These are the wheel sets (trucks) of a Twin Cities streetcar, manufactured at the company shops. Each four-wheel truck had a pair of 50 horsepower motors geared to the axles. The metal blades in the foreground are snow scrapers.
This specialized work car, called a cupola car, was built in 1914 to crush rock into gravel that could then be used as the ballast layer in track construction. It is pictured at Nicollet Station in south Minneapolis.
The East Side streetcar station was located on 1st Avenue NE between University Avenue and 4th Street. It housed streetcars from 1891 to 1954 and survives today as the Superior Plating Co.
The Main Steam Station is still located at the east end of the Stone Arch Bridge near St. Anthony Falls. Built by Twin City Rapid Transit, it supplied the electricity required to run the Twin Cities' streetcar system. This photo was taken from the 10th Avenue wagon bridge across the Mississippi, it has since been demolished.