Capital Transit Rolls Again in DC

This short 16 mm film was discovered by Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 689 recently and converted. It appears to be shot in the early to mid 1950s.

Note African Americans working on track maintenance. Company segregation prohibiting African American bus and streetcar operators did not end until 1955. Some skilled maintenance departments were not desegregated until much later.

The Amalagamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 689 African American maintenance members were full members of the union with all rights and benefits at that time.

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Tags:

• ATU
• 689
• local
• transit
• union
• bus
• rail
• subway
• train
• public
• transportation
• WMATA
• Metro
• history
• Capital
• integration

[ROCKSTARCRANE]

Whoa....the pole wasn't up!! How'd that work??

[atulocal689]

Congress prohibited overhead lines in a defined "central core" of the city so power was grabbed under the car. When the car reached the limits of the "core," power switched to overhead wires. A worker was stationed at the "plowpit" to change the power from overhead to underground and vice versa.

[atulocal689]

Yes, the first scenes are taken in front of the "Northern Division," 4615 14th Street NW (from both sides of street)--still in use today by WMATA as a bus garage. Some later scenes downtown appear to be 14th & F NW(Hahn's Shoe Store visible). The track repair scenes are believed to be near 8th & Penn SE on the 92 line and the last bus scenes are leaving the old "Federal Triangle" at 13th & PA (Warner Theater is clearly visible). The rail scenes appear to be shot earlier than the bus scenes.

[kjrehberg]

Within DC they used a plow to get the current from a slot embedded in the roadway. Manhattan has a similar system, buried under decades of pavement. Single-car streetcars don't appear as efficient as I thought they would be. A modern bus appears to carry just as many people, and pick them up on the side of the road (instead of in the middle of the road). However, today's buses run on diesel and natural gas. A really ponderous problem. I am excited to see how the Benning Road streetcars do.

[SUPERDAVIDLEVINE]

very good to bad the video is in such poor shape i enjoyedd the old white busesoh,I would love to see it some one took a movie the lenght of th 30 line and 72 Ga. I grew up thrree l blocks way strang late at night I could hear thee last cars come in before I knowriding my bike I cold hear the Metro funy to bad he couldnot have been here a yearier and shot the 82 to branchvile whenI was ten I thought I was in a time worpoh, when I was living in NE the old type ofstreet carsscared me

[highcountryRESCUE52]

i rememebr in chicago town in the `1960s. we had over head busess there on belmont and fullerton lines .streetcars operating there aand after that deal it was taken down for the "new look" flxables buses. yukkk

[aattura]

GREAT FILM!! Mid 50's-- 1955 Chevy visible- and lookit ALL those Booby Sox! LOL!!

Last few seconds, where it shows the Warner Theatre-- I remember that drugstore there-- which is once again a drugstore (CVS this time). THAT was the area where in 1955 or 1956 Mom, Sis and I saw Marylin Monroe walking towards the National Theatre, with her agent. She looked different without her makeup but just as lovely.

[hornerm5]

Those streetcars you see is combine overhead and 3rd rail types.

[1royalpalm]

In the late '50s I used to ride the part of the line from the Branchville loop, Riverdale loop, and Mt. Rainer loop. From Mt. Rainer I would ride the trolley to 5th and G Streets, to the olde Federal Power Commission where my mother worked. My step father used to ride the line to Glen Echo amusement park back in the '30s and early '40s. He told me the trolley driver would open it up (speed) on that straigh line. I can't recall how fast, but 45 MPH rings a bell.

[boazrg]

@atulocal689 New York City (Third Avenue Railway) Used the same system in Manhattan so no trolley wires would be visible. I Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens, cars operated with trolley poles.

[SqueakyHinge]

This film had to be made in 1955 or early 1956 as there is a 1955 Chevrolet and a 19556/56 Buick riding the streets. My father was a conductor in the 20's and I still have his letter of resignation signed and dated. I was born on Capitol Hill about 4 blocks away from the Capitol in Old Providence Hospital..now a park. And we lived just on the other side of Sousa Bridge near Barney Circle where the trolleys turned around.

[MRTUBE1224]

what a treasure .....

[BurgerChefGuy]

I Like Both because they each have an advantage in one way or another. One advantage of the bus is that a line can instantly be started, terminated, detoured, or re-routed without the expense and labor of laying, removing, or relocating tracks, ...as well as installing an electrical source. A trolley also cannot negotiate / change lanes around a blocked track from a stalled trolley in front, or turn up a side street to detour a traffic jam or closed road. Buses are most versatile in that way.