Historic trolley heading to museum
No. 728, a wooden, West Penn Railways trolly, built in Connellsville in 1923 sits in the garage of the late Edward LaVern Mitchell, along a metal Pittsbugh car, vintage trucks, cars, motorcycles, and other items. No. 728 was the workhorse of the Uniontown-to-Greensbug route.
Bill Fronczek, of the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in Washington, stands beside a circa 1920s snow sweeper, which used to brush snow from the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority rail lines in Philadelphia.
Bill Fronczek, of the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in Washington, stands beside a circa 1920s snow sweeper, which used to brush snow from the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority rail lines in Philadelphia.
LEMONT FURNACE — A retired trolley is taking a circuitous route from North Union Township back to the area where it had its glory days.
The circa 1920s snow sweeper, which used to brush snow from Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA) rail lines in Philadelphia, was purchased from the estate of the late Edward LaVern Mitchell, who had collected more than a dozen antique trolley cars at his sprawling 10-acre property on Edison Street. It is now on its way to the Electric City Trolley Museum in Scranton.
The wooden sweeper car was one of three vintage trolleys that Mitchell had stored inside a large garage, which preserved the Philippine rattan bristles on the circular brush that swept snow from the tracks until the car was mothballed in the early 1970s.
“It was a Philadelphia snow sweeper,” said Mitchell’s daughter, Kathy Zapotosky, who sold the car.
She said her father, who worked as an electrician, dreamed about building a museum to display the 12 to 14 trolleys cars he collected over the years. Unfortunately, he died in February at the age of 81 and weather destroyed all of the cars except for the three that were stored indoors.
“His dream was to build a small trolley museum with a track to run them,” Zapotosky said. “He wanted to live to 100. He made it to 81.”
The main attraction might have been car No. 728, a wooden, West Penn Railways trolley that was built in Connellsville in 1923 and was the workhorse of the Uniontown-to-Greensburg route a generation ago.
At 58 feet in length, car No. 728 featured a smoking lounge and restrooms, and it was bi-directional, meaning it could operated from either end, said Bill Fronczek of the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in Washington.
After car No. 728 was retired, it was put to use as a souvenir shop at Rainbow Park in Haydentown, Zapotosky said.
She said a friend of her father worked on the car and he rode many times with his friend.
Mitchell was a member of the Washington museum, which a member of the Association of Railroad Museums along with the Scranton museum, said Fronczek, who was helping his buddies from the Scranton museum load the sweeper onto a trailer.
Jim Lilly, the truck driver who also was helping, said he helped load the sweeper on a trailer to ship it to Mitchell when he bought it for $1 in 1974.
Back then, SEPTA sold 24 retired trolley cars for the same price, Lilly said.
The fate of car No. 728, a metal Pittsburgh car that was stored in the garage and the vintage trucks, cars, motorcycles and other vehicles Mitchell had collected hasn’t been determined, but Zapotosky said she is considering selling them through an auction.