The first cars purchased for the Cleveland Transit System (CTS) came from the St. Louis Car Company. They are mechanically similar to the PCC cars seen elsewhere in these pages, but unlike their streetcar style cousins, the rapid transit cars are double-ended and equipped with sliding doors for fast loading and unloading. Power is collected from the catenary-style overhead using roof-mounted pantographs and can be distributed through the car’s multiple-unit couplers, allowing a single motorman to control a train of several cars. Their striking blue and silver paint scheme quickly earned them the nickname “Bluebirds,” although some remember them perhaps less-fondly as “Spam Cans.”
Cars 109 is a single unit car that augmented the fleet of married-pair sets. The car and its single unit sisters were used in multiple unit trains with the earlier cars as well as in single unit service in off-peak hours. In 1984 car 109 was retired from passenger service and was saved for possible work train service. That call came in February 1990. The car was rehabilitated to be a trash hauler. As planned, she would have cruised the Rapid at night collecting trash from stations. Plans changed and the car was never used for that duty. In November 1990 a display car was needed for the opening of the new Tower City Station. So, the car was restored back to her 1955 passenger carrying configuration. For many years afterwards the car was brought out for occasional fan trips or display at special events. In 2013 the RTA donated the car to the Museum, and it was moved here.
In 2023, after many years of work, Car 109 was returned to service. It joins SHT 12 as the museum’s primary passenger cars, and will hopefully be in service for many years to come.
| Builder | St. Louis Car Company |
| Type | PCC Rapid Transit Car |
| Description | Double End Double Truck Arch Roof Steel Rapid |
| Year Built | 1954 |
| Retired | 1985 |
| Acquired | 2013 |
| Seats | 52 |
| Length | 48′ 6″ |
| Width | 10′ 4″ |
| Height | 11′ 9″ |
| Weight | 56,000 |
| Trucks | PCC Rapid Transit |
| Motors | (4) WH 1432H, 55hp |
| Control | WH Cineston |
| Brakes | WAB |
| Compressor | WH |