Third Avenue open car 651

Thanks to Richard Berk, who has sent in a couple of recent photos of Third Avenue Railway System 651 at the Electric City Trolley Museum in Scranton. This car has been the subject of a pretty monumental restoration over the years, going from a hulk to a complete body (and nearly complete car) with what would seem to be mostly new wood.

This is an old car, built by Brill in 1898 for Union Railway (though almost immediately going into the Third Avenue fleet), and sold in 1914 to Five Mile Beach Electric in Wildwood, NJ where it ran until 1945. Open cars weren't the most popular targets for resale as houses and sheds but for whatever reason several FMBE open cars, including this one, found post-retirement use in "chicken coop" form.

ECTM is currently rebuilding and regauging a pair of Brill 22 "Maximum Traction" trucks for the car. This may make car 651 unique among restored car bodies; I can't think of anywhere else in the U.S. that has sourced correct MaxTrac trucks for a restored car, though I'd be happy to be proven wrong on that. This pair of trucks came from Lisbon, where the tracks are 900mm gauge (a bit under 3'), so new wheel sets and a lot of new steel has been called for here. When complete, this car will be a truly stunning piece.