Syracuse Lake Shore & Northern 200 Update

Many thanks to Thomas Mafrici, who has sent along an update of the progress on Syracuse Lake Shore & Northern 200, which he owns. The rebuilding of this car, which he acquired as a true cadaver, is one of the most impressive traction restoration projects underway right now, and it's fascinating to see the progress on this virtually frame-up rebuild of a classic 1906 Cincinnati-built wooden interurban.

A lot of progress has clearly been made on the roof framing since the last update in early 2023. 

The first two photos are of the "good side" of the car, in terms of condition, and show all the work that has gone into recreating the ends of the car, both of which were essentially gone.

Thomas reports that he's just finished framing out the "bad side" of the car, shown here. 

The new posts and roof carlines look beautiful.

Finally, a photo taken of the car's interior showing all the new wood in the roof.

The Kerwin Rail Grinder

I was looking up something in a 1911 Electric Railway Journal available on Smithsonian website and started idly perusing the publication, as you do. I happened upon this article, which caught my eye immediately.

That looks familiar, I thought. And sure enough, I was right. It's an unmistakable match for Servicio de Transportes Electricos del Distrito Federal 100, a rail grinder preserved at the transit agency's museum in Mexico City.

I don't have much info on SDTE 100, and in fact it has heretofore been listed as being a 1900 product of Brill. But, of course, I couldn't find anything about it in the Brill order books, and now I know why. I've updated its builder to the Kerwin Machine Company and removed the year built; I'd guess it's likely around 1910 but can't be sure. The rail grinder in Mexico City has been modified somewhat - it's lost the "skate" hanging off the rear and has had a small platform built onto the front with a dash panel and possibly a controller - but it's got to be a Kerwin. (Given that Kerwin was based in Detroit; that city was using these grinders as of 1911; and Mexico City bought a bunch of Detroit PCCs in the 1950s, it's tempting to wonder whether this critter ran in Detroit and came to Mexico City secondhand. But there's no evidence for that, and rail grinders of this description don't appear at all in my CERA book on Detroit Street Railway.)

SDTE 100 is unassuming but is pretty unusual, actually. First, it's one of only two cars on the list with an "A1" wheel arrangement, designating four wheels and a single motor (the other is the homebuilt Ponemah Mills line car at the Connecticut Trolley Museum). It's also the only thing on the list built by Kerwin. More importantly, it's one of only 12 electric railway rail grinders preserved, and one of only five built for that purpose (the other seven were rebuilt from older streetcars). Of those five, two (one each at the National Museum of Transport and Southern California Railway Museum) sport more typical "house" construction. That leaves only this and two similarly diminutive (and skeletal) grinders built by the Goldschmidt Thermit Company, both preserved at Seashore.

If You Knew What the New MU Knew

Many thanks to Tom Morrow, who sent along some photos taken back in the 1980s that have allowed me to add two more cars to the PNAERC list.

These photos were taken by the late Harvey Hylton in the mid- or late-1980s at a tourist railroad then known as the Indiana & Ohio, today the Lebanon Mason & Monroe, in southern Ohio. The LM&M has, for many years, owned a quartet of ex-Lackawanna MU motor cars. They've numbered the cars 101-104 but until now I only knew the original number of one other, 4615, so that was the only car included on PNAERC. But now, thanks to Harvey and Tom, I can add two more! MU motor cars 3514 and 4634 are now on the list, meaning I'm only "missing" one of the LM&M cars. Any information on that fourth car - and, crucially, any information that might indicate which Lackawanna cars were renumbered to which LM&M cars - would be greatly appreciated.

Car Pushers Threatened

A Facebook post here by a page called Drone Ohio made earlier this week states that a scrapping company has been hired to cut up the last two Hulett Ore Unloaders, which have been sitting disassembled on Whiskey Island in Cleveland for many years. Of far less historical significance, but of more relevance to this particular page, are the three narrow-gauge electric-powered car pushers shown above, which have long sat in the shadow of the giant Huletts. The photo above is from Drone Ohio.

The three car pushers are 3'6" gauge and two, PRR 1 and PRR 2, are already on the PNAERC list. The third is on my "mystery equipment" list because I've never been able to find a fleet number, builder, or date for it. Anyone know?

Regardless, these car pushers (also known as "mules" and probably other nicknames) worked the PRR docks here at Whiskey Island for many years and were retired in the 1980s or very early 1990s. I think it's safe to assume that if the Huletts get hauled off in scrap dumpsters, this trio will go with them.

While I was looking at car pushers on the PNAERC list, I also reviewed the other four. I believe there are six of these things on the list - five narrow-gauge PRR examples and this thing, which is standard gauge, has an MCB coupler on the back, and wears a pantograph. But of the three PRR ones extant outside of Whiskey Island, I did make a change to PRR 7 at the Lake Shore Railway Museum. The LSRM website lists this locomotive as "most likely" built around 1910 by Atlas. But it's virtually identical to the other Baldwin/Westinghouse-built car pushers, and those unusual over-the-journal-box equalizer bars were used on Baldwin streetcar trucks in the 1900s and 1910s too, so I've changed this one to list B/W as the builder instead of Atlas. Does anyone have an actual roster of these things?

Philadelphia Car Heading West

Thanks to Bill Wulfert, who has passed along the news that Philadelphia Rapid Transit 2282 has been acquired by the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum from the Electric City Trolley Museum.

Car 2282 is in rough shape but it's extremely historic. It's the oldest double-truck streetcar, and the second-oldest streetcar (after this one, which is in imminent danger of demolition), from Philadelphia in existence. It was built by Brill in 1906 and when retired in 1928 it went to the Shamokin & Edgewood Electric, where it finished out its career 10 years later. The car has been through a few owners in the preservation era: it was at Magee until Hurricane Agnes did in that organization, then it was owned by Ed Blossom for a few decades before his collection went to ECTM in Scranton around 2000. In recent years, it's been stored in ECTM's barn in Moosic. I haven't updated the car's PNAERC record yet - I always do that when the car physically moves, and as far as I know, it's still in Scranton for the moment. But it's good to see that the car is going to another good home at PTM and that ECTM will have a spot open up for something else to be stored inside.

As for the museums involved, PTM has been on a bit of an acquisition spree lately in the wake of acquiring a new storage building along their line. This will be their third acquisition in the last couple of years, after Shamokin & Mt. Carmel 33 and Port Authority Transit 1713. For ECTM, this is their second deaccession in the last few years, after Chicago Aurora & Elgin 453. The museum doesn't really have any space to expand, nor anywhere to store cars outdoors, so if they want to acquire a new piece of equipment they need to get rid of something they have.

Another Postcard from Kennebunkport

Bill Wulfert has sent more photos from Winterfest, held this past weekend at the Seashore Trolley Museum, with this batch including many of Seashore's more commonly photographed pieces. Enjoy!

One of the denizens of Town House Shop at Seashore is Bay State Street Railway 4175, an attractive semiconvertible built in 1914 by Laconia that later ran in Rhode Island and New Jersey. This car was the prototype for the replica that operates today in Lowell, Mass.

One of the cars in operation over the weekend was Claremont Railway 4, the museum's diminutive line car.

One of three North Shore Line interurban cars at Seashore, car 420 was built in 1928 as an open-platform observation car and later converted to a double-ended coach. It is currently out of service with a failed traction motor.

Fellow Highwood alum NSL 755 is a 1930 Standard product, shown here in both an exterior and an interior view.

Connecticut Company open car 303 was built by Brill in 1901 for the Winchester Avenue Railway. It's shown in Seashore's brand-new South Boston carbarn, a beautiful three-track, nine-berth structure that was just completed within the past few months.

One of Seashore's regular service stalwarts is ConnCo 1160, shown here, a 1906 Stephenson suburban car that was completely restored by the museum. It's one of only nine Stephenson cars preserved and one of just four in operation.

The next two images show Cleveland Railway 1227, which was one of the most recently completed of Seashore's famous frame-up restorations. Not only was this car received as a basket case, but it had been rebuilt by Shaker Heights Rapid Transit. Seashore did a lot of work to backdate it to its condition in the late 1910s.

There are three Chicago "Big Pullmans" preserved, and the only one not at IRM is CSL 225. It's currently out of service with a failed motor.

Chicago Transit Authority 1 was used as a propulsion equipment test car by General Electric after it was retired by the CTA. It's currently available.

DC Transit 1304 is a beautifully restored prewar PCC from the nation's capital. It's shown in the new South Boston carbarn. Unfortunately, at the moment it is out of service with a bad MG set.

Eastern Mass Street Railway 4387 is one of that system's distinctive suburban semi-convertible cars. It's been fully restored by Seashore but is currently out of service with a blown motor, I believe.

The most modern rapid transit cars at Seashore are MBTA 0622-0623, shown here on display, built in 1979 by Hawker-Siddeley. They were operational until recently but I'm not certain of their current status. I believe that due to track conditions, Seashore isn't running heavy interurbans or rapid transit cars on their main line.

MBTA 5159 is one of several snow plows at Seashore that were converted from Type 3 semi-convertibles built in 1908.

Bill snapped this photo of a distinctive Boston third rail beam, shown on one of the Cambridge-Dorchester subway cars.

The "City of Manchester" and Atlantic Shore Line 100 are certainly among the prides of the fleet at Seashore, both the result of major multi-year restoration efforts. ASL 100 has the added distinction of having run over the museum's right-of-way during its service career.

The centerpiece of Town House Shop at the moment is Portland-Lewiston 14, the "Narcissus," a 1912 Laconia-built interurban car that is the subject of a lengthy and involved restoration.

Don't get used to seeing SEPTA 618 at Seashore - it's heading to a new home at the Trolley Museum of New York sometime soon.

SEPTA 2278, aka "New Hampshire" since it was painted in Bicentennial colors in the 1970s, began life as Kansas City Public Service 781. It came to Seashore in 2012.

Twin City Rapid Transit 1267 is a beautifully restored standard car from Minnesota. Seashore restored it to its original "gate car" configuration, with an open rear platform and no passenger entry at the front. I'm not sure whether it's currently operational.

One of the photo lineups the museum set up was in front of the new South Boston barn with DC Transit 1304, featured earlier, and Toronto 2890, a 1923 Ottawa-built Peter Witt acquired in 2000 from Halton County. The Witt has been the subject of recent work but is not currently operational.

A true masterpiece of restoration, Wheeling Street Railway 639 is one of only two Cincinnati curve-siders in operation. It was restored - practically replicated - from the shell of a body and is one of the regular service cars at Seashore.

And to finish off, we'll add some property shots. Bill sent an exterior and an interior photo of Seashore's newest focus, the model railroad building. This was built by a sizable grant from one or two wealthy donors.

Here we are in the new South Boston carbarn, showing off features like the insulated walls, steel framing, wall-to-wall concrete and between-rails inspection pit. This replaces the older, smaller, and decidedly ramshackle South Boston barn, which was demolished a year or two ago.

And we'll finish with a couple of night photo shoots. First, the two operating ConnCo cars.

And here are 639, 1304, and 2890 in front of the new South Boston barn.

ConnCo 1414 Returns Home

Thanks to Bill Wall for sending the above photo and the news that Connecticut Company 1414 has returned home from its 27-year stint at the Lake Compounce Amuseument Park. It was trucked back to East Haven today and will be unloaded at Branford in the morning. UPDATE: Video here

Car 1414 is a big 15-bench deck-roof open car built by Osgood-Bradley for ConnCo in 1911. Part of the Branford fleet from the earliest days in 1948, in 1997 it was loaned to an historic amusement park at Lake Compounce, where it ran back and forth on an 1800' route with a small shed at one end to protect the car. This fairly unique operation seems to have been quite successful for quite a long time, but the amusement park is redeveloping that area and so the car's time there is through. It's operational, so I would guess that it will be making regular appearances in service at Branford. It's one of three cars of this series preserved: sister car 1425 is currently under restoration at Branford, and may join its twin in operation one of these days, while car 1468 is stored in rough but complete condition at Seashore.