Friends of Philadelphia Trolleys
A non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and restoration of trolley cars from the Philadelphia area
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Our latest edition of The Streamliner, FPT’s official newsletter, drops today! You can download it here.
Our lead article deals with a topic we know many of you will be interested in: The future of PTC 2054, the last surviving Philadelphia air-electric PCC car. You won’t want to miss this very special report.
Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company’s 5326 is one of a group of 135 such cars built in 1923 by the J.G. Brill Company for the PRT.
Just as Pittsburgh Railways had favored one car design for many years, so too had Philadelphia’s PRT favored the general design of cars like 5326, to the point where they had over 2,000 cars representing several variations of the same basic design.
Car 5326 saw its last day of service on August 11, 1957. In April 1958, 5326 had the distinction of being the first trolley car to ever travel the Pennsylvania Turnpike (even if it was on a trailer truck), as it moved to its new home at the Arden Trolley Museum, now the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum (PTM), in Washington, Pennsylvania. While many of the cars at the museum are the lone survivors of their type, this is not true of #5326. Sister car #5205 has been preserved by the Electric City Trolley Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Car 5326 was restored to its original 1923 livery in 1976 for America’s Bicentennial, having required some 3,000 hours of volunteer labor. Since its restoration, the car has been a real workhorse for the PTM. After some 46 years of service at PTM, 5326 could use your help. Both the car’s air tanks are in need of replacement soon to ensure that it will run for years to come. The total cost of this project is expected to be $3,200. Won’t you please consider making a donation? Thank you in advance for helping preserve yet another part of Philadelphia’s trolley history. Please make your check payable to FPT. You may also use PayPal. Please be sure to mark on your check that your donation is for PRT 5326’s air tanks.
Mail to:
FRIENDS OF PHILADELPHIA TROLLEYS, INC.
P.O. BOX 33397
PHILADELPHIA, PA 19142-0397
Did you know that out of Philadelphia’s massive PCC car fleet, only two cars wore four different paint schemes?
Our friend Operator Logan explores the history of those two cars in a new video. Click the image to watch.