Johnstown trolleybus 705 on Jacob St at Highland Ave in 1967

Johnstown Traction Company (JTC) was a

public transit Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...

system in Johnstown,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. For most of its existence it was primarily a street-railway system, but in later years also operated rubber-tired vehicles. JTC operated trolley (tram) service in Johnstown from February 23, 1910 to June 11, 1960. Johnstown was one of the last small cities to abandon trolley service in the United States. Middleton, William D. (1967). ''The Time of the Trolley'', p. 190. Milwaukee:

Kalmbach Publishing Kalmbach Media (formerly Kalmbach Publishing Co.) is an American publisher of books and magazines, many of them railroad-related, located in Waukesha, Wisconsin. History The company's first publication was ''The Model Railroader'', which be ...

. . It was also the smallest city to acquire a fleet of PCC cars and acquired trackless trolleys at a late date compared to larger transit properties. Many of the 1920s-era cars went directly to museums; however, none of the 17

PCC streetcar The PCC (Presidents' Conference Committee) is a streetcar (tram) design that was first built in the United States in the 1930s. The design proved successful in its native country, and after World War II it was licensed for use elsewhere in the ...

s were saved. Efforts to sell the 16 then-surviving PCC cars intact were unsuccessful, and in 1962 they were scrapped, but many of their components were salvaged and sold to the

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

tram system A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

, reused in the last series of single PCC trams (), which ran from 1970 until February 2010. JTC's system also included electric trolley buses, the first route of which was opened on November 20, 1951. Sebree, Mac; and Ward, Paul (1974). ''The Trolley Coach in North America'', pp. 155–158. Los Angeles:

Interurbans The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 a ...

. LCCN 74-20367. Trolley bus service continued until 1967, the last day of electric service being November 11, 1967. The transit system then used only

motor bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

es, but retained the name Johnstown Traction Company (in which "traction" is a reference to electric vehicle propulsion). In 1976, the private JTC would become the CamTran public transit system.

Surviving JTC cars

* 350

Pennsylvania Trolley Museum The Pennsylvania Trolley Museum is a museum in Washington, Pennsylvania, dedicated to operation and preservation of streetcars and trolleys. The museum primarily contains historic trolleys from Pennsylvania, but their collection includes examples ...

* 351 Market Street Railway (San Francisco) * 311, 355

Rockhill Trolley Museum The Rockhill Trolley Museum is a museum and heritage railway in Rockhill Furnace, Pennsylvania that collects and restores trolley, interurban, and transit cars. Founded in 1960, the museum operates what has been historically referred to as the Sha ...

* 356, 357

Shore Line Trolley Museum The Shore Line Trolley Museum is a trolley museum located in East Haven, Connecticut. Incorporated in 1945, it is the oldest continuously operating trolley museum in the United States. The museum includes exhibits on trolley history in the visit ...

* 358 originally

Stone Mountain Stone Mountain is a quartz monzonite dome Inselberg, monadnock and the site of Stone Mountain Park, east of Atlanta, Georgia. Outside the park is the small city of Stone Mountain, Georgia. The park is the most visited tourist site in the state o ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, then

Trolley Museum of New York The Trolley Museum of New York, a non-profit organization, is located at 89 East Strand Street, Kingston, New York. The museum is open to the public on a seasonal schedule, but volunteer activities relating to the preservation of historic tran ...

* 362

Fox River Trolley Museum The Fox River Trolley Museum is a railroad museum in South Elgin, Illinois. Incorporated in 1961 as R.E.L.I.C. (Railway Equipment Leasing and Investment Co.), it opened in 1966 and became the Fox River Trolley Museum in 1984. Location The museum ...

References

External links

Johnstown Traction Company
* ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMHwo9iuMCA YouTube amateur video {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnstown Traction Company History of Johnstown, Pennsylvania Streetcars in Pennsylvania Trolleybus transport in the United States Interurban railways in Pennsylvania Defunct Pennsylvania railroads Transportation in Johnstown, Pennsylvania Defunct public transport operators in the United States Tram, urban railway and trolley companies

Surviving JTC cars

See also

References

External links