CTCo 522 Needs Some Wheels

by National Capital Historical Museum Of Transportation Inc

About the Project

     Capital Traction Company 522 needs its wheels so visitors may see, and one day ride, one of the first electric street cars to operate in the Nation's Capital.  Once fully restored, CTCo 522 will enhance the Museum's semi-annual Cavalcade of Street Cars on the demonstration railway by being a "featured" car and enable expanded interpretation as a static exhibit in Street Car Hall.  The street car body work is done, but now CTCo 522 requires a particular truck (wheel set or undercarriage) to support the freshly painted woodwork.  Your donation to this campaign contributes to a proper Lord Baltimore truck for CTCo 522.
     This $53,000 project is supported in part by the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority, the Tom E. Dailey Foundation, and many generous individuals.  Help the Museum close the funding gap with your contribution, which is matched dollar-for-dollar.

     The Museum provides a unique interpretive experience among the attractions in Montgomery County as it demonstrates the mode of transportation which "built our cities." Having more street cars available for service on the railway draws more visitors to the Museum and to special events like the Cavalcade of Street Cars. In particular, CTCo 522 will generate more visitation because it is well over one hundred years old, has that period look and feel to it, and brings life to a local story. 

     Built in 1898, CTCo 522 was a typical single-truck, closed car with open platforms and clerestory windows below the deck roof.  A pair of sliding doors on each end of the body provided protection for the passengers riding within the car. Longitudinal upholstered seating offered space for twenty-six seated passengers with leather straps available for standees. Three clusters of three, bare lamps mounted against reflectors lighted the passenger compartment.  Interior woodwork included oak veneer decorated with  gold leaf striping and varnished mahogany.  These new cars tipped the scales at just under twenty thousand pounds and were twenty-five feet six inches long. The bodies rode on Lord Baltimore trucks equipped with conduit plows to supply current through K-9 controllers to two General Electric 1000 motors rated at thirty-five horsepower each.  Intended for service on former cable car lines, the cars had no trolley poles and attending hardware.  An order of the District Electric Railway Commission to enclose the open platforms made the cars rather unique by altering their classic lines.  The Capital Traction Company installed "portable vestibules,"  probably supplied by J.F. Sjoberg & Company of New York, to fulfill the requirement by January 31, 1905.   The Museum must add a trolley pole, but is otherwise returning CTCo 522 to its 1906 appearance.

Matching Sponsors

Our generous sponsors will contribute $1 for every $1 donated to this project up to $5,000 ! (pending matching fund availability)