Not every disappearing technology deserves that fate. Sometimes the "losers" have an elegance and simplicity the "winners" lack. Here are ten examples.

Electric Trolley

Streetcars, the country's first major form of public transportation, were challenged by a cheaper form of transit that gained ground through the 1930s-the bus. A persistent theory that General Motors orchestrated the demise of America's streetcar lines is disputed by transit historians, but even without corporate conspiracies, bus systems had the clear advantage of running on existing roads-and they paid no market penalty for the greater noise and pollution they generated.