Celebrate America’s Semiquincentennial by Boarding the Spirit of 1776
Young volunteers from the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum recreated the star-spangled streetcar, which is on display at the Washington County facility.
PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER
The Spirit of 1776 is alive and well at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum.
To celebrate America’s 250th birthday, the Washington County institution unveiled a “faithful recreation” of Pittsburgh’s bicentennial-era trolley.
Although the original red, white and blue streetcar was scrapped after a Downtown collision in 1982, the museum’s NextGen Committee, a group of volunteers ages 29 and younger, selected a similar one from the collection and gave it a star-spangled makeover.
PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER
It made its debut on June 26, complete with a fife-and-drum corps playing patriotic tunes inside the trolley, which is lined with ‘70s-era ad cards.
Climb aboard to go back in time.
PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER
Spirit isn’t track-worthy, so it will be stationed inside the Trolley Display Building for visitors to see. The interurban car spent its working life traveling the Drake line to the South Hills.
The museum, which was named the country’s Best Small Town Museum in a USA Today readers’ poll, has various hands-on exhibits and more than 50 vehicles, including The Terrible Trolley.
PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER
Officially designated PAT PCC 1713, it was painted black and gold to celebrate the Steelers’ first batch of Super Bowl victories.
The folks who run the museum are passionate historians who still view trolleys with the same wide-eyed wonder they did as children. It’s hard not to smile when you hear the clickity-clack of the track.
PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER
Even my moody teenage daughter was beaming as she sat in the conductor’s chair of Philadelphia & Western Railway Car 209. Maybe she’ll join the NextGen Committee.
PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER
I didn’t grow up in the Trolley Era, but the Harmony Route used to run behind my childhood home in Cranberry. My dad spent hours in the woods digging for glass insulators and railroad spikes like some kind of yinzer Indiana Jones.
Speaking of relics, the entire Wexford Trolley Station, constructed in 1908, was relocated to the museum in 2015.
I often visited the historic building when it was repurposed as the Post Office Deli. I worked nearby, so I’d grab a quick bite and then wander through the nearby Wexford General Store Antiques.
My lunch break was only an hour long, but it spanned centuries.
If you want a current taste of the past, I recommend visiting Liberty Pole Spirits in North Strabane.
Located less than four miles from the trolley museum, the whiskey distillery has a colonial-themed tasting room known as the Meetinghouse.
PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER
The small food menu includes items such as beef tenderloin steak bites and crab hushpuppies.
Taking a ride in an old trolley followed by a Whiskey Rebellion respite is a fun and educational way to spend an afternoon.
Technically, streetcars still operate in the city as Pittsburgh Regional Transit light rail vehicles, or “The T,” but traditional PCC trolley car service ended in 1999.
On June 30, Pittsburgh Regional Transit unveiled a red-,white- and blue-wrapped light rail vehicle inspired by the Spirit of 1776 streetcar. No. 4255 will operate at least through the rest of the year.
“Public transit is woven into the story of our region,” PRT CEO Katharine Kelleman says. “This special vehicle celebrates our past while reminding us that transit continues to connect people to opportunity, to one another, and to the places and events that define our communities.”
Hopefully, your next commute is a blast from the past.
The Pennsylvania Trolley Museum is located at 1 Electric Way, Washington. It is a member of Blue Star Museums, a program that provides free admission to currently serving U.S. military personnel and their families during the summer. Hours through August are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.
