Tomorrow morning at about 11 am former Green Line streetcar the Kentucky, will be moved out of the museum building for part of the day. The Kentucky is the last remaining complete Cincinnati, Newport and Covington broad gauge (5 ft 2 1/2 in) car on dksplay. The car is being moved outdoors for xome sort of cleaning of the space in the museum. The museum staff will only have to push it out. Car is located in the Beringer-Crawford Museum in Covington, KY. Devoe Park. Take KY Rt 8 to Ludlow from I-75 exit (first exit in KY side of River) and follow Devoe Park signs.

Weather report for tomorrow is good and sunny.

Dale Brown
Erlanger, KY.

Can't make it. I hope someone gets pictures.

I plan to be there tomorrow and take some phots.

Dale Brown

While "Kentucky" may be the last complete Cincinnati, Newport & Covington trolley on display, it is not the only one in existence.

Pennsylvania Trolley Museum has CN&C car 325, a 1911 vintage single truck, single end former passenger car. This car left CN&C in 1947 and spent the next several decades as a rail grinder on the broad gauge Market-Frankford subway/elevated line in Philadelphia. PTM obtained the car from another preservationist some years ago.

Unfortunately 325 exists as a "3 dimensional blueprint" and is not in a condition worthy of exhibition. I wouldn't describe it as "complete" either, but there's enough there to form the basis of a restoration effort.

It should also be noted tha the "Kentucky is the only complete preserved streetcar in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. There are only 2 ex Louisville horsecars that also survived intact, one on display at Louisville Union Station, and another at KRM in New Haven, tucked away in the barn.

Other than a few bodies here an there, I know of no other fully preserved streetcar in Kentucky.

In service in Philadelphia and in its 1st preservation at Trolley Valhalla in Tansboro, N.J., it was double ended. The intermediate preservationist was Wendell Dillenger on the Middletown & Hummelstown (Penna.) RR.

The Kentucky and the car at PTM are also uniquie in that they were hand-braked streetcars. While hand brakes are not necessarily unique, the single truck cars ran until about 1948 which is pretty late for hand brake only cars. They also kept their double poles until retirement, unlike the larger double truck cars owned by the Green Line. The company employed a pole tender that would raise and lower the second pole as the cars entered the bridge for Cincinnati.

I am curious if this single-trucker operated on a streetcar line on Brook Street in Louisville. I have read that this car line, in part, inspired Fontaine Fox to draw cartoons.
http://www.centerlinehobbies.com/toonerville.html

No, two different systems. The Green Line ran on the Kentucky side of Cincinnati. Cincinnati and nothern Kentucky are about 100 miles apart. The Louisville system, operating under the Louisville Railway Company name, operated a system excluively in Louisville, and was later affiliated with some interurban lines radiating from Louisville.

The other major difference in the two systems was track gauge. Louisville ran a 5' system, save for one interurban line, and the Green Line used the same 5' 2 1/2" gauge as the Cincinnati Street Railway.

The cars that probably served as Fox's inspiration for his cartoon were probably former horse cars, converted to street cars and streetcar trailers in the early years of Louville electrification. The Brook street line must have been a rather lighly traveled line, as it only went as far south as the "House of Refuge" currently the University of Louisville's main campus. In later years, the Brook Street line had single truck Birney cars built by Cincinnati Car Co. They were single ended affairs, with double stream front doors. In an old issue of Trains, then-editor David P. Morgan recounts some older Brill cars he saw in Japan, and how they looked like cars that ran on the Brook Street line when he lived in Louisville. I also think Morgan went to Louisville Male High School, which was located along the line at the time.

I went over to the Museum today at 3 PM only to find out the Museum is closed on Monday. So unfortunately the information given to me was wrong. Not sure if they still plan to move the car out sometime in the future.

If I find out what the real story is, I will post a update. Also the correct name is Behringer-Crawford Museum.

Dale Brown

Just to clear up something. Northern Kentucky is considered Covington and Newport, one is Kenton County and the other in Campbell. The Licking River divides the two counties and the cities. The Green Line referred to the CN&C streetcar system that operated primarily in Kentucky between these two Kentucky cities and nearby Ft. Thomas and Ft. Mitchell. Then crossing three different bridges to reach Cincinnati and having the same gauge as Cincinnati Street Railway. However the Green Line only needed to use the two trolley poles when operating in Ohio.

Louisville, KY is over 100 miles down river to the west of Cincinnati. Louisville is considered a seperate political and geographical area and not considered Northern Kentucky. Northern Kentucky usually refers to the three counties across he river from Cincinnati, Boone, Kenton an Campbell.

Dale Brown

To add to the story, Green Line really used hand brake cars after the end of air brake car operation, in 1950. After abandonment, Kentucky was run under its own power and stopped with the Motorman's muscle at a point near the park pavilion where it was displayed for many years. I wonder if it was the last private trolley car to be operated by a transportation company. Connecticut Company's 500 went to the Museum in 1948.

Saw a picture of the car in the local paper. It was moved out early in the morning and then pushed back in. The cleanup was in the morning. The Museum is having a fund raiser this weekend and the cleanup was in anticipation of this event.

Dale Brown