Saint Charles Avenue

This guide to Saint Charles Avenue in New Orleans rides the streetcar line that opened in 1835 on iron rails meant for steam locomotives, then traces its odd chain of power sources: two engines nicknamed New Orleans and Carrollton, mules brought in after neighbors complained, and in the 1890s an all but forgotten experiment with cars pushed by compressed ammonia gas. You'll hear how the line finally went electric in 1893 on an unusually wide track gauge, and reach the dark green cars built in the 1920s that still roll past today. Listen for the bell as it rings on a route that has barely changed in nearly two centuries.