Published by the Friends of Philadelphia Trolleys, Inc. Volume 10, Number 2 Summer 2016 ADVERTISING ON PHILLY TROLLEYS By Harry Donahue For decades, the transit industry has gained extra revenue by selling advertising space on their trolleys and buses. Today, the common practice is to wrap the entire vehicle with the client's message. Back in 1955, in order to sell a larger space on the vehicle the Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC), painted the ad on the side of a trolley or bus. The late Ernie Mozer took these photos in 1955, when he was a Woodland operator (usually on Route #13). Two cars in the PTC era had full body advertising painted on the cars: #2667, the "Zoo Car" and all electric #2128, the Safety Car. However, the picture of car #2168 is from my collection, but the author is unknown.
The Streamliner is published by the Friends of Philadelphia Trolleys, a Pennsylvania non-profit corporation. FPT FOUNDING MEMBERS: Harry Donahue, Dave Horwitz, Bill Monaghan and Matt Nawn INTERIOR WORK BEGINS ON PCC #2743 By Harry Donahue Now that the exterior of Philly PCC car #2743 has been backdated to around 1960, the work to restore the interior to its PTC-era colors was started on June 8th at Rockhill Trolley Museum. The current interior scheme is the two tone blue from the SEPTA General Overhaul program of the 1980s. The old Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC) colors of a cream ceiling and two-tone green walls will replace the blue. The blue GOH seats will be reupholstered in a rich brown, similar to the original PTC seats. Currently four sets of seats are out of the car; the seat backs have been repainted in green before the new fabric is installed. FPT needs your help to finish this project. At this time, 12 double seats are paid for. (FPT is donating the cost of the paint). However, we need help to cover the cost of the remaining seats. Please see the attached flyer for details for contributing. All donations are tax deductible. That is this writer in the picture above on the right, with John Stossel scraping the ventilator and Rob Masciantonio on the back seat. That is a close up of their handiwork below. FPT LEGAL COUNSEL: Dave Nelson, Jonathan Senker FPT ON THE WEB: FPT s new public website is: http://friendsofphiladelphiatrolleys.org. FPT has started a Yahoo Group. Check there for charter updates as well as to find The Streamliner online: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/fpt216 8/. FPT also can also be found on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/friends-of- Philadelphia-Trolleys/180655945374324. E-MAIL: FPT2799@comcast.net MAILING ADDRESS: P.O. Box 33397, Philadelphia PA 19142-0397 The Friends of Philadelphia Trolleys encourage you to visit and support trolley museums dedicated to the preservation of Philadelphia s trolley heritage, including the following: Baltimore Streetcar Museum http://www.baltimorestreeetcar.org Electric City Trolley Museum Association http://www.ectma.org New York Museum of Transportation http://www.nymtmuseum.org Pennsylvania Trolley Museum http://www.pa-trolley.org Rockhill Trolley Museum www.rockhilltrolley.org Seashore Trolley Museum http://www.trolleymuseum.org Shore Line Trolley Museum http://shorelinetrolley.org Have an article or suggestion you d like to submit for the newsletter? Contact us via the e-mail address listed above. The Streamliner Page 2.
CAREER MILESTONE FOR BILL MONAGHAN By Matt Nawn Here are a couple more pictures of #2743 s work. The one above is it being loaded after repainting at Star Trak in Boonton NJ. That appears to be Carl Merson on the far left. The next pic is one of the PTC-era newly upholstered seat back. Help us do more please donate. H e r e i s a companion to car #2743. The picture below is car #2740 at the Museum of Transportation in Saint Louis. It has been a mainstay for their operating seasons. The car originally arrived from SEPTA in the usual red, white and blue. That is the Museum s Chicago Transit Authority s elevated PCC #44. May 23, 2016 marked 30 years of service by Bill Monaghan as a SEPTA trolley operator. As many of you know, he started operating PCC cars out of Luzerne Depot and his first regular run was on Route #56. After some time at Luzerne Depot on both Routes #23 and #56, he transferred to Elmwood Depot and today his regular run is Monday through Friday, daytime, on Route #34. Along with 30 years of service with SEPTA, Bill and his wife, Lisa raised three grown children (Bill, Sean and Dorothea). Bill generously volunteers his free time to a number of trolley museums in areas of operations, special events coordination, car maintenance, organizing photo events and offering his excellent photos for advertising/promotional purposes. Bill is also a founding member of FRIENDS OF PHILADELPHIA TROLLEYS, Inc. He assists with the administration of the organization. The picture below is Bill Monaghan with fellow SEPTA operators (and PCC fans) Russell Greco and Gary Mason, taken in 1996 with car #2728. Bill, Russell and Gary are all regular operators on the subway surface lines. Back in 1995, all three also operated the PCCs on The Chestnut Hill Trolley and the Welcome Line. Both of those operations ran on sections of Route 23. Our sincere congratulations and best wishes go to you, Bill! The Streamliner Page 3.
SEPTA PCCs ELSEWHERE By Harry Donahue Bill Monaghan captured car #2785 leaving Elmwood for San Diego in 2010; it was been decided that the body is too far rusted for restoration, so it will be scrapped as a parts car. The picture below is car #2101, now MUNI's #1062, recently spotted at an Iowa truck stop head east to Brookville, Pennsylvania for another complete rebuilding after spending 20 years on San Francisco's wildly successful F Line. WANT TO HELP OUT? New volunteers are always welcome to help with restoration and maintenance projects. Here are two of our younger members helping out. Andrew Nawn is painting the seat frames in preparation for the new cushions on PCC #2743 at Rockhill Trolley Museum. Logan Tracy is touching up the drip rail on PCC #2168 at Baltimore Streetcar Museum. Both photos were taken in June 2016. At the top of the next column is 2185 that is currently operating in Kenosha Wisconsin in its SRPTA colors. This photo is by Brad Preston. The next picture is 2186 is currently in San Diego; official approval has been received for its complete restoration as car #531. It will join #529 (ex STPS/ex MUNI) and #530 (ex TCRT, ex NJT) on the San Diego Trolley's Silver Line. The Streamliner Page 4.
FATHER'S DAY CHARTER A GREAT SUCCESS Pictures by Bill Monaghan On Sunday, June 19, 2016, Friends of Philadelphia Trolleys sponsored the Father's Day Charter. This was the third Father's Day Charter since 2011. We had planned to try to cover a section of all six of the remaining trolley lines, but Routes #10 and #15 were not available. Both of these lines are currently running buses while new track is being installed on sections of both lines. The weather was perfect and the 34 passengers all appeared to have a good time. Numerous photo stops were made along Routes #11, #13, #34 and #36. The trip was also able to use the diversion routing up to 40th and Market Streets. All proceeds from this charter will go towards PTC Brill car #8042, which is out at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum. THANKS, SEAT DONORS! Our sincere thanks go to folks below, who made a donation for the restoration of car #2742 s seats. If you have not yet made a donation, consider doing it today! Larry Althoff Andy Burger Ray Cannon Fred Daddi Harry Donahue Burton Eisenberg Charles Greene Pat Hunt Bill Keigher Jack May Matt Mummert Dale Rothenberger The Streamliner Page 5.