Great American Train Shows to buy Greenberg Train Shows

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           In a surprise announcement, vendors setting up at the Great American Train Show in San Francisco on March 7^th were handed a press release stating that GATS LTD, the parent company of Great American Train Shows had agreed in principle to buy the Greenberg's Train Shows from the Kalmbach Publishing Company.  The sale should be completed prior to April 2003. The same announcement also stated that the two companies will remain separate and be operated separately. A subsequent press release on March 10^th stated that Competitive Intelligence Advertising Incorporated will be operating the Greenberg shows. CIA Inc has extensive experience in the train show business. They are currently operating the Great Midwest Train Show in Wheaton, Illinois, which is currently the world's largest monthly train show. The Trolleyville Times has reported on this fine show in 1999 and 2002.

           Trolleyville anticipates that this will be an exciting development for the model train enthusiast. We will be bringing you all the developments as they occur.  So…. stay tuned!

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San Francisco Trolley Activities

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            During the weekend of the Great American Train Show in San Francisco (March 8-9, 2003), we were able to get down to the ferry building at the foot of Market Street and span a few pictures. Although the ex-Philadelphia PCC cars are the base service, the conventional cars are also out there, even early Sunday morning when these pictures were taken.

Holman Car #1, 1912 and Perley Thomas New Orleans Car #952 were already out at 8:45 AM on Sunday, March 9^th ready for service. The F-line now uses 20 cars each day and has 32 assigned vehicles.

            Meanwhile, miles southwest of these photos, merchants were gearing up for the second day of the Great American Train Show in the Cow Palace in Daly City. Trolleyville vendors, Railway/ Traction Miniatures, Holland Traction Supply and Custom Traxx were at the show and several choice brass traction pieces changed owners. Below is the Custom Traxx display showing cars that were sold during the show:

POINTS OF TROLLEY HISTORY -1

THE LAST TWO-MAN STREETCAR IN PHILADELPHIA

  Charles Long: When most Philadelphians woke up on February 13, 1965, they did not realize that a long city transit tradition had ended the day before. The last two-man operated trolley car had passed into history on the previous Friday. From the inception of electric trolleys in the late 1800s, all were two-man operated. One man was responsible for the passengers, and designated the conductor. The other was responsible for the operation of the car and the care of the motor. In some of the earliest cars, the motor was on the front platform and connected to the first axle of the car by a chain, hence the title motor-man or motorman.  One-man operated cars started to appear in the 1920's as an economy measure. The Birney Safety Cars designed for one-man operation began to appear. Three almost ten-year old Nearside cars were experimentally equipped for one-man operation on Route 64 in South Philadelphia in 1922. The two-man operated car began to slowly disappear after that. When Philadelphia began to order PCC cars in the late 1930s, it set aside numbers 2001 to 2500 for one-man operated cars and 2501 to 2999 for the two-man operated cars.  In fact, most of the two-man cars had selector switches that allowed the conductor’s controls to be de-activated, allowing the cars to be one-man operated evenings and on weekends.  Only the 100 cars ordered for Route 23, Germantown Avenue, in 1947 were equipped for two-man only operation Many of these 2701-2800 series cars were converted to one-man/two-man controls prior to being placed in service.  Also, the final 1948 order of  PCC cars were initially to be two-man operated cars and to be numbered 2801 to 2910. Only at the last minute was the order changed to one-man operated cars and the numbers used were 2091 to 2200. While initial conversions to one-man operation were made to lighter lines and lines such as the subway surface that relied on station based cashiers for the majority of fare collection, a few lines with heavy on-street loading in the rush hour continued to use conductors.  In the end, as the limited numbers of men who were restricted to conductor duty only dwindled, the conductors were re-assigned to lines that had earlier been converted to one man.  As the trend to one-man cars continued, only rush hour operation on Route 6, Ogontz Avenue, used two man cars. Finally, they were gone, with the few conductors who were not yet ready for retirement spending their final working days as cashiers or rush hour bus platform loaders at several major subway terminals. Below are some photos of that memorable evening, February 12, 1965:

The above photo shows Charlie Long, a current member of the East Penn Traction Club, paying a fare on the last two-man car.

The passengers on the last car.

The last car, 2564!