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Pennsylvania Trolley Museum Equipment and Locomotives |
Toledo Railway & Light Co. "Toledo"
wooden private car (1906) /
Washington, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Pennsylvania Trolley Museum
Pennsylvania Trolley Museum
Jul 2019 / RWH
Jul 2019 / RWH
Washington, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
West Penn Railways #1
West Penn locomotive (1915) /
Washington, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Jul 2019 / RWH
Washington, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
collection
Pennsylvania Trolley Museum #89
Washington, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Pennsylvania Trolley Museum #89
Washington, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Jul 2019 / RWH
Jul 2019 / RWH
Originally built to switch railroad freight cars at an industrial plant in Eastern Pennsylvania, diesel-electric locomotive PTM 89 is undergoing a conversion to match the 5′ 2.5″ track width used by the museum’s demonstration railway. When completed, it will service PTM as our shop switcher, to move equipment in and out of the repair and restoration shop, as a rescue locomotive should a trolley be stranded out on the line by any sort of electrical problem, and as a snowplow to clear the trackage for winter operations. Over 550 of these handy little locomotives were built by the General Electric Co. at Erie, PA between 1938 and 1970. In the course of its modifications and repairs at PTM, it has received new wheels and other drive train parts and an overhauled Cummins diesel engine.
Washington, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
"Visibility Cab"
UNCOMMON or UNUSUAL locomotive
Armco Steel Corporation #B73
Washington, Pa / Jun 2003 / RWH
Armco Steel #B73
Westinghouse Electric Corporation
ti American Rolling Mills #B73
to ARMCO Steel #B73
to Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, 1971
from The Second Diesel Spotter's Guide - Jerry Pinkepank / collection
Washington, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Jul 2019 / RWH
Washington, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Washington, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Washington, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
collection
Jul 2019 / RWH
RWH
Washington, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Jul 2019 / RWH
Jul 2019 / RWH
Washington, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Jul 2019 / RWH
Jul 2019 / RWH
Washington, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
As the name itself indicates, one visits the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum to see ... trolleys. And what a fine collection they have, including a good number of operating cars ... and of course our beloved New Orleans streetcar. But I have been and always will be a Diesel Fan, so I've always had an eye on what just might be PTM's most unusual piece of equipment: ARMCo Steel B-73. Even with her modest 400 horsepower of get up and go, she's a beast to observe. Her tall carbody and that "visibility cab" give her an impressive stance, with lines that seem more like a steam tender than a diesel locomotive. How pleased was I during a summer visit to catch B-73 on the move, under her own power, running back and forth along the museum's only stretch of standard-gauge rail. Her handler was kind enough to answer all my questions about this rare Westinghouse beauty-and-beast, and he even invited me onboard up into the holy of holies. It is a tight squeeze and a bit of a climb to enter her cab, but once inside she is all vintage. Gauges, switches, and levers everywhere you turn. Few things are automatic on this most original of powerplants. And she burbles at idle with a sound all her own. Long live the B-73, queen of the standard gauge collection.
Washington, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Washington, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Washington, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Pennsylvania Transformer Company #1311
Washington, Pa / Jun 2003 / RWH
Pennsylvania Transformer Company #1311
to Pennsylvania Transformer Company
to Pennsylvania Transformer Technology
to Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, 2000
PTM’s second diesel locomotive acquisition also reflects products of the Keystone State, and of the Pittsburgh region in particular. Between 1867 and 1950, the H.K. Porter Company built more than 7,800 locomotives at its factory in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood. Porter specialized in smaller locomotives for mines, mills and, especially during World War II, the U.S. military.
Locomotive 1311 was built for the U.S. Navy in 1942 and delivered to a facility in New Jersey, where it worked until declared surplus in 1955 and sold to a used equipment dealer. The following year, it was purchased by Pennsylvania Transformer Company in nearby Canonsburg, PA. It worked there in relative obscurity until displaced by a larger diesel about 1990, when it was placed in storage. PTM approached the successor, Pennsylvania Transformer Technology, Inc. (PTT), in 1998 and requested donation of the locomotive. PTT agreed, and not only gave 1311 to PTM but also allowed us to keep it at their plant while PTM volunteers repaired and repainted it. Transportation to the Museum was donated by the Pittsburgh & Ohio Central Railroad in May 2002.
Locomotive 1311 weighs 43 tons and is powered by twin 150hp Cummins Diesel engines. Each engine drives a Westinghouse Electric generator, which in turn powers an electric motor in one of the trucks. As designed for slow switching service, 1311 is powerful for its size but is limited to a top speed of 20mph. It remains functional at PTM and, like B73, is occasionally operated for special events and to shift our storage boxcars when required.
Washington, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Jul 2019 / RWH
Arden Electric Railway #2
Brill work car (1923) / Washington, Pa / Jun 2003 / RWH
Pittsburgh Railways #M283
Differential Car Co. crane car (1929) / Washington, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Jul 2019 / RWH
Washington, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Monongahela Railway #73
International Car Co. caboose (1949) / Washington, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
