New Trolley Display Opens Building at the PTM

Visitors got to experience Pennsylvania’s version of “This Old Trolley” beginning Saturday May 7, 2005 at the grand opening of the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum’s new 28,000 sq ft Trolley Display Building.  The ribbon cutting ceremony, the day before, was the culmination of a two phase project.

The first phase called for over 110,000 cubic yards of earthwork and installation of effective storm water management measures. The fill (which included donated fill material from Chartiers Township’s Arnold Park) allowed the development area to be raised above the flood plain and was funded through a $475,000 TEA-21 Transportation Enhancements Grant plus private funding.

Ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday, May 6th.  Photo by Bob Fleming.

The second phase was the actual construction of the building, made possible by financial contributions from private sources such as foundations, corporations and individuals, who paid for the construction of the 28,000 square-foot Trolley Display Building and a trolley maintenance annex. Not only were there direct financial gifts, but a number of corporations donated or substantially discounted their materials and services, thus maximizing the impact of the cash gifts.

A final piece of the second phase will be connecting the tracks to the Museum’s existing trolley line and adding a new trolley power substation where high voltage alternating current purchased from Allegheny Power is converted to 600 volts direct current to power the streetcars. When this is completed, over $2,000,000 will have been spent overall on this project.

This was in addition to many, many volunteer hours that were devoted to making this project a reality.  Volunteers have been a key to the Museum’s success. During 2004, more than 120 people donated over 26,600 volunteer hours to help the Museum maintain its programs and continue its growth. As an example, last July, fifty-two people worked for two weeks to move over thirty-one streetcars by both road and rail into the new building. Many of these people actually used their vacation time to work on the project. It ranks as one of the largest volunteer efforts in the Museum’s history!

In the new building there are thirty trolleys are on display from all over Pennsylvania, as well as Ohio, West Virginia and even Brazil! They range from a 1880s vintage Pittsburgh horse car to a Pittsburgh streetcar that ran the last trip on the Drake Line in 1999. After trolley service ended, some streetcars were “recycled” to serve other purposes. Three that are displayed became homes and one served as the “Dew Drop Inn” near Ellwood City. Also featured are seldom seen trolleys such as snow sweepers, milk cars and even a trolley locomotive weighing 107,700 lbs! The tour shows the cars in all conditions from “factory fresh” to “diamonds in the rough.”

Interior view of PTM's new Trolley Display Building.  Photo by Edward H. Lybarger.

The Pennsylvania Trolley Museum is Washington County’s most popular heritage tourist attraction with more than 22,000 people from all over the world visiting the Museum annually. PTM’s location, just minutes from the I-70/I-79 interchange, makes it a Gateway Tourist Destination for Southwestern Pennsylvania. It is easily accessible from these key North-South and East-West Interstate highway routes. PTM is now the oldest and largest trolley museum in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and has come a long way in its 50+ year history. We thank the community for making the Museum such a success!

For further information call 724-228-9256, or go to the PTM website, or email Scott Becker at sbecker@pa-trolley.org.

(Hume Kading, complied from PTM press releases, via Scott Becker)