TARS car restoration work

While there are no fewer than 23 cars preserved from the Third Avenue Railway System in New York, there are relatively few of the panel-ended deck-roof cars that were so closely associated with the company for decades. Of extant TARS cars on the PNAERC list a dozen - more than half - are 1930s-era arch-roof cars that were later sold for overseas use while another five are snow sweepers. Of the other six, three are double-truck closed cars and all three of these are stored in complete but poor condition, victims of benign neglect. At least, that has been the case - car 884, a 1909  Brill convertible and one of the earliest acquisitions by Branford (the photo above shows it around the time of its preservation in 1948), is now the subject of a restoration project. The car was operational until the recent hurricanes that flooded Branford, and had been capable of propelling itself for occasional switch moves. Currently the car is being given an exterior paint job and some interior work although the full scope of the project isn't clear at this point. But it's good to see this rather historic car "under restoration" and not just in dead storage.