Historic Trolley Car #531:
HUGH STUART CENTER CHARITABLE TRUST TROLLEY
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Trolleys in Santa Clara County
Electric trolleys were pioneers of modern-day public transportation.
When $750 would buy a house, and a newspaper cost only five cents,
trolleys were state-of-the-art transit. From the late 1880s to the
late 1930s, electric trolleys operated in San Jose, Santa Clara
and throughout the County--on nearly 130 miles of trackway at the
peak of the era. The birth of bus and automobile travel brought
an end to local trolley service, but the trolleys were not forgotten.
Since 1982, the nonprofit San Jose Trolley Corporation and its
hundreds of volunteer workers restored six historic trolleys. The
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) maintains these
trolleys.
Car 531 History
Car 531 was built in 1928 by the workshops of the Melbourne and
Metropolitan Tramways Board (M & M.T.B.) in Melbourne, Australia.
It ran on the 200-mile Melbourne trolley system from 1928 to the
mid-1980s, when it was retired from service during an upgrade of
M & M.T.B.'s trolley fleet. The Trolley Corporation bought the vintage
trolley from M & M.T.B. in 1986 at a cost of about $30,000. Volunteers
have restored the car to its original factory-fresh look, complete
with the original Melbourne two-tone brown and ivory paint scheme.
Car 531 was the fourth of six cars to be restored by the San Jose
Trolley Corporation. The main sponsor of the restoration was the
Hugh Stuart Center Charitable Trust, which contributed $150,000
to the project. Other key contributors included the Santa Clara
and San Benito Counties Building and Construction Trades Council
and the Urban Transportation Development Corporation.
Passenger Capacity
Seated 48; Standing 40; Total 88
Dimensions
48 feet long, 10.5 feet high, 9 feet wide, Weight: 38,000 pounds
Restoration Cost
$375,000 (estimated) in donations and volunteer work hours.
Description
Designed as a “center-entry” car with sliding doors allowing entry
into the car's center seating area. Two-tone wooden benches in the
center section and green Naugahyde benches at both ends of Car 531
provide ample seating, while special plastic and safety glass windows
enclose the entire car.
Operation
Car 531 is driven by four 35 horsepower motors, one on each axle,
and powered by overhead electrical lines. It is operated by two
control levers, one to start the electrical energy that moves the
car, and one to activate the brakes that stop it.
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