Bear on a Bike - Children's Activities

Children's Activities for Bear on a Bike - With Ms. Lipson

In case you missed story time, click on the video above.

Here are a few activities you can do after watching the video. More story time to come later this week!

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Follow Up Activities for the story Bear on a Bike

Written by Stella Blackstone
Illustrated by Debbie Harter

There were lots of different types of transportation mentioned in the story.

Can you remember what they were?

Activity Option 1:  Draw yourself riding on four of the different types of transportation that the bear used?  Write a sentence or two describing where you are going.

Activity Option 2:  Write your own verse that could be added to the book. Illustrate your text. If you want, try to use the same bright colors and style that the illustrator used.

Example – Bear on a scooter,

As happy as can be,

Where are you going, bear?

Please wait for me!

I am going to the playground,

Where children skip and run,

Where kids can climb and slide and swing 

And frolic in the bright sun.

Story Time with Ms. Lipson - Bear on a Bike

Story Time with Ms. Lipson - Bear on a Bike

Click Here to View

Third Avenue Railway System 678

Third Avenue Railway System No. 678 with Matt Nawn's 1949 Plymouth. Photo by Bill Monaghan.

Third Avenue Railway System No. 678

The Third Avenue Railway Company of New York City embarked on a car building program to fulfill its service requirements rather than purchase the PCC street cars as the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Company was doing in the 1930s. Built in the Company's 65th Street shops, TARS 678 is a collection of recycled parts and new-fangled gadgets. Old eight-point K-35 controllers and newly-designed, brake pedals govern its speed. Rattan, walk-over seats contrast with aluminum window sash. And a thrashing air compressor more than compensates for quiet herringbone gears. Intended for service in the Bronx, the Company equipped TARS 678 with trolley poles and without a conduit plow.

Interior of TARS 678 after the addition of lettering in the winter of 2019. Photo by Thomas Petersen.

Following abandonment of trolley lines in the Bronx in 1948, forty cars of this class provided service for another twenty years in Vienna, Austria as Marshall Plan dollars replaced trams damaged during World War II. Wiener Stadtwerke replaced the trolley poles with a pantograph, warned passengers that the doors are pneumatically operated, installed a wood-slat floor, added turn signals, and covered the rattan seats with vinyl.

Below is a short clip of a former TARS car, nearly identical to 678, operating in Austria.

The Museum purchased TARS 678 and shipped it to the site during the Summer of 1971. The car was removed from service in 2000 for extensive restoration. TARS 678 returned to occasional service in January 2015 following a complete rebuild of the air compressor.

Shortly after the car was returned to service, it was discovered that 678's motors required complete rebuilding - an expensive, labor intensive and time consuming process. Car shop crews removed the motors and sent them to an outside contractor to perform the work.

Photo by Thomas Petersen.

Finally, in the winter of 2018, TARS 678 was returned to occasional service on the museum railway. A favorite among visitors, this car is one of the most unique in the collection.

TARS 678 as it appears today.

TARS 678 awaits passengers on a wet December day, 2019. Photo by Thomas Petersen.

We conclude by taking this opportunity to extend our sincere thanks to our AMAZING volunteers who have spent hundreds of intense, long and exhausting hours working on this car over the years. Without these dedicated individuals, there is no question that 678 would not be operating today (and certainly not look this good.)

Stay tuned for our next Trolley Time post. Stay safe!

Short History of DC Street Cars

Short History of DC Street Cars

Washington Railway and Electric Company Photograph, Leonard Rice Collection, NCTM Collections - Info in link

We begin our Trolley Time blog with a brief history of street cars in the Nation's capital. This booklet, written by Wesley Paulson & Ken Rucker in 1995, is a concise illustrated history covering  everything from the omnibus era to the very last day of street cars in 1962. Click Here to open.

Additional content, including children's activities, will be posted later this week. Again, we strongly recommend you subscribe to this blog for email updates when we post new activities.

Stay safe everyone!

Capital Transit No. 1563 on the Cabin John Line. Photo by Guy Span, and used with permission.