Monongahela Valley Traction 3000
West Virginia’s Monongahela Valley Traction Company ran not only interurban electric passenger service between cities, but also a full-fledged freight operation on the same track. This joint service continued until 1947, when the streetcars were discontinued. (Interestingly, competitor Baltimore & Ohio then acquired part of the trolley line south of Clarksburg because its grades were better than their own.)
Locomotive 3000 was built for MVT’s freight service and utilizes heavy-duty trolley technology in a compact package (compact it may be, but the crane lifting it revealed its weight to be 107,000 pounds!). After the streetcar days, 3000 went to Monongahela Power’s Rivesville power plant, where it was used to shift coal cars brought in on the railroad. It came to the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in 1968.
Locomotive 3000 is the product of a collaborative effort between the Baldwin locomotive works (a company that primarily built steam locomotives) near Philadelphia (Eddystone) and the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A true Pennsylvania product.
Car Number
3000
Year Built
1920
Year Acquired
1968
Car Builder
Baldwin-Westinghouse
Type
STREET & INTERURBAN RAILWAY WORK & SPECIAL PURPOSE CARS
Weight
107,000lbs (53.5 Tons)
Motors
WH 562
Location
Trolley Display Building Exhibit