Newark City Subway - Last Day of PCC cars in 2001

[@an2niotransitproductions813]

These look like busses on train tracks. Look so enjoyable to ride!

[@tomservo75]

My observation exactly, especially when they get above ground. I've ridden them on them many times when I was living in Newark as a student. The novelty does wear off after a while.

[@steveschlackman4503]

@@tomservo75 The Newark PCC cars are long gone.

[@MonnyYell]

As a child I loved buses and trains, but the Newark City Subway and Path Train were treats. Branch Brook Park to Downtown Newark, Newark Penn Station to 33rd St ❤️

[@SuperRickyMan123]

I live in Minneapolis, which had a streetcar network with PCC cars before it closed in the 1950s and around 30 of the PCCs were given to NJ transit for the Newark City Subway. Even though they’re gone in NJ, you can still ride them at the streetcar museum here every weekend in the spring, summer, and fall. It’s always nice to hear their bell go through the neighborhood on a warm day while you’re at Lake Harriet right across the street.

[@TheHappyCooker68]

The Newark PCCs were purchased by Twin Cities Rapid Transit in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

[@robertko5425]

Now many of these NJ Transit PCC cars that operated on the 7 CITY SUBWAY line have found a new home in San Francisco California and in regular service as well. Also Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport Maine has some and are used in excursions as well.

[@steveschlackman4503]

I rode and loved these cars in the 1980's. I miss them but they were hot and noisy in the summer.

[@sneadh1]

I like PCCs except that the seats are way to small for a tall person! It makes them like a bus.

[@luislaplume8261]

The ceiling fans were small and only 3 inside.

[@ArtStoneUS]

One of the reasons they become unpopular was other than one PCC that was modified in Washington DC, PCCs did not have air conditioning. The dynamic braking heated a resistor bank inside the car. If the windows were open it was tolerable, but the cranks rarely worked and later models had sealed windows.

[@Tubes12AX7k]

That is a really tight turn for a trolley loop.

[@raymondmuench3266]

Remember riding n the '70's. Was fun to see the old Public Service livery and logo from those days.

[@bigburs1]

Rode one of these recently in San Francisco. A number of these cars went there and were recently rebuilt entirely and are now running in active service about 20 of them were repainted into a heritage fleet of different transit system liveries including the original New Jersey Public Services Coordinated livery. They look wonderful I will post a vid soon

[@charlescohen9471]

This is what happens the pcc cars ran from January 1954 to August 24 2001 then on August 27 2001 the Newark light rail began service

[@jesusaguilarmoreno9449]

Se

[@LSM_Lover]

IRM (Illinois Railway Museum) has one of these PPC cars in their display buildings. I think it had the pantograph.

[@angelguzman8737]

got a lot of Childhood memories in the late 90s riding this train 🚂

[@sekaidaniels9865]

A cool retro look for the inercity subway' s.

[@LibertyRailfan]

Great video, I miss the Newark PCCs wished they kept just a few...

[@maxmartinez8396]

Li

[@jasonervoes1326]

This is awesome 😊

[@mr.conductorfromsts4204]

In memory of PCC Streetcar of New Jersey Transit: Newark Light Rail.

[@josephheston9238]

Meanwhile, plenty of VW Bugs are missing their horns. Anyhoo, never got a chance to ride on the NJ Transit PCCs, but being from Philly, did get to ride them when SEPTA had them. Well the NJT cars are in San Fran (along with some of SEPTA's), and probably the good thing about it is that they chucked the crappy GE brake solenoids in favor of the more superior WABCO solenoids.

[@cringedriver6915]

Boston still has there PCC cars in the mattapan-Ashmont red line they have ac and there still running good newark could have kept there PCC until 2010

[@ArtStoneUS]

About all that is original on those pcc's in Boston is the name plate. One of the reasons PCCs did not have air conditioning is a single overhead line at 600 volts DC does not have enough power to run the air conditioning without adding additional substations. It's the nature of DC that the further you get away from the substation the lower the voltage becomes.

[@trainsofthebay5472]

Why get rid of perfectly good, working technology? Only thing these might've needed is an upgrade for full accessibility (which I think San Francisco handles with high-level platforms/ramps and gap fillers). Granted, that might've been expensive, but I suspect less expensive than replacing the fleet.

[@trainluvr]

Sometimes there are problems with metal fatigue, spare parts availability etc. Saving money is not always paramount. NJT had money to spend to buy itself increased capacity, air-conditioning, compatibility with HB LRT, Broad Street LRT and the increased ridership that goes along with all those things. I do wish that more thought were giving to better aesthetic design and, where appropriate, retro design of new cars and stations. Most things built today have a ll the charm of a medical waiting room. This is done to avoid protracted negotiations with opinionated stakeholders, lawsuits, discouraging the homeless and increased design and maintenance costs. Meanwhile, transit in North America largely remains a transportation choice of last resort for people with no options, or those with long expensive car commutes.

[@Rubycon99]

@@trainluvr "Most things built today have all the charm of a medical waiting room." That is perfect. I'm going to remember that one!

[@josephvitielo1693]

Needed air condition only had fans

[@steveschlackman4503]

@@josephvitielo1693 The cars were hot and noisy

[@joestewart8914]

I wish the PCCs could have lasted forever.

[@surrealchemist]

Summertime wasn’t very fun if you were a commuter though. They have no a/c and all you could do is crack a window.

[@moew1051]

They operate them on Boston on the Mattapan Trolley

[@wuloki]

A few cities in Belgium still have (refurbished) PCC cars: kzbin.info/www/bejne/kIukfHqJipeXrMk (Antwerp, Belgium) Then there are a lot of East-European clones, mostly "Tatra" trams, still in use: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jIu8fHpjgtythdk (Dresden, Germany)

[@IzzyBone10000]

@@moew1051 Our Mattapan trolleys are retrofitted with AC and heat. They are also being refurbed for another 10 years of service.

[@a.b.sproductionsllc]

Joshua K No they weren’t but there was a bit of a breeze you would get from the old window. As a kid growing up on the north side I used to love getting on them old cars and going downtown with my mother.

[@RealSergiob466]

Nostalgia

[@IzzyBone10000]

Love NJ Transits color scheme. Black and white.

[@EpicThe112]

Had NJ Transit refurbished them to comply with Bush 41 American Disabilities Act of 1990 they would look like something identical to SEPTA 15 tram line and MBTA Ashmont PCC with air conditioning units on the rooftop and wheelchair lift.

[@kevinwong6588]

MBTA PCCs meet ADA using mini high ramps or manual lifts.

[@eugeneking1462]

I went to NYC in 1980 but didn't get to ride the trolley in Newark. I visited the Minnesota streetcar museum in 2009 but the PCC wasn't running that day. I am overdue for a visit to SF so I will try to catch one there on the 'F' line.

[@MonnyYell]

Eugene King correction, we call them Newark City Subways 🤣

[@a.b.sproductionsllc]

Eugene King In 1980 these cars were under Public Service, around 1982 they were painted NJ transit.

[@eugeneking1462]

@@a.b.sproductionsllc I went to NYC on business in 1978. I should have ridden the Public Service cars then but didn't know about them. :-(

[@a.b.sproductionsllc]

Eugene King They’re easy to pass by too because they only run about 5 miles, and doesn’t cover too much of Newark, just North Newark and now neighboring towns of Belleville and Bloomfield then heads downtown

[@Likeroftrains-zl1su]

Hello, I was wondering if I could get permission to use clips from this video? I am working on a documentary about transit proposals in New Jersey and this would be perfect for when I talk about Newark. You will be given full credit in the video of course.

[@michaelreilly8890]

Remember when all the buses and the city subway were run by Public Service and the cars were gray and white with a dark blue stripe separating the colors.

[@mikedrown2721]

PCC car number 7 is now at the New York State Transportation Museum south of Rochester New York. Come on up and ride it again!

[@jcuskixyz]

nice

[@wence25games89]

They were built to last!

[@jaymorgenthal9479]

The F Market St line in San Francisco has many PCC cars painted in colors of them of the different cities they ran in.

[@trainluvr]

Yes! And isn't it a joy?

[@Benthetrainkid]

They should've kept a few for work or charter services

[@radiogoodguy6287]

Thanks for the memories! I rode those PCC trolleys numerous times. I grew up in Newark and continue to work there. Love the tunnel shots. The best place to sit was either up front so you could look out the front window, or the very last seat so you get the amusement park ride with the bounce & sway! Have you shot the Newark Light Rail?

[@rozeenajamil]

It's crazy how this is actually standard gauge track.

[@trainluvr]

no

[@42luke93]

You mean the normal width for local motives?

[@rozeenajamil]

I've measured the rails and it is 4 ft 8.5 inches

[@42luke93]

@@rozeenajamil Cool, I can see how it’s possible safety, no voids. Easy to measure it, glad you did it. I assume that is standard gague then.

[@michelsmet2611]

I am from Brussels, Belgium, and enjoyed riding the Newark PCC cars ! Fantastic car ! Where are they now ?

[@angelguzman8737]

3 of them are in a museum in New Jersey while the others have been donated to museums all over the country

[@NickyD]

RIP Twin Towers

great video

[@joezegers]

They were replaced by the Kinkisharyo trains

[@javonbrandon]

The last trolley car is gone at Grove Street

[@blakemcnamara9105]

At least we can still ride them in Philly and San Francisco.

[@trainluvr]

Don't forget the Mattapan Line in Boston and El Paso, Tx too.

[@AaronJrBrundidge]

47 years (1954-2001)

[@Wtmuradiotvcom]

And i got to ride in one when i was a kid

[@burgegerm7878]

True in regards to service in Newark, NJ though these cars were built even before that(40s) for the "twin city" transit system in Minneapolis/St. Paul MN.

[@kylescheffler8483]

Actually, the Newark City Subway (later known as the Newark Light Rail), was first established in 1935.

[@jvohanian]

They weren't air conditioned nor ADA accessible but man, the system was so much faster back then. The cars were nice and speedy and they ran like clockwork, every couple of minutes during rush hour and even off peak service was pretty frequent. You had to ring for your stop like a bus and if nobody rang and nobody was at a stop, the car didn't even stop - it just kept moving. Sometimes you could get from Penn to Franklin in as little as ten minutes. The line has slowed down immensely since then. Yeah, the cars are ADA compliant but the AC in them sucks and they just lumber along, making several stop-and-proceeds along the way, not to mention the many penalty stops that one may encounter. A one way trip from Penn to Branch Brook can now take almost twenty minutes, and on weekends, forget it. Every 25 minutes; they might as well not even run it. And that Broad Street extension is useless, with a car every 30 minutes.A retrograde, if you ask me.

[@novuutheneolf3073]

Why do most of the streetcars have a trolley cable AND a pantograph at the same time?

[@michelsmet2611]

The overhead wires had to be adapted for pantographs ; at one time, the trolley poles were no longer fit and pantographs were used for a few weeks before withdrawal.

[@javonbrandon]

If I could ride this one more time

[@mikezach3116]

19 years later, the world went to hell.

[@trainluvr]

No. You're sitting in an air conditioned room commenting on railfan videos. Things could be a lot worse and still not be 'hell'.

[@mikezach3116]

@@trainluvr things are already worse now and i will continue bashing this time. i am never gonna leave it alone. i am never gonna stop talking about it. yes i am sitting in an air conditioned room. i can comment whatever the hell i want. can't stop me. We're already in hell. Since last year. Even now. I even lost friends to insanity. But one question, how can it be worse then it already is? i just don't see it being more worse. nothing can compare. These times are just screwed up.

[@visionist7]

Two weeks later the world went to Hell

[@michaelharris7820]

The 9/11 began twin towers destroyed all people's lives gone

[@michaelmorales1475]

Rip

[@gregodessite]

Nostalgia