Talk:List of trolleybus systems in the United States

Merrill Wisconsin

I amended the Merrill entry. Badger Traction, published in 1969 by the Central Electric Railfans Assoc implies that the the trolley bus service continued till the end of associated streetcar service in 1921. If anyone haaas more specific info can edit accordingly.--Wickifrank (talk) 14:34, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

I've reverted the change, because other sources give the date of December 1913, and the sources I checked – which include the World Trolleybus Encyclopaedia (2000) (ISBN 0-904235-18-1) and the North American Trackless Trolley Association's Databook II (1978/79) – are better because they are books focusing specifically on trolley buses and were published later. It is also well-documented that Merrill's trolley bus service had only a single vehicle (the entire fleet!), and according to Transit's Stepchild: The Trolley Coach (1973 Interurban Press book) it was sold to a businessman in New Bedford, Mass. in 1914, for use on an experimental trolley coach line in Fairhaven, Mass. (which ended up being very short-lived), so the vehicle was no longer even in Merrill after 1914. SJ Morg (talk) 10:09, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

DC, Maryland, Virginia

I am surprised to see no discussion of cars in the above and to see no reference to the National Capital Trolley Museum 1313 Bonifant Road, Colesville Md 3013846088 www.dctrolley.org which preserves their history. Regards Rumjal rumjal 20:31, 27 May 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rumjal (talk • contribs)

This list is about trolleybuses, not trolley cars. The museum you refer to is about the latter, so is not relevant to this list. SJ Morg (talk) 22:03, 27 May 2011 (UTC)

Newark, New Jersey ASV's

Here's something I noticed about the list for New Jersey:

• The operator conducted a demonstration at Weehawken in 1934 prior to opening of public service with ASVs in 1935. Weehawken was served by the Newark system.

• The Newark ASV system also served many adjacent towns, including the Hudson County towns of Bayonne, Jersey City, Hoboken, Union City and West New York, the Passaic County towns of Passaic and Paterson, and the Union County towns of Elizabeth and Plainfield.

Why not just make these a section of the Newark chart, like you have with sections of Boston, Baltimore, and two of the five boroughs of New York City? ----DanTD (talk) 14:45, 15 June 2012 (UTC)

LA 1910 trolley shown in list as LATL

...which is rightly contradicted by the notes.Anmccaff (talk) 05:25, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

This has been corrected. I was not involved in creating the erred labeling, but I've corrected it. – SJ Morg (talk) 23:50, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

Well, a little more than just correcting that:

(→‎California: remove tag; demonstration lines (which may last only a few days) are widely considered (by reliable sources: books, magazines) to not be "systems"; the use of "commercial" here also makes the distinction clear)

Regarding this: the second Nantasket beach line was not a demonstrator, lasted a couple of years or so, and was certainly covered by reliable sources. It may have been partly a political pressure play, a little like Hylan's emergency buses, but it was a real line. Anmccaff (talk) 04:36, 13 June 2015 (UTC)

Per WP:BURDEN, the burden of proof is on you to back up your claims. I have several books and magazines about the history of trolleybuses/trackless trolleys in the United States (or worldwide), and all of them concur that all pre-1910 lines in North America were only demonstration or test lines, not "systems" per common usage. They also make no mention of any second Nantasket Beach demo line, only the 1887 one. There were several other short-lived demonstration lines in the U.S. in the early years of the 20th century, but most are not in this list, and in my opinion all of them should be removed from this list (or moved to a separate section), because they were not trolleybus (or trackless trolley, whatever) "systems", per common usage. I have provided no less than three inline citations supporting the statement that the Laurel Canyon line in Los Angeles was the first commercial trolleybus system in the U.S., whereas you have not provided any citations to support your statements. – SJ Morg (talk) 07:24, 13 June 2015 (UTC)

For one example: [[1]]

Granted, it probably doesn't come with pictures of minute differences in paint schemes, and suchlike foameralia, but there are many references in Boston-area newspapers to the startup, and the continuing operation. There are also more than a few in professional journals, e.g. [[2]] Anmccaff (talk) 00:59, 14 June 2015 (UTC)

Greenwich demo

While the idea this was the first passenger operation on a public road is sourceable, @Trakless:, it isn't really true; except for firsts in particular geographic areas, or for the whole route, &cet.

Does your source cover the earlier NJ Public service all-service vehicles, or the New Haven's freight trackless trolley experiments in 19...12, IMS? That's an important part of transportaion history, but one that has seen little coverage here. Anmccaff (talk) 19:58, 10 July 2017 (UTC)