New video of Capital Transit

Washington, DC's ATU Local 689 has posted a video of Capital Transit streetcars and buses that was recently found on 16mm and converted. Is this new material or has it been made available publicly through other sources?

Pretty good stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5H2r3AwqjQ

kreeggo

Interesting indeed. Oddly, maybe, I was especially interested in the sequences of White buses at the end. These were Capital Transit's bus mainstays and were much more rarely photographed than the PCCs.

I don't think these have been made available commercially. Of course, several video producers have done Washington streetcars, the best of which is a DVD produced by Transit Gloria Mundi in Baltimore, which covers all lines that were operating in the mid- and late-1950s.

I agree. I also liked portrayal of carmen and track workers which are rarely seen also.

Kreeggo

Great link, thanks for sharing!

Trying to date the film from looking at the vintage automobiles, the "newest" vehicle I was able to pick out was a 1955 Chevrolet in one of the bus clips. All of the vehicles depicted in the trolley scenes were of an older vintage which makes me suspect that the film may not have been shot all at once. In addition to the trolleys, the Packards and at least one Studebaker made for some fine viewing!

I second the "great link" emotion! As Aa3rt indicates, it appears that at least some of those shots were taken in the mid 1950's, probably just prior to the strike which resulted in the revocation of Capital Transit's franchise ( 1955). The last time I saw any of those White Buses was when a line of them was parked outside the White House on Penna Ave. as a security measure during the Vietnam War protests.