Switching at Branford

Branford has published on their shop's Facebook page (no log-in required) some photos taken during a recent switch move. As with many museums, switch moves like this afford a rare opportunity to get a good look - and good photos - of equipment that is normally ensconced deep inside storage barns. Thanks to Roger Addil, who took the photos, and to Dennis Pacelli, who has granted permission to re-post them, we can now get a look at some recent progress and rarely-seen cars.

The big news here is significant recent progress on restoration of the museum's two oldest double-truck Third Avenue Railway System cars. These cars are really emblematic of the equipment used for decades on that system and it's terrific to see them fixed up. The car above is TARS 884, a rare full convertible car built by Brill in 1909 that sports the three-panel front end that was so common on the system. This car has been completely repainted on the outside and really looks spectacular.

Close behind it is another Third Avenue car, TARS 830, which is a standard closed double-truck car built by Brill in 1908. Exterior restoration on this car was begun more recently and is ongoing, so it has been completely repainted but not yet lettered. Both cars look really stunning. It's hard to believe that they were retired all the way back in 1948!

After that we have a few pieces of equipment that aren't the subject of current restoration projects, but are rarely seen out in the sunlight. This is Brooklyn & Queens Transit 9832, a single-truck snow sweeper built by Brill in 1915. This is the only Brill-built single-truck snow sweeper currently surviving in the U.S., though there are a handful of them still around in Europe.

Cornwall 12 is a standard Baldwin-Westinghouse class B steeplecab built in 1917. It spent most of its service life in northern Utah, running first for the Ogden Logan & Idaho and then for the Utah-Idaho Central.

And finally we have Boston 3271, a typical Differential dump motor built in 1920 that came to Branford in 1976. It has a cab at one end, as was typical of many of these motors, but the cab was removed years ago during a restoration effort that was later suspended. The "house roof" was put over the dump body to protect it during a period when the car was stored outside.