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Tommy posted:

Trolley ambulance.

This pic intrigued me, so I did a bit of research:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/...n,_February_1918.jpg

A trolley ambulance at Bartlett Yard in Boston in February 1918. Car #1657 was a nine-bench open car built by American Car and Foundry Company in 1899, and the last of its type in use on the Boston Elevated Railway. In early 1918, it was converted to carry stretchers to transport wounded soldiers from the Boston wharves to inland hospitals. However, the growing popularity of automobiles rendered it ineffective, and no others were built. The car was converted to carry advertising after the war, then burned for scrap at Forest Hills in 1922.

Mitch

Bobby Ogage posted:

Johnstown Traction 300 Series cars are among my favorites, and two of the Western Hobbycraft models roam my railroad. Here are cars 353, 355 and 357. Several of the 300 Series cars have been saved by museums.

Johnstown No. 355 [1)

Johnstown No. 357 [1)jt353

And here’s Johnstown #350 at the PA Trolley Museum in 2004.  Fortunately it’s now stored indoors and it remains in virtually the same condition as it was in its last days of service in Johnstown.

Johnstown_350_in_2004

Here’s a link to a list with photos of all the equipment in the collection of the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in Washington, PA: Collection

Bill

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  • Johnstown_350_in_2004: Johnstown #350 at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in 2004
Last edited by WftTrains

Hello Tom !

I know that area quite well --- I rode that Yonkers Ave TARS Trolley with my uncle back in 1950 and 51 on his day joyride trips with me -- up there usually for him to go to Yonkers Raceway from our Manhattan neighborhood, to bet the horses !  We also rode the TARS Maclean Avenue Trolley line.  To this day I remember those trips clearly !  

Sometimes my uncle  (who never drove nor ever had a car)  and I took the NY Central old MU Commuter train north from the then very dimly lit and dank tunnel station platforms of the NY Central RR Grand Central Terminal -- north to the Yonkers Station and took the Trolley ride westtward from there (and a stop at of course, YONKERS Raceway, heh) . Other times we took the Manhattan 3rd Ave EL train  (MUDC EL Cars)  from our upper East Side EL Station straight up to the Bronx and up to the lower level platforms of the double-decked Gun Hill Road EL Station,  and went to the upper level on that EL Station complex to change to the White Plains Rd EL train (Low-V Subway Cars) further north to its end at E.241st St Terminal Station, and hopped on the White Plains Rd TARS Trolley to W. 1st Street  into Mt Vernon and changed to the Mt. Vernon Ave-Yonkers Avenue TARS trolley westbound  to the Racetrack up by Central Ave.  What great memories of those times and the way things were back then !   We always hit a luncheonette or ice cream parlor for a snack !

Here BELOW is a current close photo of that one-time long ago Gas Station in the scene with the Trolley -- at corner of Ridgefield Ave.

 

Yonkers Av at corner Richfield Ave-2013

Yonkers Avenue in the distance starts an uphill many blocks long "C" shaped right curve,  and an immediate reverse "C" curve and then straight west to top of hill at Central Park Avenue which parallels the NY State Thruway which runs along both side of it in a deep open cut.  I remember when that was simply called CENTRAL Avenue and was just another a wide Avenue and NO Thruway (which is called the Major Deegan Highway in the Bronx).  I remember when the Deegan and Thurway were being constructed thru the early-mid 1950's -- what a mess Central Avenue was then --- my father and his dad and I drove from the Bronx way up into "Westchester County"  to Central Ave into Yonkers to a Food Fair supermarket to shop at times. 

I drove to NYC in August 2015 in very early morning darkness -- hitting the Bronx and driving  up Broadway under the IRT EL to W.242nd St Station terminal (Van Cort Park) and headed further north into Yonkers. I turned east on Yonkers Ave to head towards Mt Vernon, and stopped at the Clairmont Diner at 6AM for breakfast,  across the street from the old Yonkers Raceway -- now Empire City Casino. I then headed east down Yonkers Ave at daybreak -- past the scene in the photo, and across the Bronx River Parkway and thereby into Mt. Vernon,  to check out any NYW&B Railway remains (hardly none left) and entered the Bronx by the ex-NYW&B's still existing part there now operating as the IRT Dyre Ave Line.

Here BELOW are some photos of the TARS streetcar line in my Manhattan area my  3rd Avenue of then back in the 1940's -- seen running under the old IRT 3rd Avenue "EL".

Regards - Joe F 

 

TARS underv 3rd Ave EL StationTARS Trolley under 3rd Ave El-1940's

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Joseph Frank posted:

Hello Tom !

I know that area quite well --- I rode that Yonkers Ave TARS Trolley with my uncle back in 1950 and 51 on his day joyride trips with me -- up there usually for him to go to Yonkers Raceway from our Manhattan neighborhood, to bet the horses !  We also rode the TARS Maclean Avenue Trolley line.  To this day I remember those trips clearly !  

Sometimes my uncle  (who never drove nor ever had a car)  and I took the NY Central old MU Commuter train north from the then very dimly lit and dank tunnel station platforms of the NY Central RR Grand Central Terminal -- north to the Yonkers Station and took the Trolley ride eastward from there (and a stop at of course, YONKERS Raceway, heh) . Other times we took the Manhattan 3rd Ave EL train  (MUDC EL Cars)  from our upper East Side EL Station straight up to the Bronx and up to the lower level platforms of the double-decked Gun Hill Road EL Station,  and went to the upper level on that EL Station complex to change to the White Plains Rd EL train (Low-V Subway Cars) further north to its end at E.241st St Terminal Station, and hopped on the White Plains Rd TARS Trolley to W. 1st Street  into Mt Vernon and changed to the Mt. Vernon Ave-Yonkers Avenue TARS trolley westbound  to the Racetrack up by Central Ave.  What great memories of those times and the way things were back then !   We always hit a luncheonette or ice cream parlor for a snack !

Here BELOW is a current close photo of that one-time long ago Gas Station in the scene with the Trolley -- at corner of Ridgefield Ave.

 

Yonkers Av at corner Richfield Ave-2013

Yonkers Avenue in the distance starts an uphill many blocks long "C" shaped right curve,  and an immediate reverse "C" curve and then straight west to top of hill at Central Park Avenue which parallels the NY State Thruway which runs along both side of it in a deep open cut.  I remember when that was simply called CENTRAL Avenue and was just another a wide Avenue and NO Thruway (which is called the Major Deegan Highway in the Bronx).  I remember when the Deegan and Thurway were being constructed thru the early-mid 1950's -- what a mess Central Avenue was then --- my father and his dad and I drove from the Bronx way up into "Westchester County"  to Central Ave into Yonkers to a Food Fair supermarket to shop at times. 

I drove to NYC in August 2015 in very early morning darkness -- hitting the Bronx and driving  up Broadway under the IRT EL to W.242nd St Station terminal (Van Cort Park) and headed further north into Yonkers. I turned east on Yonkers Ave to head towards Mt Vernon, and stopped at the Clairmont Diner at 6AM for breakfast,  across the street from the old Yonkers Raceway -- now Empire City Casino. I then headed east down Yonkers Ave at daybreak -- past the scene in the photo, and across the Bronx River Parkway and thereby into Mt. Vernon,  to check out any NYW&B Railway remains (hardly none left) and entered the Bronx by the ex-NYW&B's still existing part there now operating as the IRT Dyre Ave Line.

Here BELOW are some photos of the TARS streetcar line in my Manhattan area my  3rd Avenue of then back in the 1940's -- seen running under the old IRT 3rd Avenue "EL".

Regards - Joe F 

 

TARS underv 3rd Ave EL StationTARS Trolley under 3rd Ave El-1940's

Joe, Ha! Great stuff...Let me know the next time you are in the neighborhood and we can eat lunch at the Clairmont. My wife and I are there once a month or so...love the French Onion soup and the goulash! Since you knew the area, my first job in life, during those crucial life changing Mt. St. Michael years (!), was working at nearby Cross County Shopping Center, working at the now long gone Finast Supermarket. 

On your list of options to travel to the trotters, there could have been another one, which would have probably been pretty direct, Grand Central to Mt. Vernon West station on the Harlem Division followed by riding the TARS west up Yonkers Ave. 

Tom 

Last edited by PRR8976

Hello Tom !

I know that area quite well --- I rode that Yonkers Ave TARS Trolley with my uncle back in 1950 and 51 on his day joyride trips with me -- up there usually for him to go to Yonkers Raceway from our Manhattan neighborhood, to bet the horses !  We also rode the TARS Maclean Avenue Trolley line.  To this day I remember those trips clearly !  

Sometimes my uncle  (who never drove nor ever had a car)  and I took the NY Central old MU Commuter train north from the then very dimly lit and dank tunnel station platforms of the NY Central RR Grand Central Terminal -- north to the Yonkers Station and took the Trolley ride westtward from there (and a stop at of course, YONKERS Raceway, heh) . Other times we took the Manhattan 3rd Ave EL train  (MUDC EL Cars)  from our upper East Side EL Station straight up to the Bronx and up to the lower level platforms of the double-decked Gun Hill Road EL Station,  and went to the upper level on that EL Station complex to change to the White Plains Rd EL train (Low-V Subway Cars) further north to its end at E.241st St Terminal Station, and hopped on the White Plains Rd TARS Trolley to W. 1st Street  into Mt Vernon and changed to the Mt. Vernon Ave-Yonkers Avenue TARS trolley westbound  to the Racetrack up by Central Ave.  What great memories of those times and the way things were back then !   We always hit a nearby luncheonette or ice cream parlor for a snack !

Here BELOW is a current close photo of that one-time long ago Gas Station in the scene with the Trolley -- at corner of Ridgefield Ave.

 

Yonkers Av at corner Richfield Ave-2013

Yonkers Avenue in the distance starts an uphill many blocks long "C" shaped right curve,  and an immediate reverse "C" curve and then straight west to top of hill at Central Park Avenue which parallels the NY State Thruway which runs along both side of it in a deep open cut.  I remember when that was simply called CENTRAL Avenue and was just another a wide Avenue and NO Thruway (which is called the Major Deegan Highway in the Bronx).  I remember when the Deegan and Thurway were being constructed thru the early-mid 1950's -- what a mess Central Avenue was then --- my father and his dad and I drove from the Bronx way up into "Westchester County"  to Central Ave into Yonkers to a Food Fair supermarket to shop at times. 

I drove to NYC in August 2015 in very early morning darkness -- hitting the Bronx and driving  up Broadway under the IRT EL to W.242nd St Station terminal (Van Cort Park) and headed further north into Yonkers. I turned east on Yonkers Ave to head towards Mt Vernon, and stopped at the Clairmont Diner at 6AM for breakfast,  across the street from the old Yonkers Raceway -- now Empire City Casino. I then headed east down Yonkers Ave at daybreak -- past the scene in the photo, and across the Bronx River Parkway and thereby into Mt. Vernon,  to check out any NYW&B Railway remains (hardly none left) and entered the Bronx by the ex-NYW&B's still existing part there now operating as the IRT Dyre Ave Line.

Here BELOW are some photos of the TARS streetcar line in my Manhattan area my  3rd Avenue of then back in the 1940's -- seen running under the old IRT 3rd Avenue "EL".

Regards - Joe F 

 

TARS underv 3rd Ave EL StationTARS Trolley under 3rd Ave El-1940's

Joe F

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This is a "headlight" car in 1910. Streetcars at that time had removable headlights, which required constant servicing. They were distributed each night by the headlight car. Note the collection of headlights on the platform.

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Joseph Frank posted:

Hello Tom !

I know that area quite well --- I rode that Yonkers Ave TARS Trolley with my uncle back in 1950 and 51 on his day joyride trips with me -- up there usually for him to go to Yonkers Raceway from our Manhattan neighborhood, to bet the horses !  We also rode the TARS Maclean Avenue Trolley line.  To this day I remember those trips clearly !  

Sometimes my uncle  (who never drove nor ever had a car)  and I took the NY Central old MU Commuter train north from the then very dimly lit and dank tunnel station platforms of the NY Central RR Grand Central Terminal -- north to the Yonkers Station and took the Trolley ride westward from there (and a stop at of course, YONKERS Raceway, heh) . Other times we took the Manhattan 3rd Ave EL train  (MUDC EL Cars)  from our upper East Side EL Station straight up to the Bronx and up to the lower level platforms of the double-decked Gun Hill Road EL Station,  and went to the upper level on that EL Station complex to change to the White Plains Rd EL train (Low-V Subway Cars) further north to its end at E.241st St Terminal Station, and hopped on the White Plains Rd TARS Trolley to W. 1st Street  into Mt Vernon and changed to the Mt. Vernon Ave-Yonkers Avenue TARS trolley westbound  to the Racetrack up by Central Ave.  What great memories of those times and the way things were back then !   We always hit a luncheonette or ice cream parlor for a snack !

Here BELOW is a current close photo of that one-time long ago Gas Station in the scene with the Trolley -- at corner of Ridgefield Ave.

 

Yonkers Av at corner Richfield Ave-2013

Yonkers Avenue in the distance starts an uphill many blocks long "C" shaped right curve,  and an immediate reverse "C" curve and then straight west to top of hill at Central Park Avenue which parallels the NY State Thruway which runs along both side of it in a deep open cut.  I remember when that was simply called CENTRAL Avenue and was just another a wide Avenue and NO Thruway (which is called the Major Deegan Highway in the Bronx).  I remember when the Deegan and Thurway were being constructed thru the early-mid 1950's -- what a mess Central Avenue was then --- my father and his dad and I drove from the Bronx way up into "Westchester County"  to Central Ave into Yonkers to a Food Fair supermarket to shop at times. 

I drove to NYC in August 2015 in very early morning darkness -- hitting the Bronx and driving  up Broadway under the IRT EL to W.242nd St Station terminal (Van Cort Park) and headed further north into Yonkers. I turned east on Yonkers Ave to head towards Mt Vernon, and stopped at the Clairmont Diner at 6AM for breakfast,  across the street from the old Yonkers Raceway -- now Empire City Casino. I then headed east down Yonkers Ave at daybreak -- past the scene in the photo, and across the Bronx River Parkway and thereby into Mt. Vernon,  to check out any NYW&B Railway remains (hardly none left) and entered the Bronx by the ex-NYW&B's still existing part there now operating as the IRT Dyre Ave Line.

Here BELOW are some photos of the TARS streetcar line in my Manhattan area my  3rd Avenue of then back in the 1940's -- seen running under the old IRT 3rd Avenue "EL".

Regards - Joe F 

 

TARS underv 3rd Ave EL StationTARS Trolley under 3rd Ave El-1940's

Joe, Ha! Great stuff...Let me know the next time you are in the neighborhood and we can eat lunch at the Clairmont. My wife and I are there once a month or so...love the French Onion soup and the goulash! Since you knew the area, my first job in life, during those crucial life changing Mt. St. Michael years (!), was working at nearby Cross County Shopping Center, working at the now long gone Finast Supermarket. 

On your list of options to travel to the trotters, there could have been another one, which would have probably been pretty direct, Grand Central to Mt. Vernon West station on the Harlem Division followed by riding the TARS west up Yonkers Ave. 

Tom 

Pennsylvania Railroad/Lionel Prewar Semi-Scale Switchers http://steamswitcher.com 

PRRT&HS # 8772

 Hello Tom !

Yes, next time I come up there perhaps it will be arranged to be on a weekend or day you are off work.  Lunch sounds good,  perhaps some NYW&B hunting  (not much left to hunt, heh)

I now realize that it WAS the the fairly new Cross County Shopping center (and there was a diner up there we ate at also) in the 1950's that my father, grandpop and I went to -- and that supermarket store WAS "Finast" -- not Food Fair.  The Food Fair was closer to where my father lived in the Bronx near the Polo Shuttle.

Well, its not like I am a Supermarket historian -- but I did get the first letter (F) correct heh !

YES, heh - As we both know, the ACTUAL "Yonkers" Station of the NYCRR is on Dock Street in downtown Yonkers on the HUDSON Mainline of the former NYCRR - now AMCRASH !

I in error seem to always call, as it runs parallel to Bronx River Parkway,  the NY Central RR HARLEM  LINE's "West Mt. Vernon" Station on Mt. Vernon Ave,  the "Yonkers" Station.  As you know -- just a short walk west across the Mt. Vernon Ave. roadway  past (under) the commuter tracks and its overhead West Mt. Vernon Station,   and the roadway bridge over the Parkway Lanes and parallel small Bronx River,  is Bronx River Road (aka Webster Avenue a bit further south) -- and Yonkers begins along its west curb line. 

My uncle, -- who then was a manager of a LOEW'S Theater  in my upper Manhattan neighborhood -  and I  usually walked west over to the beginning of Yonkers Avenue  from the RR Station, where he sometimes took me to a small movie theater there where he knew an employee, perhaps its manager.  We stopped at a very close nearby then-luncheonette or soda shop, whatever, on the uphill curve of Yonkers Ave, near the Theater,  for a snack.  Then we usually caught the TARS Trolley uphill westbound to either ride it to "downtown" Yonkers" or go to the Racetrack at Central Avenue so he could place his bets on the horses ! His brother Townsend was a well known race horse  Sulky Driver -  and they named a tournament class after him when he died decades later.

One day in 1950, he boosted me up to a small stripped, breeze-flapping  awning outside  a small barber shop in the row of small stores on Yonkers Ave just west of Bronx River Road near the Theater.  I had developed somehow,   a childhood slight fear of canvas awnings for some reason, heh  -- and my uncle  told me it was OK, don't be afraid..and to go ahead and feel, touch,  the hanging stripped awning canvas.  Well, I down-yanked  hard on the darned ancient tattered thing and something snapped and part of the awning collapsed slightly !!!! 

Thankfully the Red & Cream TARS trolley was banging across Bronx River Ave on onto Yonkers Ave and groaning up the hill on the curve.  We ran out to the street to catch the trolley as it rattled to its carstop in front of the Theater !  As we both enters the trolley - the doors closed and the barber came running out from his shop waving his arms and yelling ....and we watched him as the trolley groaned and whines on its uphill ride on Yonkers Ave.  Here is a color movie of how it looked to me back then with Trolleys seen running along the curves of Yonkers Avenue.

COLOR MOVIE - TARS Trolleys on Yonkers Avenue

Below  photo in east Yonkers looking Northwest up the curving hill on Yonkers Avenue at Crescent Place (right) in 2014 -- this is a long block west of Bronx River Road and the Mt. Vernon border...

NW on Yonkers Av at Crescent Place-2014TARS Trolley eastbound on curving Yonkers Ave-1940's

 The ABOVE photo is at the same location as top photo - in east Yonkers looking Northwest up the curving hill on Yonkers Avenue at Crescent place (right) with an eastbound TARS # 7 trolley heading downhill towards Bronx River Avenue and Mount Vernon.  This is a short block west just above the Movie theater & Row of Shops (and that broken awning) just behind the photographer  as I mentioned in my message above.  This is exactly how it looked and what I saw in 1950 in this exact area !

Regards - Joe F

 

 

 

 

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Last edited by Joseph Frank

As you may recall, the Kimball Theatre and those other few stores was approximately where the photographer in your picture above would have been standing to take that picture.

Unfortunately, as time marches on, the theatre and the handful of stores (i believe they were all mostly long closed) were recently torn down.

http://www.lohud.com/story/new...atre-razed/95374098/

All that was left were the telephone poles with the wanted poster for some young child and an older man who did some 1950's awning vandalism! 

I had seen a few James Bond movies in the 1970's at the Kimball along with a sci-fi "Logan's Run" there.

Sadly, the trolleys in Yonkers were gone before I came along. 

Tom 

Hello Tom 

Here BELOW is the way the scene looked where I broke the awning and we caught the trolley --  I remember that the barber shop was at the end of the row because the wind was blowing south along its east facing side wall and my Uncle and I stood under the awning near the right edge of the right hand window to keep out of the wind flow.  And that awning was flapping. I'm glad that trolley came along when it did - as my uncle (already in his 60's) would have caught hell - or worse - from the barber - heh .  I was just an innocent kid back then, ha ha ...  We ran down hill and caught the trolley about just where my yellow description text line is written on the image

Yes Tom,  Yonkers and Mt Vernon are a sad shadow these days of the once beautiful and great places they were in the 1900's thru early 1960's.  Sad to hear these structures in the photo were demolished...oh well...time marches on and we get older.........  Regards - Joe F

Yonkers Ave where I damaged awning in 1950 as a kid

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MNCW posted:

Thanks for the color trolley movie, very nice. Never had seen that before. Interesting to see how the cars interacted with the trolleys. At around 2:03 into it you can see the marquee for the Kimball Theatre sticking out on the right side of the street. 

Tom 

Hello Tom

Here is a better quality movie -- from 2015,  of the fully restored TARS Trolley # 678 at the National Capital Trolley Museum in Wheaton Maryland.  This is the type of TARS streetcar we rode on Yonkers Ave & Maclean Ave back in that 1949-51 period.  This video had all the sounds and feel of the actual car  - both exterior and filmed inside the car behind the operator worth a look to see what it was like to ride one.  I can close my eyes and I'm riding in Yonkers again !  Even with the chatter of the "other passengers..."   LINK BELOW

RIDING ON A T.A.R.S. TROLLEY CAR in 2015 - IN COLOR

BELOW also are two photos of my model of TARS CAR # 629  shown on the street in the shadows of my overhead Elevated Train Line -- Car # 629 which is the sister to # 678 seen operating in the Museum movie !!

Regards - Joe F

img_0990_22842424540_oimg_0993_22842424580_o

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Last edited by Joseph Frank

Joe (& all), I found a part II of the TARS YouTube video that is pretty cool. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAE4Qf8IA1I

I liked seeing the cobblestone streets of Yonkers in the 1940's and some cool looking cars and trucks including one woody wagon. Also, since this was before my time, I thought I noticed a tendency of drivers to want to pass the trolleys whenever possible. Was it any worse than being behind today's local buses? 

At 18:10, there is Yonkers Ave and Walnut St., which I knew very well as my wife and her family lived 2 blocks up and I used to buy her flowers at that very corner (the building diagonally across the street looks like it was then a luncheonette with a Coke sign on it, later it would be Cascade Florist, closed for maybe 10-20 years now). 

Tom 

 

Bobby Ogage posted:

Is there any hope that the Queensborough Bridge Car 601, the last trolley car to run in New York City, can be restored to operating condition?

hgfdshgiuoiliut

601 was scrapped a number of years ago, with parts being split between the ECTMA and Branford.  A hill side at TMNY supposedly let go and crushed one side of what remained of 601 and that was the final nail in the coffin.  

On a bright note, many parts of 601 have been used for the resurrection of sister electromobile Scranton Transit #505, including window tee post sections and roof carlines.  Other items were too far deteriorated to be reused but have been helpful as patterns for replacement parts.  

For two cars that were preserved in operational condition after service, it's pretty sad that both were allowed to deteriorate so severely.  If it were not for the availability of builder's drawings we would be losing both to history.  

Car #505 should be back on the rails sometime in 2019, and Queensboro Bridge fans should know that a little bit of 601 will be along for the ride, too.  Please check out the ECTMA website and 'like' our facebook page for progress updates.  Donations appreciated.

 

https://www.facebook.com/ScrantonTrolley505/

https://www.gofundme.com/new-d...scranton-trolley-505

http://www.ectma.org

 

 

Last edited by Montclaire

Someone should be shot for allowing 601 to deteriorate. When Mr. Everette White passed on ownership and responsibility for the car became ambiguous. When alive he was a "one man" operation and refused to involve anyone else in decisions regarding the cars. In later years he became very irritable. I was a child volunteer along with others and he basically shooed us away. He was a "one man band". He wore out his welcome with the SIRT who stored the car at the St. George yard where I helped touch up the paint in 1959. The story that the cars had to be moved because the track was being pulled up is nonsense. For a while it was stored by the NYCTA and they would not permit access. I tried. The Staten Island cars (red mikes) were removed by truck and car float from the Arlington Proctor and Gamble plant. Some went to the Bronx. A switch and some trolley rails are still under the pavement on Stapleton across the street from the library.

Last edited by Tommy

MWB - she's tucked inside the barn at the stadium.  Not part of the regular tour but if you ask nicely I'm sure they will let you take a peek at her.  Woodwork is shot but the good thing is there isn't that much to replace.  She is on the long list for cosmetic resto and static display.  

From the ECTMA website:

"Car #D-7 was built by PRT's own 8th Street shops in 1908 as #2624, being renumbered in 1912. It was an unusual "coal trolley," resembling a railroad hopper car with end platforms and a pole added. The car dutifully hauled coal to power stations where PRT generated its own electricity. PRT gradually bought more and more power rather that generating its own, and it closed its power stations slowly between 1913 and 1925. Car #D-7 was then converted into a vacuum cleaner car for the streetcar Subway-Surface tunnel. It was sold off in 1971 and is the only coal trolley preserved today."

 

Photo credit Chris Guenzler

Last edited by Montclaire
Bobby Ogage posted:

168827214I would like to know what is happening in this photo of trolley cars on Staten Island, NY. What colors were these car? There are few photos of Staten Island trolley cars posted on the internet. It would be nice to know more about Staten Island's trolley system.

Bobby, I found this article in the Staten Island Leader from later in 1924. Not sure if they are related. Judging by your picture, it appears they are being removed as opposed to being delivered. The article talks about cessation of service due to water main repairs, so one probably does not have to do with the other, but it is still nice to find anything from that long ago.

Tom 

si trolley

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Bobby Ogage posted:

168827214I would like to know what is happening in this photo of trolley cars on Staten Island, NY. What colors were these car? There are few photos of Staten Island trolley cars posted on the internet. It would be nice to know more about Staten Island's trolley system.

Bobby, Now this article may actually have something to do with your question. More close to when your picture was taken, also from the Staten Island Leader, this one is from August 8,1924. Seems like there was a system wide changeover as trolleys were being rebuild to operate as 1-man trolleys.  Maybe they were stored here and taken to the car barns when space permitted for the repairs to be done. Just a guess, though. 

Also, I noticed in your neat picture that there are a few young boys off to the left of the truck. I would imagine this would have been pretty entertaining to watch. 

Tom 

si 2

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Last edited by PRR8976
TomlinsonRunRR posted:
mwb posted:

DEP Sweeper...........funky looking,  

Very! In addition to that boxed front, I'm intrigued by the rounded window on the front side.  Looking closely through the windows, it looks like there's another one used in a window that's further down on the other side.  Canibalized odds and ends?

TRRR

I suspect that the ends were added and that the curved portion covers and houses the mechanism for raising & lowering and "steering" the angle of the sweepers.  The cab area above it was probably added as well then and just to give the motorman a better extended view.  But that's all conjecture,

Here's is a very special picture for me. The PE system in Los Angeles. What makes it special is the hot dog stand on the right. It was one of my Pops later to be renamed Don's Hot Dogs. A friend with a huge collection of train pictures had this in his collection. I found it and he made me a copy. I played at that signal gas station all the time. fixed hot dog Don

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Bobby Ogage posted:

For Brooklyn Dodger baseball fans, here is how the team got its name.

red-trolley-with-ebbets-field-20

          Dodging trolley cars to get into Ebbets Field.

trolleys-passing-by-ebbets-field-1950s-flatbush-brooklyn-ny-17ebbets17_trolley_car_1947-thumb-550x375-18870311Car                                                No. 1000 is the first PCC car.

Hi Bobby:

Nice shots of trolleys in front of Ebbets Field.  But are you sure about car #1000 being the first PCC car? 

 

Brooklyn & Queens Transit Corp. did place the first ORDER for PCC Cars.  But sources disagree on which PCC car was the first to be delivered to a customer.  One source (#1 below) indicates that Brooklyn car #1001 (not #1000) was rushed to completion by St. Louis Car Co. and was the first PCC Car delivered in May 1936 albeit with some hand-made components.  Source #2 says Pittsburgh Railways car #100 was also rushed to completion and the first to be delivered to a customer but that source does not give a delivery date.  I did see a delivery date elsewhere of June 1936 for Pittsburgh car #100 so I believe the honor of first DELIVERED PCC car goes to BQT #1001.  Car #1001 is referred to as the first “Production” PCC. 

 

Brooklyn car #1000 in your photo was a one-of-a-kind PCC built by Clark Equipment using an aluminum body supplied by Alcoa.  The table in the appendix of Source #1 says that it was delivered in 1937.  BTW the standee windows on car #1000 were a first for a PCC as standee windows did not become an option on PCC’s until after WWII.   

 

Now we Pittsburghers would rather define “first PCC car” as the first PCC to carry fare-paying passengers.  That honor does go to Pittsburgh Railways #100 which went into service no later than September 1936 (again sources disagree on the exact month) whereas the first Brooklyn PCC car did not go into service until October 1936. 

 

Among the sources I used were: 

1.    The 1986 book “The PCC Car – An American Original” by Seymour Kashin and Harre Demoro.  (FWIW - the relevant info on Wikipedia came from this book)

2.    The 1980 book “PCC – The Car That Fought Back” by Stephen Carlson and Fred Schneider. 

3.    The 1983 book “PCC From Coast to Coast” by the same two authors

 

Bill

Last edited by WftTrains

Not Pennsylvania this time but 100 years ago in Detroit.  The Peter Witt cars in the first photo on the Woodward Avenue route were replaced with PCC's in 1947 and the PCC cars were replaced by busses in 1955.  The PCC's were sold to Mexico City or scrapped.  It's surprising streetcars lasted this long in Detroit given the influence of the auto industry. 

Woodward_Ave_1917

 Cadillac_Square_1916

Bill

Attachments

Images (2)
  • Woodward_Ave_1917: Streetcars Along Woodward Ave. in Detroit in 1917
  • Cadillac_Square_1916: Streetcars at Cadillac Square in Detroit in 1916
Last edited by WftTrains
Bobby Ogage posted:

A Hudson Valley Railway Mishap In Saratoga Springs, New York. Does anyone know how this accident took place?

I'm guessing that was on Broadway, although I must confess that the building on the left doesn't look familiar.  I'm wondering if that's a church that the car's rearend is banked up against? I got no hits on a quick search.

The trolley station remains and is featured in this website:

http://www.vizettes.com/kt/ups...story/rt/ser/ser.htm

 Tomlinson Run Railroad

Last edited by TomlinsonRunRR
WftTrains posted:

Not Pennsylvania this time but 100 years ago in Detroit.  The Peter Witt cars in the first photo on the Woodward Avenue route were replaced with PCC's in 1947 and the PCC cars were replaced by busses in 1955.  The PCC's were sold to Mexico City or scrapped.  It's surprising streetcars lasted this long in Detroit given the influence of the auto industry. 

Woodward_Ave_1917

 Cadillac_Square_1916

Bill

And now streetcars are back on Woodward Avenue in Detroit: QLine revives Detroit’s streetcar history

Bill

jim sutter posted:

Some Pittsburgh trolleys.PITTSBURGH TROLLEY 2PITTSBURGH TROLLEY 3PITTSBURGH TROLLEY 4PITTSBURGH TROLLEY 5PITTSBURGH TROLLEY 6PITTSBURGH TROLLEYS

Jimmy:

Thanks for posting.  I can’t tell you how many miles I rode on those red and cream Pittsburgh PCC’s over the years on my way to school, work, visiting relatives, going downtown, to Kennywood or to Forbes Field to see the Buccos.  However what’s that 77/54 doing in downtown Pittsburgh in the 3rd photo?  It’s normal route did not go through downtown so it must have been on a charter run in that photo.  I used to take the 77/54 from Carrick to Forbes Field.

Bill

scale rail posted:

How many of you knew that San Francisco is always building new Cable Cars. One or two are always under construction or being rebuilt. MWB I think you could get a job there. Don

I would enjoy that, but I would also have to relocate to the SF area and I can't afford to do that.......

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