Conestoga Traction, later Conestoga Transportation Company, was a classic American regional interurban

Interurban

An interurban, also called a radial railway in parts of Canada, is a type of electric passenger railroad; in short a hybrid between tram and train. Interurbans enjoyed widespread popularity in the first three decades of the twentieth century in North America. Until the early 1920s, most roads were...

 trolley

Tram

A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...

 that operated seven routes 1899 to 1946 radiating spoke-like from Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Lancaster is a city in the south-central part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the county seat of Lancaster County and one of the older inland cities in the United States, . With a population of 59,322, it ranks eighth in population among Pennsylvania's cities...

 to numerous neighboring farm villages and towns. It ran side-of-road trolleys through Amish farm country to Coatesville

Coatesville, Pennsylvania

Coatesville is the only city in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 13,100 at the 2010 census. Coatesville is approximately 39 miles west of Philadelphia....

, Strasburg

Strasburg, Pennsylvania

Strasburg is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. It developed as a linear village along the Great Conestoga Road, stretching about two miles along path later known as the Strasburg Road...

/Quarryville

Quarryville, Pennsylvania

Quarryville is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,994 at the 2000 census.-General information:*ZIP code: 17566*Area code: 717*Local phone exchanges: 786, 806*Named for noted quarries in the area...

, Pequea

Pequea, Pennsylvania

Pequea, Pennsylvania is an unincorporated community located in Martic Township in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The zip code is 17565.-See also:*Pequea Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania*Pequea Creek*Pekowi...

, Columbia

Columbia, Pennsylvania

Columbia, once colonial Wright's Ferry, is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 28 miles southeast of Harrisburg on the left bank Susquehanna River across from Wrightsville and York County. Originally, the area may have been called Conejohela Flats, for the many islands and islets in the...

/Marietta

Marietta, Pennsylvania

Marietta is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,689 at the 2000 census. It is located on the east bank of the Susquehanna River just north of Columbia.-Geography:Marietta is located at ....

, Elizabethtown

Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania

Elizabethtown is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Harrisburg. Small factories existed at the turn of the century when the population in 1900 was 1,861. There was a slight increase in the next decade, with 1,970 people living in Elizabethtown in 1910. As of the 2000 census,...

, Manheim

Manheim, Pennsylvania

Manheim is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 4,784 at the 2000 census.-General information:*ZIP code: 17545*Area code: 717*Education: Manheim Central School District and Manheim Central High School-History:...

/Lititz

Lititz, Pennsylvania

Lititz is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 6 miles north of the city of Lancaster.-History:Lititz was founded by members of the Moravian Church in 1756, and was named after a castle in Bohemia near the village of Kunvald where the ancient Bohemian Brethren's Church had...

, and Ephrata

Ephrata, Pennsylvania

Ephrata is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States, south east of Harrisburg and about west by north of Philadelphia. It is named after Ephrath, a biblical town in what is now Israel. Ephrata's sister city is Eberbach, Germany, the city where its founders originated. In its...

/Adamstown

Adamstown, Pennsylvania

Adamstown is a borough in Berks and Lancaster counties in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The population was 1,789 at the 2010 census. It was initially founded on 4 July 1761 by William Addams on the site of a former village of native Americans, and Addams named the community "Addamsburry"...

/Terre Hill

Terre Hill, Pennsylvania

Terre Hill is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,237 at the 2000 census, which rose to 1,261, as of July 2008.-History:...

.

Overview

Conestoga Traction began operations in 1899. CTs rural trolley system provided reliable and relatively fast transportation between many southeastern Pennsylvania farm towns in the days when people traveled in horse drawn buggies and freight traveled in horse drawn wagons on narrow wandering dusty roads in summer or rutted deep mud roads in winter. In 1924, when business and profits were still good, Conestoga Traction updated its aging wood trolleys with a purchase of all steel small interurban trolley cars from Cincinnati Car Company. CT also transported farm freight, such as milk and produce, to towns. Pickups would occur with stops at farm gates using trolleys called "combines" designed to carry passengers in one section and freight in another. With its connections with neighboring Hershey Transit, CT shipped fresh uncooled Amish farm milk to the Hershey Company for immediate use in chocolate production. Hershey Transit permitted trolleys from the neighboring connecting lines, including Conestoga Traction, onto its rails to carry summer crowds to the Hershey Park for the amusement rides and to picnic. Picnic specials ran into the 1930s.

Philadelphia to Harrisburg

Conestoga Traction began operation in 1899. Its connections to adjacent interurban trolley companies such as Philadelphia and West Chester (later Red Arrow; now today's operating SEPTA Route 101), West Chester Street Railway, Schuylkill Valley Traction, Reading Transit, Hershey Transit, and Harrisburg Railways, one could ride trolleys from Philadelphia to Harrisburg

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 49,528, making it the ninth largest city in Pennsylvania...

, although the trip would have been long and slow and impractical. This could be accomplished by two circuitous routes. The southern route was via West Chester

West Chester, Pennsylvania

The Borough of West Chester is the county seat of Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 18,461 at the 2010 census.Valley Forge, the Brandywine Battlefield, Longwood Gardens, Marsh Creek State Park, and other historical attractions are near West Chester...

-Coatesville-Lancaster-Hershey

Hershey, Pennsylvania

Hershey is a census-designated place in Derry Township, Dauphin County in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The community is located 14 miles east of Harrisburg and is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area. Hershey has no legal status as an incorporated municipality...

 and the northern route was via Norristown

Norristown, Pennsylvania

Norristown is a municipality in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, northwest of the city limits of Philadelphia, on the Schuylkill River. The population was 34,324 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Montgomery County...

-Pottstown

Pottstown, Pennsylvania

Pottstown is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States northwest of Philadelphia and southeast of Reading, on the Schuylkill River. Pottstown was laid out in 1752–53 and named Pottsgrove in honor of its founder, John Potts. The old name was abandoned at the time of the...

-Reading

Reading, Pennsylvania

Reading is a city in southeastern Pennsylvania, USA, and seat of Berks County. Reading is the principal city of the Greater Reading Area and had a population of 88,082 as of the 2010 census, making it the fifth most populated city in the state after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown and Erie,...

-Ephrata-Lebanon

Lebanon, Pennsylvania

Lebanon, formerly known as Steitztown, is a city in and the county seat of Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 25,477 at the 2010 census, a 4.2% increase from the 2000 count of 24,461...

-Hershey. From Hershey to Harrisburg was by connections.

Decline and abandonment

Most interurbans like Conestoga Traction did not survive improved highways with the related increased purchase and use of automobiles, or the negative business impact of the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

. Conestoga Traction abandoned most of its lines in 1932. The Lancaster-Ephrata line was still running in 1946 having been ordred by the Federal Government to do so because of World War II transportation needs. Lancaster's Birney Car street car operation continued until 1947. Neighbor Hershey Transit survived until 1946.