What once was lost now is found

There's news on two cars formerly considered "lost," though in somewhat different circumstances. First off, a big thanks to Chris Baldwin for forwarding along photos taken by Christopher Skidmore of NJ Transit PCC 24. This car (a standard ex-Minneapolis car built in 1947) has been considered something of a mystery since late 2018, when it was spotted on a truck trailer westbound in Pennsylvania. Well it has now turned up about as far west as a truck will go.

It's stored at Carlos Guzman Inc, a painting contractor in Signal Hill, CA near Long Beach. This company has worked with San Diego Vintage Trolley, Muni, and Orange Empire. So I'm not certain whether the car is owned by one of those organizations (though I don't think OERM is involved) or whether the contractor acquired the car "on spec" for some reason. Update: Chris has confirmed that Carlos Guzman Inc does not own the car; nor does OERM or San Diego Vintage Trolley, with which the contractor has worked in the past. It sounds like it's being held for use with some sort of public art display, so we will see what transpires with that.

And while we're in the southwest, a second car thought lost has been found. Phoenix Street Railway 509, which was assumed to have been scrapped back in 1948 when PSR was abandoned, turned up when it was suddenly offered as a donation to the Arizona Street Railway Museum (aka Phoenix Trolley Museum). The announcement is here (no log-in required) - thanks go to Wesley Paulson and Olin Anderson for alerting me to this. ASRM appears to have accepted the donation of the car but has not yet moved the car, so it's still somewhat in limbo, but I have added it to the PNAERC list.

Car 509 is an American Car Company-built double-truck lightweight built in 1928. It's not a Birney, but rather a fairly unusual example of a late-1920s American design that was used by a handful of cities. It's one number up from car 508 (originally 116), which is also preserved by ASRM and was largely restored in the 1980s/1990s. In fact a third car from this series, 504 (originally 108), is owned by ASRM too. It really is remarkable that four cars of two different types were saved from such a small system, but I suppose it's a testament to the climate.

Cars on the move

 

It appears that the East Troy Electric Railroad has purchased CTA 4439, shown above in a somewhat recent photo from the First & Fastest Facebook page, from its current owner, the Toledo Lake Erie & Western. This is one of the more elusive of the preserved 4000s and has been off public display for a couple of decades at least. I vaguely recall seeing it back about 20 years ago and, as the above photo suggests, it appears to be in good condition. After it left CTA in 1975, I believe it was briefly stored in Michigan City before going to the state of Michigan where it was stored by the Oakland County Parks & Recreation Commission. I have no idea why OCP&RC acquired this car nor what their plans were for it. I think (but am not sure) that they're the ones responsible for fixing it up and putting it in this green paint scheme. It later made its way to Charley Sheets' collection in Toledo, thence to Grand Rapids, OH, and into possession of the TLE&W as outlined here. I haven't changed the car's listing over to East Troy yet, as it hasn't yet physically made its way to Wisconsin, but that should just be a matter of time.

And in unrelated news, Gord McOuat has sent me the numbers of the latest two Toronto CLRV's to be acquired by Halton County. Car 4040 and car 4053 were acquired by Halton as parts sources, however the museum hasn't yet decided which two of their (now) six CLRV's will be scrapped for parts and which four will be retained. So it's quite likely that one or both of these cars may end up being retained for preservation. In any event, both cars have now been added to the PNAERC list, bringing the total number of preserved CLRV's up to 14.