09 - Summer 2015 Rockhill-Orbisonia Segment 2

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1 09 - Summer 2015 Rockhill-Orbisonia Segment 2 Here are some additional slides from our August 22 visit to the Rockhill Trolley Museum. Below and next page. Resplendent in red, and with a pair of trolley poles added to gather power instead of its pantograph, Rockhill's newest acquisition poses for photos. Curiously the top view pairs the LRV with two motor vehicles that when new could never have encountered such a modern piece of rolling stock. The other photo is at the passing siding along the museum's main line. The MTS logo on the sides and ends of the car stands for Metropolitan Transit System, operator of the San Diego Trolley, the light rail line that ushered in America's new era of electric traction--in One of the original 71 six-axle double-ended cars placed into service, No was built by Siemens-Duewag based on the U2 design first implemented in Frankfurt, Germany and then successfully exported to North America for Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta. Although boxy in appearance, the U2 met the requirements of the day for a tried and tested, off-the-shelf streetcar that could be acquired economically equipment that could not fail. Eleven of these cars are now operating in transit service in Mendoza, Argentina. Seeing a unit of this age and design in a trolley museum is just another indication that I am getting old.

2 Next page: The museum had Star-Trak of Boonton, N. J. help restore Philadelphia PCC 2743 to its 1959/60 appearance, when it and its brethren operated on route 23 of the Philadelphia Transportation Company. Bought new in 1947 from the St. Louis Car Company for what became the longest streetcar line in the U. S., the standee-window equipped PTC streamliner is shown signed up for short turns on the Germantown Avenue 11th and 12th Streets route, where it ran until When it arrived in Philadelphia, route 23 ran through downtown and much of South Philly on 10th and 11th Streets, and the cars' roofs were painted silver, but the later, less complicated color scheme was chosen for its restoration, the same as a similar unit running on the F line in San Francisco. When the 2743 was acquired by the museum in 1994, it was left in the red, white and blue color scheme of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and ran in Orbisonia that way for more than a decade. Next step: bring back the hand-crank windows!

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4 A view of ex-porto, Portugal car 172. The museum has two of these classic Brill-type four wheelers. This car was manufactured by the local tramway system, but Rockhill's other semi-convertible unit, No. 249, was built by Brill in Philadelphia and shipped to Porto. Incarnations of the famous "Toonerville Trolley," other cars of this type were obtained by American properties for public operation in San Francisco, Yakima and Memphis. Beautifully restored, a number of these units still operate daily on three historic streetcar lines in Porto. Next page: No. 107, one of two snow sweepers owned by the museum. This steeple-cab type unit began its life on the Chicago & Joliet Electric Railway in 1910, where it had been built. Equipped with but a single truck and rotating brooms, the 107 spent most of its career, from 1933 to 1954, clearing snow from the rails of the Scranton Transit Company.

5 Next page: In addition to one of the featured cars of the day, the museum's other operating Johnstown Traction Company car is lightweight 355, built by St. Louis Car in It is shown at the end (or start) of track at Route 994 in Rockhill, across the street from the station of the currently dormant East Broad Top narrow-gauge railroad. Because Johnstown's streetcar system with its traditional cars lasted so late (1959), many cars of this series were saved (but none of the 17 Johnstown PCCs). I've ridden all of them in their current venues, including No. 350 at Arden, 351 in San Francisco and 357 at Branford. No. 358 is the most unusual, as it is now equipped with a diesel motor and provides self-propelled rides for visitors to the Trolley Museum of New York in Kingston.

6 We left Orbisonia late in the afternoon and drove to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where we had reserved a room at a Days Inn. It was a great choice and we found the hostelry clean and comfortable, with an excellent robust complimentary breakfast.

7 By the way, below is a photo Larry Fisher took of some railfan blocking a good view of the 311.