"owl car" phrase ??

[bruce d. boling]

An owl car was a streetcar that ran through the night (as opposed to those
that ceased their runs at, say, midnight) .  Certain heavily patronized
streetcar lines typically provided all-night service.  Often owl cars might
run slightly different routes from those they ran during the day; separate
routes might also be combined for owl car service.

Bruce D. Boling
Assoc. Professor
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM
bboling at unm.edu

--On Wednesday, January 16, 2002, 3:13 PM -0800 "s. . ."
<stephen_lombardo at YAHOO.COM> wrote:

> Hi, everyone.
> Can you please help me paraphrase the following in
> current English (read the part between arrows
>>>>  <<<):
>
> "[A lone policeman on his rounds], >>> the clanging
> bell of some owl car anxious to be off the street, <<<
> [the tread of a man hurrying...]
>
> Thanks for your insights.
>
> Peter Lombardo
>
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