Boston PCC Overhaul Progress

Since we've had a "PCC overhaul program progress report" from Philadelphia, why not one from Boston, too?

Indeed, the T is also going through their PCC fleet and rebuilding it a handful of cars at a time, though there are some differences. First, these cars weren't modernized to quite the extend the Philadelphia cars were - they still retain their original running gear, including air-electric brakes. They did receive air-conditioning and sealed windows, though. Anyway, the overhaul program started with cars 3265 and 3234 in 2019. It was suspended for a time, but 3265 returned to service in April of this year, and car 3234 has now joined it back home in Mattapan.

The next two cars to get rebuilt are, apparently, 3238 and 3260. The former is just one of the members of the Mattapan fleet (it's on the left in the photo above, by Cam Moore via Facebook), but the latter car is a bit of a special case. Car 3260 was involved in a fairly serious collision back in December 2017, when it was rear-ended by 3262. Both cars have been out of service since. And while it's good that 3260 is being rebuilt, it appears that car 3262 - which had its front end badly stove in - has now had its rear end cut off aft of the bolster. This section will be grafted onto car 3260. I'm not certain whether the T has already cut up the rest of 3262, or whether the incomplete shell will hang around as a parts source, but in either case I don't think it qualifies for the PNAERC list anymore. So it's been removed. The Mattapan PCC fleet, formerly at 10 cars, now numbers nine.

Philadelphia PCC-II Overhaul Program

A recent post on a PCC group on Facebook, made by a SEPTA employee, brought readers up to date on the overhaul program currently underway at SEPTA. That agency has a fleet of 18 "PCC-II" streetcars - Philadelphia PCC cars that were torn down to their frames and rebuilt by Brookville around 2004-2005, complete with new (though "PCC-inspired") control and motors as well as sealed windows and A/C. After about 15 years the cars were all pulled from service and they're now going through an in-house overhaul. This job, unlike the last one, is generally sympathetic, and they're emerging more-or-less indistinguishable from how they went in.

Of the cars in the fleet (list here - note that this is not an all-inclusive list of cars on PNAERC owned by SEPTA), four have already been overhauled and outshopped: 2332 (outshopped June 2021), 2328 (outshopped August 2021), 2337 (outshopped June 2022), and 2322 (outshopped within the last few weeks). Four more are currently in the shop being overhauled: 2324, 2326, 2327, and 2333. The remaining 10 cars are still waiting their turn. Cars undergoing overhaul have been noted as "undergoing restoration;" cars that haven't yet gone into the shop are "stored operable;" and cars that have been overhauled are described as "operated often." This may be a bit aspirational for the moment, but sooner or later it's bound to come true.