Penn-Ohio Railfanning

Frank writes...

The Pennsylvania Trolley Museum and Winterfest were the main event of our trip this past weekend to Pittsburgh, of course, but that didn't mean there weren't side trips. For Richard and me, there were two.

Our first side trip, predictably enough, was simply a stopover in downtown Pittsburgh when we arrived in the area on Friday. We made a beeline to the Duquesne Incline, with its attractive 1880s Brill-built cars like the one visible at the bottom of the above photo.

At the top of Mount Washington is all the equipment that powers the incline, and you can walk into a mezzanine area and get a good look at it. Above is a general diagram.

Here are the main gear and cable drum. The motor is out of sight behind the drum; in the foreground is the backup motor, which is on rails so that it's normally backed away from the main gear.

The back wall has all sorts of tools and other stuff on display.

The view from the cars is hard to beat!

And here's the view from the bottom.

We also rode the Pittsburgh light rail system a bit, which was more enjoyable than I expected. There was a lot of street running, and of course the hilly terrain makes it pretty interesting compared with a lot of light rail lines.

On Sunday, after Winterfest, a bunch of us met back up in Cleveland. As much time as I've spent working on Shaker Heights 18, I'd never actually ridden the Shaker Heights line! The closest I got, and the only time I've ever ridden the Cleveland RTA, was in July 2003, when I rode CA&E 303 on the Waterfront line.

We met up at Green Road, at the end of the Shaker Boulevard line, where we boarded Breda LRV 824.

Here's the group: Richard, Brian, Steven, Zach, Will, and Jimmy. Greg joined us at Shaker Square.

Here we are at Shaker Square, where we got off and rode out to the end of the Van Aken line.

Our car is at Shaker Square as an inbound car comes off the Van Aken line.

Here's the builder's plate on car 836. We rode to the end of the Van Aken line, then back in all the way to Terminal Tower, where we had lunch. After that it was time for a trip on the old Cleveland Transit System line.

Here's Jimmy, Zach, Will, Richard, Steven, Brian, and Greg with Tokyu car 185 at the Cleveland Airport terminal.

The Tokyu cars are about the least interesting rapid transit cars I've ever ridden, both inside and out, but at least they have big windows and reasonably comfortable seats. We rode out to the airport and then from there all the way back to Windermere, though a few of the guys bailed at Terminal Tower because they needed to get back to their cars and hit the road.

Here we are at Windermere. A good time was had by all. I'll admit, I enjoyed riding the Shaker Heights line; that had to have been a kick to traverse on a five-car train of center-door cars.

Winterfest 2026

Frank writes...

This past weekend was quite the change of pace. I was fortunate enough to attend Winterfest, the annual gathering of NEATO (the Northeastern Alliance of Trolley Organizations), at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum.

IRM isn't formally part of NEATO, but we were graciously extended an invitation, and no fewer than 14 of us made the trek out from Illinois. The volunteers and staff of PTM put on an absolutely amazing show, and I can't thank them enough for their hospitality and hard work. It was a wonderful event that allowed us to talk and network with working volunteers from museums across the northeast. I got to know a bunch of people I hadn't met before and chat with friends I hadn't seen in years. And, of course, we got to tour PTM, including their terrific new visitor center.

I carpooled with Richard, and when we arrived on Friday, PTM had just closed to the public (they're now open year-round) and Winterfest operations were beginning. The first car I hopped on was Cincinnati Street Railway 2227, shown here boarding behind the visitor center.

This is in the inside of the car looking toward the rear, with Alex Bruchac, an old Trolleyville volunteer now active at PTM, serving as conductor. This car was preserved at Trolleyville from 1964 until it came to PTM in 2009, so Alex knows it well.

This car was built by Cincinnati in 1919 and is single-ended, with a bench seat down the left side.

Here's Zach, the guest motorman for this trip on the 2227. PTM kept up an intensive operation, with four or more cars on the "main line" at any given time and another two cars on the loop at the visitor center.

One unexpected surprise was that SEPTA 606, a 1960 Budd-built "Almond Joy" car from the Market-Frankford Elevated in Philadelphia, was actually in operation. PTM volunteers had rigged up a trolley pole at one end of the car and it ran short trips through the barn, out into the yard, and back. To the right is a really nice feature PTM has recently added: a rapid transit-style platform, complete with wheelchair-accessible ramps, so that visitors can walk into car 606.

Up on the platform, you can also step into the museum's Brill "Bullet car" and a Red Arrow freight motor.

Here's Jersey Shore & Antes Fort 3, a 1906 Niles interurban car in unenviable condition. PTM has turned lemons into lemonade by displaying this car as a hunting cabin, which was what it served as after its interurban days were over.

Here's Greg and another view of JS&AF 3.

Returning to the boarding platform, we see Pittsburgh Railways 4145 approaching the platform with our own Jon F at the controls. This Jones high-floor car was built by Pressed Steel in 1911, restored by Ed Blossom around 1970 or so, and preserved at Trolleyville from 1973 until it came to PTM in 2010.

Here's a view inside car 4145. It's a single-ended car with rare K-43 control, which is actually a six-motor controller because these cars were intended to pull two-motor trailers.

Friday ended with a pizza dinner and more train operations; here we see Philadelphia double-end city car 5326, a 1923 Brill, boarding at the platform. This car is generally similar to our own car 3142 but has Maximum Traction trucks, a type not represented at all in IRM's collection.

Here's a quick video of "Almond Joy" car 606 in action.

Saturday there were more operations that were interrupted only briefly by rain (and even some hail) in the late afternoon. Here, dump motor M551 is pulling up in front of the visitor center outfitted with benches. It gave rides around the short loop line. This car was built by Differential in 1922 and has B-8 control, which is an unusual type that has dynamic braking capability.

There was even some operation of a two-car train of Red Arrow "St. Louies," cars 14 and 24, built by St. Louis in 1949. This is a good time to mention that the ambiance here, between the visitor center and the "Trolley Display Building" with the double-track, bi-directional streetcar tracks down Volunteer Boulevard, was amazing. It gives you an idea of what IRM's Main Street scene could look like someday.

Here's a video of the two-car train. At some point it got wyed.

On Saturday afternoon, I went over to the Reliance Building with PTM volunteer Artie Ellis, an expert machinist who is overseeing some remarkable work there. The Reliance Building is an enormous facility, some 60,000 square feet (that's about as much space as Barns 13 and 14 combined!).

Here, Jeff Hakner and Artie discuss the metalworking machines they have. You'll note the overhead jib cranes that help move things around. Also, for a sense of scale, you can see streetcars stored three wide behind Jeff and Artie - and we're just looking down the middle of the building's three bays.

Artie has been working on re-profiling flanges on a wheelset for Red Arrow 73, which is in the PTM shop. Unfortunately, I didn't make it down to the shop on this trip.

Here are some of those streetcars stored safely in the Reliance Building. On the left is 2723, a SEPTA PCC built in 1947, while on the right is 2282, a Philadelphia city car built by Brill in 1906 that was acquired in 2024 from the Electric City Trolley Museum.

Artie demonstrates a tool he built for precisely measuring various dimensions on a wheel flange.

After that, I joined Norm and Jon for a ride in Red Arrow 4, a double-truck McGuire-Cummings snow sweeper built in 1922. As you can tell, it was a pretty popular attraction.

The three big Pennsylvania trolley museums are represented by our PTM pilot, Mike from Electric City, and Joel from Rockhill.

Back at the visitor center for dinner, I had a chance to look at some of the educational displays. They're extremely well done, and these are just a couple of them.

In addition to the area with these displays, there's a large (and divisible) event space where we ate meals; a classroom space with a ton of interactive toys and activities, including even a couple of 3D printers; an expansive entryway and gift shop; bathrooms; and offices.

After dinner on Saturday there were (of course) more operations. The PTM volunteers really outdid themselves, operating something like two dozen cars over the two days of the event. Here, West Penn 832 is prepped to go out. This 1930 Cincinnati curve-sider was one of the museum's first three cars and was fully restored just a few years ago. It's really gorgeous.

Another of PTM's first three cars is low-floor car 3756, built in 1925 by Osgood-Bradley. This car is a pretty typical Pittsburgh low-floor car except that it had a left-hand door added for Neville Island service. It's rare because it has magnetic HL control, a Westinghouse-built variant that uses electromagnetic contactors (similar to GE Type M) instead of electropneumatic unit switches.

Here's the inside of car 3756.

And here it is at the platform. I went for a couple of rides on this car; it's really a beauty.

A few of us also went for a ride or two on Red Arrow 66, a 1926-vintage Brill-built center-door car from that line.

Here's a shot of car 66 at the platform. It was beautifully restored by the museum's volunteers many years ago.

And here's the gang from IRM: Brian, Steven, Richard, Zach, Norm, Jimmy, Steve, me, Will, Nick, Greg, Bill, Jon, and Jim (photo by Scott Becker, Jim Ward collection). Saturday night wrapped up Winterfest events at PTM; I can confidently say a fantastic time was had by all, and we're very grateful to our PTM and NEATO hosts for everything they did to make this such an enjoyable event for everyone who attended.

Southern Michigan Railroad

On my most recent vacation I was able to drive by the Southern Michigan Railroad, a small non-profit volunteer tourist line that runs trains through the scenic countryside between the towns of Clinton and Tecumseh.  This was on a weekday and there was no one around to talk to.

They have a collection of industrial switchers in varying condition, some of which provide power for the passenger trains.  I know little about these things, but here they are.   Some of them, at least.

This radiator fan is certainly impressive:

Of more interest to me, as you might guess, are the two electric cars that provide most of the passenger accommodations on the service train.   And one of them happens to be car 1 from the South Shore, the first of the modern steel cars from 1926.  It was part of the NPS collection, which never went anywhere, and when it was sold off car 1 was acquired by the Southern Michigan.  There's no attempt at electric operation, so it is just towed as a trailer.

In the absence of any covered storage, the plastic roof covering is undoubtedly functional.  What else could I say?

The other car is a NYC MU trailer built in 1929 by Standard and used for many years on the well-known electric trains out of Grand Central that ran up the Hudson.  James Cagney, for instance, rode these cars on his way to and from prison at Sing Sing in Each Dawn I Die.

The museum also owns South Shore car 36, which is stored derelict out in the country somewhere.  I didn't try to locate it.

The line runs from the north end at Clinton down to Tecumseh, about five miles.  

A city park provides a facility for loading and unloading ties.  At this point, they also sometimes board passengers, using a church near the tracks as a terminal.

In Tecumseh, the track occupies one side of the street, and trains often load here.

The track continues for several miles farther south, but hasn't been used for a long time.  Much of it is side-of-the-road.

So that was interesting.  Judging from their website, the line seems to do a reasonably good business with their excursion trains.  Clinton is about as far from downtown Detroit as Union is from Chicago, and easy enough to get to, so there's a market available.  But as always, there's no place like home!