Twin City Rapid Transit 322
 |
Minnesota Streetcar Museum |
Built in:1946 by St. Louis Car Company (ord#1653)
Out-of-service/Retired:1990 (1982)
Type of car:streetcar (PCC, postwar)
Current Owner:Minnesota Streetcar Museum(Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Car History by Frank Hicks
Twin Cities Rapid Transit 322
The only Minneapolis PCC car preserved as such is this car. TCRT 322 was part of the first large-scale order of PCC's built for the Minneapolis/St. Paul streetcar network. Built for two-man operation, 322 was converted to one-man configuration within five years after construction. The car's career in Minnesota was fairly short-lived: by 1953 TCRT had replaced all of its streetcars with buses and put its PCC's up for sale. Thirty of them were bought by PSNJ, which decided to upgrade the 18-year old Newark City Subway rather than replace it with bus service. Car 322, now PSNJ 3, spent the next 25 years of its life shuttling back and forth along the four-mile Newark subway route until it was bought by the Cleveland RTA for service on the Shaker Heights line. In this capacity it was used largely as a back-up for the older Shaker Heights PCC's, which were failing frequently, and for the new Breda light rail vehicles that were just being delivered. After 1982 the PCC's retained by the RTA were only rarely used, and in 1990 car 3 was acquired by MTM and moved to Minneapolis. Between 1992 and 2000 the car underwent a complete rebuilding and restoration to original condition, and since that project was completed has been in regular service at MTM's Como-Harriet Streetcar Line.
Ownership History:Twin City Rapid Transit #322 1946-1953 / Public Service Coordinated Transport #3 1953-1971 / New Jersey Transit #3 1971-1978 / Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority #3 1978-1990 / 1st preserved by Minnesota Transportation Museum 1990-2005 / Minnesota Streetcar Museum(Minneapolis, Minnesota) 2005-present
Facts and Figures
| Status:operated occasionally | Gauge:4'8.5" |
| Construction:steel | Roof type:AR | Ended:SE |
| Length:46'5" | Width:9'0" | Weight:37900# |
| #Seats:54 | #Wheels/Conf.:8 (B-B) | Total HP:220 |
| Trucks:Clark B2 | Brakes:Electric | Compressor:n/a |
| Motors:GE 1220E1 (4) | Voltage (if not 600DC): |
PHOTO
PHOTO