Lake.

Streetcar tracks at the end of Manhattan Street

The tracks along Broadway Street were uncovered during maintenance work in April 2018. Most of the road was paved over again, but a section of the road with the original streetcar tracks was left uncovered and, eventually, there are plans to restore this section for historical purposes.

Another section of tracks is still visible (as of 2018) at the intersection of Manhattan Street and Parkridge Drive.

References

• Hudson, Alvin W. & Harold E. Cox (1976) Street Railways of Birmingham. Forty Fort, Pennsylvania: Harold E. Cox
• Summe, Sheryl Spradling. (2001). Homewood: The Life of a City. Homewood, AL: Friends of the Homewood Public Library.
• Byington, Pat (June 20, 2018) "Unearthed Homewood trolley tracks and bricks from the 1920s to be preserved." Bham Now

External Links

• Blog post with text and pictures by Jake Collins