TROLLEY

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"Trolley No 22"

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The Trolleys That Ran on Chocolate  -   by Lisa Maloy Schirato

On December 21, 1946 , at midnight , Cars No. 17, No. 21, and No. 23 rolled out of the square in Hershey on their last run, ending the almost half-century era of Milton Hershey’s trolley line.  Regardless of inclement weather, Hersheyites rode the cars for the last time, carrying receipts showing a thirty-five percent increase on that day.

As the chocolate company took off, Milton Hershey saw a need for transportation, not only to bring milk from the fields on surrounding farms, but also to bring his workers into Hershey.  1903 saw the formation of the Hummelstown & Campbellstown Street Railway, sponsored by Mr. Hershey, to operate an electric railway from Hummelstown through Derry Church to Palmyra and Campbelltown.  Three Brill trolley cars were ordered, one straight passenger and the other two combination freight and passenger.  On, October 15, 1904, the first trolley left Hummelstown for Derry Church . 

1907 saw additional cars and companies added to accommodate the increased number of passengers and freight.  Additional trolley lines sprung up; Deodate & Hershey Street Railway, Elizabethtown & Deodate Street Railway, Conestoga Traction Co. and the Lebanon and Campbellstown Street Railway were formed, extending service and adjoining existing service to outlying communities.

On December 13, 1913 , the Hershey Transit Company was formed, merging all of the surrounding trolley lines and subsidiaries.  Hershey officials kept their trolleys and the 35 miles of line in first-class condition.  Cars were clean and brightly painted in deep green with yellow trim.  The Hershey Transit car roster numbered 1 through 30, although with some of the cars being replaced through the years, the total number of cars that ran during the company's 42 year history is 34.

During the heyday of the trolleys, the nineteen-teens and twenties, in addition to hauling milk and passengers to and from work, “picnic trolleys”, or “picnic specials” were a common sight in Hershey.  Cars from neighboring lines in Harrisburg, Lebanon, and Lancaster were permitted on Hershey’s lines and chartered to accommodate large crowds for outings and events, especially to Hershey Park.  Sometimes a “basket” car was assigned to very large groups.  This car would pick up and deliver family meals that were carefully placed in baskets and boxes for the excursion.  The picnic specials ran as late as 1930.

For park visitors arriving on regular trolleys, a small single-truck trolley car was made available, free of charge, during the hours that the park was open, providing back and forth service between the square and the Hershey Park .

It is possible that the Hershey trolleys would have ceased running by the end of 1942, had it not been for the intervention of WWII.  Hershey officials had placed an order for buses and trucks, but the Office of Defense Transportation ordered that the trolleys keep running.  Rubber and gasoline were needed elsewhere.

Hershey No. 3

No. 3 spanned the entire duration of trolley service in Hershey.  Built by the J.G. Brill Company, and one of the first three cars ordered, No. 3 was one of two combination cars, carrying passengers and freight.  No. 2 and No. 3 were sister cars, identical, double trucked, and equipped with the same motors and controllers as No. 1, an all passenger car.  During the mid-1920’s, the car was converted to an all passenger car and little is known (no pictures identified) about the car in this configuration.  In 1928, No. 3 was transformed into the “Construction Car”, carrying maintenance men and tools, servicing the other trolleys and miles of rail.  After trolley service ended in 1946, No. 3 remained running until 1948 to perform the sad task of removing the overhead wires and pulling up the steel rails.

With No. 3’s work completed, the trolley was sold to Wolf’s salvage yard in Hummelstown (as were many of the other trolleys), where it was stripped of most its metal parts, including trucks, controls, air brakes and poles.  The body deteriorated in the salvage yard until 1967, when it was bought by Mr. Joseph Alfonsi for $250 and transported to the Trolley Valhalla Museum at Jobstown/Tansboro, NJ.

(No. 3 at Wolf's salvage yard)

The Trolley Valhalla Museum was established around 1957 as the original trolley museum in the Philadelphia area. Many of the cars from Valhalla were moved to Buckingham, PA and became the core of the Buckingham Valley Trolley Association (BVTA) collection that started up in 1975.  In 1982, BVTA started operating a non-profit organization under the name Penn’s Landing Trolley.  Penn’s Landing operated trolleys along the Delaware riverfront in Philadelphia.  No. 3 moved from Trolley Valhalla to Pier 5 at Penn’s Landing on August 31, 1983 .

In 1995, "Friends of the Hershey Trolley" (FOHT), under the auspices of the Derry Township Historical Society and the leadership of Brad and Lisa Ginder, started meeting with a group of local volunteers.  Between 1995 and 2000, FOHT identified the location  of six of the original 30 trolleys.  In 1996, the Derry Township Historical Society tried to acquire No. 3 from the Buckingham Valley Trolley Association (BVTA), but at that time the BVTA felt that FOHT didn't have enough experience with trolley restoration, and was unwilling to relinquish the car.  In 1996 BVTA eventually lost its lease at Penn’s Landing.  By November 1996, No. 3 was moved to the Germantown depot and in February 2000, FOHT was disbanded.

In October 1999, the Electric City Trolley Museum Association, Scranton, PA, opened.  Electric City is an outgrowth from the now disbanded BVTA and East Penn Valley Traction, which conveyed to the museum most of the trolleys and artifacts in its historic collection.  On June 30^th, 2005 , Electric City transferred ownership of Hershey No. 3 to Railways to Yesterday, Inc., operators of the Rockhill Trolley Museum .  On April 22, 2006 , Rockhill transferred ownership of Hershey No. 3 to the Hershey-Derry Township Historical Society.

On June 7th, Hershey Transit trolley No. 3 came home.  Volunteers, society members and well-wishers watched on as No. 3 was picked up by crane and placed into the West Car Barn in Hershey.

Brad Ginder, Lisa Schirato, and Tom Patrick in Germantown, Philadelphia, June 6, 2006

Today is Exciting!  We hope the community is as excited about the return of Hershey No. 3 as much as we are.  These are exciting times for our community.  There is re-vitalization happening, a rebirth, and the vision for a bustling and thriving downtown can start to be seen.  Imagine the possibilities.  Imagine the trolley turning the corner of the Press Building.  ( Lisa Schirato is a volunteer and sits on the Board of Director’s for HDTHS )

Second Car Barn, East Chocolate Ave, prior to 1915

Hershey Transit by Benson W. Rohrbeck, 1980

Chocolate Town Trolleys – by Richard Steinmetz, 1967

Car 3, The13^th of a Series, BVTA Newsletter, Sept. 1985

Brad & Lisa Ginder, notes, 1995 to 2000

Gone With the Five-Cent Hershey Bar” – by Stephen D. Maguire, Railroad Magazine, Aug. 1947

“News Bulletin, Buckingham Valley Trolley Association”, The Transfer Table, Wilmington Chapter NRHS Newsletter, Vol. 19, No. 3, March 1997