Louisville
Louisville Railway
This might be one of the
few photos of any of the LRwyCo 1946 St Louis built PCC's in existence.
The car is shown on the "test" loop around the 29th & Broadway car
barns. The PCCs were tested in secret at odd hours and were never
put into revenue service. The railway was being threatened by National
City Lines under the name Nickel Lines. The city told LRC to get rid of
all streetcars or its franchise would not be renewed, but rather awarded
to "Nickel Lines." (The fare at the time was 10 cents or three for a quarter.)
The Railway Co., which had run Pittsburgh PCC 1054 on all its lines extensively,
was trying to sneak the PCC's into service in the hope that the public
would love them. They got caught. The PCCs went to Cleveland for 20 GMC
model TDH-4507 diesel buses (Cleveland numbers 3405-3429) and a bundle
of cash.The streetcars lasted until Derby Day 1948. Only 502 and
one other were unloaded off flatcars. Eventually most went to Toronto.
Caption by Harry R. Porter
and John W. Birk
Photo by Harry R. Porter
Bill Volkmer Collection
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