Trolley Trivia Tuesday - Enter for a chance to win!

Trolley Trivia Tuesday

Enter for a chance to win! Click the link below to complete a short trivia quiz. Good luck! (No purchase necessary.)

Contest closes on Friday, May 1 at 11:59PM EST.

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Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) 5954

Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) 5954

BVG 5954 on display in Street Car Hall.

The city of Berlin unified several street railway companies in 1920 to form Berliner Strassenbahn. To replace the many different tram types inherited from these firms, Berliner Strassenbahn hired Peter Behrens to design a standard two-axle car. The five hundred T24 type motor cars numbered 5701 to 6200 and five hundred B24 trailers numbered 1 to 500 featured steel bodies with truck-less construction and could carry sixty-four passengers (only twenty-four in seats). The Company split the large order among thirteen German builders for delivery between 1924 and 1926.

Berliner Strassenbahn became Berliner Strassenbahn Betriebs GmbH in 1923 which the city combined with bus and subway operations to form Berliner Verkehrs Aktiengesellschaft (BVG) in 1929. A cream color replaced the white and yellow tram fleet livery in 1934. Another name change in 1938 created Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe which kept the initials BVG. The post-war division of Berlin created two operating entities using the same name. In 1967 BVG accomplished a 1954 decision to end tram service in West Berlin.

Stadtwerke Karlsruhe-Verkehrsbetribe (VBK) acquired BVG 5954 and BVG 5964 to serve the Federal Garden Show of 1967 with "Old-Timer" trams from other cities. For this special operation along a one-kilometer route from Castle Park to City Park, VBK 5954 received blue-gray paint with cream scrolls on its lower body panels, crepe paper flowers along the ceiling, and striped-canvas window curtains. VBK 5964 received similar treatment with mint green paint and eventually went to a museum in Hannover, Germany.

The Museum purchased and moved VBK 5954 to Northwest Branch Park during the Spring of 1969. Restoration as BVG 5954 followed and this tram is on display in Street Car Hall in its cream-colored livery (color scheme).

Sister car BVG 5964 is located at the Hannover Tramway Museum in Sehnde, Germany. Fast forward to 4:02 to see the car in operation; this video features several minutes of an excursion on the car.

Classic Rack Cards

Check out this rack card recently discovered during a reorganization effort at the museum. We found over two dozen of these cards.

We'll send one of these cards to five interested persons free of charge. Just shoot us a message via Facebook or email.

Capital Traction Company 522

Capital Traction Company No. 522

Capital Traction Company No. 522 outside of Street Car Hall in October, 2019.

One of Washington's most spectacular fires occurred on September 29, 1897 when the Capital Traction Company (CTCo) powerhouse burned to the ground. The loss of this plant brought the Company's cable operations to a halt. CTCo immediately converted its cable cars for horse car operation and service resumed the next day. With the loss of the cable system, the Company proceeded to electrify its routes and to order cars for this service. A month after the fire, the Company directors approved an order of seventy cars from the American Car Company of St. Louis, Missouri, which included what eventually would become CTCo 522.
 

As specified in the order, American applied exterior paint schemes and assigned roster numbers based upon the routes the cars would serve. As originally constructed, the car was painted green and cream, numbered and lettered as CTCo 222 and assigned to the Pennsylvania Avenue route. The cars in this order pulled open and closed trailers which were also numbered in a similar manner. Thus CTCo motor 222 was used in service with companion trailer 222.

Two events in the early 1900s changed the appearance of CTCo 222. An order of the District of Columbia Electric Railway Commission altered the classic lines of the car by requiring enclosed platforms. CTCo installed "portable vestibules" to fulfill the requirement by January 31, 1905. In 1906, CTCo stopped lettering the exterior of its cars for specific routes and renumbered its single truck cars and trailers. CTCo 222 became CTCo 522 and continued to serve on the Pennsylvania Avenue route. In 1912, The District of Columbia Public Utilities Commission issued an order requiring a conductor on each car. As a result, CTCo withdrew all single truck passenger equipment from service on January 31, 1913. CTCo sold a large number of these surplus cars in the next few years, but retained 522 in storage. As also with sister CTCo 303, the arrival of the PCC cars in Washington in 1937 secured the future of CTCo 522, albeit for a different reason.

The sound-dampening feature of PCC wheel design corrugated the rail surface where the cars made frequent stops. To counter this problem, Capital Transit converted CTCo 522 to a rail grinder and renumbered it 0522. (All work cars were numbered with the numeral "0" as a prefix.) Replacing its Lord Baltimore truck with a modified Brill 21E allowed the body and grinding equipment to shift when it was necessary to work on curved sections of rail. Addition of a trolley pole, Golden Glow headlights, and red marker lamps enabled the car to travel system wide at night. Finally, bright orange paint replaced the traditional CTCo green and cream.

Section of original wood removed from the car during restoration. In addition to the lettering, you can see multiple different colors of paint, reflecting the different paint schemes the car wore. Private collection.

DC Transit, successor to Capital Transit, retained the car on its roster as DCTS 0522, and donated the car to NCTM in 1962. In the early 1970s, members of the Museum began a partial restoration of the car body by stripping paint and removing the rail grinder equipment. The car was rewired for service and was stored on display in Street Car Hall in an unfinished, but operable condition. Restoration began in earnest in 2014 when the car was totally dismantled and some disintegrating wood parts were fabricated on site. By the summer of 2016 the body of the car had been re-assembled and painted in its initial livery. Once the interior is restored this car will operate as CTCo 522; until then, it is on display in Street Car Hall.

Car 522 during restoration. Much of the wood was in poor condition, requiring removal and replacement.

Counting Fares with a Fare Register

Did you know a Conductor is always counting?

The Conductor is always helping the passengers get into the street car safely and collecting fares from almost everyone except babies. Each time the Conductor collects a fare, he or she pulls a lever on the fare register for each fare received.

At the end of  his or her shift, the Conductor must figure out how many fares were collected during the shift. This exercise shows information for five Conductors - can you figure out how many passengers each one met?

https://trolleytimeblog.dctrolley.org/CountingWithFareRegister.pdf

And, if you want to see a Conductor who gets mixed up, visit our Museum and watch Harold Lloyd try to get on a street car with a live turkey without his fare . . . .

Make a Street Car Conductor's Hat

Here's a New Trolley Activity-

Head over to the Trolley Museum website and see the new children's activity "Make a Street Car Conductor's Hat"

You will need to print out the pattern, then cut out two pieces for the hat and staple them together. You will also need two pieces of string or yarn.

Little kids will need help from older ones or an adult.

Have fun!!

Special Edition: The Hagerstown and Frederick Railway - The Heart of Maryland Route

Car 160 climbs Catoctin Mountain between Middletown and  Braddock Heights while railfans set up their cameras. Photographer unknown – Hampton Collection of the H&FRHS

A special thank you goes out to the Hagerstown and Frederick Railway Historical Society, particularly Reuben Moss and Alex Postpischil, for contributing this article and the accompanying photos. To learn more about the Hagerstown and Frederick, or the H&F Historical Society, visit hfrhs.org.

For nearly 60 years, central Maryland was served by a rather interesting interurban railway that is best remembered as the Hagerstown and Frederick Railway.  As expected, this system provided city streetcars to its namesake cities. However, the majority of business on the H&F involved interurban connections to nearly two dozen other communities in the region -  providing both passenger and freight services.  Some have gone as far as calling a trip on the H&F one of if not the most scenic interurban trolley rides in the country.  This system was an 87 ½ mile network straddling the Middletown Valley consisting of five branch lines through rolling farmland and woods and a connecting route which could barely be considered a mainline but offered scenic mountaintop vistas at several points along the line.  While the company often tried to operate as if it were as large a system as those in Baltimore or the District of Columbia before ultimately finding success in other ventures, the H&F’s railway operation itself looked and at times even survived as if it were a rustic tourist operation until the end.

While trolley service began in both cities during 1896, their construction and initial goals were wholly independent of the other.  Hagerstown was the first to carry passengers beginning regular service on August 8 with the route to the nearby C&O Canal town of Williamsport and the majority of city service routes operating by the first week of September. The Hagerstown Railway Company was designed by founders Christian Lynch and William Jennings with traditional passenger service as a primary focus and once in place they quickly began creating subsidiary companies to allow for expansion; one north to meet with another interurban system in Pennsylvania and one east to the town of Boonsboro at the foot of the mountain.  Along the way the Boonsboro route passed through the town of Funkstown where a privately owned amusement park became an easy destination to advertise.

Frederick & Middletown #11, one of the original cars purchased for that line, crosses a trestle while climbing toward Braddock Heights around 1900. - A.S. McDannel Photographer - H&FRHS Collection.

In Frederick County service began at the end of August, and the Frederick & Middletown Railway had constructed enough of its route to provide 15,000 passengers a ride to the county agricultural fair the following month.  That same year the investors and directors of the company lead by George William Smith also founded a mountaintop resort community named Braddock Heights as a way to attract passengers from Frederick and beyond.  This community would consist primarily of large resort style rental houses and hotels along with a company-owned amusement park accessible by trolley.  A view of both Frederick and Middletown from a three story observation tower was often an advertised highlight while various other attractions and rides drew crowds for decades to follow.

Passenger service was recognized as essential to the Frederick & Middletown Railway yet, unlike Hagerstown where city investors had desired the arrival of city streetcars, the Frederick County company had actually been formed through the efforts of the residents of the smaller community of Middletown rather than receiving investment from anyone of note in Frederick City.  These farmers and businessmen had long desired a railroad connection for freight service to their modest industries, farms, and stores.  At the time, the only way for goods to travel to and from this community was the heavily used and severely worn Baltimore National Pike (Old Rt. 40) which in bad weather was nearly impassible across Catoctin Mountain.  Once service began, a trip to Frederick which had taken as much as 8 hours by loaded wagon could be undertaken in half an hour carrying many times more freight in the process.  Those in the valley readily took advantages of the provided benefits and only a year after trolley service began the company was reporting freight revenues far exceeding their original projections.

Following a series of mergers, including the absorption of a steam railway north from Frederick to Thurmont, the two systems merged in 1913.  They had begun a connecting trolley service a decade earlier when the Hagerstown system built over the mountain in 1904 and connected with the Frederick route at Myersville, MD.  The newly formed Hagerstown & Frederick Railway was entirely single-track standard gauge with passing tracks and sidings, and offered a freight connection to every community it served as well as regular passenger service.  After the merger there was to be no further expansion of the H&F network as the company began focusing on expanding its utility presence through the purchase of power companies in the region.  Two other trolley lines were however purchased and operated – the Cumberland Electric Railway and the Chambersburg, Greencastle & Waynesboro Street Railway in Pennsylvania which the Hagerstown system had long exchanged passengers with but could not share equipment with due to the CG&W being a wider gauge rail.

While some freight motors and passenger-only coaches were operated, the majority of the H&F fleet consisted of “semi-convertable combines” of various makes and models – all very similar but none exactly the same.  These somewhat larger trolleys with tall, fully collapsible windows and baggage doors on one end allowed the system to collect mail, packages and minor freight loads along with passengers on almost every scheduled stop.  Produce and milk were regular passengers on trips to Frederick or Hagerstown while furniture and packages were often carried back out of the city for delivery to houses along the line.  The newest of these combines was #172 built by J.G. Brill in 1921.

The early 1920s proved to be the peak years of service for the H&F.  For a brief time the company sold more fares in a year than both of the streetcar systems in Baltimore.  While the various branch lines attracted travelers for shopping trips and commuters from the country traveling to work and school in the city, there were an abundance of fares to the company’s Braddock Heights Park, Electric Park in Funkstown, both the Hagerstown Fair and Frederick Fair, as well as joint round-trip tickets with the CG&W and Western Maryland Railway for trips to the latter company’s nearby Pen-Mar Park.  These summer trips were made even more attractive by the fleet of open-air bench cars kept in service into the mid 20’s.  Tourism had always been part of the H&F marketing strategy with the “Heart of Maryland” slogan dating back to the time of the Frederick Railroad around 1911 and remaining in use into the 1940s.  One timetable even promoted that the company provided “Trolleys through the Alps of Maryland” to emphasize the view from the mountain-crossing trolleys.

A selection of cars outside the Frederick Carbarn in 1940, including coach #48 acquired from Cumberland and the most modern passenger car in service, typical combine #170, older wooden combine #164 and former CG&W work car #15 relocated to Frederick when that line was closed in 1932. At the time of this photo these four cars ranged 

between 14 and 30 years old. - Photographer Unknown, H&FRHS Collection.

With mergers and purchases of other companies in the teens and early 20’s came a shift of focus within the Hagerstown and Frederick Railway.  Despite the spike in passengers this change contributed to the lack of further expansion and investment in the rail system.  Even before the merger with Hagerstown, Frederick Railroad President Emory Coblentz began developing the company into a power system extending into neighboring states.  The success of this redirection prompted a name change in 1922 to The Potomac Public Service Company and again in 1923 to The Potomac Edison Company. 

Employee pass. Note the "Operated by the P.E. Co." subscript at the top. Private collection.

Potomac Edison Company (not to be confused with the Capitol area’s Potomac Electric Power Co - PEPCO) kept operating the Hagerstown & Frederick Railway although like other similar companies in neighboring regions it found itself now operating under the umbrella of the American Waterworks & Electric Company for the remainder of its railway days and beyond.  Contemporary to the company’s identity change P.E. Co. also began operating parallel and long distance bus services in the 1920s under the names of White Star Bus Line, Blue Ridge Bus Line and others.  Blue Ridge Bus Company would later be sold to form the eastern US framework for Greyhound.

Eventually, city streetcars in Hagerstown were replaced with buses in 1929 and systematically the company followed suit with several of the branch lines through the 1930s.  The main line between the cities was severed in 1938 to allow for the construction of a realignment of Rt. 40 and was soon replaced by the quicker bus service allowed by that new road.  For much of the 1940’s the H&F consisted of its pre-1904 routes now accompanied by the more profitable Thurmont line. 

The archetypal interurban for much of the H&F’s operation, #171 is seen here crossing Sandy Run north of Lewistown, MD in the early 1950’s. - Photographer unknown, HFRHS collection.

Throughout the next decade and a half groups such as the National Railway Historical Society and Electric Railroaders’ Association began chartering frequent trips on the line utilizing the now antiquated combines and freight motors.  While other area systems had upgraded to the streamlined PCC cars or shut down entirely, the H&F still looked and operated much the same as it had during its heyday giving it an attractive draw to the rail and interurban history enthusiasts who knew its time was limited.  It is primarily because of these trips that so many quality photographs and films survive of the H&F locations and fleet.

Service grew slightly during World War II, the greatest growth this time being freight due to the presence of both Fort Detrick along the Thurmont route and the Army Scrap Metal Salvage facility on the outskirts of Frederick along the Middletown route.  Wartime freight bound to and from either site could be brought to Thurmont by the Western Maryland Railway and transported by H&F freight motor.  The increase in freight – especially scrap metal – prompted the purchase of several second hand motors including two steeplecab road switchers, an express motor from the Washington & Old Dominion Railway in Virginia and a massive 52 foot freight motor from Capital Transit, the longest trolley ever used on the H&F.  Thurmont residents would later recount tales of German tanks and planes salvaged from European battlefields piled in freight cars awaiting an H&F freight motor to take them away to the scrap yard.

Steeplecab 10 leads a train of sorted scrap past the B&O Railroad's Frederick freight complex along Carroll Street during WWII.  A 1910 boxcab provides extra power on the rear of the train. 

- Photographer unknown - Hampton/Tosh Collection of the H&FRHS

After the war automobile use and the closure of the scrap facility once again caused a sharp decline in ridership and freight and once more Potomac Edison began to downsize its rail operations.  The last trolley left Hagerstown for Williamsport on August 4, 1947, and the last passenger trip to leave Frederick would be a Thurmont round trip on a rainy February 20 only 7 years later in 1954.  In both cases the official last car was Combine #172 and on both days the same bus would be the first to travel the replacement route.  Freight service continued on the ever shrinking line for several more years, switching from electric freight motors to diesel in 1955 and finally selling the last Frederick sidings to the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1961.  Potomac Edison continued serving as the area power utility however and today the electrical networks begun as the Frederick & Middletown Railway and Hagerstown Railway survive as a part of the First Energy family. 

Only four cars from the H&F survive but none are in operating condition.  The Hagerstown & Frederick Railway Historical Society was formed in 1999 to preserve the history of this important Maryland interurban system.  To learn more about the H&F and its surviving cars or to follow an interactive map of the route visit the Society’s website at www.HFRHS.org.

Written by Reuben Moss, Vice-President & Curator of the H&FRHS.  Edited by Alex Postpischil.

Sources: “Blue Ridge Trolley” by Herbert H. Harwood Jr. LOC#73-97231 as well as resources from the H&FRHS and NRHS archives.

Home built Freight Motor #5 was the last of the surviving cars to turn 100. Constructed in 1920 in Frederick, it is seen here in 1927 with a string of freight cars in Middletown. While this unit could pull this many cars on the Thurmont branch it was normally limited to one car over the mountain due to steep grades. 

- Howard E. Johnston Photo - Hampton/Tosh Collection of the H&FRHS

Tracks - Story Time and 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. (Or click this link if it fails to load: https://youtu.be/84hyCYldCdg

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 Tracks

Written by David Galef

Illustrated by Tedd Arnold

There was a very crazy train ride in my story.  Do you remember what caused it?

Activity Option 1:  Draw a picture of an amusement park. Include all of your favorite rides. Write a list of your favorite rides and describe how you would feel on those rides. Use at least two descriptive words telling abut each ride.

Activity Option 2:  Create your own amusement park. Draw a picture of it. Give your park a name and label the rides. Create a brochure describing the park that could be used to attract customers.

Artifact Showcase: The Washington and Old Dominion Railroad

A Brief History of the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad

An original four inch section of rail from the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad - this rail is approximately 147 years old and weighs almost seven pounds. More information is included at the bottom of this page. Private collection.

The Washington and Old Dominion Railway (W&OD) was an electric interurban railroad, created in 1911 by John McLean and Stephen Benton Elkins, that linked Washington DC with Virginia. After the railroad was formed, and following an agreement with the Southern Railway, the new Washington and Old Dominion began operating the Southern Railway's Bluemont Branch in 1912.

Over the next four years, the W&OD electrified all of their trackage to change the company to an electric interurban railroad, similar to that of the Washington Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railroad in Maryland.

The Great Depression brought about difficult times for the railroad, and in 1932 the W&OD declared bankruptcy. 

In 1936, a new corporation was formed, the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad (different from the Washington and Old Dominion Railway.) The W&OD began the process of removing the electric lines originally installed by their predecessor company, and converted operations to conventional diesel locomotive-hauled trains. Passenger service continued until 1951. 

The W&OD continued operating through the early 1960s, albeit barely. The company became entangled in numerous attempts to purchase different sections of the railroad as different parties fought for their own respective positions. In 1967, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad (which had purchase the W&OD several years before) received permission from the Interstate Commerce Commission to abandon the railroad. In late August, 1968, the last train ran on the W&OD; by 1969, virtually all of the track had been torn up and scrapped. 

Several remnants of the W&OD survive today; several stations are still standing, and some of the railroad right of way has been converted into recreational trails. Surprisingly, one of the railroad's electric locomotives survives today, and as of recent, was still operating in revenue freight service - 100 years later - on the Iowa Traction Railroad in Mason City IA.

Another slice of rail from the Washington and Old Dominion, also believed to be around 147 years old. Private collection.

These two sections of rail were originally from the collection of Mr. William Barber, who was the Chief Civil Engineer at the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad. These sections are believed to have been removed from somewhere between mile post 18 and 19 on the W&OD. The lopsided shape of the section above is from wear.

Perhaps the most interesting fact about these rails is that neither were produced in the US. The rail these two pieces were cut from was manufactured in Sheffield England in 1873, and imported to the United States (we know these exact dates because Mr. Barber himself included documentation with these segments.) At the time, there were few manufacturers in the US that could produce rail, and none that could produce rail at the high standards as that being produced in England. This rail is only a few inches tall, and roughly 53 pounds per yard. By comparison, the rail on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor ranges from 130 to 180+ pounds per yard. Modern rail also has a more defined "T" shape.

As the W&OD didn't exist until about 1911, these rails were originally purchased and installed (likely around Paeonian Springs, Virginia) by a predecessor railroad in the late 1870s, possibly the Washington and Ohio Railroad. These sections of rail were cut from a siding in Paeonian Springs around February 1968 at the direction of Mr. Barber, following abandonment.

If you're interested in learning more about the W&OD, we encourage you to do some Google research - there are many good articles. There are also several excellent books available; click here to shop now. We also have an exhibit on the W&OD in the Main Hall of the museum, and we encourage you to stop by (once the virus has passed of course) if you'd like to learn about the railroad in more detail.

If reception to this article is good, we will consider placing these sections of rail on temporary display for in-person inspection and viewing. We welcome your feedback.

Stay tuned for our next artifact showcase. Let us know if there is something specific you'd like to see! Stay safe, and thanks for the support.

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