Abandoned trolley cars in the north east?

[Montclaire]

Thought I would start a thread to see how many trolley cars are still out there in the rust belt.

[CarterB]

I'm wondering if there are any double ended Jewett heavy interurbans left anywhere.

[RussNelson]

Live or museum pieces? The station kitty-corner off the Pennsy terminal in Philly has a PCC downstairs. Boston is running them on the Mattapan High Speed line. Shelburne Falls has a portion of their trolley line under wire again:
http://www.shelburnefalls.com/attractions/bridge.html . And of course there's the Connecticut Trolley Museum just off I-91. And the New York Trolley Museum in Kingston.

[Sir Ray]

Did you mean something like the Great Bob Diamond Brooklyn Trolley Experiment?

[Montclaire]

Well how about that? Shame the city shut him down.

I was thinking along the lines of trolleys out rotting in a field somewhere or filled with chickens.
Finding a trolley tunnel and trying to get it back up and running, now that's a story.
Surprised he couldn't find grant money.

[CarterB]

Live or museum pieces?

In any condition, including stuffed and mounted!! I'm not sure any Jewett double enders still exist. There are a couple of AE&C / CA&E interurbans in ILL and OH IIRC.

[Montclaire]

photo?

[polybalt]

I'm wondering if there are any double ended Jewett heavy interurbans left anywhere.

If you are interested in preserved cars, by Jewett or any other builder, use the data base search function at:

http://www.bera.org/pnaerc.html

This data base is very thorough and complete. I tried searching for all files ( cars) with the name "Jewett" in the entry for builder and got 43 entries. Most actually are double-ended, but many are rapid transit cars.

Any bodies still around that are not considered preserved would not be listed here, but I doubt there are many (or any) left. A number of "chicken coops" have been acquired by museums recently and so will be in the data base.

[Montclaire]

How about cars from New Bedford, Mass or Altoona, PA?

[tomjohn]

1.What about Western New York "Jamestown,NY" -The Jamestown Westfield and Northwestern RR- cars ,Buffalo and Lake Erie RR
2. The rochester,NY area as well

don't these cities count and would anyone know about these RR cars ?

[Otto Vondrak]

Live or museum pieces?

Original poster asked about abandoned trolley cars, we are talking about cars not in active use, not in museum collections.

[Leo Sullivan]

They are out there. I remember one not over a mile from Seashore. It was called, if I remember correctly, the Ricker House.
The front of the house behind the porch was all windows but, no one noticed it was an Atlantic Shore semi-convertible
until it was being torn down. We all noticed the windows were trolley like but, it had a peaked roof so, we thought "couldn't be" and went on our way. I suspect there are car bodies like that, built into houses so thoroughly that they are very hard
to identify. The Newport & Providence vestibuled open was visible as a bay window that looked like the end of a trolley
(because it was) but, it wasn't widely known until the house was demolished. i would have thought an open car wasn't
very good for a dwelling but, someone did. So, don't give up but, they are well hidden.
LS

[SemperFidelis]

A google search of "Trolley Town" will bring you to some pictures of abandoned trolley cars somewhere in Southern New Jersey (maybe moreso Central New Jersey). It was some sort of failed trolley museum. Quite a few trollies were left out in the woods to rot.

Shame...

[TB Diamond]

Back in the early 1970s I photographed two abandoned trolley cars sitting next to the PRR Stanley-Canandaigua, NY line near Ontario County Road 4. According to Shelden King, these cars had been Rochester, NY cars 404 and 432 and had been at the location since probably the mid-1930s. Both were totally derelict. I believe that the cars were long ago demolished.

Shelden also relates that there may be some cars along the shores of Lake Lamoka, still serving as summer cabins. Several cars from Waverly, Corning, Painted Post and Elmira, NY were so utililized.

[JimBoylan]

A google search of "Trolley Town" will bring you to some pictures of abandoned trolley cars somewhere in Southern New Jersey (maybe moreso Central New Jersey). It was some sort of failed trolley museum.

That could be Trolley Valhalla's location at Jobstown, N.J. Some of the cars are now in Scranton, Pa., one went to Seashore Trolley Museum in Maine, some others to Arden, Pa. If the photos are older than 1971, then it's their former location in Tansboro, N.J.