Name/Title
Columbia Railway BadgeEntry/Object ID
2012.11.1Description
An irregularly-shape metal hat badge. The badge reads, "Columbia Railway, Gas and Elec. Co." with the number 61 in the center and a flying bird on the top. The silver-color finish is worn, showing a copper-color metal underneath. On the back, there are two bolts where the badge would attach through holes in a hat. Wheel-shaped nuts would have been used to secure the hat onto the bolts.Context
The Columbia Electric Street Railway Light & Power Company began in 1891 and operated from 1911 until 1924 as the Columbia Railway Gas & Electric Company (CRG&ECO) as written on this badge. The CRG&ECO operated approximately 30 miles of the railroad track and over 50 cars. The number in the center of the badge, 61, represents the issue number.
In 1925, the CRG&ECO began abandoning tracks operating within the city, mostly in response to the growing number of passengers busses and jitneys. According to the Electric Railway Journal of May 8th, 1926, "The jitneys, mostly cars of a light and popular make, carry only white passengers. The buses and street cars carry whites and negroes. Meanwhile, Columbia has three systems of transportation — buses, streetcars, and jitneys. Columbia is a city of about 40,000 people. It cannot support three different transportation systems." The CRG&ECO officially announced an indefinite suspension of services in March of 1927, later claiming the jitney operation "has utterly destroyed the railway system in Columbia...the jitneys, operated without route or schedule, carry passengers at the same rate as the buses and take them direct to their door or office."
In 1930, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that railroad service must resume. However, the CRG&ECO was dissolved in 1934, and the lines were officially transferred to the Broad River Power Company.Dimensions
Height
2-3/16 inWidth
2-1/2 in