Our organization is looking for 3,000 ft of #2 grooved copper trolley wire. This is needed to complete our trolley line extension.

Any ideas?

Ken Middlebrook
California Trolley and Railroad Corporation

I presume you mean #2/0 trolley wire. This is the smallest size made in grooved wire, and is commonly used for applications where the wire is not handling heavy electrical loads.

There are three manufacturers of such wire. Service Wire, Southwire and Phelps-Dodge Specialty Copper Products. Service Wire and Southwire sell through distributors for small quantities, while Phelps-Dodge will sell directly. Contact me off-list for more information.

Do not try to obtain used wire! The hassle of working with it is not worth the small cost saving. Use hard drawn copper. It is much cheaper than the bronze alloy used by Muni, and you do not need the added tensile strength and wear resistance in a museum application.

Art Schwartz
Pennsylvania Trolley Museum

You might contact the guys at the Michigan Transit Museum in Mt. Clemens. As I recall, they obtained an unused spool of this number wire recently from the city of Detroit when they abandoned their trolley system. Contact Tim Backhurst at tbackhurst@bignet.net.

TJ Gaffney