Brilliner was a

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

designed by the J. G. Brill Company. The tram was designed to be a competitor to the successful PCC cars, but the design ended up being a failure for the company, with only several trams built. The tram utilized a clean, streamlined design, similar to a PCC car. It also used a boxy floor plan and a riveted steel body design. Due to the boxy floor plan, Brilliner cars could not clear the tight spaces required by the

Philadelphia Transportation Company The Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC) was the main public transit operator in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 1940 to 1968. A private company, PTC was the successor to the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company (PRT), in operation since ...

(PTC), the company's main customer. The Brilliner was the company's last trolley design before merging with

American Car and Foundry ACF Industries, originally the American Car and Foundry Company (abbreviated as ACF), is an American manufacturer of railroad rolling stock. One of its subsidiaries was once (1925–54) a manufacturer of motor coaches and trolley coaches und ...

(ACF). 10 cars were built for Red Arrow Lines (these were the only double-ended variants as every other car was single-ended), 24 trams were sold to

Atlantic City Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of the Atlantic City- Hammonton metropolitan sta ...

, 3 cars were sold to the PTC, and one of each was sold to

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

and

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

. One streetcar, Red Arrow Lines 5, is now on display at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum.

Gallery

File:Ardmore route tram, December 1966.jpg, A Brilliner in service on the now-defunct Philadelphia Ardmore tram route ( Route 103). File:PST Brilliner 5 at 69th Street Terminal in 1968.jpg, A Brilliner in service with the suburban Philadelphia Red Arrow Lines at 69th Street Terminal.

References

{{reflist Streetcars in the United States J. G. Brill Company