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New Stuff (February 2017)
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First Run: April 28, 1940

A note from LSH which answers a mystery



Roster
Vehicle Number Builder Model Year Notes
700-799 Pacific Car and
Foundry (PCF) Brill
40SMT 1940 All except 798 retired by 1963
798 preserved at the Metro Employee Historic Vehicle Association
800-934 Twin Coach 40GWFT 1940 1963: 60 remaining 1940 Twins renumbered to 600-659
1971-72: surviving 1940 Twins were renumbered to 600-632
604 preserved at the Oregon Electric Railway Museum
633 preserved at the Illinois Railway Museum Trolley Bus Department
643 preserved at the Metro Employee Historic Vehicle Association
935-952 Twin Coach 40GWFT 1942 935-943 GE powered, 944-952 WH powered
1942 GE Twins retired by 1966, 1942 wH Twins retired by 1971
953-976 Twin Coach 44GTT 1943 1971: 10 in service
1974 renumbering: 958, 961, 955, 972, and 975 to 953-957
Eventually numbered into the 600 series
636 preserved at the Metro Employee Historic Vehicle Association
977-991 Pullman
Standard
44CX 1943 GE powered, out of service by 1970
992-1006 Pullman
Standard
41CA-100-44CX 1944 Eventually renumbered to 600 series
1005 preserved at the Metro Employee Historic Vehicle Association
648 preserved at the Oregon Electric Railway Museum
900-1009 AM
General
10240T 1979 Running gear salvaged and used in Gillig coaches
1008 preserved at the Metro Employee Historic Vehicle Association
4000-4045 M-A-N SG-T310 1986 4020 preserved at the Illinois Railway Museum Trolley Bus Department
5000-5235 Breda 350 1990-91 Dual mode articulated "Tunnel" buses
60 converted to electric trolley, renumbered to 4200-4259 in 2003
5034 preserved at the Metro Employee Historic Vehicle Association
4100-4199 Gillig Phantom ETB 2001 New bodies -- running gear pulled from AM Generals
4300-4409 New Flyer Xcelsior XT40 2014  
4500-4563 New Flyer Xcelsior XT60 2015  


The 70s


Despite a severe contraction of the trolleybus network in 1963 and a further retrenchment in 1970, a number of lines remained in the late 1970s, served by a venerable fleet of Twin Coaches built between 1940 and 1944 and Pullman-Standards dating from 1943 and 1944. There was even a single Brill built by Pacific Car and Foundry in 1940, retired in 1963, brought back from rusty oblivion and renovated in 1975 to answer a shortage of coaches - as were three Twins during the same period.

The aging buses bore three liveries: green and white, introduced by Seattle Transit in 1955; red and grey from 1963, and the white, yellow, ochre and brown scheme chosen when the system passed to King County Metro in 1973. The resurrected Brill sported yet a fourth, the cream, dark green and black with silver roof that had heralded the new fleet in 1940 but that had given way after World War 2 to a more easily-maintained cream and grey.

All surviving trolleys had been renumbered at least once, some twice, even thrice. Seattle Transit did renumberings in 1964 and 1971-73; Metro consolidated the roster into a single block in 1974. And that's why the numbers vary all over the place.

Renaissance came with closure of the system in 1978 for complete rebuilding and the opening of an expanded network with new coaches in 1979. The Saturday after closure saw a farewell tour; several of the pictures in the Pullman and Twins sections were taken then.


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