Pennsylvania Trolley Museum acquires ‘Terrible Trolley’
Photos: Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum
The Terrible Trolley on a Pittsburgh street in the 1980s
Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum
The Terrible Trolley celebrated the Pittsburgh Steelers’ four Super Bowl wins between 1975 and 1980.
The Pennsylvania Trolley Museum has acquired not a terrible trolley but the Terrible Trolley.
The Terrible Trolley would traverse the streets of Pittsburgh in the 1970s and early 1980s, painted in black and gold to celebrate the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Super Bowl wins in 1975, 1976, 1979 and 1980. The museum, located in Chartiers Township across from the Washington County Fairgrounds, acquired the trolley on Wednesday.
The museum is planning on restoring the trolley to its black-and-gold paint scheme, and it will operate again after it is restored. The museum has also secured an NFL license agreement through the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Eamon Foundation, the charity designated by Myron Cope’s estate as the owner and beneficiary of the “Terrible Towel” trademark.
The streetcar was built in 1949 by the St. Louis Car Co. The car originally ran on Pittsburgh Railways’ Charleroi and Washington interurban lines. The Port Authority of Allegheny County retired the car in 1988 but rebuilt it and returned it to service in 1998. It ran until 1998, when it was retired for good.
Before the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum acquired the streetcar, it was privately owned in Ohio and stored indoors for 25 years.