One-of-two Senate tunnel Studebaker to make its first voyage under its own power in decades

Photos courtesy Pennsylvania College of Technology, unless otherwise noted.

Back and forth, all day long, 225 times per day, shuttling 100 of the most powerful men in the country. At least the drivers of the two electric Studebakers in the Congressional tunnels – one of which is scheduled to make its first voyage under its own power since the Eisenhower administration this weekend – didn’t have to contend with the D.C. weather.

With the pending completion of the Russell Senate Office Building and the Cannon House Office Building near the U.S. Capitol in 1908, Congressmen worried not so much about terrorist threats or intrepid newspapermen on their walks among the buildings but more the weather. The city offers humid, 100-degree summers and snowy, sub-freezing winters, both of which Congressmen found as hindrances to their duties.

So to avoid exposing themselves to the elements both chambers of Congress commissioned Elliot Woods, then the Superintendent of the Capitol Buildings and Grounds, to develop a tunnel system that connected the Capitol to government office buildings in the vicinity. The members of the House of Representatives chose to make the Cannon tunnel pedestrian only, but the senators of the time decided to install a transportation system, one composed of twin Studebakers, in the Russell tunnel.

According to the wishes of John Mohler Studebaker, the last of the founding Studebaker brothers, and chairman of the board of the South Bend carriagebuilder, Studebaker powered its first horseless carriages with electric motors rather than gasoline engines. The latter, Studebaker said, were “clumsy, dangerous, noisy brutes which stink to high heaven, break down at the worst possible moment, and are a public nuisance.” (Regardless, Studebaker eventually introduced gas-powered cars in 1904 and marketed both gas and electric cars until 1913 before switching entirely to internal combustion.)

Lack of fumes certainly made electric cars a good choice for the Russell tunnel. So did the ability of electric cars to travel just as fast forward as in reverse – Woods designed the tunnels without sufficient space to turn around at either end.

With that in mind, Studebaker built the two cars with a pair of driver’s seats apiece – one facing forward and one in reverse – both equipped with tiller steering. A single driver would operate the Studebakers over the 1/5-mile-long tunnel at a blistering 12 to 15 MPH top speed, unload his passengers, and then switch to the other seat to make the return trip. Seating both fore and aft of the driver’s seats accommodated up to 12 passengers at a time.

Photo courtesy Architect of the Capitol.

Each of the 72-volt Westinghouse-motored Studebakers cost $2,944, about double the price of an average Studebaker electric. Both went into service on the tunnel’s opening day in March 1909 with unique nicknames – Tommy and Peggy – and remained in service until 1916 when a faster and more spacious Navy Yard-built electric monorail replaced them.

Following their retirement, the Studebakers went into storage, emerging again in August 1939 when the pair sold at a government surplus auction for $35. According to Marge Cutright, executive director of the Swigart Museum in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, Tommy went on display at the New York World’s Fair that year, then showed up again in 1950 when William Swigart bought the Studebaker. (Peggy eventually made its way to the Studebaker Museum and has since been restored with a yellow finish, as opposed to Tommy’s cherry wood finish.)

Swigart, as the story goes, traveled to Washington, D.C., not long after, strolled into the Architect of the Captiol’s offices, and asked for any information they could provide on the unusual automobile. The secretary he spoke with then reached into her bottom desk drawer, pulled out a thick file, and handed it over to him, thankful to be rid of it.

A restoration followed in 1954 or 1955 but, according to Cutright, it’s not clear whether Swigart ever got Tommy running again. Tommy has thus sat, immobile, in the museum until just recently, when Cutright and Swigart’s widow, Patricia, had the Studebaker shipped to the Pennsylvania College of Technology. There, students from the college’s automotive restoration program replaced the Studebaker’s batteries in preparation for this weekend’s Elegance at Hershey, where they expect to run Tommy onto the lawn.

The Elegance at Hershey will take place Sunday at the Hotel Hershey. For more information, visit TheEleganceatHershey.com.