Valley Girl Views: The Edison Battery Car That Ran From Montandon to Mifflinburg

This real picture postcard is labeled "First Battery Operated Car Arrives In Mifflinburg,"

The first Battery Operated Car made the trip from Montandon to Lewisburg on July 23rd, 1911. It was the only car of it's kind at the time, so unique that a railway magnate came from Paris to Milton in April of 1912, to view it.

The Lewisburg, Milton and Watsontown Trolley Company operated a battery powered trolley between Montandon and Mifflinburg, from 1912-1921. It traveled at a pace of 25 miles an hour, making 5 scheduled round trips daily.

STORAGE BATTERY SERVICE SOON TO START ON ROAD.

Operated under its own power, the big electric car to be used for passenger service on the Lewisburg and Tyrone Railroad, between Montandon Lewisburg and Mifflinburg, arrived here on Thursday. It will take the place of the steam cars now in use on that line. The car is the invention of Thomas A. Edison, and will run 136 miles without recharging.

The car is finished on the interior, but on the outside is only the primer coat of paint. The finishing will be done at the shops of the trolley company at Milton, which has the contract for the operation of the cars between .Mifflinburg and .Montandon.

The car will also be partitioned into a baggage department, and also a smoking compartment. The batteries on the car weigh 6.000 pounds, stored under the seats, which run lengthwise. The car is forty feet in length and has a seating capacity of forty. It is equipped with two ten-horse power motors, double trucks and instead of air pumps, has an air tank which is filled at the terminals from a storage tank. The tanks when filled will make eighty stops.

This car, which is the first to be operated in this section by the Pennsylvania Railroad, has been operated successfully by the Erie Railroad Company in some of its suburban lines about New York. The current for charging the car w ill be taken from the Milton, Lewisburg & Watsontown Passenger Railway Company. Thursday evening the car made a trip over the road to Mifflinburg. It is described as working finely and running smoothly."

The car made it's first trips on Sunday July 23rd, 1911

On April 29 1912, M. Cobemale, a prominent French Railway Magnate, came from Paris to Milton to view the Edison Storage Battery Car in operation. M. Cobemale owned a controlling interest in several suburban lines operating in the vicinity of Paris. He came to Milton, having learned that the only two truck car in the country was operating between Montandon and Mifflinburg on the L&T branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad. "When taken over the line by the officials of the L.M. & W., Cobemale very quickly grasped the constructive details of the battery care and said that he was very much pleased with the performance of the car."

Steuart, William Mott, et al. Central Electric Light and Power Stations and Street and Electrical Railways: With Summary of the Electrical Industries. 1912. United States, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1915.

October 1912

New Trolley Car makes first trip to Mifflinburg on

October 7th 1912

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For More Stories & History Of Mifflinburg

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2021/01/mifflinburg-union-county-pennsylvania.html
And For More Stories & History From Nearby Towns:
https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/p/history.html

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July 21 1911

Wellsboro Advertiser, August 1911

The car had it's first accident on August 11 1911, when it came in contact with a buggy and demolished it, on it's trip between Montandon and Lewisburg. Neither the horse, nor driver, were injured.