Meridian Railroad Museum

Trolleys in Meridian
(Info taken from: Southern Traction Sept. 1983 : Traveling by Trolley in Mississippi by: Frank A. Brooks Jr.)

Very little is known about the Trolley lines in Meridian. What is know is that originally The Meridian Street Railway & Power Company owned it until 1901 where it was taken over by The Meridian Light and Railway Company. At the height of it operation there were 35 cars, 11 of which were trailers placed in use by coupling onto single truck Brill motorcars designed to seat 32 passengers.

Before any abandonment's, Meridian's car lines ran over slightly more than 13 miles of track. In 1922 The Meridian Light and Railway Company took up the tracks of its College line, which ran north from Highland Park. The bus service, which replaced that trolley line, marked the beginning of a trend, which would end all streetcar service in favor of buses.

Meridianites voted on a streetcar referendum on July 23, 1925, only 316 citizens voted to retain trolley transportation. Less than six weeks after that vote, busses were already following much the same routes previously covered by the trolleys with the exception of a new business district loop which took the busses past the new Spanish-mission style Union Railroad terminal.

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