The Terrible Trolley returns to the Pittsburgh area

Apr 21, 2023

The Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in Washington County is getting a big black and gold addition.

They’ve acquired "The Terrible Trolley" from a private collector in Ohio.

Executive Director Scott Becker tells KDKA Radio the trolley was build in 1949 to run from Pittsburgh to Washington and Pittsburgh to Charleroi.

It was then acquired by the Port Authority, now Pittsburgh Regional Transit.

After the Steelers won their fourth Super Bowl, a nine-year-old girl wrote then Pittsburgh Mayor Richard Caliguiri asking him to celebrate the championship by painting a trolley black and gold.

He responded and said he would pass it along to Port Authority. A few weeks later, "The Terrible Trolley" was born.

It operated in black and gold for six years, was repainted and then retired in 1988.

But it was then repaired by Port Authority and was in operation another 10 years before it was finally retired in 1998.

The trolley was privately owned by a collector in Ashley, Ohio by a collector.

When Becker called the man that owned it to see if it was available, the collector happened to just sell the building and land where the trolley was and the museum acquired it.

Volunteers are the museum are now working restoring it back into "The Terrible Trolley" and will have it up and running for people to ride when it's restoration is completed.

The Pennsylvania Trolley Museum is open 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday June-August.

Get more information here.