Remember the "Dinky"?

Remember the "Dinky"? The rickety old red streetcar that ran from the Kinloch junction to Wabash Avenue. It connected to the Kirkwood-Ferguson line at the junction; which then rattled it's way to Wellston or even further into the bowels of St. Louis. It took several transfers to progress downtown to Famous Barr, Scruggs and the downtown movie houses.

Many of us remember the cranky old Irishman "McGuire", the motorman who shuttled "The Dinky" back and forth on the 3 1/2 miles of track numerous times a day. There was a stretch of this track that gave Ol' McGuire a fit! The "Stella" stop had a deep cut through the terrain and the top of the streetcar was about even with the top of this cut. Several of my acquaintances figured that if they stretched a rope across the tracks, it would be above the streetcar roof but would be properly placed to knock the trolley off the wire and shut down the streetcar. The trolley provided the electrical power to run the car but without it...it stopped. Untold times at night, McQuire would be tooling along and all the sudden his lights would go out! He knew he had been had again! He would get out of the "Dinky" and fumble around in the dark trying to find the trolley wire to regain power (all the time cussing a blue streak). After several near misses and sparks flying, he would get back in and head towards the next stop, Airport Road. Often when he applied his brakes at this stop, he would find the car failing to stop...he knew he had been had again! The same ingenious acquaintances also found that if they greased the tracks at this point, the car would just slide past the Airport stop until it ran out of the greased track. Often different stretches of the track were selected for "greasing". The streetcar tracks ended at Wabash Avenue and this too was a favorite area to "grease the tracks". I suspect McGuire spotted his laundry many times during his tenure as Berkeley City's favorite motorman.

Another favorite prank pastime was the RR track crossing at Wabash and Graham road. It was determined that when a steel bar was placed across the RR tracks, the crossing lights and bell would signal STOP! The "Perps", as they call them today, would lie in wait for a car roaring down the hill on Graham Road. At the precise time, the bar was placed, the RR signal would signal STOP and often the sound of tires screeching to a halt were heard. They would then stop and wait and wait with no train in sight. Finally, they would dash across the tracks realizing they had been duped.

I have many stories like this of the pranks that were in vogue in those days and now they can be told as many of the "Perps" have departed to the happy hunting grounds. I will protect the few of us who are still on the right side of dirt.