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 transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of wh ...

system in Johnstown,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

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

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, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

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

, 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 Canada) is a type of electric railway, with tram-like electric self-propelled railcars which run within and between cities or towns. The term "interurban" is usually used in North America, with other terms u ...

. 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 motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

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 the operation and preservation of streetcars and trolleys. The museum primarily contains historic trolleys from Pennsylvania, but its collection includes examp ...

* 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 Sh ...

* 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 vis ...

* 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 city of Stone Mountain, Georgia. The park is the most visited tourist site in the state of Ge ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, then

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

* 362 Johnstown Area Heritage Association

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