Passenger Trains > Great set of in-service historic trolley photos, grist.

Fun eye candy, not much content, but a short little article about how vintage trolleys are coming back into service.

http://grist.org/slideshow/hot-tram-old-trollys-are-the-new-classic-car/10

Ted in OR

And I felt it necessary to send "Grist" a message about how their assistant editor wasn't the first person to be fooled by the "tribute car" paint jobs on the Muni PCC fleet.

As an operator of the Platte Valley Trolley in Denver, CO ( http://www.denvertrolley.org ), I am always happy to see trolleys preserved, restored, and put back into service.

Thanks for sharing!

Rio Grande Fan
Denver, CO



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/29/12 22:34 by RioGrandeFan.

DNRY122 Wrote:
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> And I felt it necessary to send "Grist" a message
> about how their assistant editor wasn't the first
> person to be fooled by the "tribute car" paint
> jobs on the Muni PCC fleet.

I was going to point that out, but you beat me too it.... If those were authentic Washington DC PCC's then in fact the trolley itself would be an add on (They used the center slot, like New York, the specific name of which is escaping me) For pictures of the original Washington D.C. PCC check out http://world.nycsubway.org/us/washdc/dctrolley.html

Who was the builder of the Washington PCCs, they don't look like St. Louis or Pullman.

Was the term for the slot in the street "Conduit" and the electric collector was a "plow"
Correct me if I have it wrong.

Very few of the "F: line cars look like what they are suppose to represent, especially if like
Boston, the PCCs were all Pullman-Standard (except #3000 which had no left door.)

Frank30

According to "PCC Cars of North America", all the Washington DC cars were built by St. Louis, and with one exception, were electric-air cars. I rode a surviving DC Transit PCC, no. 1304, last year at Seashore Trolley Museum. There are quite a few "anomalies" among the "F" line "tribute cars"; for example, Muni 1061, honoring Pacific Electric, has a number of "wrong" details: It's a St. Louis built all-electric single ended car; the PE PCCs were built by Pullman, had air brakes and were double-ended cars with doors in the middle. It was a unique design and all 30 were sold to a railway in Argentina. None survive. Two things about the Muni car help with the "PE look": The front pole gives the car a pole at both ends, and the center door is more like the PE configuration than any surviving double ended PCC. Despite all the differences, I still like to see the "Red Car" running in MuniLand.

I could also mention 1052, the Los Angeles Ry. tribute car; LARy had sold out to National City Lines before the all-electric PCCs became available, so an all-electric in LARy two-tone yellow is an anachronism. Muni 1080, in the LA Transit Lines "fruit salad" paint job, is fairly close to the PCCs that LATL bought in 1948 (much to the surprise of many transit observers) except that it has standard gauge trucks, rather than the 42" gauge used by the real Yellow Cars.

And yes, the DC Transit cars ran on "conduit track" while in the District, and the current collectors were called "plows". At the District boundaries, cars that crossed into Maryland would have their plows removed and their trolley poles raised. Needless to say, working in the "plow pit" at the city limits was not a fun job.
(full disclosure: I'm a member of Market St. Ry., the support group for vintage streetcar operation in San Francisco and Orange Empire Ry. Museum, where three LARy/LATL PCCs are preserved in running order.)

The "F" Line Trolleys seem to be very popular with tourists. How many tourists are ALSO knowledgeable
trolley fans who can tell the difference between a air-electric, all electric, , single end/double end, pre and post war, Pullman vs St. Louis?? In the end, it sure beats having the old cars turned into cigarette lighters or toasters!! Long live the PCC!!

Frank30