Perley A. Thomas Car Works, Inc. was an American manufacturer of streetcars based in High Point, North Carolina. Following the liquidation of Southern Car Works, its engineer Perley A. Thomas in 1916 founded the new company named for himself. Along with the manufacture of complete streetcars, Thomas Car Works also renovated and repaired existing cars to supplement its production.

At the beginning of the Great Depression, mass transit in the United States largely transitioned in format from streetcars to automotive-based buses, leading Thomas Car Works to convert to bus production. From the mid-1930s onward, the company dedicated its production towards school buses. Following World War II, the company became one of the primary manufacturers of large school bus bodies in the United States, leading Perley A. Thomas Car Works to be renamed as Thomas Built Buses, Inc. in 1972.

As Thomas Built Buses, the company is still based in High Point, operating as a subsidiary of Freightliner Trucks (of Daimler AG) since 1998.

History

1910s

In 1910, Perley A. Thomas joined Southern Car Company in High Point, North Carolina as an engineer and designer. By 1915, the company had begun its transition from wood-bodied designs to all-steel vehicles. The steel-bodied 800-900-series streetcars were double-ended (two sets of operating controls and two trolley poles), double-trucked, with an arched roof. Unable to fill the massive order entirely on their own, Thomas Car Works subcontracted a portion of the order to Philadelphia-based competitor J. G. Brill (using the Thomas design). During World War II, Thomas Car Works was active in war production, shifting from buses to bodies for the GMC CCKW 2½-ton 6x6 truck.

To keep the Thomas streetcars in service, the RTA established a parts shop with the capability of building a complete replica of the Thomas streetcar design on its own to maintain a stock of replacement parts. The shop designed and produced the replica cars used on the Canal Street Line and the Riverfront Line. Along with the difference in color, the newer designs are ADA-compliant, and the Canal Street cars are air-conditioned.

Preservation

Outside of their active usage in New Orleans, four Thomas streetcars (all from New Orleans) have been preserved by railway museums across the United States. Two additional streetcars are undergoing renovations for use as heritage streetcars in San Francisco. Two other cars, #919 and #924, retired from the Riverfront line, are owned by New Orleans RTA, but are currently inoperable.

Examples include:

  • Connecticut Trolley Museum (NOPSI Car #836)
  • Seashore Trolley Museum (NOPSI Car #966)
  • Pennsylvania Trolley Museum (NOPSI #832)
  • Shore Line Trolley Museum (NOPSI #850)

NOPSI Cars #913 and #952 are under the operation of San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni). Both built in 1923, 952 is leased to Muni from New Orleans RTA since 1998; 913 was purchased from Orange Empire Railway Museum in 2005. As of 2019, both cars are in the process of restoration; 913 has not seen active service since 1964 and funds are being raised for its restoration.

A famous Tennessee Williams play (and later, film) was set in New Orleans, Louisiana where Perley A. Thomas streetcars were operated on the Desire line around the period of 1947 in which the story was set, hence the name: A Streetcar Named Desire.

References

  • History of Thomas Built Buses
  • Company history at ironhorse129.com