Or what we call a "shopping cart."

One time, in a pique of demonstrating that you can find anything on the Internet if you look hard enough, I jokingly entered "trolley porn" into several search engines with the filters turned off, testing the now-famous "Rule 34."

Let's just say most of the results were British or at least former British Empire, and that none of our traction museums in North America had apparently ever been used, even secretly or without permission, as a pornographic setting.

(Though said search of mine was several years ago.............. and I know of one traction operation that did encounter an unauthorized "lingerie fashion shoot" on its tracks a while back...... with the typical "we though these tracks were abandoned" excuse........)

@ EJBerry : did any of those "P.C.C." streetcars that went from Cincy to Toronto survived?

Older Cincinnati cars are preserved, but not a PCC car.

San Francisco has painted ex-Philadelphia PCC 2138 in a tribute Cincy scheme and operates it on the Market Street Railway. This car has the standard pole base housing, not the wide one used in Cincy.

https://www.streetcar.org/streetcars/10 ... innati-oh/

Note the car has a second trolley pole, but it's at the front of the car, not next to the main pole at the rear. The second pole is used for backing up.

Phil Mulligan

So none that reached Toronto ... :(

About more then 14 years ago there was a big site with streetcars from all across U.S.A.?
Does it still exists and if so, does any one one knows the adress of it?

When I moved to Tucson in the early 2000s, Old Pueblo Trolley operated a demonstration railway on North Fourth Avenue and University Boulevard. The two cars used in service at the time were our Kyoto streetcar No. 869 and Brussels Tramways No. 1511. We operated the cars in the evenings on Fridays, noon to midnight on Saturdays and noon to 6PM on Sundays.

I started out as a Motorman and Conductor and eventually qualified for every operating position on the railway as an instructor. The thing that set OPT aside from just about every other streetcar preservation group was that all of our right of way was in public streets with heavy traffic. What made our operation particularly challenging was that our track ran in the turn lane of two three lane streets. The Brussels tram had trolley poles and the Kyoto car operated (at different times) on our line with a pantograph or trolley poles. The Kyoto car could operate as a one man car but often had a conductor assigned. The Brussels car was mandatory two man crew as the motorman had no door controls at the rear control stand.

As our group is a member of the Heritage Rail Alliance-formerly the Association of Railway Museums, I have attended several annual meetings and had the opportunity to drive everything from a PCC to a CTA El Train. My favorites so far are the Red Arrow interurban that I got to drive at Pennsylvania Trolley Museum and the El Train at Illinois Railway Museum. The El Train was real fun as I got to drive it the length of the main line at the maximum authorized speed.

As we operated in the public right of way with traffic, we had our share of fender benders. Most were the fault of the motorist-all of the ones that I was involved with were the result of the motorist making an unsafe or illegal move. I had a taxi driver make an illegal u turn directly in front of the streetcar. With the brakes in emergency, I still hit him dead center. Fortunately, there were no injuries but the taxi was totaled. The streetcar had a couple of scratches on the paint.

Folks,
The electric cars in the east seem to be called trollies and in the west streetcars. In England they were called tram cars or trams.

I have worked at the Western Railway Museum since 1988 and have talked to dozens of people about this usage. Here in San Francisco an old time native told me they were always called streetcars, and often just 'cars. As in "I will take the 'car down to Market Street."

And to add one more bit, the trolley is actually the wheel that makes contact with the wire or wires that supply 600-volts or other DC power to the cars. I always follow local usage.

If you go to the Seashore Trolley Museum, you will find something of everything in The National Collection of Streetcars.

Ted Miles, WRM Archives Department

To go really back to the 1880's, the "trolley" or "troller" was a 4-wheel cart that rolled on the two overhead wires collecting power for the Daft and Van Depoele cars of the day. The trollers were not practical and were replaced with a single pole (except in Cincy) pressing up on a suspended wire, with ground return via the rails. Van Depoele did it first but Sprague's installation in Richmond set the standard for the industry.

Phil Mulligan

Not just a East/West divide, and NOT that simple. It all comes down to local usage.

Philadelphia: Trolleys.
Baltimore: Streetcars.
Washington DC: Both, but "streetcar" more common, and the modern day lightrail is the DC Streetcar. I've heard the joke it was "streetcar" in the District and "trolley" in the suburbs.
Harrisburg: Trolleys.
Lancaster: Trolleys.
Richmond: Trolleys.
Boston: Streetcars, save for trolley buses.

And this is just what I know off the top of my head.

Someone should assign this to the same etymologists that look at "soda/pop/Coke/soft drink".

Pittsburgh - streetcars. When I was a kid, I thought the PCCs were the coolest thing on rails. I still have a soft spot for them.