Random Photos of Trolley Cars

Some toy trolley cars, most of which I cannot identify. Maybe you can.

CG&W #34 at the Pen Mar Station in 1922 with Bob Monigham

Trolley cars in Texas.

El Paso, TexasMcKinney Avenue, Dallas

New Safety Car, Fort Worth

San Antonio

Dallas

Dallas

El Paso

CG&W 34 at the Pen Mar Station in 1922 with H H Snowberger

Coffeyville, Kansas

More Kansas trolley cars.

CG&W #33 at PenMar in 1922

Trolley cars of Idaho:

Thanks for posting these photos--love this thread.

Bobby Ogage posted:

Here are two cutouts of 10-window Brill semi-convertible cars you can copy, print and assemble. Enlarge the size to make it easier. Lets see how yours turns out. Post some pictures here.

Thanks, Bobby Ogage, some how I missed this gem of a post.   It looks like the perfect distraction from weekend school work that I desperately need to get done ... coincidentally, I just got a new color toner cartridge!  Temptations!

Tomlinson Run Railroad

Scotie posted:

Thanks for posting these photos--love this thread.

Scotie,

I do, too.  While Bobby Ogage and MWB do the lion's share of the posting, I really look forward to getting these posts in my mailbox.  Looking at these photos, the variety of car styles and railway locations, and the history behind them really makes my day, and it is a welcome break from the work day crunch. The "randomness" makes it all the more fun.

Thanks for keeping this thread going, guys! 

Tomlinson Run Railroad

Can cable cars count as "trolleys"?  Here are some photos and an interesting background story about car #16 from San Francisco.  When retired, it was placed on top of the Emporium Department Store building for use in a children's play ground:

Source: SF Chronicle, 1948

The background story and another photo (citation: OpenSFHistory / wnp32.0100.jpg; Echeveriia-Brandt Collection):

Number 16 was in service until Feb. 13, 1941 when buses took over the route. It was in storage until 1948 when the Emporium Dept. store purchased it for their Kiddiland Complex on the roof.  It was there until the store closed in 1996; then, taken apart and stored.  The parts were too far gone due to being in storage and the car was literally buried at sea.  I seem to recall photos of some NJ/NY? subway cars that met a similar fate, except that that "burial" was done to create spaces to encourage sea life.

Tomlinson Run Railroad

My son gave me permission to post this photo of a trolley car from a trolley car. He took it last week on the Embarcadero in San Francisco.

Connecticut Yankee meets Southern Belle

Here are some trolley cars from the Dakotas.

Where is the trolley pole, or is this a horse drawn car?Lots of window awnings and odd auto parking arrangements.

Great flat car load. It looks to be a new Birney on the way to Sioux Falls.

Bobby Ogage posted:

Here are some trolley cars from the Dakotas.

Where is the trolley pole, or is this a horse drawn car?

I'm going to guess a battery car. 

 

Lots of window awnings and odd auto parking arrangements.

There was a considerable amount of experimentation with various parking schemes in the early days of automobiles.   

Great flat car load. It looks to be a new Birney on the way to Sioux Falls.

A Stone and Webster "turtleback".  The end profiles do look Birneyesque.  

Mitch 

Trolley cars of Nebraska.The aftermath of a tornado that struck Omaha in 1913.

This car is a mystery. I could not confirm that it ran somewhere in Nebraska. I would appreciate some help identifying this trolley car. I find the lights over the doors and the sloping car sides as interesting features. Could this car be a convertible?

[EDIT]

Omaha and Council Bluffs

From what I can see, #1014 was a 1917 company build (originally had brill 76E trucks with Westinghouse 506 motors).  

Montclaire posted:

From what I can see, #1014 was a 1917 company build (originally had brill 76E trucks with Westinghouse 506 motors).  

Car 1014 appears to be a sister of Car 1005.

Bobby Ogage posted:

Montclaire posted:

=snip=

From what I can see, #1014 was a 1917 company build (originally had brill 76E trucks with Westinghouse 506 motors).  

Car 1014 appears to be a sister of Car 1005.

Nice match!  I see that the Omaha & Council Bluffs example has four nearly spherical projections on the roof.  The preserved ex. doesn't.  I'm guessing they are some kind of ventilation system but I'm unfamiliar with them.  Can anyone illuminate me?

Tomlinson Run Railroad 

Yes, these are Brill-type ventilators.  Yesterday I was reading about them in Brill Magazine, but now I can't remember what the Brill Company called them.  Q-Car sells them as "mushroom"-type, Part CS399, $4.85 a dozen.  

I found the reference: p. 206 of the 1916 volume of BRILL MAGAZINE.  It was called the "Exhaust" ventilator:

"The roof, which is of the Brill Plain Arch type, is equipped with six Brill “Exhaust’’ Ventilators, equipped with adjustable registers. This ‘‘Exhaust” Ventilator is proving itself one of the most popular of Brill specialties.  It keeps the air in constant circulation, removing the vitiated air and at the same time excluding rain or snow and, in winter time, preventing too sudden changes in the temperature of the car."

Here is the car that was being discussed, a 37' lightweight 40-passenger convertible car that rode on a single Brill Radiax truck:

The initial order was for two, then the Bristol & Plainville Tramway ordered five more.  I would love to find a picture of one of these with the sides off.

Trolley cars of Utah.

Trolley cars in Montana.

First Trolley in Missoula.This car needs rescuing before it is too far gone.I would love to see this shot in color. It looks like a Thomas Kincaid painting.Check the hotel sign to the left. It highlights that the hotel has hot water and heat!

Having investigated the trolley car systems in most of the USA, I find that Brill cars appear to be the most prolific. Why is this? What did Brill have that the other companies did not?

CG&W #33 at the Pen Mar Substation in 1930

I wonder how many trolley cars there are preserved / restored in the museums of Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Maine?

The following web site is a list of all the preserved streetcars in North America. You can sort by state and count the cars preserved in those states. 

http://www.bera.org/pnaerc.html

Trolley cars in Colorado.

Trolley cars in Michigan.

Duluth InclinePark Pt FiremenYpsi-Ann 1896 Electric Car

Trolley cars in Arizona.

Trolleys in Massachusetts.

Bobby Ogage posted:

Trolleys in Massachusetts.

Hey Bobby Ogage, there's some nice age and manufacturer diversity in your Massachustts trolley post today.  This Braves Field photo is winderful from a historical standpoint and great to have in color!  Neat looking (leaf?) suspension, too, shown on those trucks.

Tomlinson Run Railroad

Trolley cars in Maryland.

Ellicot CityThe Rockville lineRockville Line Wreck @ Montrose & Rt 355Washington, Baltimore & Annapolis Electric Railway

Washington, Baltimore & Annapolis Electric Railway

Trolley cars in Georgia.

I find this poster irresistible, so I am going to put it on the side of a building on my layout.

Sunbury & Northumberland

Trolley cars in Hawaii. Great photos of store fronts.