Bus #217 in 1980 at the celebration of the centennial of the railroad's arrival in Tucson
OPT's mission can be summarized as an "operating transit museum." As such, our purpose goes beyond merely collecting, displaying and interpreting historic artifacts. We operate historic transit vehicles "for the charitable and educational benefit, use and enjoyment of the public." This does not, however, mean that we will operate every piece of equipment we acquire. Some, due to condition, difficulty of restoration, or other circumstances, may be designated for static display only.
In order to maintain a museum of transit history, in addition to the local historic collection, other tram, trolley, and streetcars have been acquired without regard to their specific connection to Tucson trolley history. Nevertheless, there is an on-going effort to obtain and restore for operation cars connected with Arizona history.
Although OPT was initially formed to bring back one type vehicle (electric streetcars), as a transit museum OPT is now committed to acquiring examples of all types of transit vehicles, including a large number of buses. Recently, with the inclusion of the Southern Arizona Transportation Museum, the parent OPT has three divisions, one dedicated to buses, one to transportation history including railroad vehicles, and the original OPT street railway.
SPECIFIC COLLECTION POLICIES
These policies, excerpted from a larger Vehicle Acquisition Policy document, govern what types of vehicles we collect.
I. To acquire, restore and operate electric streetcars of the types used in Tucson.
II. To acquire, restore and operate electric streetcars of the types used in other Arizona cities.
III. To acquire, restore and operate transit equipment propelled by means other than electric traction of the types used in Tucson.
IV. To acquire, restore and operate transit equipment propelled by means other than electric traction of the types used in other Arizona cities.
V. To acquire, restore and operate a limited number of interpretive vehicles.
VI. To avoid the collection of standard intercity rail equipment.
BROWSE OUR COLLECTION HERE:
Note that not all of our collection has pages as yet, as we are an all-volunteer organization. Check back frequently as more pages are posted on this site.
Streetcars:
| #869-Japan | #1511-Belgium | #4608-Toronto | #860-Los Angeles |
| Lisbon/Aspen/P&MU | |||
Buses:
| TRT #14 | TRT #50 | TRT #112 | TRT #135 |
| TRT #217 | TTS #1477 | TTS #7316 | Sun Tran #5511 |
| W-B #7 | W-B #8 |