Washington, District of Columbia

At the time of the Great Depression a standardized "streamlined" trolley, the PCC car, was developed in an effort to revive the transit industry. The PCC comes from "President's Conference Committee", a committee of owners of transit systems throughout the country. Capital Transit (later D. C. Transit) in Washington adopted the PCC design with one unique modification. Their cars had a "plow" device under the car which picked up power from a third rail under the streets in the central part of the District of Columbia and a conventional trolley pole for use outside of the central city. Car 1470 shown here has been preserved at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke.

Sept. 2005 photo