Museum acquires historic electric trolley car from area | News, Sports, Jobs - The Sentinel

Nov 19, 2024

Photo courtesy of ROCKHILL TROLLEY MUSEUMA photo of historic car 23 from the Lewistown and Reedsville Electric Railway.

ROCKHILL FURNACE — A piece of Juniata Valley history will be restored by the Rockhill Trolley Museum in Rockhill Furnace, Huntingdon County, and eventually return to service.

Abandoned nearly a century ago, car 23 from the Lewistown and Reedsville Electric Railway is one of the pieces that the trolley museum has acquired. They also are securing York Railways car 162.

Joel Salomon, president of the Rockhill Trolley Museum and head of restoration, said Railways To Yesterday, Inc., operators of the trolley museum has acquired the two historic electric trolley car bodies from the collection of the late Wendell J. Dillinger at the Middletown and Hummelstown Railroad in Middletown, Dauphin County.

“The museum plans to restore and operate one of the cars while preserving the other as an exhibit,” Salomon explained.

Car 23 will be the second-fully restored trolley car at the museum to have been transformed from a trolley car at the museum to a cottage and returned to an operating trolley.

“Having originally operated in revenue service less than 40 miles from the museum, car 23 will be the most local car in the collection,” Salomon added.

Car 23 was built by the J.G. Brill Co. in 1914 for Jersey Central Traction Co. One year later, it was purchased by the Lewistown and Reedsville Electric Railway, known as L&R.

The L&R operated about 12 miles of track between Lewistown, Burnham, Yeagertown and Reedsville. Following abandonment of trolley operations in 1933, car 23 survived as a summer cottage near Lewistown from 1933 to 2002. Car 23 will need a complete restoration, including locating all of the mechanical and electrical components required to return it to an operating trolley car.

Car 162 was built by J.G. Brill Co. in 1924 for York Railways and abandoned in 1939. Both cars 162 and 163 survived together as summer cottages until flooded in 1972 by Hurricane Agnes.

With car 163 already restored and operating at the museum since 1989, car 162 will be preserved as a cottage. “This will help educate visitors and tell the story of how trolley car bodies often led a second left after no longer serving the need as public transportation,” Salomon said.

He added the first step in the preservation process is to relocate the cars from Middletown to Rockhill Furnace, about 80 miles. “Donations toward this expense will be gratefully accepted,” Salomon said. “Any remaining funds after transporting the cars will be applied to restoration or preservation work of the cars. Donations may be designated to either car.”

The trolley museum was founded in 1960 with a single trolley from Johnstown, and was incorporated in 1962. With the addition of these two trolleys, the museum’s collection has grown to 25 cars from as close as Lewistown and as far away as Brazil and Portugal.

For more information, visit www.rockhilltrolley.org or find them on Facebook.

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