Now we shall look around this museum some more.
United States Department of Transportation rapid transit car SOAC-1 built by St. Louis Car Company in 1972. Although the PCC car had introduced a single design standard for surface cars in the United States, there was no standard for rapid transit cars. Car procurement was difficult because each rapid transit system sought customized designs. Moreover, in the early 1970's, urban rapid transit had a seriously shabby image.
So, the United States Department of Transportation's Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA) decided to create a rapid transit train using the latest technology and demonstrate it on as many systems as possible. UMTA selected the Vertol Division of Boeing Corporation as systems manager. Two so-called State-of-the-Art (SOAC) cars were built in 1972 by St. Louis Car Company using the basic body shell design of the recently-delivered fleet of R-44 subway cars for New York. (These were the last rail cars built by St. Louis Car.) The trucks were the standardized General Steel 70 model, used everywhere except New York. Garrett AiResearch supplied the solid state control equipment and motors, and various vendors were tapped for the latest items in their catalog.
The SOAC cars could accelerate to 80 mph in 60 seconds. The cars were designed for reduced noise, a smooth ride and appealing design. SOAC car 1 had a low density interior with seats for 64 and a crush load of 220. UMTA tested the SOAC cars at the Transportation Test Center in Pueblo, Colorado. Then, between 1974 and 1976, the SOAC cars ran in demonstration service in five cities: New York, Boston (Red Line), Philadelphia (Broad Street), Cleveland, and Chicago (Skokie Swift). Passengers and motormen liked them but the SOAC cars were withdrawn from service. The U.S. DOT then used the cars for tests of improved hardware at the National Transportation Test Center. Almost every rapid transit system constructed subsequently adopted the same basic design. Many innovations in the SOAC cars were later applied to the Boeing-Vertol Standard Light Rail Vehicles. UMTA planned a second tour to demonstrate AC propulsion equipment instead of the original DC motors. UMTA started to convert SOAC-2 to AC motors but then cancelled the program. After final tests at Pueblo in 1981, the Department of Transportation put the SOAC cars in storage. Seashore sought to acquire the SOAC cars as representation of the Federal government’s activity in developing modern transit equipment and as representation of the revitalization of America's mass transit industry. The U.S. DOT donated the SOAC cars to Seashore in 1989.
MTBA rapid transit car 0623 built by Hawker-Siddeley Canada in 1978. This car is part of a group of 70 rapid transit cars that went into service in 1979 on Boston's Blue Line running between Bowdoin station in downtown Boston and Wonderland station in Revere, Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority assigned color codes to each of its four rapid transit routes and selected blue for the line to Wonderland because of its closeness to water, running under Boston Harbor and near Massachusetts Bay. Passengers called these cars "Bluebells" because of their blue color and the chime of electric warning bells as doors closed.
Blue Line cars needed to be shorter and narrower than typical rapid transit cars in order to fit through the East Boston tunnel that was originally designed for streetcars. These cars are also unusual due to their dual sources of power. The "Bluebells" drew electric power from a third rail while running underground and used pantographs to receive electric power from an overhead wire on surface portions of the line. During their years of service, the "Bluebells" suffered heavy corrosion damage from the salt air blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean. So, the MBTA gave cars 0622 and 0623 structural repairs, new sheathing and fresh paint to test the feasibility of rebuilding the entire fleet. After rebuilding these two cars, the MBTA determined the program was not cost-effective and decided to replace the "Bluebells" with new equipment.
Wheeling Traction Company curved-side suburban car 639 built by the Cincinnati Car Company in 1924. Wheeling Traction, a subsidiary of West Penn Railways, operated a streetcar and interurban system serving the Wheeling, West Virginia area, including Bridgeport and Martins Ferry which were in Ohio, across the Ohio River from Wheeling. Part of the Wheeling Traction system was five foot two-and-a-half inch gauge and part was standard gauge.
Wheeling was unusual in having competing streetcar companies than never consolidated. Wheeling’s smaller company was West Virginia Traction and Electric Company (later Wheeling Public Service). Cincinnati Car Company built 21 cars, 631-651, for Wheeling Traction in 1924. These cars had Cincinnati's distinctive curved-side design which became standard on many streetcar systems in the Midwest and South. The standard version of the curved side car, such as 639, was so widely used that they became known as "rubber stamp" trolleys. Cincinnati Car Company designed these cars in the 1920's as a light-weight, power saving model – a forerunner of later streamlined cars. Curved steel plates formed the car sides. Instead of the floor, the side plates and side sills bore most of the weight load. Longitudinal floor supports were no longer needed which made the cars lighter than conventional cars.
Cincinnati curved-side cars made up an important part of Wheeling's fleet. The cars carried West Penn's orange paint scheme and triangle symbol. 631-651 came with rattan seats. In 1933, employees, in an effort to save their jobs, banded together to buy the property from West Penn. The new organization, Co-operative Transit Company, became a 52-mile, 66 car system. Half the mileage was in Ohio and half in West Virginia. CTC dropped the leading six in the curved-side numbers so 639 became 39. CTC began conversion to buses in 1935 and ran its last streetcar in 1948.
When the system quit in 1948, a doctor in Little Hocking, Ohio purchased the carbody of 39 for use as a medical dispensary. After the doctor died in 1957, Seashore acquired the car from his daughter, Majel Amerine. The car's condition had deteriorated, but Seashore sought the car because no other museum preserved a "rubber stamp" curved-side car and because it was such an important car design. Co-operative Transit employees, particularly William Gwinn, who had worked on the Wheeling streetcars helped provide Seashore with details and photos needed to restore the car. Restoration began in 1974 and was substantially completed in 2009. 639 is one of only two surviving operational Cincinnati curved-side trolleys and the only one of the widely-used "rubber stamp" style.
Connecticut Company 15-bench open car 838 built by J.M. Jones in 1905. The Connecticut Company was formed in 1907 by consolidating operating companies in about eight cities in various parts of the state, including Torrington, Hartford, Middletown, Meriden, New Haven, New London, Norwich and Putnam. In addition, another large operator, the Connecticut Railway and Light Co., serving Stamford, Norwalk, Bridgeport, Ansonia-Derby, New Britain and Waterbury was leased. These fourteen cities formed the basis for thirteen operating divisions, each of which maintained its own roster of cars.
The Connecticut Company and its predecessors had ties or were owned by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. In 1915, the company renumbered all of its cars into a single sequence. Cars from a single order assigned to various divisions were kept together numerically, with a few minor exceptions. Features of this car include its steamcoach roof, two 65 horsepower motors in place of 4 40 horsepower versions, an unusual lighting circuit and trolley hooks which guide the pole into place. The roofline was adopted as a simpler surface to maintain than the earlier deck roof, but the deck roof returned when rollsigns were adopted. This car was 381 when built and was re-numbered 838 in 1915. Long after the Connecticut Company withdrew open cars, such as 838, from regular service, the company used them in New Haven to shuttle football fans between the railroad station and the Yale Bowl on game days.
The open cars also continued operating on excursions to the local beaches and on charter service including fan trips. The Yale service (along with the available extra space to store the cars at the James Street Car Barn upper level) was, however, the reason these cars were not scrapped in the 1930s or earlier when many other systems scrapped their open cars. The last Yale Bowl open cars ran in the 1947 football season, and all New Haven streetcar service ended in 1948. A number of these open cars were donated to museums. 838 long held the all-time record for car mileage at Seashore, though it took a back seat to 303 when it was taken out of service in 2005 for needed sill work. It returned to service for a few years and then was removed again in 2009 for a major body and mechanical upgrade including rehabilitation of one of its two motors. The body exterior of the open car was repainted and the interior flip-over seats were refinished, and the ceiling had new birch paneling installed.
MBTA Type 6 3400 built as a mock-up by the MTBA in 1971.
Dunedin cable car 105 built by Stansfield in 1903. In 1881, Dunedin, New Zealand became the second city in the world, after San Francisco, to operate cable cars. 105 (originally 5) was built for the Mornington Borough Council to replace older cars destroyed in a fire. It was designed for one-man operation which was very unusual for a cable car. The narrow gauge car carried 18 passengers at 8 to 10 miles per hour. The short car was equipped with a single truck.
The City Corporation Tramways of Dunedin took over the operation in 1916. 105 ran on the city’s Maryhill line most of its life. The Maryhill line was only half a mile long. Locals sometimes referred to it as "the Big Dipper", going steeply down one side of a valley and then up the other side. After the Maryhill line closed in 1955, 105 moved to the Mornington line, Dunedin’s last operating cable route. The Mornington line included a 28 percent grade, one of the steepest cable grades in the world. It had a "convertible" grip which could be set at two different heights to allow it to run of either line. Cable car service ended in 1957, making Dunedin the last city, other than San Francisco, to operate cable cars.
Dunedin had been a favorite liberty port for thousands of American G.I.s in the South Pacific during World War II. So in 1957, the City 105 to the United States for custody by Seashore in memory of U.S. naval, marine and army personnel. 105 came to the U.S. in January 1958 on New Zealand Shipping Company's M.V. Wangaroa and was exhibited at the New England Sportsmen's and Boat Show at Boston’s Mechanics Hall. On February 3, during the show, Sir Leslie Munro, New Zealand’s ambassador to the United States and former president of the United Nations General Assembly, ceremonially presented 105 to Governor Foster Furcolo of Massachusetts and A. Edward Langlois, representing Governor Edmund Muskie of Maine. For lunch on February 3, Seashore members organized an informal state luncheon at Boston's Hotel Statler for Sir Leslie and Lady Monro, Governor Furcolo and representatives of the British Commonwealth nations, the United States armed forces and New England businesses. A marine-navy color guard and Scots bagpipers welcomed the luncheon guests. At the presentation ceremony, Sir Leslie gave Mr. Langlois the original cable hook from the car. After the Sportsmen's show, 105 was trucked to Seashore. At sixteen and a half feet long, 105 is Seashore’s smallest rail passenger vehicle.
Montreal Tramways Company open sightseeing car 2 built by Montreal Street Railway in 1906. Sightseeing cars were operated in a number of cities in the United States and Canada and came in a variety of shapes and sizes. Montreal Tramways 2, however, is a rare type of sightseeing car. Montreal developed its tiered "Golden Chariots" from a smaller car used to transport the company band. The first of these cars was constructed in the company shops in 1905 and this car was added during the following spring.
The observation cars were so successful that two more such cars were eventually constructed 1924. In 1954, a three-window front windshield was installed on each observation car. All four operated sightseeing tours around Montreal until 1957 and were available for charter for another year. The sightseeing cars were considered too iconic to scrap. All four are now preserved. This particular car differs from conventional open cars in that it has no roof and its seats are arranged theater-fashion at progressively higher levels on either side of a center aisle. It is a uni-directional car with controls only at one end. The car features fine iron grillwork on the sides and ends and two brass arches topped with light bulbs and carved wood beavers. There were about a dozen similar cars in a few cities in Canada and the United States. The acquisition of 2 was sponsored by the Carling Brewing Company and included a tour of several New England cities and towns. In the 1980's, the museum restored 2 under a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum Services.
Connecticut Company suburban car 1160 built by John Stephenson Car Company in 1906. This car (originally 542) was purchased by the Consolidated Railway (owned by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad) in 1906 shortly before that company merged into the Connecticut Company, also owned by the Railroad. From its formation in 1907 to 1916, when steel cars were adopted, the Connecticut Company bought hundreds of closed, wooden cars, all constructed to the same basic plan. These were simple, straight-sided cars with railroad and deck roofs, manual "armstrong" folding doors and drop platforms. Within this basic plan there were slight differences in length, seating arrangement and electrical equipment.
As with the open cars, the introduction of roll signs spurred a change to deck roofs for the final order, though small roll signs were applied to the vestibule ends of earlier cars such as 1160. Of these cars, 1160 is a model with longitudinal seating that provided more area for standees, 10 windows set in a 30 foot body and four motors with K-6 control. Other cars of this type had cross seating with short longitudinal seats in the body corners. Although many of these cars remained in passenger service until 1948, by 1939, 1160 was converted to salt service and assigned to the track department. The car exterior was repaired and repainted in work car livery in 1941. It arrived at Seashore in this livery. The trucks received very little maintenance.
Prior to coming to Seashore Trolley Museum, 1160 was stored in the upper level of James Street Car Barn in New Haven. While being stored there the track outside the barn was removed making an interesting challenge in loading the car for shipment to Maine. A ramp was constructed from wood timbers and rail from the entrance to the Barn out to the truck and trailer. 1160 was then unceremoniously dragged onto the truck and the reverse occurred when it reached Seashore as there was no operational power at that time. The car did operate at Seashore during the beginning years of operation but was put into storage after its compressor failed. Other than shifting moves, it did not move much until 1988 when restoration of the car began. Restoration continued through the 1990's and 2000's, completing in 2011. Restoration involved dealing with worn out trucks, elongated bolt holes through which passed figure-eight shaped bolts, worn out bushings and bearings, and rotted wood. Much of the original components and wood still remain.
DC Transit PCC car 1304 built by St. Louis Car Company in 1941. The Capital Transit Company was formed in 1933 to consolidate ownership of streetcar lines in Washington, DC and its suburbs. Washington, like a few other cities, banned "unsightly" overhead wires from its streets in much of the city's central area. In these areas, Washington streetcars collected power from an underground conduit between the running rails. Most of the streetcars also had trolley poles for operation outside of the city center. Capital Transit made nine purchases of PCC cars over an eight-year period to replace conventional cars. Each new order reflected the latest changes in PCC technology. Washington's PCC fleet reached 489 cars. To fit its carbarns, Capital Transit used a short version of the PCC.
In 1961, General Electric in Erie, Pennsylvania, acquired one car, 1304, for use in automatic train operation testing. The company equipped 1304 with an electronic package wired into its control system so that the car could operate without a motorman. GE installed a pantograph to collect power from an overhead wire but kept the car in its two tone green, white and orange DC Transit paint scheme and named the car "Tomorrow". It operated 1304 on its Erie test track for several years. These tests helped lead to automated operation on the Bay Area Rapid Transit in the San Francisco area. The Columbia Park & Southwestern (known as "Trolleyville USA") at Olmsted Falls, Ohio acquired 1304 from General Electric at an unknown date. Seashore acquired the car in 1985 and restoration work began in the late 1990s. The restoration included extensive structural and cosmetic work, replacement of missing parts and restoring the car's control system to its original state, which was a major project as no original wiring drawings exist. Car 1304 includes a display of the conduit plow used for power collection within the District of Columbia where overhead wires were banned. Seashore has restored the car to its DC Transit appearance.
Cleveland Railway centre-entrance suburban car 1227 built by the G.C. Kuhlman Car Company in 1914. These cars were designed by Cleveland Transit Commissioner, Peter Witt, and featured center doors. Passengers entered at the right center door and exited from the left center, paying when they passed the conductor who sat between the two doors. The design also included at high-domed roof with Scullin ventilator louvers. Cleveland designed these cars to haul a trailer car.
Cleveland was unique in its extensive use of motor-trailer streetcar trains. At 51 feet, No. 1227 is the longest city streetcar in the Seashore collection. The center-entrance cars operated on most of Cleveland's trunk routes, often hauling trailer cars. After purchasing these center-entrance cars, Cleveland purchased very similar cars also designed by Peter Witt, where the center door was for exiting and a front door was for passenger entrance. This "Peter Witt" style car became popular in Cleveland and elsewhere. In 1942, the city of Cleveland bought the Cleveland Railway, forming the Cleveland Transit System. Cleveland scrapped most of its center-entrance cars in 1947-48, but 1227 had previously been sold to the Cleveland Interurban Railroad. The brothers, O.P. and M.J. Van Sweringen had developed the suburb of Shaker Heights, Ohio and built the Cleveland Interurban Railroad to provide trolley service between Terminal Tower in downtown Cleveland and the suburb.
In 1925, the Cleveland Interuban leased several Cleveland Railway center-entrance cars including 1227. During the depression, the Cleveland Interuban returned 1227 and some other center-entrance cars to the Cleveland Railway and 1227 went into storage until 1940, when the Cleveland Interurban purchased 36 Cleveland Railway center-entrance cars, including this car. The Cleveland Interurban re-numbered most of these cars by dropping the "12" prefix from the Cleveland numbers. It converted these cars to multiple-unit operation and removed the Scullin ventilator louvers. Cleveland Interurban also changed the trucks from Cleveland Standard (Brill 67F) to Brill 177E trucks more suitable to the interurban service.
In 1944, the City of Shaker Heights purchased the Cleveland Interurban renaming it the Shaker Heights Rapid Transit. Newer PCC cars replaced the center-door cars on the Shaker Heights line by about 1960. In 1959, 1227 went to the Baltimore Streetcar Museum's site in Baltimore but because the car did not fit with the wide gauge Baltimore collection, in 1968 1227 went to the Trolley Valhalla museum in Tansboro, New Jersey and later Jobstown, New Jersey. 1227’s car frame was badly damaged in the move to Tansboro. Ronald Jedlicka, a trolley preservationist in Ohio eventually acquired the car. In 1984, he donated 1227, less trucks and some components, to Seashore. Seashore removed the MU equipment and installed Brill 177E trucks. Work stretching over 30 years culminated in the full restoration of this car to its 1920s Cleveland Railway appearance.
Atlantic Shore Line steeple cab electric locomotive 100 built by the Laconia Car Company in 1906. In 1906, the ASL ordered three freight locomotives (100 to 102) of wood construction from Laconia Car Co. About 1908, they converted 101 to a box express car and enlarged 102, while 100 remained as built. Like most electric lines, the ASL's primary traffic was passengers, but the company also developed a freight business. The ASL interchanged carload freight with the Boston & Maine Railroad at Springvale, Kennebunk and West Kennebunk, Maine. Beginning in 1915, the Atlantic Shore also interchanged freight with the Biddeford & Saco electric line at Biddeford. Freight included inbound shipments of coal and outbound shipments of timber products.
One source of freight was cordwood harvested along the present Seashore right-of-way and hauled by 100 or 102 from the present Trolley Museum site to the Kennebunk interchange. In early years, the railroad also received coal from barges and schooners at Cape Porpoise, Maine. Both 100 and 102 continued in service for York Utilities at Sanford until trolley freight service ended in 1949. After this, two small GE diesel locomotives hauled the freight. Seashore acquired 100 (along with railway post office car 108) when York Utilities ceased operation in 1949. 100 received little attention at the museum until Seashore began planning a restoration in 1999. In 2006, Seashore received Federal Transportation Enhancement funds which paid for a significant part of 100's restoration. To comply with the restoration grants, the museum searched for and used original materials such as southern yellow pine. 100 arrived at Seashore painted green but careful scraping revealed that the locomotive was brown during most of its life. Seashore also developed a related educational curriculum for elementary students and the museum mounted a companion exhibit in its exhibit hall. Seashore completed the full restoration in 2009. In 1980, the National Park Service placed this locomotive on the National Register of Historic Place along with nine of the museum's other Maine cars.
Sydney Tramways tram 1700 built by Meadowbank Manufacturing Company in 1925. At their peak, Sydney's tramways were the largest in Australia and the second largest in the British Commonwealth (after London) with about 1,500 trams in service. Between 1921 and 1929, the NSW Government Tramways purchased 258 P-Class trams, 1480-1737. Meadowbank, based in Sydney, was a producer of agricultural machinery as well as trams.
The P-Class trams operated on most of Sydney's lines. One route served the city's famous Bondi Beach which generated immense demands for the city's transportation system. To handle the crowds, the P-Class trams had eight compartments, each seating ten on wooden cross benches. There was no center aisle; each compartment was accessed only from running boards on the outside. Each compartment had folding canvass doors. The dangerous design required the conductor to walk along the outside running boards to collect fares. In rainy weather, conductors wore heavy oilskin raincoats. The conductors' union unsuccessfully campaigned to eliminate the footboard trams.
To simplify operations the cars were operated in two car trains. General Electric supplied the multiple unit equipment and this long-distance order was made because representatives from Sydney had inspected the Bay State Street Railway's 4300 class cars, and were impressed with the control system. Thus, these very unusual Australian cars have a very American feel to operators. Some other unique aspects of the cars include almost flat roofs surrounded by a raised ornamental parapet, tight cabs and narrow running boards. From the 1930s, many P-Class trams, including No. 1700, carried large, illuminated advertising panels mounted on the roof line. Sydney retired the last P-Class trams in 1960; all tram service ended in 1961.
In 1997, Sydney opened a modern, light rail system. In 1961, Seashore president Theodore (Ted) Santarelli de Brasch sponsored the purchase of 1700 for 100 Australian pounds and the tram was shipped to the United States that year and has required occasional painting and roof repairs but no heavy repair work. Seashore and its cousin, the Sydney Tramway Museum, have worked together to obtain and share needed parts for this car and two sister cars "down under". Seashore has operated 1700 in passenger service at various times but the car's relatively tiny wheel flanges limits the car's use.
MBTA snow plough 5106 built by St. Louis Car Company in 1908 and retired in 1995.
Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee coach 755 bult by Standard Steel Car Company in 1930. The Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee (commonly called the "North Shore Line") operated between Chicago and Milwaukee. Between Chicago's downtown Loop and the city's northern boundary, North Shore trains ran over the Chicago Rapid Transit's elevated line. Utilities magnate Samuel Insull, acquired control of the North Shore in 1916 and made substantial improvements to the interurban's track and rolling stock.
Insull's key improvement was construction of the high speed "Skokie Valley" line in 1926 which by-passed the slow route through suburbs close to Lake Michigan. Between 1915 and 1930, the North Shore renewed its fleet with 133 new cars. In 1930, the North Shore concluded this program when it purchased 25 coaches (numbers 752-776) from Standard Steel Car. This was the railroad's last passenger car purchase other than the two Electroliner streamliners in 1941. When built, 755 carried an orange and maroon paint scheme which was changed to deep green in 1939. The North Shore modernized the coach in 1940 and again in 1950. During the 1950's, the North Shore improved its image by giving some of its cars a streamlined appearance. This was done with a clever paint scheme, which simulated fluted siding on the bottom half of the car with alternating stripes of light and dark gray, butted against each other at one boundary and feathered into each other at the other. The top half of the car was red. The cars looked very attractive and were dubbed Silverliners.
755 was one of the first cars painted into the scheme in 1950. In 1962, the car was also one of the last cars to get fresh paint at the railroad's Highwood, Illinois shop prior to the North Shore’s abandonment in 1963. After the North Shore ended service in 1963, former North Shore employee John Horachek acquired coaches 420 and 755 as agent for Seashore. Since 420 was an oddball in the North Shore fleet (a former observation car), Seashore also purchased standard car 755. All three North Shore cars at Seashore can operate around both loops since they were designed to fit on the Chicago Elevated's tight turns. In 2015, the museum received a $10,000 matching grant from the Emery Rail Heritage Trust for restoration of 755.
Track speeder. Now we will go inside the restoration shop.
Portland-Lewiston interurban 14 "Narcissus" built by Laconia Car Company in 1912. Connecting two of the major cities in southern Maine, the Portland-Lewiston Interurban was one of the best appointed and fastest electric railroads in Maine. Six cars, including 14, were built prior to the line's opening and temporarily placed in storage. In addition to numbers, the cars carried names of flowers; 14 was named "Narcissus".
The cars' interiors had a regular seating section as well as a separate smoking compartment. This car's exterior was painted Pullman green with red trim and gold leaf lettering. The Portland-Lewiston began operating in 1914, using the tracks of the Portland Railroad to reach Monument Square in Portland and using the Lewiston Augusta & Waterville Street Railway between Auburn and Lewiston. Soon after opening, the Androscoggin Electric Company (later Central Maine Power) acquired control of the interurban. In 1914, a month after regular operation had begun, former president Theodore Roosevelt rode 14 between Lewiston and Portland while campaigning for the Progressive Party. Teddy Roosevelt rode the line again in 1916, but the specific car he rode then is unknown.
The "Narcissus" continued operating until the interurban's abandonment in 1933. Almost every car from the line was used for non-transportation purposes after the line was abandoned. The body of 14, which was used as a summer cottage on Sabbatus Lake since 1933, became available and was moved to the Museum in 1969. In 1956, Seashore had obtained the bodies of two smaller Portland-Lewiston cars but these two cars were in such poor condition that they were scrapped, with parts salvaged, as 14 was thought to be a much better representative of the PLI. In 1988, Seashore placed the body the interurban on trucks that Maine State Governor John H. Reed had helped acquire from the Canadian National Railway. The trucks on Portland-Lewiston cars had included relatively unusual curved equalizer bars and the trucks from CN’s subsidiary, the Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto Railway, came close to the original trucks' appearance. In 1995, U.S. Senator Edmund Muskie became Honorary Chairman of a committee to raise funds for the car's restoration. Muskie had ridden the Portland-Lewiston Interurban in the 1930s while attending Bates College in Lewiston. Some restoration has been accomplished and most of the equipment for this car has been set aside. In 1980, the National Park Service placed this interurban car on the National Register of Historic Places along with nine of Seashore’s other Maine cars.
Blackpool Corporation double-deck tram 144 built by the Blackpool Corporation in 1925. The seaside resort town of Blackpool had Britain's first electric tramway in 1885, three years before Richmond, Virginia started the first successful American electric streetcar system. Blackpool is the only British city to maintain tram service continually from the early days to the present. 144 is one of 33 similar cars built by Blackpool between 1923 and 1927 and were termed Blackpool "standard" cars.
The upper deck is covered but has open ends. The car is typical of British double deck cars used from the early 1900's until the 1950's. This car has a swivel shoe on its pole allowing for automatic reversing at the terminals. Electrical equipment was constructed by the British Thomson-Houston Company, an affiliate of the General Electric Company of the United States. Blackpool operated several tram lines, but the principal route ran 11 miles from Blackpool to Fleetwood along the Blackpool Promenade. In the 1950's, Blackpool replaced many older cars with more modern steel, Art Deco-styled double deck streetcars. The last standard car in regular service ran in 1966.
The Mayor and Aldermen of Blackpool gave 144 to Seashore in 1954 and was the museum's first foreign car acquisition. During 1957-1959, Seashore replaced the roof and painted the car in its original red and cream paint scheme. Extensive rewiring and rehabilitation took place during the period from 2000 to 2015. The museum also repainted 144 in the green and cream paint scheme that it wore during most of its operating life. During the restoration, Seashore used extensive advice from the National Tramway Museum in Crich, England. 144 operated at Seashore in earlier years however, the museum's trolley wire has sagged somewhat since then and the tram is now too high to operate under portions of the trolley wire.
Two views inside the restoration shop.
Trolley car of unknown origin.
Twin City Rapid Transit Company 1267 built by the Transit Supply Company in 1907. Twin City Rapid Transit (also known as Twin City Lines) was formed in 1891 in the merger of the streetcar systems of Minneapolis and St. Paul. TCRT decided that the various streetcar builders could not produce cars to withstand Minnesota's severe winters. So between 1898 and 1917, Twin City Rapid Transit's own shops, using the name Transit Supply Company, built 1140 cars for its fleet, producing the nation's largest home-built trolley fleet.
TCRT began acquiring new PCC cars in 1945 but older cars continued operating. In the early 1950's, the company decided to rapidly convert to buses. The last streetcar ran in 1954. 1267 is a "gate car" which was a prominent type of car in Minneapolis and St. Paul. It takes its name from folding wire gates instead of doors where passengers entered at the rear of the car. The company later replaced the gates with doors on most of its "gate cars" but not on 1267. This is one of the widest cars ever built for street use, measuring 9 feet two-and-a-half inches across the sills. In 1928, TCRT rebuilt 1267 with roller bearing trucks, electric heat and a narrow passenger exit door at the front of the car in place of a high level motorman's access door. The car ran on a variety of lines. After 1946, it ran on the University of Minnesota inter-campus route.
Some of the "gate cars" continued operating until Twin City ended streetcar service. Twin City Rapid Transit donated 1267 to Seashore in 1953, the day after its last run and was the museum's first car acquired under the National Collection strategy. Between 1987 and 1993, Seashore completely restored the car to its 1915 appearance, including removing the front passenger exit and reinstalling the motorman's door. Museum member Doug Anderson sponsored and did much of the work on this restoration. Supporters included former President George H. W. Bush. After the restoration, Seashore used the car in regular service. Unfortunately, water penetrated the new wood siding which had to be replaced later.
The restoration shop.
Museum view.
MBTA subway cars 01450 and 01455 built by the Pullman-Standard Car Company in 1963. In 1961, Boston's Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) ordered 92 new cars from Pullman-Standard to re-equip the Cambridge-Dorchester rapid transit line. In Boston, rapid transit car numbers all started with zero to distinguish them from surface streetcars. The 01400s went into service on May 3, 1963. The 01400 series cars, designated Cambridge-Dorchester number 5s, replaced original Cambridge-Dorchester cars dating to 1911 as well as the 4 Cambridge-Dorchester cars (0695-0754) dating from 1928.
The design of the 01400 cars was similar to the 01100 series cars built in 1957 for the Main Line (Orange Line). The cars carried a blue, white and gold paint scheme based on the colors of the Massachusetts Commonwealth flag. In common with many other rapid transit cars, the number 5s were built and operated in pairs. The "A" car had the motor generator set and storage battery while the "B" car had the air compressor for the air brakes. The MTA ordered the number 5s with some modern features but also endeavoured to keep construction cost down. At 69 and-a-half-feet, the 01400s were the longest rapid transit cars in the United States when built. They had curved sides which provided wider aisle space. The 01400s had space inside the car for the guard who controlled the doors, unlike on the number 4s where the guard stood on the car platform.
The 5s lacked air conditioning and were built of Cor-Ten steel rather than more costly aluminum or stainless steel and were the last Boston rapid transit cars built without air conditioning. Interior surfaces were plastic which did not require paint. The cars were considered rough riding and noisy. Top speed was 55 mph. In 1964, shortly after the arrival of the 5s, the MTA was absorbed into the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). MBTA adopted a color coding scheme to identify Boston's various transit lines. The Cambridge-Dorchester line became the Red Line because the line's northern terminal was at Harvard University whose official color is crimson. However, the 5s did not receive their red paint scheme until the early 1980's when the MBTA extended the Red Line to Alewife. In 1994, the MBTA retired the 01400 cars and replaced them with the 01800 series cars built by Bombardier. The MBTA kept four 01400s for work train service and sent two to Seashore. The rest were scrapped. In 1995, the MBTA agreed to sell 01450 and 01455 to Seashore for $1 each. At the time, the museum intended to restore one car to its original blue, white and gold colors and restore the other to its later red colors.
MTA New York City Transit R-33 9327 built by the St. Louis Car Company in 1964. This is one of 40 subway cars known as "World’s Fair Cars". The New York City Transit Authority acquired this car as part of the R-33s contract and placed it service carrying passengers on the Flushing Line between Manhattan and the 1964 New York World's Fair at Willets Point, Queens. The Transit Authority designed these cars with large picture windows and a distinctive white and turquoise blue paint scheme. Car 9327 continued operating on the Flushing line for its entire service life.
In the 1980's, this car received the red, Teflon-coated paint scheme. Over 1,400 New York subway cars, known as "Redbirds", received this paint as part of a successful effort to combat graffiti. In 2000, the baseball World Series was a match between the New York Yankees and the New York Mets. Because the home stadiums of both teams were served by New York subway lines, this was popularly called a "subway series" - the first since 1956. Car 9327, then serving the Mets' Shea Stadium on the Flushing line, was one of 11 cars to sport the "Subway Series" paint scheme. After retirement, 9327 came to the museum while almost 1,300 of the "Redbirds" were sunk in the Atlantic Ocean to create artificial reefs.
The R-33s cars, such as 9327, were "single" cars but otherwise similar to the 500 R-33 cars built at the same time as married pairs for operation on New York's IRT lines other than the Flushing Line. Soon after buying the R-33 and R-33s cars, the New York City Transit Authority bought 34 more similar cars for IRT main line service and 390 R-36WF cars for the Flushing Line. The R-36WF cars had the white and turquoise "World’s Fair" paint scheme but were built as married pairs. So, the Transit Authority usually coupled 9327 or another R-33s car to ten R-36WF cars to make an eleven-car train. Car 9327 received a silver and blue paint scheme in the 1970's and then a white paint scheme in the early 1980's before its red paint scheme. The R-33s cars, including 9327, were the last New York subway cars operating without air conditioning. After retirement in 2004, 9327 went to the New York Transit Museum before coming to the Seashore Trolley Museum in 2005.
New York City Transit R-22 Main Line IRT subway car 7371 built by American Car and Foundry in 1957. The R-22 cars were dependable, fast and good riding. Car 7371 was originally painted dark green but spent most of its service life in a silver and blue scheme. After retirement from regular service in 1987, it received a yellow paint scheme and continued in subway maintenance service until 2003.
Car 7371 carried 44 passengers in molded fiberglass seats along with a larger number of standees. The most common route for the R-22s was the IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue line. This car was part of the train hijacked by criminals in the 1974 film "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three". The film's name refers to the Transit Authority's system of designating specific trains by their starting terminal and starting time. So the train in the film started from the Pelham station in the Bronx at 1:23 PM. After ending operation in maintenance service, 7371 spent a year at the New York Transit Museum and participated the New York City subway's centennial celebration in 2004 before being acquired by Seashore in 2005.
Lehigh Valley Transit Company high-speed interurban parlor car 1030 built by American Car and Foundry in 1931. The Indiana Railroad was a major interurban operator in its namesake state, connecting the capital, Indianapolis, with other Indiana cities. The Indiana Railroad was formed in 1930 by a merger of several smaller Indiana interurbans. That year, the new railroad borrowed one of the Cincinnati & Lake Erie's new, lightweight cars for some test runs. Impressed with the high speed of the car, the Indiana Railroad ordered 35 very similar cars from Pullman-Standard and American Car & Foundry.
The cars were designed for speeds of more than 80 mph. Built largely of aluminum, these lightweight cars preceded the streamliners on the steam railroads by a couple of years. The new cars were about half the weight of older, steel cars. American Car & Foundry built 14 cars in a coach-lounge configuration with upholstered seats in a rear observation section. The high-speeds ran from Indianapolis to Fort Wayne and to Louisville. In 1934, the Indiana Railroad converted one of its high-speed cars, 55, from a coach to a parlor car with lounge-type seating. The Indiana Railroad ended most service in the late 1930s and of the lightweights, only 55 and 65 were sold for further use.
In 1939, the Lehigh Valley Transit Company of Allentown, Pennsylvania had acquired six of the C&LE lightweight cars. Then in 1941, LVT acquired Indiana 55 to replace a former C&LE car which had been destroyed by fire. The LVT re-numbered 55 to 1030. Although 1030 was operated as a regular service car, the parlor seating was retained at first, making 1030 a popular car with the regular riders but in 1949, LVT installed regular coach seats. LVT operated local service in and between the cities of Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton and maintained an interurban route to Philadelphia called the Liberty Bell route.
The 1000s were operated on this line, providing a fast but rough trip to 69th Street on the west side of Philadelphia. The southern end of the line shared track with a suburban rapid transit operation known as the Philadelphia & Western and like the North Shore cars, the 1000s were equipped with third rail shoes and door traps for that part of the trip. The LVT was probably the last example of a pure interurban with passenger and freight traffic in interurban equipment, without railroad interchange.
Service on the LVT ended in 1951, and the 1000s were sold to a junk dealer who resold the body of 1030 to Seashore. No. 1030's trucks and motors were not included since they were wanted by the Philadelphia and Western for their cars. The junkman substituted the equipment from a former C&LE car, which turned out to be the one from the famous airplane race of 1930. 1030 was Seashore's first car from outside of New England, beginning the museum's national and international scope. Over the next 24 years, a group of Allentown area members would gather at Seashore every summer to work on the car and a fundraising effort was begun to complete the restoration of the car for the nation's bicentennial in 1976. Seashore restored the car to its LVT parlor car appearance. Car 1030 returned to service and was dedicated in memory of Howard P. Sell on members’ day in 1976.
Chicago, Aurora & Elgin Railroad 434 built by the Cincinnati Car Company in 1927. The main line of the Chicago Aurora & Elgin ran from Forest Park near the western boundary of Chicago, to Wheaton. From Wheaton, branches extended west to Aurora, Geneva, Batavia and Elgin. From Forest Park to downtown Chicago, CA&E trains operated over the Garfield Park line of the Chicago Rapid Transit (later, Chicago Transit Authority).
Unlike most interurbans, the CA&E used power from a third rail, making it compatible with the rapid transit line. Soon after utilities magnate Samuel Insull gained control of the CA&E in 1927, the railroad ordered 15 new cars, numbered 420 to 434, to supplement earlier wooden cars. The cars were 55 feet long, the maximum permitted by curves and clearances on the Garfield Park line. Interior appointments included rotating bucket seats, toilet facilities and a smoking compartment. While operating mainly on the third rail, the cars had trolley poles for yard service and limited street running.
The CA&E rebuilt 434 in 1951 and the car's paint scheme changed from blue to red. In the 1950's, the CTA tore down its Garfield Park elevated line to make way for the Eisenhower Expressway and operated on temporary street-level tracks until construction of a new line down the expressway median. In 1953, the CA&E determined that operation on the temporary line was not feasible and stopped running its trains over the CTA. Many CA&E passengers, faced with the need to change trains at Forest Park, stopped using the interurban. When the CA&E abandoned all passenger service in 1957, 434 was stored at the line's shops in Wheaton. In 1962, Seashore arranged to acquire 434 and had it moved to temporary storage at the Chicago South Shore & South Bend Railroad shop in Michigan City, Indiana. In early 1963, 434 moved by rail to Kennebunkport and arrived in operating condition. Between 1996 and 2002, a member sponsored a major restoration project which put the car in excellent condition. The car is painted in the red livery it had after the 1951 rebuilding.
Boston Elevated Railway streetcar 396 built by the St. Louis Car Company in 1900. This streetcar was one of 1,202 similar double-truck cars built between 1890 and 1900 for the Boston Elevated and its predecessor, West End Street Railway. Because the body on these cars was 25 feet long, excluding the open platforms at each end, they were classed as a "25 foot box cars". Car 396 served the North Beacon Street line in Brighton and Watertown from 1900 until it was replaced by a Birney car around 1920.
As a Division 7 car it was painted crimson. When built, 396 had open platforms but the vestibules were enclosed between 1901 and 1905 as mandated by a 1900 state law. It was repainted in crimson and later repainted in the Boston El's standard paint scheme of dark green and white without any striping or decoration. In 1923, the Boston Elevated converted the car to an electrical test car and it was later painted solid green and solid orange as a work car. 396 remained in service when the Metropolitan Transit Authority acquired the Boston Elevated in 1947 and is one of seven cars purchased at a special price in 1954 when the MTA ended its previous policy of requiring the museum to pay at least junk value for vehicles.
The car remained a relatively obscure part of Seashore's collection until 1963, when the Otto Preminger production company came to Seashore seeking a Boston trolley typical of the early 1900's. 396 was chosen and the MTA's Everett Shops was contracted to bring the car back to its appearance in 1912. Though not perfect, the overall appearance was good. After operating on Belmont Street on the Waverley line for its scenes in "The Cardinal", 396 returned to Maine where it became a popular car for display and occasional operation.
During the 1980's, Seashore decided to return the car to a more accurate paint scheme, that which it wore from 1905 to about 1915, running on the North Beacon Street line. Remnants of this scheme inside the vestibules had survived the last years in green, the work car years and the 1963 repainting. Fresh crimson was applied, with white on the concave panels, but before the striping could be applied, Hollywood intervened again. In 1977, the Children's Television Workshop requested the car for a piece in "The Best of Families", a miniseries depicting a Brooklyn family. Trolleys were important in Brooklyn's history and 396 represented the period they wished to depict. The crimson paint was a good match for Brooklyn's maroon, but the 1905 era vestibules were removed to depict the proper era in Brooklyn. The scenes depicting the Brooklyn trolley strike of 1895 were shot at Boston's Reservoir Carhouse. Before 396 returned to Maine, the MBTA also used the car for an event depicting four generations of Boston streetcars to publicize the purchase of new LRVs. In 1996, the MBTA proposed bringing 396 back to Boston for a display marking the Boston subway centennial, but this move was not done.
Manchester Street Railway car 60 built by the Laconia Car Company in 1895. The Manchester Street Railway (successor to the Manchester Horse Railway) converted from horse to electric operation in 1895 as well as converting from three foot gauge to standard gauge track. The company served Manchester and other nearby New Hampshire cities. An affiliate, the Manchester & Nashua Street Railway, ran to Nashua. The Manchester Street Railway came under the control of Public Service Company of New Hampshire in 1926 and it absorbed the street railway in 1937.
Streetcar service in Manchester ended in 1940. For the initial conversion from horse to electric power in 1895, Laconia Car Co. built 18 closed, single truck streetcars: 40-45 and 66-77. These cars had 20-foot bodies, longitudinal plush upholstered seats and open vestibules. To comply with a state law, the Manchester Street Railway enclosed the vestibules in 1899. In 1905, the Manchester Street Railway re-numbered these cars, with 77 becoming 60. After withdrawing 60 from passenger service, the Manchester Street Railway kept it as a maintenance car for sanding the rails.
Bidderford & Saco Railway Company 12 bench open car 31 built by the J.G. Brill Company in 1900. This is the museum's oldest open car and the museum's first car. It is the oldest surviving Brill design electric open car and rides on Brill's patented 22E "maximum traction" trucks which featured two large wheels mounted on the axle driven by the motor and two small "pony" wheels on the other axle. The truck was designed to throw more weight on the motored axle so that maximum traction might be obtained without spinning the wheels.
Gone from most of the big cities by the 1920's, open cars survived in areas where their capacity made their short operating season financially viable. One such area was the cities of Biddeford and Saco in Maine, where the local trolley line served the resort town of Old Orchard Beach. Ridership to Old Orchard was insufficient to fill a twice-hourly Birney Car for nine months out of the year, but ballooned to enormous traffic during the summer. The summer loads often required double-headed 12 bench opens running on a 15 minute headway. In spring 1939, a group of college age men from the Boston area chartered cars and spent the day riding back and forth between Biddeford and Old Orchard. Buses were already on order to replace the streetcars, and while riding an open car, one was heard saying "Someone ought to save one of these cars". Someone else chimed in "Why can't it be us?"
Lively discussion ensued and by the time the trip was over, a decision had been made to try and purchase the car they were riding in, 31. The Biddeford & Saco agreed to sell the car for $150, provided that the purchasers removed the car from the cities within a fixed time period after trolley service ended. Facing several obstacles, including raising the $150, this group of men managed to raise the price of the car plus the cost of moving it, leased a small plot of land off Log Cabin Road on the Arundel-Kennebunkport border and succeeded in moving the car over the road about eight miles using makeshift equipment. The purchase was made on July 5, 1939, on the same day that buses replaced the cars. Thus was born the Seashore Trolley Museum and, in general, street railway preservation. In 1979, Senator Edmund Muskie rode 39 at the celebration of the museum’s 40th anniversary. After extensive restoration was completed in 1999, the museum trucked 31 to Biddeford for exhibition.
Brooklyn Rapid Transit convertible car 4547 built by the Jewett Car Company in 1906. The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) was formed in 1896 through the merger of most of the streetcar lines in Brooklyn, New York. Three years later, the BRT acquired the elevated lines in Brooklyn. In 1905-06, the BRT purchased 450 convertible streetcars from four different builders. The convertible cars had removable side sashes extending from close to the roof to 12 inches above the floor. For summer service, the side sashes were replaced with window guards and curtains for rain.
For strength, the BRT convertibles had a steel band around the base of the car. The BRT and New York's Third Avenue Railway System became among the country's largest operators of convertible cars. In 1923, the BRT was reorganized as Brooklyn Manhattan Transit. 4547 ran on the De Kalb Avenue line in Brooklyn until 1934. For regular service in the 1930's, the BMT replaced the convertible cars with PCCs and other newer cars. In 1940, New York City acquired the BMT. About this time, 4547 and about 80 other Brooklyn convertible cars were transferred to work service where 4547 became a sand and salt car.
It was not altered but bags of sand and salt were carried on the floor and seats. In 1953, the City formed the New York City Transit Authority to operate the city's subway, bus and streetcar lines. 4547 continued in work service in Brooklyn until the last streetcar lines were converted to buses in 1956. The city temporarily re-numbered 4547 to 4558 and in 1956, the New York City Board of Estimate passed a resolution providing for the sale to Seashore of 4558, along with IRT subway car 3352, for $1 each. 4547 had suffered extensive corrosion from salt and restoration did not begin until 1981. Seashore completed restoration in 1988 and placed the car in regular service. This is the museum's only full convertible car.
California Street Cable Railroad cable car 48 built by the Holman Car Company in 1907. San Francisco's steep hills were too much for horse propulsion, so another means of propulsion was necessary. Andrew Halliday developed a system using a steel "rope" under the pavement to pull the cars along and installed it on his route on Sacramento and Clay Streets in the 1870s.
San Francisco's cable cars used a three foot six inch track gauge. The California Street Cable Railroad began operation in 1878. By 1900, cable routes criss-crossed the city but the earthquake and fire of 1906 destroyed much of the infrastructure. Several lines were too steep for electric cars and continued to use cable propulsion into the 1940's. By 1950, four through lines and a shuttle remained, two operated by the Municipal Railway and three by the California Street Company, which was sold to the city-owned San Francisco Municipal Railway in 1952.
A shortened version of the company's namesake line continues to operate while the outer end of its Hyde-Jones-O'Farrell line was connected to the Washington-Jackson line to form the present Powell-Hyde line. The Holman Car Company of San Francisco built No. 48 to replace another cable car of that number that had been destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Like other cars on the California Street Cable Railroad, 48 is a "California" type cable car with an enclosed center section, open sections on each end and provision for operation from either end. 48 operated on the California Street Cable Railroad's Hyde-Jones-O'Farrell line until that line was abandoned in 1954.
Azienda Tranvie ed Autobus del Comune four-wheel tram 279 built by Tabanelli in 1914. The Eternal City of Rome is represented in Seashore's collection by 279, a diminutive single-truck composite steel and wood car. Donated to the Museum in 1960 by the Mayor of Rome, it was Seashore's first car from continental Europe. The car is a good largely-unmodified example of the ruggedly-built single-truck tram, designed to haul one or two trailers that was common throughout Europe until larger cars gradually came into general use after the mid-1950's.
Newer versions, also hauling trailers, were still common in Eastern Europe in the mid 1990's. 279 has very few seats, allowing this small car to carry a large number of standees and is somewhat unique in having an axle-driven air compressor for the brakes, instead of the most usual arrangement of driving it with a separate electric motor.
Union Street Railway Railway Post Office Car 34 built by Fleigel in 1878. The New Bedford & Fairhaven Street Railway began horsecar service in New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1872. It became the Union Street Railway in 1887. The company began converting to electric streetcars in 1890. The Feigel Car Company of New Utrecht, New York built 34 as a 7-bench horsecar for New Bedford and the Union Street Railway electrified it about 1894.
Union Street Railway extensively rebuilt 34 to a railway post office car about 1906 and it began operating as an RPO between Fall River and Onset. As such, two postal clerks on board the car sorted and cancelled mail while picking up and dropping off mail at points along the way. This RPO route ran over the Union Street Railway from Fall River through New Bedford and Fairhaven and then farther east over the affiliated New Bedford & Onset Street Railway to the Onset section of Wareham, Massachusett. Mail cancelled on the car received a "WARE & FALL RIVER RPO" postmark.
After mail service ended in 1927, 34 went into storage and was used occasionally as a work car. The great New England hurricane of 1938 flooded the carbarn where the car was stored and damaged the motors and did not run after the hurricane. Seashore acquired 34 in 1947 and briefly stored the car at the Edaville Railroad in South Carver, Massachusetts before bringing it to Maine. In 1980, Seashore restored one motor on 34 and together with Portsmouth Dover & York 108, ran as an active railway post office on October 8, 1983 for the streetcar postage stamp first day of issue ceremony officiated by then-Vice President George H.W. Bush and Postmaster General William Bolger. Based on the 1878 construction date, 34 is the oldest rail car in the Seashore collection, although only some components are from the original construction.
Union Street Railway horse car 10 built by the J.G. Brill Company in 1885. The New Bedford & Fairhaven Street Railway began horsecar service in New Bedford, Masschusetts in 1872 and became the Union Street Railway in 1887. The company began converting to electric streetcars in 1890. Sixteen foot closed horsecars were the state-of-the-art in the mid-1880's and were used on about every system in the country.
There were two major varieties, single ended "bobtails" operated on circular routes or double-ended cars used on point-to-point routes. The bobtails also could be operated with only a driver, while the double-ended cars required a conductor to guard the rear doors and collect fares. The latter type was more common as they loaded and unloaded more quickly and were more adaptable to variations in operation. 10 is a typical example of a double-ended car and was normally pulled by a single horse at six to eight miles per hour.
The car operated a short shuttle route on North Main Street in Fairhaven (originally Oxford, for which the car is lettered). The Union Street Railway used this car well into the 1890's and then retired it to serve as a tool shed. In 1914, the company decided to renovate and repaint 10 for special events. The railway brought out 10 to run on July 4, 1914. Union Street Railway stored the car under a tarp at its Weld Street carhouse and it often made appearances on the street on special occasions, such as in 1922 when New Bedford celebrated its 50th anniversary of street railway service.
Very few sixteen-foot cars remained by the 1910's and even fewer have survived into the 21st century. Car 10 is a classic example of these once-ubiquitous cars and its paint scheme features fancy scroll work on the sides of the car. Union Street Railway donated 10 to Seashore in 1954 but at the time, Seashore did not have indoor space for it so they initially loaned the car to the Larz Anderson Museum in Brookline, Massachusetts before bringing it to Kennebunkport in 1955. 10 was also exhibited at the Antique Auto Museum in Princeton, Massachuetts. In 1958, the Metropolitan Transit Authority borrowed 10, mounting it on rubber tires and pulled it through Boston streets with a horse and a mule for an advertising campaign. Seashore occasionally hired a horse to pull the horse car for visitors. After loaning 10 to Newburyport, New Hampshire for a parade in 1977, Seashore decided to stop sending the car out of the museum. It has not been repainted or refinished since being retired and is the only unmodified horsecar at Seashore and among the oldest vehicles in the collection.
Glasgow Corporation Transport double-deck tram 1274 built by the Glasgow Corporation in 1940. The city-owned Glasgow Corporation Tramways was one of the largest urban tram systems in Europe. As of 1922, Glasgow operated over 1,000 trams on more than 100 miles of routes. Glasgow trams used an unusual four foot seven-and-three-quarter inch track gauge, slightly narrower than the standard gauge commonly used in the United States and Britain.
To modernize its fleet, Glasgow built 150 streamlined trams between 1937 and 1941. As part of this fleet, Glasgow built 1274 at its own Coplawhill works in 1940. Constructed around the time of King George VI's coronation, this group of trams was called the "Coronation Class". The lower deck is quite comfortable and the controls are modern. The car is streamlined, with the ends tapered to a 30 inch panel. The Coronation Class trams were the fastest trams to run in Britain.
Glasgow refurbished 1274 to run in a parade marking the end of Glasgow tram operation in 1962. An estimated 250,000 people watched the final parade of 20 Glasgow trams. It was the last large city in Britain to operate trams; only the smaller city of Blackpool continued tram operation until a modern light rail system opened in Manchester in 1992. Through the efforts of Seashore member James Donald, a native of Scotland and resident in New Jersey, Glasgow Corporation donated 1274 to Seashore and it came to the United States in 1963. Members of the Order of Scottish Clans greeted the car when it was unloaded in Boston. British Overseas Airways Corporation partly underwrote the cost of shipping 1274 and they temporarily stored the car at its Logan Airport terminal before Seashore could truck 1274 to Kennebunkport. This tram is one of four British double-deck trams at Seashore and is the newest. Moreover, it is the only Scottish tram in the United States.
Montreal and Southern Counties wood interurban coach 610 built by Ottawa Car Company in 1922. The Montreal and Southern Counties was an interurban electric line built by the Grand Trunk Railway and operating 47 miles between Montreal and Granby, Quebec. In Montreal, the M&SC shared tracks with streetcars of the Montreal Tramways Company M&SC also had a short, suburban branch to Longueuil andC began operation in 1909. The interurban came under the control of the Canadian National Railway when the Grand Trunk became part of CNR in 1923.
Single-end cars were the rule, coupled back-to-back in trains using a minimum of two cars. The M&SC usually headed a train with a freight motor car to carry milk, farm produce and other freight. 610 is a classic interurban with wooden sash and a coal stove to provide heat. The M&SC shut down in 1956 after its tracks on the St. Lawrence River bridge at Montreal were converted to highway traffic. When the M&SC ended service, the CNR donated 610, along with M&SC freight motor 504, to Seashore. The year before, Seashore had also acquired M&SC steel interurban 621. The museum intended to operate 610 and 504 as a multiple-unit mixed train. For many years they were the site of Seashore'ss New Year’s Eve celebration, with the two loud horns sounded at midnight in the cold Maine woods. In recent years the train has experienced various problems, keeping it out of service.
Montreal and Southern Counties Railway freight motor 504 built by Ottawa Car Company in 1924. It can be operated in a multiple unit train with passenger car 610, with which it came as a donation from Canadian National in 1956.
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority bus 6481 built by General Motors Corporation in 1964.
Golden Gate Transit bus 870 built by General Motors Corporation in 1974.
Greater Portland Transit District 504 built by General Motors in 1950.
Toronto Transit Commission 7521 built by Flyer Industries in 1972.
Unknown bus.
A police bus of unknown origin.
Public Service of New Jersey K514 built by General Motors Corpration in 1965.
Omaha Transit Company 1312 built by Twin Coach in 1947.
Hamilton Street Railway Company bus 518203 built by General Motors Corporation in 1982.
Knoxville, Tennessee transit bus 305 built by General Motors Corporation in 1949.
MBTA bus 4013 built by Flyer Industries in 1976.
United Airlines bus 322 built by AM General in 1977.
Bus 777.
Buses awaiting restoration.
A covered bus of unknown origin.
Buses 350 and 338.
One of the many General Motors Corporation buses here at the museum.
Bus views.
Car house views.
Montreal & Southern Counties high-speed interurban coach 621 built by Ottawa Car Company in 1930. The Windsor, Essex and Lake Shore Railway operated an interurban line between Windsor and Leamington, Ontario. When the line began operating at a loss, the municipalities along the line purchased the railway in 1929 in order to keep the service. Under new ownership, the WE&LS ordered five new cars believed to have been numbered in the 500 series. Though somewhat heavier, the cars were Canadian versions of the high-speed lightweight interurbans of Ohio and Indiana. These interurbans were early examples of streamlining.
The WE&LS cars had 40 plush coach seats as well as 10 leather-upholstered chairs in a smoking compartment. They were lettered "The Sunshine County Route" with exteriors finished in blue with yellow trim. The new, high-speed cars did not reverse losses on the WE&LS and the company ended service in 1932. In 1938, the Montreal & Southern Counties Railway acquired four of the WE&LS high-speed cars, including one which became 621. M&SC applied a Pullman green paint scheme. The Montreal and Southern Counties was an interurban electric line built by the Grand Trunk Railway in 1909 and operated 47 miles between Montreal and Granby, Quebec. In Montreal, the M&SC shared tracks with streetcars of the Montreal Tramways Company. M&SC also had a short, suburban branch to Longueuil. The interurban came under the control of the Canadian National Railways when the Grand Trunk became part of CNR in 1923.
While 621 is a double-ended car, most M&SC cars were single-end, coupled back-to-back in trains using a minimum of two cars. The M&SC shut down in 1956 after its tracks on the St. Lawrence River bridge at Montreal were converted to highway traffic. When the M&SC converted the outer end of the Granby line to diesel in 1955, this car became surplus and the CNR donated it to Seashore, shipping the body on a flat car to Portland, while the trucks followed.
Baltimore Transit Company Peter Witt car 6144 built by the J.G. Brill Company in 1930. The last 50 Peter Witt cars, 6101 to 6150, came from Brill in 1930 and featured mechanical advancements including a Westinghouse Variable Automatic control system and some cars (including 6144) were equipped with a W-N double reduction gear system. These cars were precursors of the streamlined PCC streetcar design a few years later. The mechanical improvements allowed smoother acceleration and faster schedules. Payments for these Peter Witt cars helped drive UR&E into bankruptcy in 1933. Baltimore Transit donated 6144 to Seashore in 1955.
MBTA PCC car 3019 built by the Pullman-Standard Car Company in 1941. Although an early participant in the PCC development program, Boston took a long time to place a large order. This was due to the use of left hand loading at subway stations and other locations. In 1937, the Boston Elevated purchased one PCC from St. Louis Car, but it lacked a left hand door which limited its use. To modify the PCC design for left hand loading, the ERPCC required a full-sized mockup of any changes to the basic design.
Since adding the left hand door required moving the right center door and the motor generator set, the cash-strapped Boston Elevated took time to complete the work. 3019 was part of the first large order and were single units, beginning service on the Watertown Line. They moved to the Tremont Street line as newer cars arrived at Watertown. They remained on Tremont Street until 1958 when they were rebuilt for multiple unit operation and reassigned to the Riverside Line. The PCC cars continued under Metropolitan Transit Authority ownership beginning in 1947 and Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority ownership beginning in 1964.
After 1951, the MTA had a large fleet of 321 PCCs and the MTA added 25 additional second-hand PCCs in 1958. Pullman-Standard built all of Boston's PCCs except for the first car in 1937. When the MBTA adopted its color-coding scheme for its various transit lines in 1967, the MBTA repainted most of its PCC cars from their original orange and white to a green and white paint scheme. In 1976, the MBTA began replacing the PCC cars with LRV cars. Even after the LRVs became museum pieces, eleven PCC cars continue to run in regular service on the MBTA's Ashmont to Mattapan line. Seashore acquired 3019 following a minor control fire in 1974. It has never operated at Seashore and has seen little, if any, restoration work.
Trolley car of unknown origin.
Montreal Tramways streetcar 2652 built by Canadian Car and Foundry in 1930. In 1930, the Montreal Tramways ordered 25 two-car train sets intended to operate on the Rue Ste. Catherine line, the city's most important east-west route. The lead cars, 2650 to 2674, were rear-entrance, two-man, pre-payment cars similar to cars acquired in 1927, but featured Westinghouse’s new VA (Variable Automatic) control system. Montreal Tramways painted its one-man and two-man cars differently so passengers could tell which end to board as cars approached the stop.
2062 received green paint for two-man, rear-entrance service. Due to declining ridership in the Depression, Montreal stopped using two car trains in 1934. Montreal Tramways removed the couplers and both lead and trailing cars operated as single cars. The 2650 series cars often ran on the Ste. Catherine Street line until replaced by buses. The 2650s were fast cars and found their way to the Lachine line where their speed could be better appreciated.
Montreal Tramways was taken over by the city-owned Montreal Transportation Commission in 1951 and Montreal streetcar service ended in 1959. During the 1950's, Seashore members enjoyed visits to Montreal to experience an extensive, traditional streetcar system which had disappeared elsewhere in North America. When that streetcar service, Seashore agreed to purchase several Montreal cars and as the most modern traditional cars in the system, decided to preserve a 2650 series car and 2652 represented the traditional layout of Montreal's two-man cars. The museum first needed to add storage capacity and to build a loop to operate the single-ended cars so The Montreal Transportation Commission agreed to store the museum's cars until Seashore was ready to receive them, and 2652 came to Seashore in 1963.
Pittsburgh Railways PCC car 1440 built by the St. Louis Car Company in 1924. The City of Pittsburgh, home to the Westinghouse Electric and Air Brake companies, was an enthusiastic PCC operator, taking delivery of the very first production car in 1936 and 665 more over the next 13 years. Pittsburgh was one of the few major cities, along with others such as Washington, Boston, Toronto and San Francisco, to completely modernize its system with PCCs prior to major contraction of the streetcar systems.
The 1942 order of 100 cars, numbered in the 1400 series, used a distinctive 24 degree windshield slope, later used extensively in Boston, but not on subsequent Pittsburgh orders. The privately-owned Pittsburgh Railways operated most of its system with streetcars into the 1960's, long after other cities had converted to buses and public ownership. Pittsburgh Railways completely rehabilitated 1440 in 1962. In 1964, the Port Authority of Allegheny County (operating under the name Port Authority Transit) took over Pittsburgh Railways and began converting most lines to buses. PAT removed the 1400 series cars from service in 1967 when it converted the East Side lines to bus.
In 1968, 1440 was the first PCC to come to Seashore. The Pennsylvania Railway Museum Association (now, Pennsylvania Trolley Museum) at Washington, Pennsylvania assisted the museum in selecting the car, negotiating with PAT and loading the car for transport. Seashore quickly replaced the roof and repainted the interior and exterior. The exterior carries the Pittsburgh Railways crimson and cream paint scheme. Like other Pennsylvania streetcar systems, Pittsburgh used a five foot two-and-a-half inch track gauge so Seashore replaced the wheel and axle assemblies in 1440’s wide gauge Clark B-2 trucks with standard gauge wheel and axle sets acquired from Boston's MBTA but originally from Washington's DC Transit. Seashore also modified the tread brakes and track brakes to standard gauge. The MBTA initially turned down Seashore’s request for the wheel and axle sets as they still operated a large PCC fleet and retained the DC trucks as spares. However, when the MBTA had an urgent need for an overhead wire line car, Seashore responded by lending ex-Claremont, NH car No. 4 in return for the four Washington wheel and axle sets.
1440 was in operation at Seashore at various times but unfortunately, the paint used to refinish the car inside and out (and which was the exact paint used in Pittsburgh) did not hold up well and has deteriorated. This poor paint performance helped explain why, in later years, Pittsburgh's PCCs, though in good mechanical condition, often looked shabby.
Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee interurban coach 420 built by the Pullman Car Company in 1928. In 1928, the North Shore purchased 15 coaches, two dining cars (numbers 418 and 419) and parlor-observation 420 from Pullman. 420 was unpowered, with 16 pivoting arm chairs, eight seats in a smoking compartment, washrooms, a kitchenette and an open observation platform. The car carried an orange and maroon livery, later replaced with a dark green paint scheme.
In 1932, just four years after 420 entered service, the North Shore discontinued parlor service and stored the car. During World War II, vastly increased traffic from the Great Lakes Naval Station made additional capacity necessary. The North Shore removed car 420 from storage and remodelled it into a coach, removing the kitchenette, smoking compartment and bathrooms to give maximum seating capacity. A full vestibule replaced the observation platform and controls were provided on both ends. Two motors and a switch group were installed and 420 returned to service in 1943 as a very plain coach. Only its wide picture windows gave away its former life.
420 operated in suburban service until the North Shore's abandonment in 1963 afer which former North Shore employee John Horachek acquired coaches 420 and 755 as agent for Seashore. The two North Shore cars arrived at Seashore in 1966 and 420 has been repainted in green with red and gold trim as well as some other restoration work over the years. It is presently out of service with a motor problem. In 2015, the museum received a $10,000 matching grant from the Emery Rail Heritage Trust for restoration of the coach.
Liverpool Corporation double-deck tram 293 built by Liverpool Corporation in 1939. Liverpool Corporation Passenger Transport, a department of the city government, took over the city's horsecar lines in 1897 and soon electrified them. In 1939, just before the start of World War II, Liverpool built its last group of trams - a fleet of double-truck and single-truck streamlined, double deck cars. Liverpool 293 is one of these four-wheel, single-truck trams and was known in Liverpool as a "Baby Grand" to differentiate this type from the larger double-truck versions known as "Streamliners".
Both types were also called "Green Goddesses" reflecting Liverpool's green paint scheme adopted in 1933. 293 made the last trips over the city's rail lines before their conversion to bus in 1957. For the occasion, Liverpool gave 293 a special last trip green and cream paint scheme with "1897 - Liverpool's Last Tram - 1957" lettered on the sides.
Blackpool 144 was Seashore's first British double deck tram, acquired in 1954. Seashore sought a streamlined Liverpool double deck tram which would be a contrast to the older, non-streamlined Blackpool car. The Liverpool Corporation agreed to sell 293 for a price less than scrap value. After retiring the car, Liverpool temporarily stored it until the museum could raise the funds to purchase and transport it to Maine. With assistance of supporters in Britain, 293, along with a quantity of spare parts, came to the United States in 1958. British Consul General Robert H.K. Marrett presented 293 to Seashore at Kennebunkport's 1958 Memorial Day parade. When cleaning out the car's refuse box, a Seashore member found this note: "Dear Yanks, Treat her gently. From the last tram driver in Liverpool. G. Brown, LC.P.T". Seashore operated 293 briefly and stored the car outdoors and later in Central carbarn. It is one of four British double deck trams at Seashore. Seashore's trustees have turned down repeated requests from fans in Britain to move 293 back to the Liverpool area.
Philadelphia and West Chester Traction Company centre-entrance streetcar 62 built by J.G. Brill in 1925. The Philadelphia & West Chester Traction began operating in 1895 with a line from 63rd Street at the west edge of Philadelphia to West Chester. The company later added branches to Ardmore, Sharon Hill and Media. The P&WCT also moved its terminal from 63rd Street to a larger facility at 69th Street in Upper Darby. At 69th St. the P&WCT connected with the Philadelphia Rapid Transit's elevated line to center city Philadelphia.
In 1936, the company renamed itself as Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Co and in 1948, the company (also known as "Red Arrow Lines") acquired control of the Philadelphia & Western Railway. The P&W operated an interurban line out of the same 69th Street terminal to Norristown. In 1970, the Southeast Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, a state agency, acquired the PSTC. The West Chester and Ardmore lines were abandoned, but the Sharon Hill and Media lines remain in operation with modern light rail vehicles.
The Red Arrow Lines acquired 32 steel, center entrance cars in three batches from Brill between 1919 and 1926 which replaced older wooden cars. The second batch, 55 to 64, came in 1925. The center entrance cars had wide doors permitting passengers to enter at the same time as others were leaving the car. This provided rapid loading and unloading. The center entrance cars had couplers and often operated as two-car trains. While not known for speed, these cars were ideal for handling peak loads.
The center door cars were mostly retired after 1960 but a few continued in school service. In 1969, Merritt Taylor, Jr., who ran the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company, had center door car 62 restored to its original P&WCT appearance. In 1970, Taylor agreed to donate 62 to Seashore and the museum brought the car to Maine in 1971. In order to convert it from five foot two-and-a-half inch gauge to standard gauge, Seashore arranged for the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad to make new axles at the railroad's Derby, Maine shops. At the same time, the five foot four-and-a-half inch wheel and axle sets from Baltimore Peter Witt 6144 were also regauged. The larger axles from 62 were machined down to become the new axles for 6144. Used diesel locomotive axles were machined for 62 and the car began operating at the museum in 1972.
Trolley car of unknown origin.
MBTA wrecking tool car 0553 built by Russell Car and Sweeper in 1913 and retired in 1987.
West End Street Railway converted horse car 724 built by Metropolitan Railroad in 1884. The Metropolitan Railroad of Boston is the largest direct ancestor of today's MBTA and built its own cars. Its Roxbury Crossing shop, though very small, turned out new horse cars on a weekly basis and had enough excess capacity to build cars for the neighboring Cambridge Railroad. One of these products was the Met's car 804, which was outshopped in 1884 or 1885.
The Metropolitan was absorbed by the West End Street Railway. in 1887, along with three other local properties, making the West End the world's largest horse railway. Metropolitan 804 became West End 724 and West End Street Railway began converting from horse car to electric operation in 1889. 724 was electrified and rebuilt from a 16 foot body to a 20 foot body in 1893, without being again renumbered.
724 was one of 131 former horse cars that the West End electrified and lengthened; these became known as "spliced cars". It was painted vermillion with white trim and assigned to the South Boston Division and operated in passenger service until 1912 when it was converted into a wrecker. In 1935, it was repurposed as a rail grinding car, carrying grinding blocks between the wheels of its truck.
The car survived corporate reorganizations as Boston Elevated Railway in 1897, the Metropolitan Transit Authority in 1947 and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in 1964. By 1967, 724 was believed to be the oldest trolley car owned by a public transit system in North America. Into the 1950's, 724 was used on the streets to grind track irregularities and its final years were spent at Charlestown Yard where new but rusted rails would be set up, and 724 would run over the rails to grind off heavy rust accumulations. This car was still in maintenance service in 1967 when the museum approached the MBTA about its preservation.
The result was not only 724's preservation, but a long-term agreement where the MBTA would provide cars and other vehicles for preservation for a nominal fee. In return, the museum would provide cars to the MBTA for historic and other purposes as required. This agreement provided for the MBTA to lease 724 to the museum for $1 per year. In 1975, the MBTA transferred ownership of the car to the museum. It has been partially restored and careful removal of many layers of paint has exposed the lettering "South Boston" dating to its lengthening in 1893. 724 is the oldest known surviving Boston rail transit vehicle.
MBTA Standard LRV 3424 built by Boeing Vertol in 1977. In the 1970s, transit systems in Boston, Philadelphia and San Francisco sought to replace their aging fleets of PCC streetcars. Based on a standard design from a Japanese manufacturer, the Standard Light Rail Vehicle was an attempt forced by the Federal Government to use a single car design for the three cities with vastly different needs. Eventually these differences led to Philadelphia dropping out of the project and subsequently acquiring shorter cars similar in configuration to the PCCs.
With no new streetcars having been designed for the United States in over 20 years, technology had advanced tremendously, and the Standard LRV cars were an attempt to adopt the new technology to an old industry. Unfortunately, instead of having Tokyu Car Company of Japan design the entire car, the Federal Government's Buy American policy required a high level of American-built content, so Boeing-Vertol (a subsidiary of the Boeing Company which built helicopters) was hired to procure and integrate the systems to be used. As a result, the components used were not always designed for railway service, resulting in a failure-prone car with little reliability.
The original plug door mechanism contained over 2,000 individual parts, compared to about 40 on a PCC. The air conditioning system drew intake air from below the car. Unfortunately it also vacuum-cleaned the subway, drawing dust into the system and clogging the filters. The SLRV's modern features included articulation, a pantograph, D.C. chopper propulsion, separately excited D.C. traction motors and air assisted hydraulic brakes. Sunburg-Ferrar styled the SLRVs to give a smooth, streamlined surface with continuous lines.
These cars were the first in the United States to be termed "light rail vehicles" instead of streetcars. The MBTA ordered 175 SLRVs in 1975, but deliveries were delayed and most, including 3424, did not enter service until 1977. Some of Boston's cars went to San Francisco as Boston rejected them. Boston wound up with about 142 cars instead of 175 in the original plans and the entire fleet was never in service at once. One car was retired only days after it was accepted.
Boston's SLRVs ran on the MBTA Green Line routes and carried the green paint scheme. Mechanical problems with the SLRVs meant that the MBTA had to keep operating some its PCC cars. The MBTA overhauled 3424 in 1981 and in 1986, giving it new doors and a roof air conditioner. In 1996, the MBTA contracted Amerail to rebuild about 70 cars, including 3424 which resulted in some of the car's most glaring faults being corrected. The rebuilds raised the cars' reliability to record levels, but parts supply became an issue as vendors were no longer willing to supply items unique to the cars. Newer Green Line vehicles from Kinki Sharyo and Breda allowed the MBTA to stop running its Boeing-Vertol cars by 2007. Seashore acquired 3424 as an example of the rebirth of the streetcar after its virtual demise in the 1950's.
Trolley car of unknown origin.
Trolley car of unknown origin.
Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway snow sweeper P-601 built by Russell Car and Sweeper Company in 1920. The Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway ordered twelve snow sweepers from the Russell Plow Company to be delivered prior to the 1919-1920 snow season, but only three made the schedule, including our P-601, which went into service at Taunton, Massachusetts on January 31st, 1920.
The standard trucks for the twelve sweepers were Brill 27E 1 & 1/2, but for some reason P-600 and P-601 came with Bay State 12 trucks. P-601 received its Brill trucks when the Eastern Massachusetts began scrapping its early 1300 series cars. The snow sweeper had large rotary sweepers (brushes) at either end of the car so that it was bi-directional. The brush at the "front" direction of travel would drop down to sweep the snow off between the rails. Each brush had its own GE67 motor and K-Controller. The sweeper was also equipped with wing blades to clear the snow off to the sides along the right-of-way.
In July 1932, buses replaced streetcars around Taunton, making P-601 redundant. It was transferred to the Brockton Division for a time and then to the Quincy Division. In spring 1935, it was moved to the Lynn Division where it became one of six sweepers sold to New York City's Third Avenue Railway System (TARS). The six sweepers were gathered at the General Electric Lynn plant and shipped. Eventually eleven of the original twelve sweepers were sold to TARS, with P-603 the only one of the group to remain in the Boston area, being sold to the Boston Elevated Railway as part of Boston Elevated acquisition of the Chelsea Division in 1936. The sweepers that were bought by TARS became numbers 85 through 95, with P-601 becoming 86.
TARS served the New York City boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx and lower Westchester County. Number 86 (No. P-601) was dispatched to the Bronx. The Eastern Mass sweeper never worked in Manhattan, since the line featured conduit with a slot in the middle for pick up, rather than overhead wire. New York City's Board of Transportation had for years been applying pressure to the streetcar companies to use buses. Beginning in 1928, TARS began converting to buses and by 1948, all streetcar service ceased in Manhattan and the Bronx. Once again, the sweeper became redundant. On December 12th, 1944, the City of Toronto, Canada experienced a very severe snow storm that brought most of their streetcar system to a standstill. TTC realized that their existing fleet of single-truck sweepers were not up to the task, and something bigger and more powerful was needed.
TTC purchased twelve sweepers from TARS, all but one of which originally came from the Eastern Mass. Four sweepers were shipped in 1947, and eight other, including 86, were shipped 1948. TARS No. 86 (P-601) became Toronto Transit Commission’s (TTC) S-31 and was regauged to Toronto's four foot ten-and-seven-eighths inch gauge. The sweeper was painted TTC "old" dark red with TTC standard cream roof. The sweepers' future looked secure until 1970, when TTC reached an agreement with the City of Toronto to transfer all streetcar line snow removal to the city. TTC immediately began phasing out snow removal along its street right-of-way. In 1973, TTC announced that the sweepers were surplus and were available for purchase.
Seashore Trolley Museum began to explore the possibility of securing one of the surplus sweepers. STM member Kevin T. Farrell began discussions with the Ontario Electrical Railway Historical Society which was brokering the sale of the equipment for TTC. STM purchased S-31 based upon the maintenance records provided by the Society and conversations Kevin had with TTC employees. Kevin then coordinated and raised the funds necessary to have the car shipped by rail to Kennebunk, Maine. P-601 arrived in the Kennebunk rail yard on November 2nd, 1973. It was reloaded onto a flat bed and delivered to STM the following day.
In November 1974, its wide gauge Brill trucks were replaced with Standard C50P trucks from Boston bottom-dump 3618. 1975 saw the roof rehabilitated with some roof boards replaced and new canvas being applied. Letterboards and trolley boards were also replaced. This work was sponsored largely by one of the Seashore Trolley Museum founders, John Amlaw. In 1977 Number S-31 joined the select group of STM equipment to be temporarily returned to the MBTA to help cover specific equipment shortages. On January 12th, 1977, the MBTA contacted STM looking for snow removal equipment. Two days later MBTA officials arrived to look at S-31, but the inspection almost killed the deal – S-31 was frozen to the rails in South Boston Barn, and the brooms would not turn due to frozen lube oil craters in the gear boxes. All major issues were resolved, and S-31 was loaded onto a truck on January 21 for a road trip to the MBTA’s Mattapan Yard.
It was assigned to work the Mattapan-Ashmont High Speed Line. The line's only plough was out of service and the last storm had closed the line down since the only piece of equipment to clear the line was a Pettibone speed swing. S-31 promptly made a clearance run over the line, reportedly with a sizable crew of Seashore Trolley Museum MBTA members. S-31 had to wait until February 20th to be put to use. After that, it only went out two more times before winter finally ended. In mid-March, a special fan trip was organized with about 20 STM members making several runs on the High Speed Line between Mattapan and Cedar Grove. This was done on a Sunday while the line was closed while work was being done on the Ashmont Station. The Mattapan-Ashmont Line was then shut down for a major summer rehab project, and S-31 was trucked back to STM.
MBTA wanted to keep it longer, but the museum had concern about the security of the car. Volunteer workers continued to work on the car as private funding became available. In early 1981, it was decided to restore the sweeper to its original Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway P-601 appearance. On May 23, 1981, P-601 was officially outshopped, painted and lettered in Eastern Mass. style. The car had received all new sheathing and the four sliding doors had been reglued, reglazed, stripped and primed. Rotted wood framing was replaced. The roof had all new canvas. Various pieces of external hardware were either relocated or removed to give the car its original Eastern appearance. The brooms were disassembled and recaned. Two coats of "pencil" yellow Eastern Mass. paint were applied, one set of the Brill trucks was torn down and the two wheel sets sent to the BAR to have them regauged. But once it was found that the Standard C50P trucks worked well, it was decided move on to other priorities. In 1982, in preparation for the February 14 "Winter on Trolley Line", it was found that broom 2 had gear box issues, leaving only 1 broom operational for the demonstration. Parts were eventually secured in New Jersey from the owner of one of P-601's sisters. This "sister" was originally Trenton 31 that went to TARS (82) then TTC (S-39). It ended up going to New Jersey Transit to work on their city subway trolley line in Newark. Work was completed at the end of 1982, and P-601 was ready to go for 1983.
Montreal Tramways Company pre-payment car 957 built by Ottawa Car Company in 1911. Montreal was the first city anywhere to use the pre-payment system where passengers boarded on a large rear platform and where the conductor collected fares as the car proceeded. Riders exited at the front of the car. This system was known as Pay As You Enter, or "P.A.Y.E." Previously, the conductor would collect fares after passengers were seated. Montreal went through a series of refinements as the optimum platform layout was determined.
The initial such car in 1905 had a very long platform and multiple doors which froze the conductor during the Montreal winter. 957 is part of a subsequent order of pre-payment cars with shorter platforms and fewer doors and was one of 50 cars built for the Montreal Street Railway in 1910-11. Ottawa Car Company provided the bodies, but MSR purchased other components and assembled the cars in its own shops. Montreal Street Railway assigned odd numbers from 901 to 999 to these cars. The 901 series were very early cars to be built almost entirely of steel. Industry unfamiliarity with steel resulted in a heavily overbuilt car, which at 54,010 pounds, is one of Seashore’s heaviest streetcars.
Another feature of 957 is the unique "Montreal roof". This has a sloping monitor that ends midway above the vestibule rather than extending to the ends of the car. Montreal introduced this roof style in 1896 and used it until the 1913 introduction of the arch roof design. Later in 1911, after acquiring the 901 series cars, the Montreal Street Railway was consolidated into the Montreal Tramways Company. The system was taken over by the city-owned Montreal Transportation Commission in 1951.
Despite its less than ideal platform and despite high power consumption due to its weight, 957 served for many years before being converted into a work car in 1953. In work service, the car's purpose was to paint clearance lines on the street to deter motorists from parking too close to the track on narrow streets and at curves. It survived until the end of Montreal streetcar service in 1959.
During the 1950's, Seashore members enjoyed visits to Montreal to experience an extensive, traditional streetcar system which had disappeared elsewhere in North America. When Montreal's streetcar service ended, Seashore agreed to purchase several Montreal cars, but the museum first needed to add storage capacity and to build a loop to operate the single-ended cars. The Montreal Transportation Commission agreed to store the museum's cars until Seashore was ready to receive them. 957 came to Seashore in 1963 and a year later, Seashore also enhanced its extensive Montreal collection with sightseeing car No. 2. 957 arrived in an advanced state of deterioration and extensive restoration took place in the 1970's and 1980's, and was Seashore's most expensive restoration job up to that time. The restored interior features varnished cherry woodwork, authentic rattan seat upholstery and original brass lighting fixtures.
Trolley car of unknown origin.
Cedar Rapids and Iowa City trolley car 118 built by the Cincinnati Car Company in 1930. The Cincinnati & Lake Erie Railroad was formed in 1930 through a merger of three smaller interurbans to form a through line between Cincinnati and Toledo, Ohio, with a connection via the Eastern Michigan Railway to Detroit. The C&LE, led by Thomas Conway, undertook improvements to compete more effectively with automobile travel.
In 1930, the Cincinnati Car Company built for the Cincinnati & Lake Erie Railroad a fleet of 20 radically new high speed lightweight cars constructed largely of aluminium and equipped with four 100 horsepower motors. Numbered 110 to 129, they were capable of speeds of 60 to 80 miles per hour on less than first class track. The cars featured a rear picture window and distinctive horizontal fenders on the rear. 118 was one of ten cars with a small parcel compartment near the rear. The lightweights operated on long runs, including a 285 mile trip between Cincinnati and Detroit.
The C&LE painted the cars bright red and called the cars "Red Devils" and publicized the new cars with a photo of the Red Devils, at a reputed speed of 97 mph, outrunning an airplane in a race. The C&LE high-speed cars were models for a fleet of 35 almost identical lightweight cars built for the Indiana Railroad in 1931. The steam railroads followed a few years later with lightweight materials for their streamliners. Abandonment of the C&LE began in 1937 and in 1939, the C&LE sold six of the Red Devils to the Cedar Rapids & Iowa City Railway (commonly called the CRANDIC) and 13 of the cars to the Lehigh Valley Transit in Pennsylvania.
The Cedar Rapids and Iowa City was one of the most financially-successful interurbans over a long period of time. Cedar Rapids and Iowa City lie 27 miles apart on a north-south axis in eastern Iowa. On this route, with 14 intermediate stops, the high-speed cars shortened the schedule from 60 minutes to 50 minutes. 118 kept its former C&LE number and each of the six former C&LE lightweight cars provided most of the passenger service on the CRANDIC. The former C&LE cars survived in this service until 1953.
Because of corrosion where the aluminium came in contact with other metals, the CRANDIC replaced the aluminium sides with stainless steel as well as replacing the seats in 118. Originally one-man cars, the lightweights were operated as two-man cars on the CRANDIC. Passenger service ended in 1953, but the CRANDIC prospers today as a diesel-operated freight railroad. Seashore purchased 118 in 1954 and various restoration projects have taken place on the car. Since other museums had acquired some CRANDIC highspeeds and converted them back to their C&LE livery, Seashore decided to keep 118 in its yellow CRANDIC paint scheme and made a commitment to the CRANDIC management to keep it in their colors.
Montreal Tramways Company lightweight streetcar 2052 built by Wason Manufacturing in 1927. The Springfield Street Railway Company of Massachusetts purchased 50 lightweight cars in 1927 which were a style of double-truck, lightweight safety cars where the sides of the car body carried all the loads, as opposed to a center longitudinal beam in older streetcar designs. The cars were termed "safety cars" because they could be run by one operator without needing a conductor.
Springfield offered these cars for sale when streetcar service was about to end in 1940. Montreal Tramways, under pressure since Canada was an early participant in World War II, bought 39 of these cars for its system, lengthening one platform and operating them as single-end, one-man, front-entrance cars. The front pole and rear controls were left in place for reverse moves. Montreal Tramways numbered the former Springfield cars 2050 to 2088 and placed them in service in 1941. 570 became Montreal Tramways 2052.
The company painted its one-man and two-man cars differently so passengers could tell which end to board as cars approached the stop. 2052 received cream paint for one-man service. The former Springfield cars, with 35 hp motors, were not powerful enough to run on some Montreal routes with the steepest grades. Montreal Tramways was taken over by the city-owned Montreal Transportation Commission in 1951. As the system began to contract in the post-war years, cut-backs of some lines increased the need for double-end cars.
So in 1952, the former Springfield cars had their remaining platform lengthened, restoring them to double-end operation. During the 1950's, Seashore members enjoyed visits to Montreal to experience an extensive, traditional streetcar system which had disappeared elsewhere in North America. When the city's streetcar service ended in 1959, Seashore agreed to purchase several Montreal cars, but the museum first needed to add storage capacity and to build a loop to operate some of the Montreal cars which were single-ended. The Montreal Transportation Commission agreed to store the museum's cars until the museum was ready to receive them. 2052 came to Seashore in 1963. Since double-end cars were needed for operations at Seashore and 2052 also represented Springfield, the museum chose this car for preservation. Museum members debated whether to restore the car to its Springfield or Montreal appearance. Seashore currently identifies it as a Montreal car and it has seen substantial structural and cosmetic restoration. Seashore operated 2052 in regular service but Montreal had not adequately reinforced the underframe to support the longer platforms so the ends sag noticeably. In recent years 2052 has been held out of service due to additional needed structural work.
MBTA 13 ton wrecking crane 0504 built by Industrial Works in 1903 for Boston Elevated Railway (BERy). Industrial Works was established in 1873 and became the world's leading manufacturer of large lifting cranes and for a long time, was the only manufacturer of large lifting cranes in the United States. In 1931, it merged with Brown Hoisting Company of Cleveland, Ohio, becoming the Industrial Brownhoist Corporation. In 1960, it was sold to the American Hoist Corporation of Minneapolis and became known as the Industrial Brownhoist Division of the American Hoist Corporation. The plant at Bay City was closed for good in 1983, ending 110 years of manufacturing at that location.
Electric cranes, as opposed to the steam cranes prevalent at the time, were ideal because they were immediately ready for work, not having to wait to fire up and make steam. Also, the service of a fireman was not needed. 0504 was not self-propelled and had to be propelled to the job sites. Power to operate the electric crane was transmitted through collector shoes on the trucks which made contact with the third rail of the elevated line. The crane's capacity was rated at 10 tons.
It spent most of its career travelling in the company of wrecker car 0210, a converted passenger car. Number 0504 was involved in the cleanup of The Beach Street Elevated Wreck of July 22, 1928. A four-car elevated train jumped the track a sharp curve at Beach Street and Harrison Avenue killing two people and injuring several others. The train was going at an estimated speed of 40 mph; some attributed to brake failure. All four cars were derailed. 0504 worked on the elevated portion of the line untangling the wreckage while its future Seashore sister 3246 worked from the street lines below.
Los Angeles Railways suburban car 521 built by St. Louis Car Company in 1906. Unlike New York and Chicago, where multi-story buildings predominated, Los Angeles instead grew outward, dominated by low-rise architecture. Since the population density could not support a subway or elevated system, the city instead depended on lengthy, local transit lines, supporting various business districts along their routes. The Los Angeles Railway operated a network of narrow gauge streetcar lines. In addition, the standard gauge Pacific Electric Railway operated a system of interurban lines and local Los Angeles streetcar lines.
Los Angeles Railway trolleys carried a yellow paint scheme, in contrast to the red Pacific Electric cars. Climate played a role in the development of the area's transport system where cars with both open and closed sections provided respite from sun, heat and occasional rain. The most common type of car was the California style body, with two mostly open sections on either side of a closed section. Between 1902 and 1912, the Los Angeles Railway acquired nearly 750 California cars. These were known as the "Huntington Standard" type, named for Henry Huntington who controlled the Los Angeles Railway.
The "Huntington Standard" featured a curved corner windshield. In 1931, LARy replaced the center section longitudinal seats with walkover seats, matching walkover seats in the open sections and converted 521 to one-man operation in 1937. Los Angeles Railway became Los Angeles Transit Lines in 1945. 521's final maintenance was a fresh paint job on April 27, 1950. A few months later, on September 10, 1950, the car went into storage after running a total of 1,334,282 miles.
Los Angeles Transit Lines donated 521 to Seashore in 1954 and they transported it to Maine by ship via the Panama Canal. At the time, this was the longest equipment move by any railway museum. It was also the first time a streetcar had been delivered into the Port of Boston. Unusually, the car came with a complete record of all its modifications and maintenance. The structure of 521's narrow gauge trucks and carbody will not allow re-gauging or re-trucking the car. Thus, it is restricted to the section of track it now occupies and will not be restored to operating condition.
City Transit Company Model 45WS-102-450S 376 built by the Pullman-Standard Car Company in 1942 which operated in Dayton, Ohio, and was the first and oldest Dayton trolley bus to be preserved at a museum.
A bus awaiting restoration.
Lexington and Boston Street Railway streetcar 41 built by John Stephenson Car Company in 1901.
Another bus.
Trolley car of unknown origin.
A bus under tarp awaiting restoration.
A lost bus.
MBTA Rapid Transit Series bus 6400 built by General Motors in 1985, and Lausanne Public Transit Authority trolley coach with trailer 653 built by Franz Brozincevic & Cie in 1964.
Staten Island Rapid Transit low-denisty car 366 built by Standard Steel Company in 1925. The Staten Island Rapid Transit (SIRT) operated three lines in the New York City's most suburban borough. SIRT was owned by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad which also owned and operated freight service on the island's lines. Passenger service operated out of the terminal at St. George where passengers connected with ferries to Manhattan, while all freight entered the island via a drawbridge from New Jersey. Today freight service is confined to a container terminal near the bridge, and only the main passenger line, from St. George to Tottenville, remains.
In the 1920s, the SIRT decided to convert its passenger service from steam to electric operation. For the new service, Standard Steel Car delivered 100 transit cars, including 366, to the SIRT in 1925. The fleet included 90 powered cars and 10 trailer cars. The cars used on the SIRT were 67 feet long and 10 feet wide, matching the equipment in use on New York's BMT subway system. This was deliberate since the city expected to build a tunnel from Brooklyn to Staten Island. However, the tunnel was never built.
The SIRT cars had some distinctive features such as headlights, pilots and handholds, which were necessary to operate along with steam freight trains. While the Standard Steel cars were a rapid transit design, SIRT's operation retained characteristics of a steam railroad or an interurban. The route was semi-rural with numerous grade crossings and fares were collected on board railroad fashion. When bus competition caused ridership declines, SIRT sold 30 of its Standard Steel cars to the New York City Transportation Authority in 1953-54. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority acquired the SIRT in 1971. The MTA placed SIRT in a sub-authority, the Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority (SIRTOA), to operate it.
The New York City Transit Authority's R-44 car order was extended to provide new cars for the island. The new cars entered service in 1973 and most of the old SIRT cars were scrapped. After withdrawal from service in 1973, SIRTOA kept one old car at its Clifton shop as a work/storage car and preserved three more, including 366, for possible display at the Richmondtown Restoration (a Staten Island historic site). The Richmondtown plan did not occur and SIRTOA kept the cars at various sites. In 1983-84, the Trolley Museum of New York acquired SIRTOA's four 1925 cars. TMNY took one car, trailer car No. 508, to its museum site at Kingston, New York but vandals later destroyed this car. TMNY stored 366 and the other two SIRT cars at the Consolidated Edison Arthur Kill generating station on Staten Island. In 1993, Seashore acquired the car when the Trolley Museum of New York decided it lacked the resources to preserve it.
The track department building.
Oshawa Railway 50 ton steeple cab 300 built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1920. This is a typical locomotive used by interurban lines and electrified steam railroads for hauling freight and was built for the Central Limones Railway as their 26. Central Limones was a 33 mile line in Matanzas Province, Cuba for hauling sugar cane. They defaulted on the purchase and apparently the locomotive never actually operated in Cuba.
Oshawa Railway acquired the locomotive in 1923 and numbered it 300 andsubstituted trolley poles for the original pantagraph. The Railway had opened in 1895 as an electric railway connecting the Grand Trunk Railway on the north side of Oshawa, Ontario with the port on Lake Ontario and operated partly on city streets, carrying both passengers and freight. The line became a Grand Trunk subsidiary in 1912 then became a Canadian National Railways subsidiary when the CN absorbed the GT in 1923, about the time 300 was purchased.
Although passenger service ended in 1940, 300 and other Oshawa Railway locomotives continued to haul freight with a General Motors plant being the largest customer. After 1959, the railway began abandoning its street trackage and on May 11, 1963, large crowds watched 300 pull the last freight train on King Street before the abandonment of that track. In 1964, the Canadian National absorbed the Oshawa Railway and converted the remaining operation to diesel operation. Seashore purchased the locomotive for $1,300 US when the Oshawa Railway dieselized in 1964 and it came to Seashore by rail on its own wheels via CN and Boston & Maine Railroad.
With those pictues, it is time for us to leave and the two of us started our trek back to the rental car.
We walked by our trolley crews, thanked them for a great visit to their unique museum then I thanked the person who gave us the tickets and we walked out into the parking lot.
There were a few more buses but it was time to go. A special thank you to the Seashore Trolley Museum for having us here today. We drove out to the Tollway and took Interstate 95 south through New Hampshire and into Massachusetts to our last stop of the day at Lowell.
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