Trolley Thursday 12-31-20 - Happy New Year

From the Motorman

Idiot at the controls.

If you might have noticed, there's no trolley post today. I didn't even plan for one on this, one of the most special days of the year, because I wanted to reserve today to talk to you: our readers (or passengers, take your pick). Since I started doing these trolley posts on Twitter back in 2019, I've received a reliable readership who've been eagerly reading all the stuff I have to say, to the point where I had to move to an all-new site to bring you even more information.

I'll admit, starting out on this site was rocky. Despite what you might think, it took whole months to find the right style, length, and substance of all the topics I wanted to talk about. Often, it would come very awkward or jarring, and I'd worry that I'd alienate a lot of people due to the inconsistent style. However, come October with Boston month, I found the right paragraph length, language, and style that suits everything going forward. 

It is also a fun thing to collaborate with other people and even whole museum organizations on some of the topics I've covered. If not for Josh Bernhard, Jonathan Lee, Atticus van Astikatus, the Interurban Railway Museum of Plano, TX, the Seashore Trolley Museum of Kennebunkport, ME, the New York Transit Museum of New York, NY, and others, I'd probably do a bad job representing cities outside where I actually live, Los Angeles. Being able to represent cities near-accurately and celebrate their street railways fills me with a lot of joy, and in turn I hope to share those with you.

I'll also give special thanks to my conductor, Nakkune, for not only putting up with being my proofreader and editor all of this year, but also suggesting I move my stuff over to Blogger in the first place. With this new site, we've been able to reach hundreds, maybe thousands, of people all over the world to join in our mass transit celebration, with our highest episode being the Illinois Traction for some odd reason. 

I hope to continue this energy and commitment to both entertainment and education into 2021, and I can only do it with all of you reading and sharing our little column. Who knows? Maybe we might even make a difference in saving some rare streetcar for preservation, or restoring one to operation. For now, have a safe and wonderful New Year and see you next Tuesday.

From the Conductor

The sane one with the emergency valve.

Hey, Nakkune here, your conductor and editor of this blog. As we bring a close to the Year That Shall Not Be Named, I wanted to thank you all for reading our blog. I hope you join us again next Tuesday as we continue to explore trolley systems both big and small in the new year. We’ve got plenty of exciting systems in store, so stay tuned!

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Thank you for reading today's Trolley post, and watch your step as you alight on the platform. On Next Year's Tuesday, we finally take a look at one of the most famous electric railways in the world: The Pacific Electric Railway of Los Angeles, California. For now, you can follow myself or my editor on Twitter, buy a shirt or sticker from our Redbubble stand, or purchase my editor's self-developed board game! It's like Ticket to Ride, but cooler! (and you get to support him through it!) Until next time, ride safe!

Trolley Tuesday 12/28/20 - The New York, Westchester & Boston Railway

Up the Hudson River from New York City is Westchester County, which borders the Bronx to the south and the state of Connecticut in the North. The area slowly developed into one of New York's suburban counties, with towns such as Yonkers and Peekskill being served by New York Central & Hudson River steam trains ferrying commuters into the Big Apple. In order to better serve prospective commuters, one of the richest men in the world invested in the area's only significant electric railway that, for a brief period between 1912 and 1937, was quite simply the most expensive passenger railroad in America. Though it is now a mere memory that only exists in photographs and firsthand accounts, today's Trolley Tuesday aims to uncover the history and legacy of the New York, Westchester & Boston Railway.

Trolley Thursday 12/24/20 - The New York State Railways

Throughout this month, we've been looking at New York City streetcars and rapid transit, but did you know there existed another, much larger interurban system in upstate New York? From 1909 to 1948, the mighty New York Central Railroad controlled several interurban railroads that connected the lakeside city of Rochester with the Finger Lakes Region towns of  Syracuse, Oneida (pronounced Ohn-Ida, trust me), Rome, and Utica. While its history is long and complex, this country interurban is sadly all mostly gone yet still has a compelling story to tell. On today's Christmas Eve Trolley Thursday, let's climb aboard the New York State Railways and explore the history of this fascinating interurban!

Trolley Thursday 12/16/20 - The IND and NYCTA R-Type Subway Cars

If you are an upstart street railroad in America, you'd think the way to pack your rosters is to approach a company like J.G. Brill or G.C. Kuhlman and offer to buy one of their standard, cataloged designs out of a pamphlet. Often times, street railways in Philadelphia or Cincinnati would actually collaborate with their local carmakers to design products to fit their own needs, like the famous Peter Witt Car. For a city as big and as varied as New York, however, they decided to do things a little differently. Starting in the Electric Railway Journal, the city's Board of Transportation advertised that it would "soon advertise for bids for the construction of 300 steel cars for service on the Eighth Avenue-Central Park West-Washington Heights line of the new subway system." Little did the Board and their operating division, the Independent Subway Service, know that over 90 years later, these contract bids would still be going with the car numbers types rising to almost 200 by this year! (2020) How did all of this happen? Hop on board today's Trolley Thursday to find out, as we take a ride on board New York's R-Type Fleet!

Trolley Tuesday 10/15/20 - New York City Elevated Cars of the IRT and BMT

The City of New York's elevated and subway cars have always been a curious anachronism, even when they were still in service. Some of the first elevated electric cars in 1903 worked all the way up to 1950, with the last pre-New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) car designs being retired in 1969. However, despite their long working lives, many of the original Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT) and Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit (BMT) designs pioneered plenty of revolutionary ideas that modern R-Contract subway cars continue to use today. On today's Trolley Tuesday, let's strip the curtain back and take a close look at the rapid transit cars that shaped New York City!

Trolley Thursday 12/11/20 - A Brief History of the New York Subways and Elevateds, Part 2

Welcome back to Part 2 of our New York Subway and Elevated excursion! On Tuesday, we covered the early independent histories of the Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT) and the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) and how both built up Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx as their own public transit empires. Like all good things though, private transit enterprises were not long for this world and both companies soon found themselves under public city control. Could a city as big and diverse as New York really run their own mass transit, and run it well? All of this and more in today's Trolley Thursday, all about the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA).

Trolley Tuesday 12/08/20 - A Brief History of New York's Subways and Elevateds, Part 1

Peek into any children's book about trains, and you'll find a simple question posited to the reader: "Why does New York City have a subway or an elevated railroad?" The answer is, of course, "because there was plenty of traffic." However, read more into the real history of New York City and you'll find the first elevated railroad went up way before the first commercial motorcar was ever produced. Despite being only a pioneer in elevated railways (as Boston already claimed the first subway in America), the New York rapid transit systems under the Interborough Rapid Transit and the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit companies remain one of the largest and most historic in the United States, and even the world. In today's Trolley Tuesday, we'll see how these systems got Gotham on the move.

Also if you haven't noticed, the title of my blog does involve "Trolleys", but it's my blog so I can cover whatever I want. This includes significant rapid transit lines like New York. With that out of the way...

Trolley Thursday 12/03/20 - The New York Railways & the Third Avenue Railway System

Today, New York City is home to a vast, extensive network of elevated and underground railroads that span its five boroughs, and no establishing shot of the Big Apple is complete without such a train roaring through a subway station or clattering overhead on some century-old iron girders. But before New York found its identity through rapid transit, the borough of Manhattan was on the move thanks to an extensive streetcar grid from its very inception in 1832 to the final "bus-titutions" in the mid-1950s. On this Trolley Thursday, let's see how streetcars were "made in Manhattan" and explore the extensive history of the New York Railways!

Trolley Tuesday 12/01/20 - The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company

If there's one city well-known for its deep history with railed rapid transit, it's New York. The city's mass transit history alone can fill up every day of December and we'd still be unable to tell you the whole story. Every single mile of street and elevated rail oozes notable stories that have since become legendary from World Series-winning baseball teams to manufacturing firsts and so on. Brooklyn has always been a multi-faceted and densely-populated borough, with a rough-and-tumble reputation of hard workers, and their mass transit was equally as hardy. On today's Trolley Tuesday, it's No Sleep Till Brooklyn as we look at the enormous history the Brooklyn & Queens Transit Company, better known as the B&QT.

Trolley Thursday 11/24/20 - Pacific Electric Caboose No. 1969

Happy Thanksgiving from Twice-Weekly Trolley History! Despite the fact that we've been taking a month-long break through November, I thought it'd be a good idea to share on this special day a modelling project I felt very thankful for and that it'd be worth sharing with you, our wonderful readers. This is a project that took me most of October and I honestly couldn't have done it without a myriad of people giving me emotional support and practical advice on my very first scratchbuild. I hope you are all having a Happy Thanksgiving and here's to a solid return to our normal trolleyposting in December!

Trolley Thursday 10/29/20 - Charlie on the MTA

Talk to any musically-minded rail enthusiast and you'll be met with plenty of hits that celebrate the colorful history and identity of America's railroads. From bittersweet ballads like Arlo Guthrie's "City of New Orleans" to joyful hobo songs like the "Wabash Cannonball", it seems all of America's railroads has its identity and popularity set in musical form. Oddly, the same cannot be said for street railways; perhaps it's their mundane nature that keeps them from being romanticized in song, or it's the fact that Meet Me In St. Louis' famous "Trolley Song" is enough to fill the nostalgic void. However, in the City of Boston, there is one song that's lived on in fame, and infamy, about what was once one of the most confusing fare systems ever implemented on a street railroad. On today's Trolley Thursday, make sure you take along an extra dime as we look at the odd and colorful history of Boston's most famous subway song: "Charlie on the MTA."

Trolley Thursday 10/27/20 - Notable Streetcars and Rapid Transit of Boston

 While Boston has had a fantastic and varied streetcar history, possessing both the oldest subway in America and some of the longest-running revenue streetcar lines in the world, one of the biggest oversights we've had this month is discussing just how varied and unique some of Boston's streetcars actually are. We already touched on the differences between heavy- and light-rail systems, so now that we've established where these cars have run (and still do), we can dig deep and see what sets Boston's streetcar fleet apart from the rest of America. Climb aboard and indulge in your inner nerd as we excitedly discuss the different types of streetcars to grace the Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) and the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (better known, of course, as the MBTA). 

Trolley Thursday 10/22/20 - The Mattapan-Ashmont High-Speed Line

As we've gone through the many avenues of streetcar history, we've seen lines that've never closed since their inception, lines that were returned from the dead with brand new technology, and many many many heritage streetcar lines. What we haven't talked about yet is such an outlier it seemingly only exists in Southern Boston. To my knowledge, and to my editor's, it's the only revenue (non-heritage) streetcar service in America that still runs with heritage equipment. Why is this "Hooterville" streetcar so unique a branchline, both on the MBTA and in America? Why hasn't it been closed? And more importantly, what makes it a "high speed line"? All of these questions and more will be answered in today's Trolley Thursday, all about the Mattapan-Ashmont High Speed Line!

Trolley Tuesday 10/20/20 - Lowell National Historic Park & Seashore Trolley Museum

Heritage trolley lines have long been a mainstay of American cities since the Bicentennial of 1976, and cities such as Seattle, Dallas, and New Orleans alike have seen their heritage streetcars run well into the 21st Century on their own dedicated routes. With heritage streetcars come the possibility of urban revitalization and that nasty word, "gentrification", but don't underestimate the power of a heritage streetcar. Even the filthiest and most industrialized city can find itself beautified with a street railway, and no heritage trolley exemplifies this more than the longest-running heritage streetcar in America, the Lowell Street Railway in Lowell, Massachusetts.

Trolley Thursday 10/15/20 - Springfield Electric Railway

 Springfield, Vermont, is a small town on the western side of the Connecticut River, with the state of New Hampshire in the east. Just 14 miles south along Highway 91 is the town of Bellows Falls, where F. Nelson Blount's famous Steamtown USA museum was originally located. Though Springfield is a small town (with its population not yet cracking 10,000 people), its railroad history is rich with both streetcar and heavy rail operations. One of the biggest names out of that region is the Springfield Terminal Railway, which came to prominence as the operations wing of the Guilford Rail System (now Pan Am Railway), but originally started out as yet another boom-town trolley. On today's Trolley Thursday, let's board the little Springfield Electric Railway and find out why this legendary line deserves to be remembered.

Trolley Tuesday 10/13/20 - The Shelburne Falls & Colrain Street Railway

Shelburne Falls is a tiny town housing 1,731 people, and is only 15 miles from Massachusetts's northern border with Vermont. This area is lush with green foliage, making it just another exemplary New England small mountain town, but despite only being a whole 2.6 square miles in size, Shelburne Falls was once home to a thriving street railway like any other American town. Connecting to the town of Colrain just 6.5 miles north by road, this Toonerville Trolley only lasted until the 1920s and has had much of its history scrubbed away by time. However, there is one piece of rolling stock that continues to keep this fallen flag on the lips and memories of locals and tourists alike. On today's Trolley Tuesday, let's take a short look at the history of the Shelburne Falls & Colrain Street Railway.

Trolley Thursday 10/8/20 - The Boston, Revere Beach & Lynn Railroad

Public beaches are such a fact of life in America, today, that any normal person would be up in arms at some rich person encroaching upon a public recreational land. However, prior to 1896, no city-owned beaches existed in the United States and, as such, it was a free for all. Even after receiving rail connection in 1875, "Chelsea Beach" was just another ownerless public common until the Metropolitan Park Commission (now the Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation) assumed control and opened the renamed "Revere Beach" to the public on July 12, 1896. Since then, the beach has continued on with tens of thousands of people visiting its temperate waters every single year, and almost always on an MBTA Blue Line train. As autumn draws the curtains on one of the hottest summers on record, return with us now to the thrilling trains of yesteryear as we recount the history of the Boston, Revere Beach, and Lynn Railroad.

Trolley Tuesday 10/6/20 - The Boston Elevated Railway

Today, Boston's North Station is home to the mighty nest of Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics, TD Gardens, which sits directly atop one of the city's most prestigious and famous railway terminals, North Station. Not only is this area still the hub of rail transit in Boston for Amtrak, MBTA, and the Green and Orange Line subways, but in 2004, it played host to the final moments of one of the city's most beloved (or maligned) city transit services. On June 25, 2004, the last "streetcar" service along the Washington Street Elevated entered North Station and closed yet another chapter of century-old history in the Hub of the Universe. Today, we'll look back on how the Boston Elevated Railway both captivated and caused distress for the City's people, and why it still deserves to be remembered.

Trolley Thursday 10/1/20 - The Boston Subway System

Another month brings another rich stock of streetcar, interurban, and rapid transit history to sink your teeth into. I want to thank all of the people and museum organizations who frequent, share, and find our series both entertaining and educational, whether it's insulting streetcar executives' facial hair or lamenting the loss of another legendary system. From Nakkune and I, you are all loved.

Today's month of October concerns the City of Boston (or to quote one of its own beloved mayors, "da cittabossun") and its rich electric railway history. The City of Champions is home to many firsts: the first shots fired in the American Revolution, the first American Dynasty through the Kennedys, and where we're concerned: the first subway in America. Despite being well over 120 years old, the combined system continues to serve as the main backbone of the Green and Red lines for the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (better known as the MTBA). Today, let's ship up to Boston and uncover the deep, congestive history of the Subway Tunnels!

Trolley Thursday 9/24/20 - The Hershey Transit Company

If there's anything to take comfort in nowadays, it's a nice, creamy chocolate bar. There's plenty of brands to choose as well: if you're in the Bay Area, you go for the classic squares of Ghirardelli; if you're on a Swiss tram, you enjoy a fine Lindt truffle, and if you're in Pennsylvania, you grab a bar or a cup and hop on board Milton Hershey's very own trolley company! From 1903 to 1946, the Hershey Transit Company served employees and citizens alike in Hummelstown, Campbelltown, and every point inbetween, and it's still the only trolley company ever owned by a chocolate factory. On today's Trolley Thursday, let's unwrap the history and the nostalgia of the Hershey Transit Company

Trolley Tuesday 9/22/20 - The Pittsburgh Railways

Pittsburgh has always been an important industrial hub for both steel and freight in Pennsylvania, and the gateway west into Ohio and the rest of the country. Beyond the giant steel mills and coal mines, Pittsburgh was also home to one of the largest street railways in the state with the third largest fleet of PCC streetcars in America (a devilish 666 cars). However, events conspired to all but wipe out the system through an unstable ownership, multiple bankruptcies, and failed returns that retired some of the first revenue-earning PCCs in the country for normal light rail. The long and troubled history of the Pittsburgh Railways is a story that deserves to be remembered.

Trolley Thursday 9/17/20 - The Conestoga Traction Company

 Deep in Pennsylvania's Dutch Country, you wouldn't expect something as modern as an interurban system to intrude upon the otherwise peaceful, low-tech life of the Amish. However, even the Dutch country was not free of its own interurban system, and quite a large one at that. The Conestoga Traction Company may be forgotten now, but at one point it was one of the largest non-metropolitan systems in Pennsylvania, providing farmers and travelers with means to get from its center at Lancaster to the tiny farm towns such as Elizabethtown, Pequea, and even Strasburg. It even formed the basis for a notable comic and cartoon series! But all of that, and more, lies in today's Trolley Tuesday!

Trolley Tuesday 9/15/20 - Philadelphia & Western Railroad

The eastern United States may have been more densely-packed than the Midwest or western United States, but that doesn't exempt them from having some famous high speed lines. Far from glamorous, or far from any cities, these Appalachian interurbans helped connect the farmlands of Pennsylvania with the major city centers of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, providing new opportunities for workers and their families across the state. The most famous of these is the Philadelphia & Western Railroad, now referred to as the SEPTA Norris Town High Speed Line. This 102-year-old railroad rose from almost nothing to become one of the most unique and fastest railroads in America, and you'll find out why and more on today's Trolley Tuesday!

 

Trolley Thursday 9/10/20 - The Philadelphia Transportation Company

 On average, streetcars have a normal service life of twenty years before a major overhaul, with only minor servicing needed to keep them on the up-and-up. Even the most futuristic light rail vehicles can seem outdated in such a short amount of time. But what happens when the mid-century hits, automobile ownership rises, and National City Lines comes knocking on your doorstep? Find out how it affected the city of Brotherly Love, the Philadelphia Transport Company (PTC), and more, on today's (late) Trolley Thursday!

Trolley Tuesday 9/8/20 - The Brill Company and The Cars of the PRT

The cars of the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company (up until 1940) seemingly set the standard for what an American streetcar roster should look like, as their carbarns were packed with Peter Witts and PCC's, both ubiquitous streetcars of the United States. Their proximity to the J.G. Brill Company of Philadelphia, PA, also gave them unprecedented access to new car classes and prototypes that would have otherwise remained on the drawing board. On Today's (late) Trolley Tuesday, we'll take a brief glimpse at the Brill Car Company and its association with the city of Philadelphia.

Trolley Thursday 9/3/20 - The Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company

Welcome to a brand-new month of Twice-Weekly Trolley History content that we are dubbing "SEPTAmber". From now till the end of the month, we'll be looking at the wide, varied, and ongoing streetcar and interurban history of the state of Pennsylvania, from the ever-large Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and its constituent companies, to smaller operations like the Johnstown Traction Company, the Pittsburgh Railways, and an electric railway in Reading guaranteed "unsinkable". Today, we'll be looking at the City of Brotherly Love's rocky history as the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company, and all the trials and tribulations it endured until it was reorganized at the eve of World War II. Let's jump into it!

Trolley Tuesday 9/01/2020 - Iowa Traction Railway

 We live in a time, right now, where anachronisms are not only appreciated but celebrated. Bars and restaurants will brag about how their food has given them almost or over one hundred years of service, old folks will roll around in their mid-century land yachts from an age where chrome was considered a safety feature, and of course there come the old railroads that still operate in somewhat original form like the South Shore Line or the Chicago Loop. Among the Midwestern railroads, there is one tiny little freight operation in the Hawkeye State of Iowa that has continued to tootle along, as if nothing's happened to it in the 100+ years its been in operation. Today, we know this little line as the Iowa Traction Railway (IATR), but its history goes back farther, all the way to 1897, and it is a line that deserves to be remembered and celebrated.

Trolley Thursday 8/27/20 - The Peter Witt Streetcar

Before the introduction of the PCC car, there were a couple of honest attempts at a standard for street railway equipment. In 1918, the J.G. Brill company produced the Birney Car, a cheap little single-truck box that aimed at being economical for street railways big and small. However, the Birney was quite bare and uncomfortable, and never quite had the national spread that another streetcar did. It never claimed to be a "standard" national streetcar, but its innovative and adaptable design made it not only widespread in America, but across North America and even the world. Though it may appear antiquated compared to the sleek, stylish curves of a PCC, there is no denying the impact and influence of the Peter Witt streetcar, a Cleveland original. 

Trolley Tuesday 8/24/20 - Cleveland Railway, Shaker Heights Rapid Transit, and the Cleveland RTA

CLEVELAND! Long a major center of railroad and canal traffic, the Forest City now stakes its claim on its historic architecture, long-suffering sports teams, and hastily-made tourism videos proclaiming it to be "not Detroit". But among the misspellings (originally "Cleaveland", after land surveyor Moses Cleaveland, but shortened to fit the Cleveland Advertiser's masthead), railroad history (a major city on the Pennsylvania and New York Central Railroads), and cultural institutions (Rock & Roll Hall of Fame), Cleveland holds a place in the realm of electric railroads as one of the longest-running interurban systems in America (since 1913!). Today, we take a look back at the "Progress and Prosperity" that built up the Forest City and see if Cleveland still Rocks.  

Trolley Thursday 8/20/20 - Cincinnati Street Railway

Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus (519-430BC) was a Roman civic and military leader, and dictator, whose legacy is one of simple and faithful leadership. Twice ascended to dictator (back when such a term was neutral or positive rather than negative), Cincinnatus relinquished his power peacefully to the Senate after his duty was done, even at his old age, without any fuss or delay. His understanding and control over the temptations of absolute power made him a figure in civic values, and others like President George Washington have taken his "call to agriculture" to heart. Similarly, the streetcars of Cincinnati served their city with the same faithfulness displayed to the city's namesake, but unlike the famous dictator, the Cincinnati Street Railway's time came much too early, even for a system just shy of operating for 100 years. Today, we look back on the Cincinnati Street Railway with fond memories and find out just what made this system so unique. 

Trolley Tuesday 8/18/20 - The Columbus Railway Power & Light Company

Being a capital city seems to have its perks, as not only is it the seat of state government, but it also is usually a city that best encapsulates what sets the state apart from others. For Ohio, the city of Columbus is exemplary for many reasons, like its beautiful and varied architecture, its aeronautical history thanks to figures like pilot Eddie Rickenbacker, and its Italian-American city heritage. What also sets Columbus apart is its once-thriving streetcar system that lasted from 1863 to 1948, almost 100 years. Today's Trolley Tuesday post is all about that, as we look at the former Columbus Light & Railway Company and what happened to this city designed by and around the streetcar.

Trolley Thursday 8/13/20 - The Big and the Small of the Indiana Electrics

Streetcar systems, interurban railways, and indeed any electric railroad is going to have some kind of elaborate idea that anyone can see is absolutely impossible. As it was the early days of mass rapid transit, damn near anything was possible and people thought the wire could stretch from sea to shining sea. However, reality has a way of putting things into perspective, and more often than not these elaborate plans ended up consigned to the drawing board, or worse, never being built beyond a small town. On the flipside, plenty of tiny electric industrial installations ensured both a business' reliable connection to another railroad, and of course plenty of adorable rolling stock. On today's Trolley Thursday, we look at what made these two types of railroads so special, and so infamous in Indiana, as we look at the Chicago-New York Air Line and the Singer Manufacturing Electric Railway!

Trolley Tuesday 8/11/20 - The Fort Wayne Transit Company

As the second largest city in Indiana, right after Indianapolis, Fort Wayne became a major transit hub in the 20th century thanks to the likes of the Pennsylvania, Wabash, and Monon Railroads. Within the city, a robust transit network was set up under many company names, eventually culminating in the Indiana Railroad we covered last week. However, we're back in Fort Wayne again to look at the local streetcar operations and see what happened to the Summit City's Streetcars, here on Trolley Tuesday!

Trolley Thursday 8/6/20 - The Indiana Railroad and its Constituents

Now we can officially start the month of August right! When you think of Indiana interurbans, you mostly think of the South Shore and... that's pretty much it. However, the "Last and Longest" wasn't the only Midwestern interurban running through the Buckeye State. At one point, there were six other neighbors vying for business all over the state, and even into Louisville, Kentucky! But how could a statewide system, spanning over eight hundred miles, suddenly up and disappear just after the start of World War II? We'll uncover the forgotten lines of the Indiana Railroad and its constituents today, on Trolley Thursday!

Trolley Tuesday 8/4/20 - The Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (or New South Shore Line)

Welcome to another new month of Twice-Weekly Trolley History here on Blogger! I know your eyes are probably hurting from last month's deluge of information, but I can assure you we're back to our normal length once again. You may remember from last month, as well, that we covered the old South Shore Line as part of our review of Chicago interurbans and street railways. Today, we're going to continue that story and look at what happened to one of Samuel Insull's "First and Fastest" railways that is now the "Last and Longest". It's America's only true remaining interurban, and it's only on Trolley Tuesday!

Trolley Thursday 7/30/20 - Guest Piece - Milwaukee Streetcars by Jonathan Lee

Welcome to the last Trolley post of July! As is tradition now with our transit experts of the month, we delegate onto them a guest post to write and have them impart their knowledge directly onto you, the unwilling captive and interested audience. For this month, our expert, Jonathan Lee, has written for you a concise history on the city of Milwaukee's interurban and streetcar operations. There's a lot to be said, but from us here at Twice Weekly Trolley History, thank you for reading our material, for giving us the biggest readership we've ever seen, and we hope you all stick around for more in the future. Mr. Lee, you have the floor!

(Also all photos today are credited to Joseph Canfield, author of "TM, The Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light Company," unless otherwise noted. Find the book link in the epilogue.)

Trolley Tuesday 7/28/20 - The Pullman Company's Streetcars

Even if you're not into railroads, the name "Pullman" is synonymous to luxury. Indeed, one of the many things George M. Pullman's company was well known for was building luxurious sleeping cars that made going across the country, or across a state, a luxurious first-class affair. However, through all of the fancy trains and the various worker strikes and the admittedly-creepy paternal industrial culture Pullman championed, one of the more subtle and long-lasting products his company made were streetcars and elevated railway coaches. Electric railway companies around the country, especially around the Chicago area, were loyal buyers of Pullman products, and today's Trolley Tuesday will cover just a taste to close out this month!

Trolley Thursday 7/23/20 - Illinois Traction System

If you're like my editor or I, you're probably exhausted at the huge amounts of information we had to unload on you on the weeks past concerning Chicago. Indeed, it's definitely more than I wanted to usually write for this history column, that's for sure. So for today's (late) post, we'll look at a much smaller (but still important) operation that is just as "Illinois" as the CTA. Now known as the Illinois Terminal Railroad, the Illinois Traction Railroad helped connect the Land of Lincoln's southwest corner with St. Louis across the border until it de-electrified into the shortline railroad we know today under Norfolk Southern. Today, let's wish we were in Peoria again as we take a ride aboard The Road of Service on this Trolley Thursday!

Trolley Tuesday 7/21/20 - The Chicago Transit Authority

We think of Rapid Transit service as a fact of life, infallible and ever-existent since the dawn of time. Hell, people must have thought that when the original constituent companies of the CTA first formed back in the late 1890s. Unfortunately, history has a funny way of being oh-so-reductive. Instead, we'll close out our compendium of Chicago transit with a small history on the beginnings and current operations of the Chicago Transit Authority. We'll keep the intro short this time around, because we have a lot to get through.

Trolley Thursday 7/16/20 - The Chicago Loop

Chicago is home to many prominent civil engineering masterpieces: The Hancock Center, the Sears Tower (yes those are their names, fight me), and the many bridges that line the Chicago River. One architectural wonder that tends to go over people's heads, though, is the famous Chicago Loop circling Lake Street, Wabash Avenue, Van Buren Street, and Wells Street. Originally opened in 1897, the Loop not only serves as an essential part of any Chicagoland commuter but it is also an architectural marvel above and below with its reams of cross beams and ribbons of steel rail creating beautiful, functional art. Despite its shape, the story of the Loop is more of a tangled knot of four different strings coming together into one solid mass, like your headphones in your pocket. Join us as we uncover the hidden history above our heads on today's Trolley Thursday!

Trolley Tuesday 7/14/20 - The Chicago Aurora & Elgin

The best things in life always come in threes, especially when it comes to competition. Motor racing has the "Triple Crown" of Monte Carlo, Indianapolis, and Le Mans. Horse racing has the Belmont, Preakness and Kentucky Derby stakes, and even down to electric railways in hot contention for the Charles A. Coffin Gold Medal for Innovation and Speed in Electric Railways, utilities magnate Samuel Insull had the "First and Fastest" triple crown of the North Shore line, the South Shore, and the Chicago Aurora and Elgin. Of the three, the "Roaring Elgin" was not as fast as the North Shore, nor as dependent on freight like the South Shore, but its importance in building the Fox River Valley's many cities cannot be understated. Though the shortest-lived of the three Insull-ar roads, the Great Third Rail still holds a place in interurban history.

Trolley Thursday 7/9/20 - The South Shore Line

Samuel Insull's North Shore Line might have clinched the title of "First and Fastest" in perpetuity, the famed Charles A. Coffin Gold Medal for contributions to the advancement of electric traction, but its opposite line is certainly a contender for operating in perpetuity. One of Insull's "fixer-upper lines", the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railway (CSS, South Shore Line for short) was born out of considerable reorganization between Chicago, IL, and South Bend, IN to become a premiere interurban and freight railroad. Indeed, the South Shore proved so essential and prolific in both passenger and commercial customer service that, despite downturns and heavy cuts, the South Shore Line has never been out of operation since the first line opened in 1901. A regular runner-up of the "First and Fastest" award, the South Shore can now be considered the "Last and Longest" surviving interurban in the United States.

Trolley Tuesday 7/7/20 - The North Shore Line

In The Interurban Era, written by Trains Magazine contributor William D. Middleton, he discussed a period of America when long-distance, large-capacity interurban railways were the hottest commodity for rapid transit, specifically from the 1900s to 1963. During this time, real estate companies found land values skyrocket from having important rail corridors to downtown, while energy companies revelled in the utility subsidies they got for providing an outlet (not a pun) through electric traction. One of these railways that Middleton praises as a "super-interurban" for its quality of service is the Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad, better known as the North Shore Line, and upon its passing in 1963, Middleton noted it was the "end of the Interurban Era" in the United States. So how did a railway like this be this big of a lynchpin for Mr. Middleton? Let's find out on today's Trolley Tuesday!

Trolley Thursday 7/2/20 - Chicago Surface Lines

Chicago has had a legendary reputation in American railroading as being the hub of some of the most famous railroads in the country, and its famous meatpacking plants made the creation of the refrigerated railroad car almost inevitable. While many famous names rolled in and out of its stations like the Santa Fe, New York Central, Pennsylvania and the Milwaukee Road, Chicago also led the way with its revolutionary street and elevated railways that covered what locals called Chicagoland, the boundaries of which are pretty culturally nebulous. On this month's series of trolleyposts, we look at the rapid transit of the "Urbs in horto" and see what worked for the Second City, starting at street level with the Chicago Surface Lines! Just please, eat your Polish sausage outside the car.

Trolley Tuesday 6/30/20 - New Orleans Regional Transit Authority

While light rail is commonplace amongst city transit agencies, it's not everyday an entire heritage streetcar system serves as a municipal light rail system. Most of the time, you see smaller heritage streetcar services operated as side hustles like Dallas' McKinney Avenue Trolley or Portland's Vintage Trolley, either through a private nonprofit or through the agency itself. New Orleans' Regional Transit Authority (RTA), on the other hand, uses its historic St. Charles Streetcar Line and the four rebuilt "streetcars" (their own parlance for lines) as its primary rail transit network. After all, when you're the home of the world's oldest rapid transit line, you might as well make it the backbone of your entire operation!

Trolley Thursday 6/25/20 - The Perley A. Thomas Carworks

On Tuesday, we covered the general history of New Orleans' famous streetcar system, but you may be surprised to realize that not once did I ever refer to the streetcars used on the line that I would in other episodes. That was deliberate, because New Orleans holds the unique distinction of having just one iconic type of streetcar rather than two, three, or even more, from one manufacturer. Much like an oyster's pearl, the 173 800- and 900-series cars built for the New Orleans Public Service Inc (NOPSI) have become desirable antiques that carry on the legacy of the Crescent City no matter where they operate, and it is thanks to the Perley A. Thomas Car Works that such an icon was born.

Trolley Tuesday 6/23/20 - New Orleans Streetcars, 1893-1983

You've no doubt heard of Tennessee Williams' famous theater production, A Streetcar Named Desire, which takes place in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. Since its first run in 1947, the play's name has lent itself to being referenced by many heritage streetcar operations in New Orleans and all over the United States. The "Desire" in the title is a reference to the Desire Street line, one of the over 24 individual streetcar lines that filled in the Big Easy between 1893 and 1974, when the Rapid Transit Authority took over operations. So, grab your coat, grab your hat, leave your worries on the doorstep, and direct your feet over to the sunny side of the streetcar on this brief overview of the New Orleans streetcar system!

Trolley Thursday 6/18/20 - DART Light Rail

Historically, the Texas Electric Railway Company was one of the largest transit systems in the Southern United States with a route length spanning more than 200 miles. All of of those route-miles were gone by 1948 following the TER's closure to increased bus and auto traffic, but the right of ways through Plano and Dallas never really went away. Today, the Dallas Area Rapid Transit continues to maintain its status as the largest street railway company in the southern United States with its own light rail system spanning about 93 miles and connecting Dallas with Plano, Fort Worth, DFW Airport, and even the Dallas Zoo. For our last jaunt into Texas, hop aboard the DART for today's Trolley Thursday!

Trolley Tuesday 6/16/20 - The New El Paso Streetcar

Heritage streetcar service is nothing new today, as almost every city has some way of celebrating its transit heritage. Some, like the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority, maintain a fleet of heritage cars to run on lines that have been in service since the 19th century, while others prefer creating new streetcar lines and loops that function more as moving museums on brand new alignments like the San Francisco MUNI. Indeed, to appeal to both tourists and nostalgia-bait-takers alike, you have to have a heritage streetcar. Today, we look at one of the more recent systems to pop up in the 21st century, the long awaited return of the El Paso Not-Quite-International-Anymore Streetcar!

Trolley Thursday 6/11/20 - The Interurban Railway Museum

Welcome back to part two of the Texas Electric Railroad Saga! When we last left what was once the largest electric railroad in Texas, the TER had just gone under due to severely decreased passenger use and a massive labor strike that the company could not recover from. Today, through the eyes of the only survivor of the TER, we look at not only the many car classes she encountered, but also how she ended up as one of the last cars of the TER. Grab a cup of Texas tea and a slice of Texas toast, because this is big finale of the TER saga!

Trolley Tuesday 6/9/20 - The Texas Electric Railway

For Today's Trolley Tuesday post, I'd first off like to thank the Interurban Railway Museum of Plano, Texas, for their wonderful geniality and massive archive collection. Working with railroad museums like this is great because I get to utilize the nichest of niche information while the museum gets embarrassingly-fanboyish levels of free advertising. Today, the IRM will be helping me tell the brief (but long-lived) history of one of the last independent interurban lines in the state of Texas, and how this Lone Star shone so bright yet faded like a falling star into obscurity. Find the rest of the story after the break!

Trolley Thursday 6/4/20 - El Paso International Streetcar

Today's Trolley Thursday continues a theme began on Tuesday when we started our journey deep into the heart of the Lone Star State, or at least its borders. Laredo's small-town system, while being the first electric streetcar west of the Mississippi River, was not the only international streetcar. Just 600 miles to the Northwest, the border between El Paso and Ciudad Juárez also contained its own Tex-Mex streetcar. The story of the El Paso International Streetcar, later the El Paso City Lines, is one that's both tragic and hopeful; a streetcar line driven to destruction by National City Lines was able to defy expectations and return to run in the modern day. This, and more, after the break. (A fancy new break!)

Trolley Tuesday 6/2/20 - The Laredo Electric Railway Company

Welcome to the sixth month of Trolley History posts! This month, we'll be looking at electric railroads from Texas and Louisiana, and considering how big the two states are, I can't imagine we'll be strapped for content anytime soon! For our first street railway of the month, we're taking a look at what's considered the first electric street railway west of the Mississippi River: The Laredo Street Railway.

Trolley Thursday 5/28/20 - A Utahn Reflection by Josh B.

To close off this month's discussion of Utah streetcars, trolleys, and mostly interurbans, I've asked my Utah expert this month, Josh B., to write up a guest piece. This is going to be a regular practice considering I have friends with an interest in streetcars all over the United States, and possibly even the world. I'll probably think up a better name than "Guest Piece" though. Without further ado, take it way, Josh!

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Bamberger No. 353, southbound leaving Kaysville
(Gordon Cardall)

In his book, "Interurbans of Utah", Ira Swett described the territory that Utah's interurban railways traversed as the “hinterland.” In its strictest sense, a hinterland is a landlocked area far distanced from the ocean. In the case of Utah's interurbans, the term is symbolic of its rural isolation, away from the dense urban centers that their counterparts elsewhere in the country served.

Magna, Utah in 1937, with a Salt Lake & Utah train
in the distance.
(Don Strack)

Until the urbanization that exploded in the late 1980s, most of Utah was extremely rural. While the Salt Lake Valley today is a vast suburb of Salt Lake City, with homes and businesses swelling from wall to mountain wall, not 50 years ago it was mostly fields and marshes dotted by small communities. There were few suburban commuters; in spite of being built to transport humans, Utah's interurbans could only survive by transporting freight along the almost 170 miles that span Preston Idaho to Payson. Hence, passenger rosters in some cases paled in comparison to the freight rosters.

Salt Lake & Utah steeplecab No. 101 switches
freight cars as parlor car 751 passes by on the main.
(Gordon Cardall)

In a previous post, your Motorman highlighted a boxcar that was purchased by the Salt Lake & Utah, but diverted to the Salt Lake Garfield & Western when payment was not forthcoming. This is a single example of the SL&U's extensive freight roster of refrigerator cars, drop bottom gondolas, boxcars, and flatcars. The Utah-Idaho Central boasted a similarly sized selection of freight cars, largely utilized for the sugar beet and fruit traffic originating on its far-flung agricultural branches to Plain City and North Ogden. The Bamberger had a smaller freight roster, but its 50-foot paper service boxcars could be seen as far away as Denver, where they drove the Denver & Rio Grande Western employees mad due to deferred maintenance and constant malfunctions.

The new Frontrunner heavy-rail commuter service at
Provo Station, formerly served by the Bamberger Railroad.
(Ricardo63)

From a modern standpoint, we remember the interurban railways as the predecessors to modern commuter rail services; UTA's FrontRunner system was lauded by some as a “new Bamberger,” replacing the valuable community resources that were lost when the automobile and pavement made them obsolete. However, Utah's interurbans were far more important for their freight services, providing fast and local service between the farms and factories.

 Their position paralleling the D&RGW and the Union Pacific along the Wasatch Front forced the larger steam railroads to offer competitive pricing for local traffic, a pleasant side effect that assisted the economic advancement of the otherwise isolated rural populations. North Ogden residents still fondly remember the “Dummy Line,” the UIC's branch up to the North Ogden Bench, but visit the North Ogden Historical Museum and the narrative focuses on its importance in developing the orchards that thrived at the base of Mount Ben Lomond, not the streetcar services it also provided.

Ogden City Railway No. 100, year unknown but a perfect example of a steam dummy
(Don Strack)

A Utah-Idaho Central interurban unloads in the middle of the street at Logan,
UT, heading Northbound, 1947.
(Gordon Cardall)

In fact, all four interurbans (counting the Saltair) would not have survived into the 1940s were it not for the valuable services they provided to the war effort. The Bamberger was strategically positioned as the only rail access to Hill Field (now Hill Air Force Base); the Utah-Idaho Central served Defense Depot Ogden and its Plain City Branch accessed gravel pits that provided building materials for the Prisoner of War camp nearby. The Saltair ran commuter trains with military-owned passenger equipment. The Salt Lake & Utah delivered fuel from its connections with the coal-hauling Utah Railway to the factories and smelters producing war materials. Once the war ended, the prisoners went home and the defense facilities downsized, there was no longer any freight to supplant the already abysmal passenger income, and the electric railroads folded one by one, surrendering to semi trucks and buses.

The Salt Lake Tribune) Gov. Gary Herbert speaks as UTA celebrates its 50th birthday with a news conference at the state Capitol in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, March 3, 2020. At left is Carolyn Gonot, executive director of UTA.
(Trent Nelson, Utah Tribune)

This year Utah Transit Authority is celebrating its 50th year; the anniversary stickers adorning all Frontrunner and Trax cars represents that the state is slowly remembering the importance of a publicly accessible passenger rail system. As we acknowledge the interurban renaissance, remember that the interurbans also built the state's industry just as much as its public transport, and look forward to a day when, as urban planners and futurist dreamers predict, an electrified rail network once again stretches from the Idaho border to southern Utah County, and perhaps this time beyond.

UTA's Trax Light Rail service, continuing the legacy of electric mass transit.
(Bond Buyer)

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Thank you for reading this month's Trolleyposts! I'd like to thank Josh B. for today's writeup, Don Strack for his wonderful photo resources, UtahRails for making this niche information readily available online, and John Smatlak for his photo resources as well as saving our Bamberger car at the Southern California Railroad Museum. If you would like to follow Josh B. on his numerous adventures, hit up his Facebook here on the Tintic Range Railway. Next month, we hop right into the Lone Star State and look at the interurbans all over Texas! Until then, you can follow myself or my editor on twitter if you wanna support us, and maybe buy a shirt as well! Ride safe!

Trolley Tuesday 5/26/20 - The Kennecott Electric Railroad

The last electric railway we'll be looking at this month in detail isn't the most glamorous or the fastest, but it certainly is the most fascinating and one of the most technologically advanced. Between 1924 and 1979, the Bingham Mine of the Kennecott Copper Corporation housed massive 125-ton electric locomotives that hauled huge 90-car strings of ore and ran on portable wire that could be moved by hand. Due to its use of an offset trolley wire and swing-out "pole", this more than qualifies this non-passenger railroad for coverage on Trolley Tuesday. Hang on tight, because it's a long way down the mine!

Trolley Thursday 5/21/2020 - The Bamberger Bullets (and Other Rolling Stock)

On Tuesday, we gave a general overview of one of the most well-remembered Utah interurban roads, the Salt Lake & Ogden or Bamberger Electric Railway; today, we shed all of that and focus on the real reason why you probably read this weekly blog: the nitty-gritty of various types of trolleys. On this installment, while the rest of the Bamberger fleet is quite interesting to look at (featuring diesels with trolley poles), we'll be looking at one of the most interesting trolley cars to roam the US, and certainly one of the fastest ever built (even outclassing modern LRVs in speed). Load your magazine, fill your hand, and catch the speeding Bullet straight from Brill!

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Bamberger's Jewett No. 355 and Niles 401 at Ogden, UT, July 1949
(Don Ross)

Prior to reorganization, the Bamberger Railroad hosted over 50 Jewett- and Niles-built interurban cars and trailers between 1910 and 1916. The trailers were exclusively for Lagoon traffic and sat 80 people within, while the motors were all "composite" combination cars (Baggage-Smoker-Coach). Like the Salt Lake & Utah cars, all were primarily single ended but possessed a second cab and trolley pole for yard movements and wye-ing rolling stock at the end of the line. The Jewett-built cars were handsome wooden interurbans painted Pullman Green, while the Niles cars were all steel, and this would cause the roster some struggle when the Ogden carhouse burned in 1918 and decimated the wooden fleet. After a period of renumbering and rebuilding, many of the Niles trailers gained motors and what remained of the Jewett motor cars were rebuilt as one-manned, single-ended cars.

Bamberger Railroad 550 (ex-San Diego Electric Railway) on
a chilly freight run, year unknown.
(Utah State Historical Society)

One aspect not touched on on Tuesday was how the Bamberger got power to their trolley cars, and the simple answer was they used two wires on the single-track main, one "East" wire for Northbound trains and one "West" wire for Southbound trains. This was done to avoid using diverging overhead frogs (which a motorman would have to coast through or else they'd risk arcing across) and allow the power stations to provide adequate power without dropping due to the multiple trains on the line. This meant the Bamberger's 4 second-hand Baldwin-Westinghouse freight engines had two trolley poles installed to help balance power supply to the motors, something not usually seen on other equivalent interurban lines. These, and the Bamberger's other electric freight engines, were scrapped by 1952 after the railroad dieselized; however, during the transition period and just after, even the diesels were fitted with trolley poles to trigger signals and grade crossings.

An HO representation of Bamberger's first diesel, ALCO RS-1 No. 570.
The unique hood was caused by an EMD rebuild in 1951.
(Model by Gordon Cardall, currently owned by Josh B.)

Bamberger (Ex FJ&G) 128 in Salt Lake City,
showing off its prominent streamlined brow
(Don Ross)

Now, onto the good part. The J.G. Brill company of Philadelphia, PA, remains one of the most enterprising and innovative car companies to ever supply the US with rapid transit trolley cars. They are credited with the popular Birney Safety Car, which was created by their subsidiary American Car Co, as well as providing trolley cars and carbodies all over the world from Portugal to South Australia. Brill was also one to innovate, as they moved on to compete with the new PCC by creating the "Brilliner" (which was too square to navigate tight corners), the "Peter Witt car" (which was popular in Canada and Europe) and their many trolley bus designs that displaced many existing street railways. One of Brill's most striking designs, though, was dubbed the Brill "Bullet", and nothing else was like it on the rails.

An original Brill advertisement for the Bullets,
this one for the Philadelphia & Western Railroad.
(Philadelphia NRHS)

Unlike the curvy streamlined style of the PCC cars, the Brill Bullet was the first American railroad car designed in a wind tunnel. Thanks to a broad research program conducted by the Philadelphia and Western Railway, it was concluded that a faster, more streamlined, and lowered car could save on energy without needing bigger traction motors. The Bullets  used the new Brill 89-E trucks, which rode on 28" wheels connected to 100-hp traction motors, and the low profile enabled the car to hit a maximum speed of 91 miles per hour, with the service speed being about 70 miles per hour. The design drew from the Cincinnati and Lake Erie's "Red Devil" high speed cars, to which the Brill 89-E trucks were derived from, as well as the Bullets' air-smoothed aircraft aluminum body. The car was displayed at the American Electric Railway Association in Atlantic City, NJ, in September, 1931.

The Bamberger's own Bullets originated on the Fonda, Johnstown, and Gloversville (FJ&G) Railroad, a 36-mile interurban running between Schenectady, Fonda, and Mountain Lake, New York. By the Bullets' debut in 1932, the line had rebuilt much of its infrastructure with new track, wires, and automatic substations, but needed to generate more profit due to drastic fare cuts and layoffs. Bullet 125 was the first of five (125-129) to reach Schenectady on a trial run, attracting thousands of viewers as it slashed the journey between Gloversville and Amsterdam Junction (a distance of 14 miles) from 93 minutes to 73 minutes. Despite advertising a journey time of 60 minutes, the public didn't care, and the profound efficiency of the cars helped save the FJ&G a ton of money. However, it wasn't enough as the FJ&G closed its electric division in 1938 after severe losses.

Bullet No. 129 at Ogden with Jewett 302, showing just how
small and low to the ground the sporty Bullets were.
(John Smatlak)

The Bullets operated admirably, like any other interurban with its share of accidents, but it was time for them to move on. In late February 1939, all five of FJ&G's bullets were headed for Salt Lake City. After some minor modifications to get them to run on 750V DC (a modern voltage now but unheard of for interurbans), the cars entered service that April with their original schemes and numbers intact. Utahns called them "Little Cars", as they were quite short (needing a pedestal for their trolley poles) and stubby compared to the Jewetts and Niles cars, and were well-liked for their smoothness and speed. The flat terrain between Ogden and Salt Lake City helped the Bullets reach high speeds effortlessly, as noted Bamberger motorman Gordon Cardall experienced when he took a 1949 fan trip aboard car 128 from Salt Lake City to Ogden in 38 minutes. This meant the 128 was hustling at an average speed of 56 miles per hour, despite "street running [...] two stops to meet opposing trains, and a dewirement in route which required a stop to replace the pole and inspect the overhead for damage." (John Smatlak)

Bullet 125 departs Ogden with two heavyweight cars behind it, 1950.
Note the higher pole base to raise it the same level as the bigger interurbans.
(John Smatlak)

Only one incident affected the high-speed cars during service on the Bamberger. Bullet 129 had the first train out of Ogden in the winter of late 1943 and was going down a 1.1% grade at service speed. Due to the intense speed, the car overshot its siding meet expecting a northbound train at Clearfield station and collided with heavyweight car 301. 129 had almost stopped by the time it reached 301, but sustained heavy damage, including the entire front platform collapsing. Thankfully, nobody was hurt, but 129 continued with a perpetually-sagging end after rebuilding. When the Bamberger Railroad ended passenger service in 1952, all five operating Bullets were sold to the Utah Pickle Company for use as bunkhouses in 1953. They were rebuilt with stoves and living quarters inside and continued to keep each other company in Layton, Utah until 1971.

The OERM crew out at Layton, Utah in 1971, ready to remove
No. 127 for transport to Perris. Motorman Gordon Cardall
is in front of the headlight hole.
(John Smatlak)

Bamberger No. 127 in its new home at the OERM's Barn 2,
with shedmate Pacific Electric 331.
(Bob Vogel)

In August 1971, the Utah Pickle Company reached an agreement with the Perris, California-based Orange Empire Railway Museum (now the Southern California Railway Museum) to have car No. 127 donated to the museum after several inspection visits in the 1960's. Gordon Cardall, now retired, was on-hand to watch the removal along with OERM volunteer and member John Smatlak. The 19 years of bunkhouse use left the car "almost entirely intact" according to Smatlak, and former Bamberger mechanical superintendent V.J. Crossley was contacted to obtain drawings for the brake and wiring prints. No. 127 sat in storage for the next two decades as sit was prepared for mechanical restoration. By August 12, 1995, the 127 sat on newly-kitbashed "Brill 89E3" trucks built from existing 89E1 and 89E2 trucks from SEPTA (which necessitated regauging and addition of traction motors). Today, No. 127 has been freshly repainted back to its original FG&J colors, but maintains its heritage as the Bamberger Bullet. Only time will tell if it can ever run again. 

The other four bullets would find new homes around Utah as well, being purchased in 1972 by real estate developer Wally Wright for the "Trolley Square Shopping Mall", which was located in the original Utah Light & Railway Carbarns. Car 128 was modified for use as a sporting goods outlet, while 125 was shortened and used as the "Corn Dog" trolley. 125 affectionately became known as the "Bullet Birney" due to the single archbar truck it sat on. 128 later left Trolley Square for a gas station called "Trolley Station", while 125 was cut up under new ownership in 1986. Car 128 was later rebuilt again as the Art City Trolley Restaurant in Springville, 50 miles south of Salt Lake City in former Salt Lake & Utah territory, where it remains today. 

Ex-Bamberger No. 128 in its new guise as the Art City Trolley.
(Google Maps)

Ex-Bamberger No. 126 in storage at the Ogden Defense Depot
(Gino DiCarlo)  

The other two cars, 126 and 129, were in storage in Salt Lake City in preparation for Wally Wright's next project, but 126 was eventually bought by traction enthusiast Heinz Bruhl in 1978. The car was moved to his home in Ogden in June and repainted back into Bamberger colors at his autobody shop. After 10 years on display in his driveway, the Ogden Union Station Museum purchased the Bullet in 1988 and, while waiting for room in their main facility, currently remains displayed at the Ogden Defense Depot along with two former Saltair open cars. Car 129 has sadly since vanished some time in the 1980s.

The last surviving piece of the Bamberger worth mentioning is also the oldest. Trailer No. 403 was originally built by Jewett in 1910 as the second of that number and motored in 1929 as number 302. It was eventually sold to the Sons of Utah Pioneers and displayed at Pioneer Village in Salt Lake City until being moved to Corinne, UT, then the Heber Valley Railroad in 1994. The Creeper restored it back to its original Bamberger appearance in 1994, then sold it to the Black Hills Central Railroad in South Dakota for their "1880 Train" in 2012. Here, the car received extensive rehabilitation from Gomaco and is now in service as of 2016. So long as one Bamberger car still runs, so too will Simon Bamberger's electric railway never perish.

Ex-Bamberger 403, now Black Hills Central 403, "Battle Creek", in service in South Dakota

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Thank you for reading today's Trolley Thursday coverage (in a roundabout way) of the Bamberger Railroad's passenger stock! I couldn't have done it without my Utah expert, Josh B, along with OERM Member John Smatlak's photos and articles and the photo collections and recollections of motorman Gordon Cardall. If you would like to donate to the Bamberger 127's eventual operation, click here and earmark your donation for the car. If you want to ride on a real Bamberger car, follow the Black Hills Central's website here. Next week, we look at the eye-catching Kennecott Railroad operations before closing the month with a discussion of Utah's smaller electric railroads. Until then, you can follow myself or my editor on twitter if you wanna support us, and maybe buy a shirt as well! Ride safe!

Trolley Tuesday 5/19/20 - The Bamberger Railroad

For today's Trolley Tuesday, the line between politics and industry will be blurred as this railroad's namesake is just as important as his railroad. His legacy can be felt today around Utah, whether you're screaming with delight riding the Roller Coaster at Lagoon Resort or visiting his quiet Victorian mansion in Salt Lake City. Governor Simon Bamberger did plenty to positively affect the quality of life in Utah, making him one of the most progressive governors in the state, far ahead of what the rest of the nation was doing, but today his name lives on through the interurban railroad that bears his name. Come along with us now as we ride aboard the Salt Lake and Ogden Railroad, better known as the Bamberger Railroad.

Trolley Thursday 5/14/20 - The Bits and Pieces of the Salt Lake & Utah

When we last left the Salt Lake and Utah Railroad, it had changed hands from being privately run by its founder and head honcho, Walter C. Orem, to another private venture from Boston using the same legal name. This second period would bring some financial fortune to the company, but not enough to prevent being sold to interests in the Eccles Sugar Company. These new owners took the drastic measure of turning the semi-profitable interurban into long-distance bus routes, which usually spells danger for a railroad, but for the SL&U, it was one of a long line of wrecks, drunkards, and poor management that turned the Orem's Red Cars into a distant memory. On today's Trolley Thursday, we remember the Salt Lake and Utah Railroad.

Trolley Tuesday 5/12/20 - The Salt Lake and Utah Railway

The Salt Lake, Garfield & Western (the Saltair) wasn't the only electric railroad serving the saltiest region on Earth (besides the internet), but it was most certainly a pleasure line over an actual railway. One of the bigger electric railways that ran alongside the Saltair was the Salt Lake & Utah Railroad (SL&U), which was planned from the start as a legitimate freight and passenger railroad. Popularly known as the "Orem", after its financiers, it would not last as long as the Saltair, but would still remain one of Utah's beloved interurbans. Join us on today's Trolley Tuesday for a look at the SL&U Trolley! (I know what you're thinking, and no.)

Trolley Thursday 5/7/20 - The Survivors of the Saltair

Saltwater is never kind to metal, as any coastal railroad or Panama-crossing Volkswagen can attest to. Salt, naturally, corrodes so it's a struggle to fight the effects of iron oxide eating away at unique and often single-examples of history. Indeed, though the Salt Lake, Garfield & Western (The "Saltair" Route) continues to operate today, much of the equipment that made them unique among other interurban roads have sadly gone the way of the dodo; if not scrapped, then they still exist out of state. On today's Trolley Thursday, let's drink a hearty toast to the Saltair and recount the fates of their surviving equipment.

...! *spits* Wait, this is salt water!

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Car 500 waits with Steeplecab 401 and an unknown second car to be scrapped
at Salt Lake Yard, as an unidentified diesel prowls behind.
(Gordon Cardall, Donstrack)

Electric traction ended on the Salt Lake, Garfield & Western (affectionately known as the "Saltair" route and serving the same-named massive entertainment pavilion's two iterations) in 1951. In 1953, most of their electric stock (four interurban cars, one Baldwin steeplecab, and some open "Suburban-Style" trailers) were sent to the American Foundry and Machine Co. of Salt Lake City to be scrapped while the Saltair retained two former interurban cars as diesel-hauled trailers.

Car 502 heads a train outbound to the Saltair, with an open
trailer sandwiched inbetween, year unknown
(Donstrack)

Cars 501 and 502, both originally built by the McGuire-Cummings Car Company in 1918, were originally part of an order of six steel interurban cars built for Saltair service between the resort and Salt Lake City. They ran on 1500V DC voltage, from an overhead wire, feeding four traction motors per car that gave it enough oomph to reach 45 miles per hour and haul a sufficient number of boxcars in freight service. Their 56-foot length was also nothing to scoff at, ferrying hoards of Mormon tourists to and from the salty shores in sublime fashion. Sadly, those days had ended in ignominy as the Saltair Railroad found it hard to justify keeping a fleet of passenger electrics with no passengers to serve.

Following the SLGW purchasing two diesels in December 1951 (both GE 44 tonners, originally New York, Ontario & Western), Cars 501 and 502 were selected for rebuilding and were stripped of their electrical equipment. In their places, the cars gained a new flat-arched roof and began working alongside their open trailers in diesel-hauled mixed trains, giving them another lease on life that cars 500, 503, 504 and 505 never got. Passenger service continued after the second generation "Saltair II" closed in 1958, delivering workers to the Morton Salt plant until May 20, 1961, when cars 503 and open trailers 305 and 306 were reunited and hauled once more by 44-tonner DS-1 as a "farewell" fan trip.

The last Saltair passenger run, May 20, 1961.
(Gordon Cardall, Donstrack)

After this, all non-freight Saltair stock went into storage. The railroad itself was sold to to the Hogle family from the incumbent Ashby Snow family, and much of its infrastructure and land was sold back to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. This land was developed into the Salt Lake International Center, a consortium of warehouses served by the Union Pacific, Western Pacific, and eventually the Saltair after the latter's tracks were moved closer in 1977. By 1981, the railroad saw big profits thanks to being used as a coal-hauler for the Utah Power & Light Company's Gadsby plant. Today, the Saltair Railroad is still owned by the Hogle Group and operated alongside the Union Pacific.

Saltair 502 and 501 (respectively) at their original display
 plinth, year unknown.
(Clint Thomsen's grandmother)

As for the former electric stock, cars 501 and 502 were sold to Hoskins Helicopter Service in the mid-1980s. (What a helicopter service was doing with two interurbans, history doesn't know either). Ian Morehouse was next to purchase the cars, as he owned the land the Saltair II formerly sat on as well as the Saltair III, and desired to put the cars on display in their old stomping grounds near an old substation, for people to enjoy. Unfortunately, the close proximity to salt water meant 501 and 502 began deteriorating quickly, so 501 was moved closer to Saltair III. This didn't help matters as rowdy concertgoers exiting Saltair III on late nights would vandalize the car and, in one instance, set fire to it. By 2006, Morehouse felt pity on the destroyed car but nobody wanted to claim it, so 501 was scrapped on-site in October that year.

Saltair 502 near the end of her life, burned, battered, and busted.
(Viv Smith)

Car 502 prepares to meet its maker, February 2012.
(Clint Thomsen)

As for the 502, vandalism and corrosion had set in and both the car and its substation were in serious neglect. The only saving grace in these intolerable years was its popularity as a wedding photo venue, but vandals and arsonists again desiccated the car's wooden internals, leaving behind a skeletal metal body. Morehouse again, along with friend and fellow preservationist Clint Thomsen, wanted to save the 502 but, like with 501, no preservation groups had the money or space to take them, not even the trucks. In February 2012, both Morehouse and Thomsen watched the salvage crews load the 502 onto a flatbed truck as it was taken to a salvage yard, at the behest of Salt Lake County's plan to clean the area, for scrapping. The substation would be demolished the following month.

SLGW Open Car No. 306 at her new home in Portola, CA,
showing off her characteristic easy-boarding outdoor steps.
Hello Dolly, anyone?
(Western Railroad Museum)

Meanwhile, four of the SLGW's homebuilt "suburban-style" (or "Narragansett-style" for you Disneyphiles and railfans) would find new homes outside of the scrapheap. Two of them were donated to the Sons of Utah Pioneers and placed on display, first at Corrine, UT, then at the Heber Valley Railroad (popularly named the Heber Creeper). One of the cars met its untimely end in 2009, when an arsonist destroyed it. (It seems fire would follow this defunct interurban quite frequently.) The other Heber display, car 306, would be sold in 1993 to the Western Railway Museum in Portola, CA, where it remains in an unrestored and deteriorating state.

The other two would be donated to the Utah Railroad Museum in Ogden, UT, located at their Business Depot. Like the 306, both are still in derelict condition with warping wooden planks and peeling paint. The Golden Spike Chapter of the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society plans on moving the cars to their main site at Ogden Union Station, but currently a donation of $20-30,000 is needed for such a monster move. Only time will now tell if the cars can be moved before another arsonist gets to them.

A contemporary (2017) Google Maps overhead of the Ogden Business Depot, showing the two
other remaining Saltair open cars with a Bamberger "Bullet" body in-between.
(Preserved Traction)

Saltair M.C. 3 poses like it's an official company photograph,
1959.
(Dave England, Donstrack)

The final piece of SLGW stock for discussion today is also the only piece of running passenger stock owned by the Saltair. Designated "Motor Car No. 3", or "M.C.3", this little gas "doodlebug" railcar was originally built by the American Car & Foundry in 1935 for the
Seaboard Air Line Railroad. It was in service as number 2026 until being sold to the Aberdeen and Rockfish as their number 106. The SLGW would purchase the car third-hand in 1951 following their 44-tonners and used it to supplement passenger runs from Salt Lake City to the Morton Salt Plant.

Once all passenger service ended, the eye-catching shovelnose car was sold once more to the California Western Railroad in Fort Bragg and Willits, California. It was renumbered M-300, rebuilt as a full-passenger car, and continues to see regular use alongside "Skunk Train" car M-100, replacing the former M-200 that was since sold to the Niles Canyon Railway. Over 100 years after the end of the Saltair, it still continues its proud heritage as a tourist hauler in some small way.

California Western M-300 (left) and M-100 (right), living up to the "Skunk Train" nickname with all
those righteous gas fumes.
(Chatzi473)

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If you would like to help donate money to save the four remaining Saltair open cars, links to the Western Railway Museum, Utah State Railroad Museum, and Heber Valley Railroad are offered here. More information about the California Western can be found on their own website, and more information can be found about the Saltair in general through UtahRails. Next week, we begin covering the Salt Lake and Utah Railroad, but until then, you can follow myself or my editor on twitter if you wanna support us, and maybe buy a shirt as well! Until next week, ride safe and stay salty!