10/04/2026
Interior Features: As the early car bodies were built of wood, so also were their interiors, and this feature lasted well into the era of steel cars. On both horse cars and the early electrics, comforts were rudimentary. Seats, on enclosed cars, often of plain finished wood, were generally longitudinal along the sides. On open cars, where passengers boarded via steps along car sides directly form the street to the seats, they ran entirely across the car. However, although comfort did not receive high priority, the finish of the interiors, like the exteriors, could be elaborate, with inlaid, fancy hard woods, moldings, stained glass, gold leaf, and elaborately stenciled or painted ceilings.
As lines began to carry people for longer distances, comfort became more important, leading to cushioned seats, often transverse and covered in rattan or even plush. On the other hand, as tastes changed, decorative elaboration declined, although wooden interiors, often of cherry or maple, continued in use for many years. Possibly, because the ride on early buses was rougher than on trolleys, they quickly received sprung, cushioned seats, and more comfortable seating came to be a factor making buses popular.
On horse cars, where weight had to be limited, the closest thing to heating arrangements was straw laid on the floor. One of the great advantages of the much more powerful electric cars was that heat could be provided, during northern winters, in the form of a pot bellied coal stove. It might seem ironic that electric cars used this form of heating, but it was many years before heating was done by electricity.
On the PCC cars, introduced in the mid 1930’s, in line with the clean modern design, car interiors became simple, with polished metal or glossy enamel in light colors replacing the darker wood of earlier times. Sprung, leather covered, metal framed, transverse bus type seats were adopted. Forced air ventilation and heating was employed. Those new cars were both more comfortable and easier to keep reasonably clean, and had the excitement of modernity. But much of the old character was lost.
Pictures: 1) Wooden seats on Birney car, Ft Collins, CO, where you can still ride an original car running on its original route, 2) Rattan seats on Cincinnati St Ry #2227, which you can visit at Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, 3) Philadelphia & West Chester car #78 showing more comfortable seating for a longer suburban run, also at Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, 4) PCC car seating, car at SEPTA HQ in Philadelphia, William A. Pardon photo, and 5) coal stove on 1910 Toronto trolley, Halton Radial Ry Mus. All of those places have websites where you can obtain visitor information.
