I Like Both because they each have an advantage in one way or another. One advantage of the bus is that a line can instantly be started, terminated, detoured, or re-routed without the expense and labor of laying, removing, or relocating tracks, ...as well as installing an electrical source. A trolley also cannot negotiate / change lanes around a blocked track from a stalled trolley in front, or turn up a side street to detour a traffic jam or closed road. Buses are most versatile in that way.
Its nice to see the buses, as well as the PCC cars. That red, white & blue War Bonds car was one of two contracted to advertise bonds. When the PCCs left, one bus carried on the War Bonds colors. Those buses are White Motor models, with that one flat face Mack thrown in there. DC Transit System inherited those PCC trolley cars & buses from Capital Transit. Later, Metrobus took over and inherited a few of the leftover Whites. Take a look at my old home movies of later era vintage WMATA buses.
There was a slot that ran between the rails that contained the wire. So the wire actually ran underground, sort of like a "third rail." I don't know if any other trolley / streetcar lines used this system for the PCC type cars.
great video. as a child I loved riding the streetcars from Barney Circle SE , through down town, then Georgetown out to Glen Echo ... the best memories are the street car ride to Glen Echo!
In the late '50s I used to ride the part of the line from the Branchville loop, Riverdale loop, and Mt. Rainer loop. From Mt. Rainer I would ride the trolley to 5th and G Streets, to the olde Federal Power Commission where my mother worked. My step father used to ride the line to Glen Echo amusement park back in the '30s and early '40s. He told me the trolley driver would open it up (speed) on that straigh line. I can't recall how fast, but 45 MPH rings a bell.
GREAT FILM!! Mid 50's-- 1955 Chevy visible- and lookit ALL those Booby Sox! LOL!! Last few seconds, where it shows the Warner Theatre-- I remember that drugstore there-- which is once again a drugstore (CVS this time). THAT was the area where in 1955 or 1956 Mom, Sis and I saw Marylin Monroe walking towards the National Theatre, with her agent. She looked different without her makeup but just as lovely.
This film had to be made in 1955 or early 1956 as there is a 1955 Chevrolet and a 19556/56 Buick riding the streets. My father was a conductor in the 20's and I still have his letter of resignation signed and dated. I was born on Capitol Hill about 4 blocks away from the Capitol in Old Providence Hospital..now a park. And we lived just on the other side of Sousa Bridge near Barney Circle where the trolleys turned around.
When the D.C. streetcars left the downtown area, they stopped where the overhead lines began and shifted from the underground line(below the middle of the track) to the overhead. One place of this transition was on Wisconsin Ave. at Q Street in Georgetown. The driver would stop the car long enough for that transition to be made.
Capital Transit/DC Transit had hundreds of White Motor Coaches. They seemed to last forever. I saw Whites in rush hour service in the late-1970s on route A9 (Livingston/Archives).
Love those old videos. My Dad was a DC fireman at the old Buckingham station. I rode the streetcar as a small boy. Was nice down there then.
Thanks very much for posting this - I've shared it with the Old Time DC Facebook group.
I Like Both because they each have an advantage in one way or another. One advantage of the bus is that a line can instantly be started, terminated, detoured, or re-routed without the expense and labor of laying, removing, or relocating tracks, ...as well as installing an electrical source. A trolley also cannot negotiate / change lanes around a blocked track from a stalled trolley in front, or turn up a side street to detour a traffic jam or closed road. Buses are most versatile in that way.
Its nice to see the buses, as well as the PCC cars. That red, white & blue War Bonds car was one of two contracted to advertise bonds. When the PCCs left, one bus carried on the War Bonds colors. Those buses are White Motor models, with that one flat face Mack thrown in there. DC Transit System inherited those PCC trolley cars & buses from Capital Transit. Later, Metrobus took over and inherited a few of the leftover Whites. Take a look at my old home movies of later era vintage WMATA buses.
There was a slot that ran between the rails that contained the wire. So the wire actually ran underground, sort of like a "third rail." I don't know if any other trolley / streetcar lines used this system for the PCC type cars.
great video. as a child I loved riding the streetcars from Barney Circle SE , through down town, then Georgetown out to Glen Echo ... the best memories are the street car ride to Glen Echo!
Is our of our history and more people should know about the street cars. Thanks for posting.
New York City (Manhatten) used this system as well, but of course, had no PCC cars. Brooklyn did, but used conventional overhead.
Love this post I grew up in DC riding the streetcars (Seat Pleasant Line). Hope you find more film footage of the same.
X2 Seat Pleasant/Lafayette Square forever. I lived on 62nd st!
Those streetcars you see is combine overhead and 3rd rail types.
what a treasure .....
In the late '50s I used to ride the part of the line from the Branchville loop, Riverdale loop, and Mt. Rainer loop. From Mt. Rainer I would ride the trolley to 5th and G Streets, to the olde Federal Power Commission where my mother worked. My step father used to ride the line to Glen Echo amusement park back in the '30s and early '40s. He told me the trolley driver would open it up (speed) on that straigh line. I can't recall how fast, but 45 MPH rings a bell.
That first scene where the streetcar comes out of the building is Northern Division at 14th St and Decatur St.
GREAT FILM!! Mid 50's-- 1955 Chevy visible- and lookit ALL those Booby Sox! LOL!!
Last few seconds, where it shows the Warner Theatre-- I remember that drugstore there-- which is once again a drugstore (CVS this time). THAT was the area where in 1955 or 1956 Mom, Sis and I saw Marylin Monroe walking towards the National Theatre, with her agent. She looked different without her makeup but just as lovely.
Thanks atulocal689 for the identifiers. I thought that was the 14th Street bus barn.
This film had to be made in 1955 or early 1956 as there is a 1955 Chevrolet and a 19556/56 Buick riding the streets. My father was a conductor in the 20's and I still have his letter of resignation signed and dated. I was born on Capitol Hill about 4 blocks away from the Capitol in Old Providence Hospital..now a park. And we lived just on the other side of Sousa Bridge near Barney Circle where the trolleys turned around.
Whoa....the pole wasn't up!! How'd that work??
When the D.C. streetcars left the downtown area, they stopped where the overhead lines began and shifted from the underground line(below the middle of the track) to the overhead. One place of this transition was on Wisconsin Ave. at Q Street in Georgetown. The driver would stop the car long enough for that transition to be made.
WOW...GREAT MEMORIES AS A CHILD. LOVED RIDING THAT OLD STREETCAR.
from the title this film was shot in 1955 at the completion of a 52 day strike. I was an operator at the time.
That bus shown at 3:09 was still being used when I was in high school in the early sixties.
Capital Transit/DC Transit had hundreds of White Motor Coaches. They seemed to last forever. I saw Whites in rush hour service in the late-1970s on route A9 (Livingston/Archives).
dcstreetcar said a revived system line should run on H street by October. Only the start of 37 miles of streetcar lines planned in the future.
Yes, it definitely was at least 1955, as a 55 Chevy appears in it. It is the latest model car I spotted.
Great video