Pittsburgh streetcar 1713, painted up as ‘The Terrible Trolley,’ is seen honoring the 1970s champion Pittsburgh Steelers in this archival photo. The car has recently been acquired by the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in Washington, Pa., and will be restored in this paint scheme.
Courtesy Pennsylvania Trolley Museum
Iconic tribute to 1970s Steelers dynasty set for restoration by museum
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A detail shot of the back of The Terrible Trolley.
Courtesy Pennsylvania Trolley Museum
Car 1713 is seen inside one of the shop buildings at the museum last week.
Roger DuPuis | Times Leader
This was the letter that inspired the creation of The Terrible Trolley.
Courtesy Pennsylvania Trolley Museum
Pittsburgh trolley 1713, in its later paint scheme, is seen being loaded onto a flatbed truck in Ohio recently for its trip back to Pennsylvania.
Courtesy Scott Becker | Pennsylvania Trolley Museum
This is the interior of 1713 as seen at the museum last week, complete with period seats.
Courtesy Scott Becker | Pennsylvania Trolley Museum
Notices from its last days in service can still be seen on the car.
Roger DuPuis | Times Leader
Times Leader News Editor Roger DuPuis is seen with car 1713 at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum last week.
Courtesy Bill Monaghan Jr.
Car 1713 is seen being washed at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum.
Courtesy Pennsylvania Trolley Museum
Ed Miller, who was the steward of car 1713 for 25 years, poses with the trolley before it departed Ashley, Ohio. Miller had the foresight to build a building so the car could be protected from the elements. He also obtained the correct seats that would have been used in the early 1980s and even repaired and repainted the seat frames.
Courtesy Scott Becker | Pennsylvania Trolley Museum
Pittsburgh Steelers fans are united in their love for all things black and gold, including the iconic Terrible Towel.
Younger members of Steelers Nation, and those outside of Pittsburgh, may not remember when the team was celebrated in its hometown by The Terrible Trolley.
Thanks to the efforts of volunteers at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in Washington, Pa., the streetcar has returned to the Keystone State after a long slumber in Ohio, and will be restored complete with the special Steelers-themed paint scheme it wore back in the 1980s.
Museum officials said car 1713 is “a priority restoration project, and volunteers are already starting to work on the car not even a week after its acquisition.”
To understand its importance, you need to understand Pittsburgh as it was nearly a half-century ago.
As Pennsylvania Trolley Museum Executive Director Scott Becker points out, the city was reeling from job losses as the steel industry was contracting. The Steelers, meanwhile, were having some of their best years, winning Super Bowl championships in 1974-75, 1975-76, 1978-79 and 1979-80.
In 1975, Steelers broadcaster Myron Cope came up with the idea of gold dish towels as something inexpensive fans could bring to games to wave in support of the team. Initially panned by some, the idea became a hit, and cloths emblazoned with “The Terrible Towel,” in the team’s distinctive font, have become an iconic piece of Steelers fan gear, carried all over the world and even onto the International Space Station.
Four years later, a young girl sought to see the team honored on the sides of a streetcar.
Kim Sever, 9, wrote to Pittsburgh Mayor Richard Caliguiri in January 1980 suggesting that they paint one of the cars black and gold with the words “The Terrible Trolley,” according to a letter in the museum’s collection. Caliguiri forwarded the letter to the Port Authority of Allegheny County, which operated the region’s transit system, and Sever’s idea became reality.
Pittsburgh, one of the few U.S. cities that never completely abandoned its trolley network, had a history of painting cars in all-over advertising and promotional schemes, including one honoring Western Pennsylvania’s own Mr. (Fred) Rogers.
The Terrible Trolley took the concept to a new, and very personal level for the people of greater Pittsburgh. Painted in black and gold, the car wore the roman numerals of the four Super Bowls won by the Steelers to that point, along with the players’ numbers.
“This was a big deal,” Becker said. “They (the Steelers) brought a lot of hope to the city, so I think that this trolley is representative of the era.”
Built in 1949, car 1713 wore various paint schemes throughout its service life, but became beloved by residents and railfans for the years when it was decked out as The Terrible Trolley. It operated on the Pittsburgh system until 1998, then spent 25 years under cover, cared for by collector Ed Miller, who performed body work and obtained the correct vintage seats. The car was recently returned to Pennsylvania from storage in Ohio.
The car currently wears the later Port Authority paint scheme in which it retired — white with black and gold stripes. Becker said it will be restored to its 1980s Terrible Trolley glory, representing the four Super Bowl victories won by the team up to that time (two more championships have since been added, in 2005 and 2008).
The plan is to bring the car back to operating condition, so that it can carry passengers on the museum’s 2-mile-long railway, along with its collection of over 50 trolleys from Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Louisiana.
Prime Collision Center in Washington, Pa. is donating their services to paint the car, and Pittsburgh-based PPG Paints is donating paint for the project. Museum officials have secured the blessing of the charitable foundation that now has the rights to The Terrible Towel name and revenues. The NFL and the Steelers organization also have expressed support for the project.
According to a report by CBS Pittsburgh/KDKA, Kim Sever also was thrilled to hear the news.
“I love the idea that I’m provable, verified responsible for the existence of the terrible trolley. It makes me happy,” she told the station.
For information on the museum and how to support restoration of The Terrible Trolley, visit https://pa-trolley.org/support/.
