Peter Witt streetcar

A Milanese Class 1500 car in the city's present yellow and white color scheme.

The Peter Witt streetcar was introduced by Cleveland Railway commissioner Peter Witt (1869-1948) who led the transit agency from 1911-1915 and designed a model of streetcar known by his name^[1] that was used in many North American cities, most notably in Toronto and Cleveland.

Contents

• 
  1 Features
  


• 
  2 History
  
  
  
  • 
    2.1 Operators
    
  
  
  • 
    2.2 Builders
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  3 See also
  


• 
  4 References
  

Features

Interior of a Peter Witt streetcar on the Toronto Transit Commission on October 30, 1928. Note the second crew member, sitting by the fare box, waiting to collect fares from exiting riders.

Sister ex-Milan Peter Witt car Class 1500 operating on the Embarcadero in San Francisco.

This design was distinguished from other streetcars of the era by its use of the center door as an exit only, with a conductor stationed inside just in front of the door. Passengers could board through the front doors without waiting or paying; they could pay the conductor immediately and sit in the rear of the car (in the nicer seats), or wait in front and pay just before they exited.^[1] This had the effect of reducing the car's dwell time at stops, improving schedule times and increasing capacity. Many vehicles were later converted to pay-as-you-enter operation in order to reduce the number of staff needed, but they continued to be known as Peter Witt cars.

History

A Peter Witt in Toronto, ca. 1960s

Mr. Witt completed the first prototype in 1914 and filed his patent for the car design in 1915. G.C. Kuhlman Car Company then delivered 130 cars of this design to Cleveland in 1915 and 1916. From this point the design was licensed to a number of cities that needed large capacity trolleys. Toronto Transportation Commission ordered 575 cars from 1921 to 1923 and operated them until 1965. Philadelphia Rapid Transit ordered 525 cars from 1923 to 1926, while also converting most of their 1,500 Nearside streetcar fleet to center exit models. Production continued until the introduction of the PCC streetcar in the mid-1930s.

Peter Witt cars were also built in Italy and used in several Italian cities, including Milan, where 200 out of 502 originally built class 1500 cars (introduced in 1928) are still in use up to this day. Additionally eleven ex-Milan cars can be seen today on the streets of San Francisco, where they operate on the F Market & Wharves streetcar line. Also in Italy, 30 heavily rebuilt Petter Witt cars are still in use in Naples.^[2]

In early 1930s, а group of Soviet engineers from Leningrad headed by designer D.I.Kondratyev visited the US and, on their return, adapted the American design to the local narrower loading gauge to start local production of the model (popularly known as "американка" (amerikanka, the Russian for "an American (lady)")) that was later used in the city for 45 years (in its last decades, together with other tram models), until mid-March, 1979, according to St.Petersburg Museum of the City's Electric Transport.^[3]

Besides their continued use in day-to-day service in Milan, San Francisco and (in a rebuilt form) Naples, Peter Witt cars have been preserved in several locations. Gomaco Trolley Company, a US streetcar renovation specialist, has bought 70 ex-Milan cars which it is offering to museums and heritage streetcar operators.^[4] In St Petersburg, Russia, museum there is a restored sample of the version once made and used in the city.^[3]

Operators

This ex-Toronto car has been restored to its 1921 livery, and is now preserved at the Halton County Radial Railway Museum.

This ex-Milan car, now operating in San Francisco, carries the two-tone green color scheme used by Milan from the 1930s to the 1970s.

An example of the rebuilt Peter Witt cars used in Naples.

Operators that used Peter Witt streetcars included:

Operator	City	State/Province	Country
Azienda Municipalizzata Trasporti (now Gruppo Torinese Trasporti)	Turin	Turin	Italy
Azienda Napoletana Mobilità	Naples	Naples	Italy
Azienda Trasporti Milanesi	Milan	Milan	Italy
Baltimore Transit Company	Baltimore	Maryland	United States
Brooklyn & Queens Transit	New York	New York	United States
Chicago Surface Lines	Chicago	Illinois	United States
Cleveland Railway	Cleveland	Ohio	United States
Dallas Railway & Terminal Co.	Dallas	Texas	United States
Department of Street Railways	Detroit	Michigan	United States
Empresa Municipal de Transportes	Madrid	Madrid	Spain
International Railway Co.	Buffalo	New York	United States
Los Angeles Railway	Los Angeles	California	United States
Louisville Railway	Louisville	Kentucky	United States
Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board	Melbourne	Victoria	Australia
New York State Railways	Rochester & Syracuse	New York	United States
Ottawa Transportation Commission	Ottawa	Ontario	Canada
Philadelphia Rapid Transit & Philadelphia Transportation Company	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania	United States
Porto Rico Railway, Light & Power Co.	San Juan		Puerto Rico
Rochester Industrial & Rapid Transit Railway	Rochester	New York	United States
San Francisco Municipal Railway	San Francisco	California	United States
Servicio de Transportes Eléctricos	Mexico City	Distrito Federal	Mexico
St. Louis Public Service Company	St. Louis	Missouri	United States
Toronto Transportation Commission / Toronto Transit Commission	Toronto	Ontario	Canada
United Railways & Electric Company	Baltimore	Maryland	United States

Builders

A Peter Witt streetcar in Milan - piazza Bottini terminus, near Stazione Lambrate. It wears the now-replaced orange livery.

Company	City	State/Province	Country
J.G. Brill Company	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania	United States
Canadian Car and Foundry	Montreal	Quebec	Canada
Carminati & Toselli	Milan	Milan	Italy
Cincinnati Car Company	Cincinnati	Ohio	United States
Officine Elettroferroviarie Tallero	Milan	Milan	Italy
Officine Ferroviarie Moncenisio	Condove	Turin	Italy
Officine Ferroviarie Meridionali del Vasto	Vasto	Chieti	Italy
G. C. Kuhlman Car Company	Cleveland	Ohio	United States
Ottawa Car Company	Ottawa	Ontario	Canada
Preston Car Company	Preston	Ontario	Canada
St. Louis Car Company	St. Louis	Missouri	United States

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Peter Witt streetcars.

• 
  PCC streetcar - Presidents' Conference Committee Car


• 
  Birney - Birney Safety Car


• Peter Witt (Toronto streetcar)

References

1. 
   ^ ^ab US 1180900, Witt, Peter, "P. Witt Street Railway Car", issued 1916 
   


2. 
   ^ Fabrizio Tellini, Sessantenni in linea, in I Treni, n. 316, giugno 2009, pp. 24-29.
   


3. 
   ^ ^ab Трамвайный поезд ЛМ-33 №4275 + ЛП-33 №4454 («Американка») - a page dedicated to the model on the museum website (in Russian) http://retro.tramway.ru/vagons/4275+4454.html
   


4. 
   ^ "Reconditioned Peter Witt Trolley". Gomaco Trolley Company. Retrieved 2016-03-21..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
   

This page is only for reference, If you need detailed information, please check here