Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Bristol Traction corrections

I'm always trying to go through the PNAERC list to check information, especially historical (ownership) information, and correct listings. This week it was time to take a look at the surviving cars from Bristol Traction, the street railway in Bristol, Connecticut. BT was a small system, with only about two dozen cars at any one time, but there are three survivors (sort of): car 28, a 1907 single-trucker; car 34, an unusual 1917 convertible; and car 43, a 1927 double-trucker bought secondhand which is also the only surviving car from the Fitchburg & Leominster in Massachusetts. All are located at the Connecticut Trolley Museum. All three are car bodies in various stages of disrepair, though car 28 at least is on a truck which looks from photos to be roughly correct. Car 34 is probably the most distinctive of the group: not only is it a two-axle, arch-roof convertible - a rare type to be built as late as 1917 - but it is also one of only two extant cars that was built with a Brill Radiax truck with "steerable" axles.

Anyway, some research into the history of Bristol Traction (not to be confused with the Bristol Traction located in Tennessee) revealed that none of the above cars was built for BT. Rather, BT was only created in 1927 and before that was known as the Bristol & Plainville. The two older cars were built for the B&P while car 43 was purchased from the F&L, possibly around 1932 when the F&L quit or maybe earlier. (Anyone know for sure?) I also discovered that car 34, which had formerly been listed as built by Brill, was actually built by Wason - something it has in common with the other two BT cars. I'm still in need of a lot of mechanical information on these Bristol cars but at least their histories seem to have been cleared up somewhat.

1 comment:

  1. The ex Fitchburg & Leominster car is almost identical to Seashores York Utilities (Sanford Maine) # 88. It's equipment was most likely nearly identical to what # 88 has i.e. Brill 177 E style Trucks etc. These cars had a unique letterboard over the end corner windows overhanging same and incorporating marker lights. Maybe this was Wasons attempt at marketing their design for a lightweight city car ala Kuhlman Car Co.

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