The Streetcar/Trolley/Tram/Electric Railway Thread

[Swing Motorman]

I think it's time we had a thread dedicated to everything to do with electric rail transit. I'm starting to feel bad interrupting automotive threads with trolley stuff... but not too bad.

So, post it if you've seen it, rode it, photographed it, or best yet, operated it. Vehicles, uniforms, tokens, maps, ads, or anything with flanged wheels, electric motors, and not a hint of gas or coal!

 

[Swing Motorman]

NJ Public Service car 6

First story I'd like to publish here... the tale of a very recent debut of a historic streetcar's post-retirement life at a museum. 6 is a PCC streetcar from 1946, built for Twin Cities Rapid Transit (Minneapolis), sold to NJ Public Service Coordinated Transport in 1953. PSCT passed into today's NJ Transit system, and the PCCs soldiered on, maintained in immaculate condition, until retirement in 2001. This is the story of how car 6 came from weathering outdoors for 10 years to its protected home in Rockhill Furnace, PA.

After months of coordinating with the NJ museum that was supposed to get 6 and two of its sisters (but was more interested in another NJT car), the museum in Rockhill gets title to the car. Here it's loaded and ready to depart NJ Transit for the last time.

Unloading at Rockhill, in the rain.

Me, already excited for the new project, posing for a photo with the new acquisition.

Time to get to work. Volunteers worked quickly to ready 6 for service. Here two volunteers are mounting a second trolley pole to make backup moves safer. This is not totally inaccurate, since the front pole is mounted on what used to be a pantograph base at NJT.

The day before the first run, with the car mostly cleaned of surface rust and the crew preparing their next step.

The car starts for the first time in 10 years, and the interior lights up. It's all original except for the bus-derived seat upholstery, clearly and '80s modification. But it's very clean and comfortable.

After troubleshooting the motor-generator set and adjusting the brakes, I test-rolled the car backwards and we did a bit of last-minute work. With that done and a crowd gathering, we declared 6 ready to run again, and our project leader pulled her out of the barn with a "beep beep, ding ding" of her unique bus horn/trolley bell combo.

(That's Scranton, PA snowsweeper 107 on the next track.)

Here is how 6 will look in service at the museum, posed next to a car of similar vintage but a very different service life.

2743 is from Philadelphia, and it received extensive overhauls that changed its appearance, and especially interior, drastically. 6 offers a complimentary story of not just the original interior, but of hints of how streetcars survived to form the beginning of light rail. 6 not only has the pantograph mount and a PA system, but she also has Light Rail Vehicle wheels that NJT tested on two of their '46 streetcars.

She's a nice addition to the collection, especially since she runs less than 40 days after arriving. I'm especially fond of 6, as you might be able to tell. With a proud crew to restore, maintain, and run her, this car has a lot of future to look forward to.

-Steven

 

[Swing Motorman]

Making a historic NJ trolley cap badge

As I looked up images of NJ Public Service car 6's past, I was lucky enough to find an image of a trolley operator's hat badge. I immediately thought to design a reproduction badge, and got right to work on it.

The original:

I traced over this good front-on shot on the computer, producing a black and white drawing that I sent to a trophy engraver. They etched my drawing into aluminum, and shipped a rectangle of etched aluminum to me. Pardon the poor photo, but this is what I got:

So, not a badge yet. I carefully cut it out, leaving a belt-like extension on the bottom to clip into my existing trolley operator's cap. After bending it to the cap's shape and doing very careful painting, this is what I got:

I'm quite happy with it, and it looks nice. The number is my assigned operator number at the museum, which makes me proud to wear a number of my own, and not "steal" another operator's badge. It does have a few inaccuracies, though. One, it's flat and I can't fix that, but I could have emphasized the layering of the original better. Two, the wings are changed. They should be gold inside and the "feather" divisions not as long, but I like this look. Three, it should probably be smaller. I've never found the actual size of the badge, although most transit badges were smaller than this three-inch-tall one.

Here it is "at work," during a school field trip tour of the carbarn. The badge is nice, it works, and I hope to get to run 6 with a matching uniform and cap someday soon!


-Steven

 

[dhermann1]

Great idea! I remember in my old neighborhood on the upper west side of Manhattan in the early 1950's. there were trolleys on Broadway, running right under the elevated subway line. I don't have many images, but I know where to go to find them.
It's been said that in the late 20's you could go from Maine to Kansas City straight through on the Inter Urban trolleys.
So many cities made the foolish mistyake of pulling up their trolley tracks. I think Boston, San Francisco and Pittsburgh are about the only major cities to have saved them. And of course San Diego has it's famously successful modern system.
There's a guy in Brooklyn named Robert Diamond who's basically dedicated his life to bringing back trolleys in New York (an uphill battle to say the least).
Trolleys rock!

 

[Shangas]

The city of Melbourne, Australia, has one of the largest tram-networks in the world. Sadly, all our classic 1920s and 1930s trams have been replaced by butt-ugly modern "bullet trams" THET R TEH UBER SEKSY...or some ridiculous thing like that.

This is what we USED to have on our streets:

The W-class tram has existed in Melbourne in one way or another since the early 1920s. In the mid-2000s, they started being hauled off the tracks and replaced with these:

I don't just hate the new trams because they've replaced a Melbourne classic, but they also have less seating-space, they're no less noisy than the vintage trams, they're dangerous for traffic (no warning-signs when the doors open to alert motorists, for example) and they're designed for the disabled...which would be great if they also had the platforms to go with them...which they don't. Also, the lack of seating means that riding one of these trams for a long trip is extremely uncomfortable.

 

[St.Ignatz]

Philadelphia has retro fitted several PCC cars with air conditioning. The old P&W Norristown Line was changed over to contemporary cars several years ago but the windows (of course) don't open and the joy of a night ride through the country with Honeysuckle blooming is lost.
Tom D.

 

[1930artdeco]

The trollies in San Francisco will have the city where they came from on painted on their sides which I think is neat. The newer trollies while technologically are great just have now life/soul to them. But then engineers designed them and not a civil/art designer.

Mike

 

[listenone]

It looks old, but still work, a car is a history

 

[Ms. Parriss]

I drive a modern day electrical train for a living here in Calgary, AB, Canada, and yes, its very fun.

 

[Espee]

Maine to Kansas City entirely by electric interurbans? No. Not even in the 1920s. There'd be a lot of (long) gaps along the way.
In 1985 during San Francisco's Historic Trolley Festival, I rode a very old Portland car which did not have air brakes. Therefore, when the car was stopped at an intersection it was absolutely silent. No compressor charging or anything. It was a strange feeling-- even a horse car would have had occasional horse sounds!

 

[Talbot]

The city of Melbourne, Australia, has one of the largest tram-networks in the world. Sadly, all our classic 1920s and 1930s trams have been replaced by butt-ugly modern "bullet trams" THET R TEH UBER SEKSY...or some ridiculous thing like that.

This is what we USED to have on our streets:

QUOTE]

Isn't there a small handfull of W class trams still running the city circle on a ride free basis? I work down town but haven't seen one since moving off the city circle line (Bourke street).

 

[Shangas]

That's the only place in Melbourne that you'll find them. But those aren't commuter trams. They're a tourist attraction. That's what one of the most recognisable symbols of Melbourne has been reduced to. Apart from that, W-class trams have been removed from service across Melbourne.

 

[Talbot]

Its funny you know, I saw a 38 (?) line W class this morning on Lonsdale at 06:50 am (brrr). Looked good trundling along in the dark.

Maybe some are running as commuters - odd hours though. I'll try and get a pic if I see another. I might get a tramspotter badge!

 

[Shangas]

I haven't seen a W-class tram running off the Circle in years.

 

[Talbot]

Good news - they're still running. I saw two W class trams this morning, one going each direction on Latrobe street at about 7:00am.

These are in green/yellow livery running the Bourke Street/Docklands 30 line.

I have grainy phone pics, but hosting sites are blocked at work. Buy the ticket, take the ride while they are still there!

T

Badge Madge!

 

[dhermann1]

Trolleys in Trinidad - 1900

I have a colleague here at work from Trinidad. She just forwarded me this link to a website full of trolleys and streetcars from Trinidad, going back over a hundred years. If ever there was a place I'd like to take a time/space machine trip to, this would be right up there among my choices. So cool.
http://www.tramz.com/tt/tt.html

 

[Swing Motorman]

Great input from overseas! Those Aussie W-class cars really get around, there are plenty in the US, too. And to see Trinidad's tram history is an interesting lesson I never expected to get. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Swing Motorman]

Living history: Johnstown Traction Co. rides again

Whoops, hit the wrong button after writing the last post... ah well, I'm changing topics, so I'll just start a new one.

I got into another uniform reproduction project when I found a few pictures of Johnstown, PA trolley operators, and a closeup of a cap badge. I knew I had to make a badge of my own, since the museum I belong to owns two Johnstown cars. So I got to work with oven-bake clay, and for my first-time clayworking, got these humble results.

On the workbench.

Finished badge.

The whole hat (cost about $35 shipped from an NJ uniform supplier)

And at last, in service! 1925 St. Louis Car Co. car 355 is ready to depart for Roxbury.

I've been enjoying the hat badge reproductions, there's a lot to learn about and quite the art to making them even close to accurate. I suppose next project is to make a smaller, more correct NJ Public Service badge in time for PSCT car 6's dedication next month.


-Steven

 

[Rats Riley]

OK I have to add this place for all those in the area or that want to come and visit the Chicago area!

It's called the Union Illinois Railway Museum. They have constant running streetcars, a zephyr and a steamer! Here's the website!

http://www.irm.org/schedule/index.html

Last year on August 7th, we got a group of about ten of us in vintage and spent the day touring the trains and riding the rails. We brought our own lunch and hung out and listened to the Jazz band. Then we toured the whole museum, checked out the cars and trucks and did lots of photos. I'll try to see what I can find to post! But needless to say it was a great time!

 

[Swing Motorman]

Nice little description from IRM! They have an impressive collection of electric railway equipment, and definitely earn respect among museums for their massive size and how fast they can restore a wreck to a work of art.

The regular operating season is over for my museum (except the ever-popular holiday events), so I've been working on uniform items. I created several hat badges, along with gathering up a belt buckle and a few pins I'd bought. And now I'm looking into some reproduction buttons. Yes, I've probably gone a tad crazy!

The complete current badge/pin collection:

Clockwise from upper left:
1- Reproduction SEPTA (SouthEastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority) badge, not sure if it's from subway, El, bus, streetcar, or heavy rail.
2- Cheap patriotic lapel pin
3- Original NJ Transit pin.
4- Reproduction NJ Public Service Coordinated Transport hat badge. This is the second one of these ornate badges I've made, after making one to give to the team leader for restoring our PSCT-heritage-painted streetcar.
5- Original NJ Transit belt buckle, with a belt sewn on by me.
6- Repro. Johnstown [PA] Traction Company hat badge.
7- Repro. York [PA] Railways hat badge.
8- Cheap modern conductor pin, useful when that's the job I'm performing instead of Motorman.

These were some fun craft projects or lucky buys. The York badge even got on TV! (See the part on the Rockhill Trolley Museum in this nifty tourism video, or skip to 19:00 for the badge part.)

I'm hoping to get some NJ Transit buttons from this website, since I'm so close to a complete uniform to go with NJT Car 6 (and a navy jacket of mine lost a button... ) This place has an amazing selection, even though many are out of production unless you want to order a massive quantity.


-Steven