Here’s something that once played a significant, if occasional, part in trolley operation. Consider what happens if there is a major fire such that fire hoses have to be run across a street. Nowadays, the street is simply closed off and traffic is routed around. That flexibility of routing is – we rather hate to acknowledge – an advantage of automobiles and buses. However, because trolleys ran on a fixed track, this situation could pose a problem.

In the days when city street railways operated extensive networks, it often was possible for cars, also, to be routed over a different line and still reach their destinations. When this rerouting wasn’t possible, sometimes the cars just didn’t run. But, what did you do if the fire wasn’t too bad and a route on which a large number of people depended was blocked?

At this point, a strange little device known as a “hose jumper” was brought into play. This amounted to a short iron or steel movable ramp with rails to carry a car, and with a space beneath to allow a hose to cross the tracks. Now, cars could move, albeit very slowly giving what appeared to be a little jump, past the fire.

Actually, something similar still is used to allow automobile traffic to pass over a hose, but its much less common because of the ease with which traffic can be rerouted.