Washington Trolley Museum 2009

This past weekend, the PA Trolley Museum hosted its annual antique truck show, which included the WWII vehicles of Co. K of the 28th Infantry – Bill Burress’s fine jeep and Dan Evan’s Dodge Weapons Carrier ( and of course, our whole camp set-up to accompany the vehicles).  Shawn and Randy had the gas-fired 50 cal. working for the first time and provided the crowd with a loud and impressive show.

This is one of those small, pleasant local events that allow you to come in contact with members of the general public who might not come out to a living history only show, but are drawn to the other attractions and find that the history aspect is quite interesting as well.

The Trolley Museum does a fine job of keeping its particular segment of history alive but restoring and keeping vintage trolley cars running as well part of a display. Dedicated and knowledgeable volunteers staff the facility and dress as conductors and other personnel of the trolley lines appropriate to their duties. The reenactors, as part of the show, get to ride the trolleys and tour the displays. The trolley cars all seemed to come mostly from the Pittsburgh area, although there were some examples from Philadelphia. No doubt many of the older cars had GI passengers during the war years.

The old trucks were interesting in their own right and featured some examples that I had not previously seen, particularly a striking yellow American Bantum pickup! Most of the trucks were of postwar vintage, but there were a few from our particular time period.

I was surprised to get a call Saturday morning from Reenactorpost Bill and Linda Donegan, who were on their way to Washington to do some antique store shopping and wanted directions. I directed them to the Trolley Museum and the local guys were able to help them more than I was, plus, they got to ride a trolley.

Throughout the weekend, we enjoyed excellent weather with pleasant temperatures and friendly and inquisitive crowds. It was a thoroughly pleasant weekend from start to finish. There were a few families who stopped in who seemed really taken with the opportunity to actually walk around in a command tent and touch bits of history. One group must have stayed for over an hour talking to different reenactors and viewing the displays.  On this weekend, those folks seemed to outnumber the yahoos. That may have been the best part for all of us.