CITIZEN JOURNALISM:
The National Capital Trolley Museum has 14 vintage streetcars in its collection, including some from as far away as Belgium. Six of the streetcars were in operation on D.C. streets.
The oldest D.C. streetcar in the museum’s collection dates back to 1898. It was assigned to the Pennsylvania Avenue route.
O. Roy Chalk, president of the D.C. Transit System, donated streetcar DCTS 1101 to the museum after its last run on Jan. 28, 1962. On that day, the car was adorned with a banner that read: “DC Transit/Last Day/of Streetcars.”
After the streetcar network was dismantled, most of the cars were destroyed or sold.
Of the hundreds of streetcars that once rode Washington streets, only about 20 remain. The only D.C. streetcar still housed in the city is in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Three other cars that were housed by the museum were destroyed in a fire in 2003.
- Joseph Young
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