Random Photos of Trolley Cars

TomlinsonRunRR posted:

Greg Nagy posted:

Between this thread and the diner car thread, if you are not following Brian Butko on Facebook and some of his groups, you are missing out on a lot of stuff. 

     I don't know how much trolley content will be in it, but his book on Luna Park in Pittsburgh is dropping now.

Greg,

Yes, Brian Butko has done a good job of picking up the torch from Randy Garbin, Richard Gutman, and others who photograph, record, and track diner buildings.  I avoid Facebook, but Mr. Garbin has a useful web blog.  Is there another O gauge diner car thread out there that I missed? We've had several here and I do hope to post some new information to my trolley-railcar-diner "the real story" post -- this weekend in fact, as it's been a while (too busy!).

Thanks for the heads up on the book release.

Tomlinson Run RR

And for us Pittsburgers Brian also wrote books on Kennywood and Isaly's.

Bill

jim pastorius posted:

I was reading a book on NW Pa.RRs and there was a photo of a dining car which they said went to Fredonia, Pa and made in to a diner. Any record of this ??

So, Jim, this is a puzzle!  The "transportation"-related restaurant that I'm aware of in Fredonia, PA is a former Kuhlman 700-Series trolley now "serving" (ha!) as the Coach Dinor [sic].   Because I promised to update my trolley-railcar-diner post this weekend, I've explored this trolley-diner and your question in more detail there.  It's got a link to a better quality copyrighted photo, too.  Thanks for giving me a good and easy topic to work on this weekend!  Meanwhile, here's a Google-snap of the Coach Dinor:

SO -- if the Coach Dinor is a Kuhlman trolley that still begs the question of what is your book talking about when it shows a photo of a "dining car" turned restaurant?  Feel free to reply at the other link if it's a railcar rather than a trolley. 

Tomlinson Run Railroad

Bobby Ogage posted:

 

          More trolley crews to study.

Ah! The Berkshire Hills is my favorite trolley!  (To date anyway.)  It too spent its retirement years as a restaurant and what is left of it is now in storage at the Seashore Trolley Museum.  For those interested, here's a post that I did a while ago with links to additional photos that I found on the internet.  Stunning workmanship and an interesting "parlor" design.  The curved ends intrigued me.

Tomlinson Run Railroad

As mentioned trolley car companies promoted amusement parks at the end of their lines. The parks utilized the electric power from the trolleys to operate their rides and attractions. Many photos and stories have appeared on this subject.  In 1845 an amusement park opened in Bristol / Southington Connecticut. When the electric trolley line was constructed it services the park. Through the years the park changed hands a few times. It had its ups and downs (not only on the rides). Trolley service to the park ended and a narrow gauge railroad was provided around the site. Around twenty years ago a new owner started to rehabilitate the park. They struck a deal with the Shore Line Trolley Museum in Branford Conn. A right of way was constructed and an Olgood Bradley open bench trolley was sent to the park. It has been operating there ever since. I and going to try and attach some photos to this. For a lot more information go to Wikapedia, the Lake Compounce amusement park or the Shore Line Trolley museum. Better still, take a trip this summer and visit both attractions. The parliament boasts a world class wooden roller coaster and many other attractions and the museum has many operating trolleys and transit cars.D

Down at Big Boy's Gas Station

mwb posted:

Down at Big Boy's Gas Station

MWB, That is an incredible photo that is just screaming to be modeled!  Here's the back story.

Thanks for posting.  This is going to be my new screen saver.

Tomlinson Run Railroad

Love the car at the pumps. A cousin to my 1937 Chevy, my first car while in college. Cost me $65 but could hardly afford to run it. Bought it 1955.  18 yrs old, now I drive a GMC Jimmy  16 yrs old so I have bettered myself by two years. !!

Trolley car and track workers in Framingham

I magnified the picture of the track workers in Framingham, and it appears that ties are being replaced in the siding. That track gang has a lot of people doing nothing. At the far right, the workers have their jackets hung on gravestones.

What is that "U" shaped gizmo in the forefront of the picture, and on the right rail?

Bobby Ogage posted:

I magnified the picture of the track workers in Framingham, and it appears that ties are being replaced in the siding. That track gang has a lot of people doing nothing.

Some things have never changed over the years - I see this every day on the way home; lanes closed and lots of guys standing around while 1-2 are actually working.......but everybody has to stop for a photo opp,

At the far right, the workers have their jackets hung on gravestones.

Can you imagine the screaming were that to happen today?

What is that "U" shaped gizmo in the forefront of the picture, and on the right rail?

Think that might be an anchor driven into the ground to hold the rail in place while the ties are being replaced?

Nate posted:

As mentioned trolley car companies promoted amusement parks at the end of their lines. The parks utilized the electric power from the trolleys to operate their rides and attractions. Many photos and stories have appeared on this subject.  In 1845 an amusement park opened in Bristol / Southington Connecticut. When the electric trolley line was constructed it services the park. Through the years the park changed hands a few times. It had its ups and downs (not only on the rides). Trolley service to the park ended and a narrow gauge railroad was provided around the site. Around twenty years ago a new owner started to rehabilitate the park. They struck a deal with the Shore Line Trolley Museum in Branford Conn. A right of way was constructed and an Olgood Bradley open bench trolley was sent to the park. It has been operating there ever since. I and going to try and attach some photos to this. For a lot more information go to Wikapedia, the Lake Compounce amusement park or the Shore Line Trolley museum. Better still, take a trip this summer and visit both attractions. The parliament boasts a world class wooden roller coaster and many other attractions and the museum has many operating trolleys and transit cars.D

 

Nice photos and that’s a different twist on the "trolley park" concept – instead of the trolley company building the park, this park was there many years before the trolley line was added.  Plus it’s still there today and you can ride a restored trolley to visit it!

Bill

mwb posted:

Think that might be an anchor driven into the ground to hold the rail in place while the ties are being replaced?

I think it's for putting spike starter holes in the ties. 

Sacramento Northern 1005 at the Western Railway Museum.  It is operating on the former Sacramento Northern mainline, now part of the Western Railway Museum. The other two cars in the train are SN 1020 and Salt Lake and Utah observation 751. 751 is a control trailer.  The train will be run from the 751 on the return trip. 

What is the status of the new Loop Trolley in St. Louis?           Cars Reported To Be In Disrepair          Car Being Tested On The New Loop Line

Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco, July-August 2010.  PCC trolleys in service.

George

https://www.streetcar.org/stre...on-elevated-railway/

It's ironic how everyone loves old SEPTA PCCs.   Except SEPTA. 

Mitch

Yes, and Pittsburgh too !  Pgh had the most of any city and kept none !  There is a stationary PCC in the Heinz History Center and one that runs(I think) at the trolley museum near Washington, Pa. The PCCs ran forever and  they have bought replacements for them several times over.

jim pastorius posted:

Yes, and Pittsburgh too !  Pgh had the most of any city and kept none !  There is a stationary PCC in the Heinz History Center and one that runs(I think) at the trolley museum near Washington, Pa. The PCCs ran forever and  they have bought replacements for them several times over.

Hi Jim:

Yes indeed we had the most PCC cars in service in the USA in Pittsburgh for many years but unfortunately not the most ever of any US city.  Before we hear from a Chicago member we were second to Chicago who had purchased just 17 more PCC cars than our total fleet of 666 PCC cars.  However, the Chicago PCC streetcars had a relatively short career because in 1947 as their last order of PCC cars was arriving the decision was made to start replacing trolley lines with busses!  It took 11 years to complete the conversion as the last Chicago PCC streetcar was taken out of service in 1958.  Some of the newest PCC cars which were purchased early in 1947 barely had 10 years of operating time.  OTOH, essentially all of Pittsburgh’s 666 PCC’s were still in service in 1958 (notable exceptions were the 14 PCC’s destroyed by fire at the Homewood Car Barn in 1955).  So it’s safe to say we had the largest operating PCC fleet system in the USA from 1958 and many years thereafter.

Across the border in Canada, Toronto had more PCC’s than Pittsburgh or Chicago with 745 although they bought 205 of them used from Birmingham, Cincinnati, Cleveland & Kansas City when those cities abandoned streetcars.

That surviving car at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in “Little Washington” you mentioned is Pittsburgh Railways #1711 which is operational and there are also 3 other Pittsburgh PCC’s at the Museum including the last PCC to operate in revenue service in Pittsburgh in 1999 - PAT car #4004 which was a rebuilt 1700-series PCC, and it is also in operating condition.  There are, or were, 2 other static Pittsburgh PCC cars sitting outdoors that I know of, one in Bethel Park and one at the PAT South Hills Village Station near the Mall. 

And in response to Mitch’s posting, there are two former PTC/SEPTA PCC’s at the Museum, one of which is operational as seen in the attached photo with yours truly at the controls in 2011. 

Bill

SF & Napa Valley

I love some of the cars and equipment the  old transit companies came up with.  Dambach was a lumber dealer & cabinet shop in Evans City, Pa. and built some interurban car bodies for  the Pgh, _Butler  interurban line. they bought or used old power trucks. 

WftTrains posted:

jim pastorius posted:

Yes, and Pittsburgh too !  Pgh had the most of any city and kept none !  There is a stationary PCC in the Heinz History Center and one that runs(I think) at the trolley museum near Washington, Pa. The PCCs ran forever and  they have bought replacements for them several times over.

Hi Jim:

Yes indeed we had the most PCC cars in service in the USA in Pittsburgh for many years but unfortunately not the most ever of any US city.  Before we hear from a Chicago member we were second to Chicago who had purchased just 17 more PCC cars than our total fleet of 666 PCC cars.  However, the Chicago PCC streetcars had a relatively short career because in 1947 as their last order of PCC cars was arriving the decision was made to start replacing trolley lines with busses!  It took 11 years to complete the conversion as the last Chicago PCC streetcar was taken out of service in 1958.  Some of the newest PCC cars which were purchased early in 1947 barely had 10 years of operating time.  OTOH, essentially all of Pittsburgh’s 666 PCC’s were still in service in 1958 (notable exceptions were the 14 PCC’s destroyed by fire at the Homewood Car Barn in 1955).  So it’s safe to say we had the largest operating PCC fleet system in the USA from 1958 and many years thereafter.

Across the border in Canada, Toronto had more PCC’s than Pittsburgh or Chicago with 745 although they bought 205 of them used from Birmingham, Cincinnati, Cleveland & Kansas City when those cities abandoned streetcars.

That surviving car at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in “Little Washington” you mentioned is Pittsburgh Railways #1711 which is operational and there are also 3 other Pittsburgh PCC’s at the Museum including the last PCC to operate in revenue service in Pittsburgh in 1999 - PAT car #4004 which was a rebuilt 1700-series PCC, and it is also in operating condition.  There are, or were, 2 other static Pittsburgh PCC cars sitting outdoors that I know of, one in Bethel Park and one at the PAT South Hills Village Station near the Mall. 

And in response to Mitch’s posting, there are two former PTC/SEPTA PCC’s at the Museum, one of which is operational as seen in the attached photo with yours truly at the controls in 2011. 

Bill

Bill,

     What are the 3 PCC cars under wraps behind the old car barn? Parts or unlisted on the roster?

WftTrains posted:

jim pastorius posted:

Yes, and Pittsburgh too !  Pgh had the most of any city and kept none !  There is a stationary PCC in the Heinz History Center and one that runs(I think) at the trolley museum near Washington, Pa. The PCCs ran forever and  they have bought replacements for them several times over.

Hi Jim:

Yes indeed we had the most PCC cars in service in the USA in Pittsburgh for many years but unfortunately not the most ever of any US city.  Before we hear from a Chicago member we were second to Chicago who had purchased just 17 more PCC cars than our total fleet of 666 PCC cars.  However, the Chicago PCC streetcars had a relatively short career because in 1947 as their last order of PCC cars was arriving the decision was made to start replacing trolley lines with busses!  It took 11 years to complete the conversion as the last Chicago PCC streetcar was taken out of service in 1958.  Some of the newest PCC cars which were purchased early in 1947 barely had 10 years of operating time.  OTOH, essentially all of Pittsburgh’s 666 PCC’s were still in service in 1958 (notable exceptions were the 14 PCC’s destroyed by fire at the Homewood Car Barn in 1955).  So it’s safe to say we had the largest operating PCC fleet system in the USA from 1958 and many years thereafter.

Across the border in Canada, Toronto had more PCC’s than Pittsburgh or Chicago with 745 although they bought 205 of them used from Birmingham, Cincinnati, Cleveland & Kansas City when those cities abandoned streetcars.

That surviving car at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in “Little Washington” you mentioned is Pittsburgh Railways #1711 which is operational and there are also 3 other Pittsburgh PCC’s at the Museum including the last PCC to operate in revenue service in Pittsburgh in 1999 - PAT car #4004 which was a rebuilt 1700-series PCC, and it is also in operating condition.  There are, or were, 2 other static Pittsburgh PCC cars sitting outdoors that I know of, one in Bethel Park and one at the PAT South Hills Village Station near the Mall. 

And in response to Mitch’s posting, there are two former PTC/SEPTA PCC’s at the Museum, one of which is operational as seen in the attached photo with yours truly at the controls in 2011. 

Bill

Bill,

     What are the 3 PCC cars under wraps behind the old car barn? Parts or unlisted on the roster?

Never mind: looks like cars 24, 1711 and 2723?

IRM circa 2001:

Rusty

Greg Nagy posted:

WftTrains posted:

jim pastorius posted:

Yes, and Pittsburgh too !  Pgh had the most of any city and kept none !  There is a stationary PCC in the Heinz History Center and one that runs(I think) at the trolley museum near Washington, Pa. The PCCs ran forever and  they have bought replacements for them several times over.

Hi Jim:

Yes indeed we had the most PCC cars in service in the USA in Pittsburgh for many years but unfortunately not the most ever of any US city.  Before we hear from a Chicago member we were second to Chicago who had purchased just 17 more PCC cars than our total fleet of 666 PCC cars.  However, the Chicago PCC streetcars had a relatively short career because in 1947 as their last order of PCC cars was arriving the decision was made to start replacing trolley lines with busses!  It took 11 years to complete the conversion as the last Chicago PCC streetcar was taken out of service in 1958.  Some of the newest PCC cars which were purchased early in 1947 barely had 10 years of operating time.  OTOH, essentially all of Pittsburgh’s 666 PCC’s were still in service in 1958 (notable exceptions were the 14 PCC’s destroyed by fire at the Homewood Car Barn in 1955).  So it’s safe to say we had the largest operating PCC fleet system in the USA from 1958 and many years thereafter.

Across the border in Canada, Toronto had more PCC’s than Pittsburgh or Chicago with 745 although they bought 205 of them used from Birmingham, Cincinnati, Cleveland & Kansas City when those cities abandoned streetcars.

That surviving car at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in “Little Washington” you mentioned is Pittsburgh Railways #1711 which is operational and there are also 3 other Pittsburgh PCC’s at the Museum including the last PCC to operate in revenue service in Pittsburgh in 1999 - PAT car #4004 which was a rebuilt 1700-series PCC, and it is also in operating condition.  There are, or were, 2 other static Pittsburgh PCC cars sitting outdoors that I know of, one in Bethel Park and one at the PAT South Hills Village Station near the Mall. 

And in response to Mitch’s posting, there are two former PTC/SEPTA PCC’s at the Museum, one of which is operational as seen in the attached photo with yours truly at the controls in 2011. 

Bill

Bill,

     What are the 3 PCC cars under wraps behind the old car barn? Parts or unlisted on the roster?

 

Never mind: looks like cars 24, 1711 and 2723?

Greg,

I agree with you on Septa #24 & 2723 but #1711 is in PTM's operating fleet and is stored indoors.  Chances are that 3rd one is PAT PCC #1799 (× PRC 1613).  I had forgotten about that car which means there are 5 Pittsburgh PCC's at the PA Trolley Museum, not 4 as I had posted above.  Also #24 has much of the PCC styling but is actually not a PCC.  BTW, there is also one more PCC at the PTM, it's Shaker Heights (Cleveland) #94, the only Pullman-built of the 8 PCC's at the museum.

Bill

Glad to hear the trolley museum has so many. I smile every time I see a photo of a nice PCC car. Just a beautiful classic design and so successful. I wish more things were that way.

NYS Rwys Utica Lines Construction Crane Trolley on the New Hartford Loop in 1935

Trolley cars to the beaches.

Delaware????

Brighton Beach, BrooklynAtlantic City Shore Fast Line cars

As an avid student of Atlantic City trolleys, I appreciate the Shore Fast Line pics especially! 

Mitch

Have an Atlantic City time capsule from December, 1940 celebrating the new Brilliners! 

Mitch

Portland Street RR Trolley Sand Car

Trolley cars in the barns.Third Avenue Railway, New York City

St. Charles Line, New Orleans

San Francisco, 1917Somewhere In The EastChampaign, Illinois

The photo you have marked as San Francisic is the Market Street Railway's Elkton shops.  It was located at the corner of Geneva and San Jose Avenues until about 1976. It was built as a temporary facility after the 1906 earthquake and fire. Clearly shown in the photo was the monorail crane that ran around the shop. It had a very small cab where the operator sat. I believe it is still in existence. There was no AC power in Elkton until very late.  Just to the right of the photo was a 550 to 250 volt DC motor generator to provide power for the machines. There were many machines still powered by 250 VDC when the shop closed. The shop was very complete with a machine shop, blacksmith shop, foundry, wood mill and motor shop.  Many cars were built complete there.  In later years all the cable cars were rebuilt here. When I spent time there the bays were filled with PCC cars.  Best part of Elkton was it had a basement. Never know what you might find there. 

The photo marked some where in the east in interesting.  Fairly modern building and crane. Looks like a Boston PCC on the left. I do not recognize the other cars. I wounder if it is Brookville Locomotive Works. 

"Somewhere In The East" is the Trolley Graveyard in PA.

http://www.atlasobscura.com/pl...r-trolley-grave-yard

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

"Somewhere In The East" is the Trolley Graveyard in PA.

http://www.atlasobscura.com/pl...r-trolley-grave-yard

Mitch:

Are you sure?  I thought the cars stored at Windber were only PCC’s and were all stored outdoors but Bobby’s photo shows an indoor barn with mostly non-PCC’s.

Bill

No, there's also some rapid transit cars rotting in the woods and the one barn where a lucky few cars are under shelter. 

Metka thinks the bloody things are solid gold and is demanding something like a million bucks apiece. 

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

No, there's also some rapid transit cars rotting in the woods and the one barn where a lucky few cars are under shelter. 

Metka thinks the bloody things are solid gold and is demanding something like a million bucks apiece. 

This guy has 6 complete 2 car sets of the early flat door CTA 6000 series rapid transit cars. What a crying shame he is letting them rot.

Back in the forties, fifties and sixties my mother liked to shop in Johnstown, PA. Johnstown was just 24 miles from Homer City. Penn Traffic was her favorite store and I always loved looking at the train displays at Christmas. Here are some pictures of trolleys from Johnstown.

jim sutter posted:

Back in the forties, fifties and sixties my mother liked to shop in Johnstown, PA. Johnstown was just 24 miles from Homer City. Penn Traffic was her favorite store and I always loved looking at the train displays at Christmas. Here are some pictures of trolleys from Johnstown.

Jimmy:

Great photos!  Thanks for posting.  Car #350 in your 4^th photo is stored indoors at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in “Little Washington” and preserved in virtually the same condition as it was in its last days of service in Johnstown. 

Another source of good photos of Johnstown trolleys is the Morning Sun Book “Pennsylvania Trolleys, Volume III, The Pittsburgh Region” by Bill Volkmer.  The book also has a map of the Johnstown Traction Company routes along with many photos of the trolley busses and diesel busses which replaced the streetcars.  In fact, there’s a later photo of that same scene as in your second photo except it shows busses instead of a streetcar.  The first time I ever saw a trolley bus was in Johnstown as a kid. 

Unlike the streetcar systems in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia which used “Pennsylvania Wide Gauge”, Johnstown’s track was standard railroad gauge.  And Johnstown was the smallest US City to operate PCC’s with a fleet of 17 PCC cars built by St. Louis Car Company in 1947.  They didn’t have a very long career though as the last day of streetcar service in Johnstown was June 11, 1960.

Bill

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

No, there's also some rapid transit cars rotting in the woods and the one barn where a lucky few cars are under shelter. 

Metka thinks the bloody things are solid gold and is demanding something like a million bucks apiece. 

OK, thanks for clearing that up as my reference source only discussed the PCC's stored outdoors.

Bill   

SEPTA Independence Hall