The PV&T, like every other conventional railroad, started providing passenger service in the traditional way of having coaches hauled behind locomotives. This served the railroad well for many years, but when electrification started, the idea of using electric MU cars to provide commuter and suburban passenger service became too appealing to ignore.
After the PV&T electrification reached Montréal and Portland, the railroad started replacing passenger and express cars with electric motorcars; From 1912 until 1959, the PV&T purchased about 400 motors and 200 trailers to handle almost all of its passenger operations.
The electric cars were initially numbered from 100P through 1249P and the trailers were numbered from 2000P through 3029P. As commuter services and long-distance services declined, these cars were withdrawn from revenue service until all the commuter services had been shutdown or taken over by regional transit authorities (ditto for the interurban services, except by Amtrak & Via Rail Canada.)
Most of the retired cars ended up at the scrappers, except a few that were converted to MOW equipment or were purchased by one trolley museum or another, but significant fractions of the 10P, 11P & 12P classes still exist; the 11P & 12P’s as MOW vehicles, the 10P’s either stored or used on the official train, the Chemin de fer Charlevoix’s tourist & ski trains, or on the Toronto Suburban Railway’s demonstration commuter line.
The remaining cars are:
| No. | Class | Builder | Built | Type | Original No. | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 600P | 6PC | Pullman | 1928 | Coach | M960, ex-600P | Musée ferrovaire de Parsons Vale |
| 2900P-2909P | 9TC | Budd | 1956 | Coach | LT&L 1000-1009 | ex-LT&L; stored |
| E60-E63 | 10PC | Budd | 1957 | Coach | 1200P-1203P | converted to picture window tourist coaches and assigned to CdfC |
| E64 | 10PC | Budd | 1957 | Coach | 1207P | stored |
| E65-E71 | 10PC | Budd | 1957 | Coach | 1218P-1222P | converted to picture window tourist coaches and assigned to CdfC |
| E72,E73 | 10PC | Budd | 1958 | Coach | 1230P,1231P | not operational; kept as parts units |
| E74 | 10PC | Budd | 1958 | Coach | 1232P | converted to a picture window tourist coach and assigned to CdfC |
| E76,E77 | 10PCB | Budd | 1959 | Baggage-Coach | 1238P,1242P | stored |
| E80,E81 | 10PC | Budd | 1959 | Coach | 1245P,1246P | assigned to the TSR’s Brampton to Dixie demonstration line. |
| E82 | 10PC | Budd | 1959 | Coach | 1247P | stored |
| E300 | 13PCB | St Louis | 1910 | Combination | PVRT 300 | Musée ferrovaire de Parsons Vale |
| M955 | 1PC | Niles | 1912 | Line car | 102P | |
| M960,M961 | 10PC | Budd | 1959 | Line car | 1223P,1224P | |
| M970 | 11PC | Brill | 1932 | Line car | 1320P | “Cathedral Cars” |
| M971 | 11PC | Brill | 1932 | Line car | 1317P | |
| M972 | 11PI | Brill | 1932 | Inspection car | 1316P | |
| M973 | 11PCB | Brill | 1932 | Line car | 1304P | |
| M981-M984 | 12PCB | Ottawa | 1930 | Line car | TR&S 60,62,64,65 | Converted to line cars for the LT&L’s North Shore electrification |
| M985 | 12PCB | Ottawa | 1930 | Baggage-Coach | TR&S 61 | used for storage, then to Musée ferrovaire de Parsons Vale 1989 |
| M986 | 12PCB | Ottawa | 1930 | Tool car | TR&S 66 | |
| X100 | 6THC | St Louis | 1928 | Heater car | 661P | rebuilt 1967 from wrecked 6TB 2618P |
| X101 | 6TD | Pullman | 1928 | Dining car | 2644P | official train |
| X103 | 5TI | Pullman | 1925 | Inspection | 2502P | official train |
| X106 | 9TO | Budd | 1956 | Office car | 2956P | official train |
| X113 | 6TS | Pullman | 1928 | Sleeper | 613P | rebuilt from 6PC 613P, official train |
| X114 | 9TC | Budd | 1956 | Coach | LT&L 1010 | OSW official train |
| X115 | 9TK | Budd | 1956 | Cafe car | LT&L 1011 | rebuilt in 1995; OSW official train |
| X121 | 10TVD | Budd | 1958 | Vista-dome | 3001P | official train |
| X122 | 6TB | Pullman | 1928 | Baggage | M1102, exx-2622P | official train |
| X123 | 9TSV | Budd | 1956 | Skyview coach | LT&L 1012 | rebuilt 2000; OSW official train |
| X124 | 9TSV | Budd | 1956 | Skyview coach | LT&L 1015 | rebuilt 2001; official train |
| X198 | 6TS | St Louis | 1928 | Sleeper | 698P | rebuilt from 6PC 698P, official train |
| X688 | 14THE | P&W | 1954 | HEP car | AMTK 456 | originally an EMD E9 |
The classification scheme that the PV&T uses for interurban motor and trailer cars is
- the order number
- either P for a powered car or T for a trailer
- a classification code
- (optionally) a numeric suffix for orders that were broken up between different carbuilders.
Thus, class 12PCB is a Powered Coach-Baggage car from order 12.
And there are multiple numbering schemes for passenger equipment; originally, the numbering scheme was a number plus the letter P (confusingly like the classification system for MU cars), but, but sometime between the formation of Amtrak & VIA this switched to the letter E or X plus a number (mirroring the M+number scheme that MOW equipment uses.)