Hey please don’t list your videos as made for kids. No kid is watching the 1950s 20th century limited 50th anniversary. The reason is because it is much harder to save and share videos for the people who really enjoy your videos the rail fans. Thanks!

its quite interesting how some people still had Ford Model T's

This video is very special. Towards the end we see the streetcar #26, the Red Rocket, make it's way through Edgemere and Fort Howard towards Bay Shore Park - a Trolley Amusement Park that ceased operations in the 40s. The former amusement park is now the site of North Point State Park, many features (including the trolley station) are still there.

yes, several superior old moments to be seen and enjoyed here

When you see trolleys painted in National City Lines colors you know the end is nigh for all the trolley lines within the city and its environs. 😢

Love dem PCC’s! PWG

VERY nice color movies!

9:50 where is that location? You can see how the alignment was shifted to the left.

There is also a stretch on the WMRY

It is the Ma & Pa RR and it shows how the ROW twisted and turned

.... A Splendid Piece

My grandparents made this same cross-country trip in a four-cylinder Model T touring forty years prior. The journey by open-top car took a full week from coast to coast, involving countless pit stops, flat tires, washed-out "roads," threats from gun-toting ranchers, dust storms, and river forgings. After all that they went through, Grandpa and Grandma wisely elected to take the return trip via train and have their Model T shipped back to NY in a rail crate. They were quite an adventurous, peripatetic couple for the time, being the first in their tiny upstate New York hamlet to purchase an automobile and travel by steamer to China. Apparently, many of their U.S. and foreign trips were documented on an early Kodak home movie camera and screened on a projector for relatives during family reunions. Alas, none of this footage is known to survive today. Much of their possessions were destroyed in my great-aunt's fatal house fire after being bequeathed to her. I never got to know my grandparents, but their spirit lives on through tales of their adventures and globe-trottings imparted to me by those who did. They trotted through Europe before the outbreak of WWII, twice visited Japan during the reign of Emperor Taisho, met U.S. Presidents Coolidge, Hoover, and FDR, encountered famous radio stars Jack Benny and Fred Allen in the same NYC elevator, and appeared as contestants on Groucho Marx's television show, "You Bet Your Life." It's sobering to think they would be 140 and 137 years old if still alive!

The trolley coming down Main Street in Ephrata, the Main Street so magical in my childhood. Alas, it is no more like it was. I would have been about one year old when these films were made. Thanks!

Я гей 15:48

Many of the streetcars in this video look like they're ready for the scrap yard.

These are not trolleys, but streetcars/trams. Trolleys are buses powered by overhead wires.

More like 1952-1953

My uncle was killed by one in 1906 when he was a kid.

These videos are great, BUT the counter tape is ugly and a distraction!

15:20 That stretch looks like it's near Belvedere Ave, between Reisterstonw Rd & Wabash Ave. Those look like WM tracks in the middle.

The box like trolleys from the 1920s almost look like the same ones of the 8000 series Brooklyn trolleys of the same era. They ran until circa 1952.

Aye 6119.

Beautiful

Lancastrian Here, 0:00 Conestoga Creek / Cincinnati Curved Side Car (Unk #) crosses Talmadge trestle heading back to city 0:25 CTC Monogram/ Logo 0:28 2 Cincinnati Curved Side Cars. (Unk #’s) pass each other on New Holland Pike in Mechanicsburg Junction 1:21 Cincinnati Curved Side Car (Unk #) Stops at Landis Valley Road near New Holland Pike heading towards lancaster 1:40 Birney Car #237 coming from E. King St into Penn Square to N. Queen 1:50 Birney Car #229 (Rebuilt from Accident in 1937) Follows #237 1:55 Birney Car #216 Moves into Penn Square from E. King St 2:06 Birney Car (Unk#) emerges from Behind Lancaster County Courthouse Eastbound on E King St, Birney Car 225 Follows behind heading west towards Penn Square 2:25 Birney Car (Unk#) Sails up S Duke St, crossing Church St, heading towards the County Courthouse 2:44 Old Trinity Church steeple. Standing near the corner of E. Vine and S. Duke St. 2:47 2 Birney Cars (#’s Unk) turn from N. Duke westward onto E. King St., another Birney (Unk#) Turns from S. Duke eastward on to E. King, St James Steeple can be seen in the background up N. Duke St. 3:08 Automobile Dressed as Locomotive on N. Duke St. in front of Picture This Framery 3:13 Birney Car 229 pulls in front of The PRR McGovern St. Station from Queen St 3:34 Birney Car 229 Departs PRR McGovern St. Station down Duke St. 3:47 Shot of the PRR Station, the clock reads 2:42 in the afternoon. 3:56 Cincinnati Curved Side Car #66 races south over the Talmadge Trestle heading back to Lancaster 4:04 Cincinnati Curved Side Car #66 pulls into Mechanicsburg Junction from Brownstown and departs along New Holland Pike towards Lancaster. 4:47 Two work cars, the second is a portable transformer car, both sitting on the siding at Mechanicsburg Junction 4:53 Pacing a Cincinnati Curved Side Car (#66) along New Holland Pike 4:58-Cincinnati Curved Side Car #66 crosses Conestoga Creek bridge and moves through the cut on the west bank heading towards Landis Valley Rd crossing 5:23 Little Baby Mallards playing along the Conestoga 5:30 Trolley Signal at RCA station stop 5:36 Cincinnati Curved Side Car #66 passing the RCA plant station on New Holland Pike 5:50 People getting off Birney Car #221 heading into the station to catch a PRR train 6:00-6:03 Line car #12 Coming down Duke St. turning eastward down E. King St. 6:04 Cincinnati Curved Side Car (#Unk) Speeding from Mechanicsburg Junction towards Talmadge 6:27 Cincinnati curved side car (Unk#) moving northbound through Ephrata 6:50 Brill Car (Unk#) moving Through Mechancisburg Junction north towards Ephrata 7:07 Work car #127 sits in siding at Mechanicsburg Junction as Birney Car (#Unk) moves past. 7:27 Work car #12 moves northward up Reservoir Street heading to the Chestnut Street Car Barn. 7:34 2 Birney cars and a Cincinnati curved side car outside of East end of the chestnut street car barn. (Unk#’s) 7:39 Outdoor storage yard at Chestnut St Car barn 7:42 boaters on the Conestoga and miniature steam engine at Rocky Springs Amusement Park 7:54 riding the miniature steam engine at Rocky Springs and more shots of the amusement park 8:08 Birney car #240 emerging from top of the hill by Rocky Springs and pulling into the station 8:24 Birney car #240 climbing the hill out of Rocky Springs 8:35 Birney Car #228 climbing the hill out of Rocky Springs 8:55 Birney Car #228 descending the hill into Rocky Springs 9:16 more shots of the Rocky Springs steam engine 9:36 Cincinnati Curved Side Car #65 Pulls into Mechanicsburg Junction and heads for Lancaster 10:05 Pacing Cincinnati Curved Side car #65 on the New Holland Pike towards Lancaster in the rain crossing Zooks Ln / Pine Rd at the End 10:27 Cincinnati Curved Side Car #69 in funeral service 10:29 Cincinnati Curved Side Car #66 serving NHRS Special 10:32 CTC employees in discussion. 10:34 Storage Yard on the north side of the Chestnut Street Car Barn 10:37 Birney Car #237 coming into Penn Square from E. King Street 10:41 Riding the Trolley to the PRR Station 10:52 Cincinnati Curved Side Car #66 (NHRS Special) pulling into the PRR Station. The brick warehouse in the background is now Horsepower Enterprises 11:12 Riding down Juniata St, (those two houses still exist) going down through the cut to the bridge. 11:33 Crossing bridge over Conestoga. Circle Ave bridge is in its place today 12:03 Crossing the “Pkwy” 12:15 Descending into Rocky Springs Station 12:36 Cincinnati Curved Side Car #66 (NHRS Special) climbing the hill out of Rocky Springs 13:06 Riding the trolley west on E. King St. into Penn Square, trackman changing the points and using a brick to keep the points secure 13:22 Riding down St Joseph St, turning north onto Laurel St. 13:35 Crossing High St going towards Manor Street. Kunzler Meats on the right 13:38 Turning right onto Manor St. 13:48 Manor St. Looking East, Kunzler meats is on the right where the houses are 13:55 Cresting the hill to King St 5-point intersection with Charlotte St. 14:02 Heading east on West King Street to Penn Square, Hager Building is on the Left edge of the screen. 14:09 Cincinnati Curved Side Car (Unk#) Moving past Fulton Bank, North onto Queen St. 14:12 Birney car (Unk#) heading north up N. Queen St. 14:15 Yorgos on the left and the Old YMCA across the street in the Background 14:17 New Holland Pike, Lancaster Cemetery on the left. 14:20 New Holland Pike passing Armstrong Cork, blue shingles cottage in the background. 14:24 New Holland Pike and Franklin St. 14:26 New Holland Pike in front of RCA 14:35 New Holland Pike & Pleasure Rd 14:45 Crossing New Holland Pike where Lancaster Country Club sits 14:50 Brill Car #54 (NHRS Special) Backs up to the Conestoga River heading for a photo run-by. Trolley Pole would be raised on other side if going to Lancaster 15:01 Brill Car #54 (NHRS Special) Crossing New Holland Pike right after bridge over the Conestoga heading towards Ephrata 15:15 Brill Car #54 (NHRS Special) Emerging From cut crossing Pine Dr and aligning with New Holland Pike towards Ephrata, Bonus horse and buggy. 15:42 Brill car #54 (NHRS Special) moving out of siding near what is now Lancaster County Christian School 15:59 Brill Car #54 (NHRS Special) Entering Mechanicsburg Junction, Ephrata bound. 16:22 Just after crossing Peace Road, Telephone poles are still there today. 16:25 Small curve before aligning to broad street in Akron 16:29 Climbing the hill into Ephrata, Cincinnati Curved Side Car (Unk#) descending heading toward Akron 16:43 looking north Birney Car #54 (NHRS Special) pauses in Ephrata on Main St. The Royer Pharmacy building can be seen behind 16:52 Brill Car #54 (NHRS Special) Turns right on to Lake St. off Main St. in Ephrata on its trip back to Lancaster. 17:18 Brill Car #54 (NHRS Special) Slinks south of Ephrata crossing Fulton St. 17:49 Brill Car #54 (NHRS Special) Heads south across the Tallmadge trestle, Railfans scrambling up Talmadge trestle bridge abutment.

The P.T.C. film is circa 1952 to 1953. Note in the scenes of the Germantown car barn, one of the all-electric PCC cars still has a gray roof. And in the scene of what looks like Luzerne car barn, there is an air-electric PCC car with a gray roof. There are shots of the Bridge Street Terminal and the Frankford car barn. Rt. 66 was still a trolley line, with double end 5200 type cars. It wasn't converted to trackless trolleys until 1955. Rt. 3 and Rt. 5 had not gotten the second hand PCC cars yet. They came in 1954. Note, the small 100 series Brill trackless trolley, seen on Rt. 61 Ridge Avenue, still had it's gray roof. That shot might have been taken in front of the old Ridge car barn. But it possibly could have been taken at Allegheny car barn. There was a time that Rt. 61 trackless trolleys worked out of Allegheny. They deadheaded from Ridge & Allegheny to the barn at 26th & Allegheny. I have photos of them in Allegheny car barn and on Allegheny Avenue. I'm not sure of the exact date they were switched over to Ridge car barn.

22:37 Definitely the approach to the Damen elevated Northwest route (currently Blue Line -O'Hare bound). You can see the slight kink in the track just north of the station. The station is dark stained from the dust from coal furnaces, diesel and leaded fuel pollution. The one landmark building is off camera top right is the Northwest Tower (now the Robey hotel).

My Great Grandfather, Norman Hawkins was a Trolley Operator.

when the X game happened, I was probably the only one that rollerblade through that tunnel and went down that hill next to the tunnel. Hit the stop sign but I'm good.

I came to providence in the 90s. what the hell happened to the trollies? I live in Florida now, and in my opinion, Rhode Island is the best state to retire and have clarity of mind, especially since the fall looks so beautiful. God, I miss Providence.

Could have done without the huge countdown clock...Nice if it could be deleted since already clock at bottom of vid... Anyway, certainly better days for trains than today....5:30: Cool Gantlet track across bridge !! Great movies ! Thanks..

They should bring these lines back.They would attract lots of riders and visitors.Such a shame they’re all gone,seemed like such a nice scenic stress free way of commuting.

Looks like Eleanor Roosevelt was guest signing autographs.The Blue Ridge Mountain locomotive was a steep climb.Gotta love the rare interior video of #26.The film in between two car.Too bad these lines weren’t still around.

Thank you Harry Sell.These are incredibly rare videos i love watching.Its something else seeing how America got around with such efficiency as compared to today.Love seeing nostalgic railroads and trolley routes throughout America caught on early films.Thanks again

then the oil companies lobbied to destroy all the rail systems in favor of roads

General Motors and Firestone took down the street cars here in the 1950`s and replaced them with buses...we had dependable reliable public transportation everywhere in the us until then..in my town the buses suck..what about yours ?

The trolleys in Boston are obviously bigger.

About 5 years before my time.

Baltimore was definitely so beautiful back then. There’s no denying the beauty of our city. But despite that ,I still wouldn’t want to live bk In those time. I grew up hearing nightmare stories of terror from my older relatives about not being able to walk two blocks over because they were of the Wrong “persuasion” And thats just the tip of the iceberg… It’s easy to look at old film of our beautiful city and daydreaming of “ the good ole days” But just remember for some , those times were FAR from “ the good ole days”

I like watching these videos and compare them to now. I can see that our light rail uses some of the old tracks and routes. And if I'm not mistaken some of those tracks are still there or just buried under the asphalt.

Oh how I yearn for Chicago in this era. The newest vehicle I saw was a 1952 so that’s probably the correct year for this film. Chicago used to be a really great place, but so then was the rest of the world. I remember going to Chicago in the 60’s & 70’s and it was very exciting to someone growing up 2 hours away in a small town.

Someone must have been fascinated by trains.

A year after I was born! Great memories of how Lexington Market used to be! I rode the streetcar once as a young child. My mom and I were headed to Liberty Heights Avenue by way of Garrison Blvd.

I know this film is older than 1957...I recognize the cars better than I do the trains. These are what automobiles looked like AFTER the Capone era til the roughly 1955.

Anyone else more impressed with that cable supported snow remover?

2:04 reminds me of my family driving down to Maurice Mandel & Co ( another Furniture showroom located on Wabash) in 1983 or 84 to get my sister a trunk for college.

At 11;28 there is a shot of a young man . That many railfans called Willy lump lump. A nice guy picked on by the groups he was in. He lived in Brooklyn and came down for this trip. As he aged he got old and very ugly. Not a bad guy, He was OK to me. He has been dead for many years. Never lived to see his love, the streetcars come back. Notice how the photographer follows him in the film. Like anyone that was different or even gay. The group mocked him. That was so the photographer could show Willy to others in NY or where ever the film was shown. In the old days these films were only shown in rail meetings or people's housing.

maybe because of similar statures nevertheless smaller American cities like Pittsburgh, Baltimore and even SLC fascinate me..diverse origins back then up against today's prescribed Corporaterias.. . . .

I love the history.

My Goodness! This footage almost makes me feel as if I could reach out and "touch" the days of my youth during which I both saw and rode a number of these trains, especially the "L" and the IC electric commuters.

Great video, good views of the interchange at Westfield and way from Mayville. Beings back many memories.