Trolley System
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| Looking from Washington St west on Baltimore St towards the Greencastle square. Trolley on square. The intersection of Baltimore and Washington had a switch for trolleys going to Chambersburg. |
Shady Grove - Intersection of Hagerstown line with Greencastle-Waynesboro line.
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Laying the trolley bed between Greencastle and Chambersburg |
| The trolley line was extended to Chambersburg in 1908. The Greencastle section which ended in Shady Grove was probably built first in order to connect to the Hagerstown trolley line that was already in operation. The Chambersburg section entered Greencastle by way of North Washington Street, rounded the corner and stopped in Greencastle’s square. Later, a line from Waynesboro to Blue Ridge Summit and Pen Mar Park were laid. Pen Mar Park, a very famous amusement park in the tri-state area, and Red Bridge Park, which was north of Chambersburg and was well-known in this part of the Cumberland Valley, became popular because of the accessibility and affordability of the trolley. | |
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Laying the trolley bed between Greencastle and Waynesboro |
| Waynesboro Street Railway Company tracks were laid in November and December 1903. The trolley tracks ran east and west along Route 16 (Baltimore Street) and had their own right of way. The train tracks ran north and south on Carlisle Street – the original Route 11. The first trolley car entered Greencastle about 3:30 p.m. on December 17, 1903. | |
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Laying the trolley bed between Waynesboro and Pen Mar |
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Shady Grove "Union Station" |
“Union Station” was the junction of the Greencastle and Waynesboro trolley lines and the Hagerstown line in Shady Grove. The Hagerstown line approached Shady Grove from the south and ended along the east side of the building which is now the Shady Grove post office where it met the Greencastle and Waynesboro lines. The “Union Station” ticket office and building was a small white building right beside and on the east side of the Hagerstown tracks.
Each town had its own trolley cars for its
particular section of the trolley tracks. There were no turnarounds, which
meant the trolley cars could be driven from both ends of the car. When the
trolley switched directions, the seats would be flipped over so that the
passengers would always be riding facing forward.
Trolley service was abandoned in 1932 mainly due to the coming of the automobile. The last car left Greencastle on Saturday night, January 16, 1932 at 9:45 pm. The last car was No. 33 in charge of motorman John Flautt and conductor __________ Harbaugh.
This was the end of inter-county and intra-county mass-transit during the 20th
century for Franklin County and Washington County, Maryland. An unsuccessful
attempt at running a bus “trolley” in the 1990’s in Waynesboro was made. An
insufficient number of riders doomed the business.
Chambersburg’s bus “trolley”
system seems to work there because of a larger population.
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