Trolley restored
Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum
The Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in Washington celebrated the restoration of Pittsburgh Railways streetcar No. 1138 with a ceremonial rollout of the car on Wednesday. Built in 1937, the car was one of more than 600 delivered to Pittsburgh Railways from 1936 to 1939. The car represented a quantum leap in streetcar design – it was designed to effectively compete with the automobile, which it could out-accelerate, through improvements in engineering, performance and style. Acquired by the Trolley Museum in 1961, the streetcar was cosmetically restored to its mid-1950s appearance in 2001 courtesy of Adtranz (now Alstrom) in its Elmira, N.Y., facility. Volunteers have worked to overhaul the car’s electrical system and other details to make it operational. Pictured next to the car is Bob Jordan, a volunteer.