Pages

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Clang clang went the trolley!!!!!!

No, No... If you were waiting for Judy to burst into song, I hate to disappoint you but she won't. If you have no idea who Judy is, you may be too young to be reading this.

The Baltimore Streetcar Museum has been able to save and restore a large selection of vintage streetcars that ran on the streets of Baltimore MD. The museum was founded in 1966, and is run by volunteers. Besides restoring many of the streetcars to operating conditions the members have laid tracks, build turn loops at each end of the run, installed the overhead wires call catanary, and repaired switches to operating condition. For more information, directions, and operating times go to www.baltimorestreetcar.org.

Beatrice and I visited the museum and rode three of their 'Trolleys'.

Car 1162 was built by the JG Brill Co. In 1902. This was a favorite summer ride since back then there was no AC. The controls were simple and the fare was right......five cents. It was our favorite since the weather here was warm and sticky.

Next was a ride on Philadelpia SEPTA car 2168. This is one of the few streetcars that is not from Baltimore. It was donated to the museum by Friends of the Philly Trolleys. They say this is one of their "newer" cars since it was built in 1948.

Now this was an expensive ride at 35 cents.

Last was a 'modern' Baltimore car 6119. This was a design that became a standard in the 40's and was known as PCC cars, or Presidents Conference Committee cars. It seems that the Presidents of most of the city traction companies got together and came up with this basic design to standardize the cars and reduce the cost of manufacturing them.

Another one of those expensive rides at a whopping 35 cents.

The morotman's stool looks anything but comfortable. Imagine a few hours on that....

Next we are off to the B&O Railroad Museum, again in Baltimore, MD and a look at the first stretch of railroad track laid in the U.S.



9 comments:

Country Gal said...

Wonderful photos ! Thanks for taking us along ! We have a train museum here as well ! I do love the old steam trains ! Have a good weekend !

Anonymous said...

I really like this post! I grew up with street cars down in Gothenburg :-)
The one in orange, white and blue looks much the same as they did when I grew up :-)

They still have them in Gothenburg but now days they have modern Italians cars that never works :-) I think that not even half of the wagons actually works and they aren't even five years old yet :-) :-) :-)

It's a huge scandal but the responsible people says they have made a great deal :-) :-) :-)

Have a great day!
Christer.

MadSnapper said...

great shots, i would like to see them

Montanagirl said...

Nice series of photos. 35 cents?? Times sure have changed, haven't they? Love traveling along with you.

HermitJim said...

Trollies and trains are still a fun way to ride!

Too bad they don't cost a nickle anymore! But what does?

Tammy@Simple Southern Happiness said...

You guys are busy! I hope you are enjoying your weekend of travels.

LOVE your pictures and you are correct, OUCH on sitting on that stool.

Connie said...

I know who Judy is and yes, I was waiting for her to sing! The trolley rides sound like a lot of fun.

Anvilcloud said...

I can remember riding a trolley when I was a bot in Montreal. Wisely, Toronto held on to its streetcars when most cities switched to buses.

Cicero Sings said...

OH dear but I can't imagine operating that car sitting on that stool for 8 hours! My poor bum. That "newer" car looked almost modern!!!!