The Windsor Streetcar

It's been nearly five years since the frame-up restoration of Sandwich Windsor & Amherstburg 351 was completed. The work was done by an automobile restoration contractor retained by the City of Windsor with the goal of putting the car on display on the Detroit River waterfront. That hasn't happened yet, but I believe progress is being made toward constructing a shelter at Legacy Park.

In the meantime, car 351 has remained in storage, and very few photos of it have appeared online since restoration was completed. Until now! Thanks to Jon Fenlaciki, who visited the car today and sent in the below pictures.

The car originally had Standard O-50 trucks, but from other photos I believe these are Brill 27MCB trucks salvaged from an unknown rapid transit car.

Penn Ohio PCCs

It was brought to my attention that a post made yesterday on Reddit, of all places, includes photos of the rarely seen Pittsburgh PCCs at Penn Ohio Electric Railway in Ashley, Ohio. That may be a misnomer at this point; the person who posted the photos says they recently purchased the property the cars sit on, and the two remaining PCCs just came with the purchase. There used to be a third PCC, Pittsburgh 1713, which was conveyed to the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum last year. That leaves two: air-electric 1639 and 1949 sealed-window postwar car 1728.

These two cars have been listed as being "for sale" since 2017, but the post makes a couple of things pretty clear. First, when PTM acquired car 1713 last year, the owners of the three cars made these two available to the museum as parts sources. As such, at least some of the more valuable parts and components have been scavenged to help keep cars in the PTM fleet operating. Second, the current owners have no particular interest in these cars being moved somewhere else to rot away. Their current intention is to scrap both, and the PNAERC listings for both cars have been updated to reflect that.

This isn't a huge historical loss, as there are other examples of both 1600- and 1700-series Pittsburgh cars preserved, most notably at PTM. But there aren't as many as you might think. If you discount the cars remanufactured as 4000s and the six soon-to-be-cut-up 1700s in Windber, car 1728 is one of just seven 1700-series cars still in existence. Of the other six, two are at PTM, two are plinthed outdoors, one is in private hands and one is nicely stuffed and mounted at the Heinz Museum in Pittsburgh. It's unlikely any besides the two at PTM will ever run again. As for 1600s, car 1639 is one of four cars from that 1945 order still around; the other three include car 1644 at Northern Ohio Railway Museum, modernized car 1799 at PTM, and the heavily rebuilt car with the LRV front end at Buckeye Lake.

AEM7 Arrives in Danbury

It seems the Danbury Railway Museum's collection of mainline electric collection is growing again. According to this video (source of the screen shot above), Amtrak 917, an AEM7 built by Electro-Motive in 1981, has been moved to the DRM property from its former storage location at a shipping terminal in Rhode Island.* This makes 917 the third AEM7 preserved, after 915 at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania and 945 at the Illinois Railway Museum. Of the three, it is the only example that was upgraded to AC traction around 2000 or so; the other two retain their original DC motors. This addition puts the list at 2,089 pieces of equipment.

As I wrote here, DRM is now in the same league as IRM and RRMofPA - not coincidentally, the other two owners of AEM7s - when it comes to its mainline electric collection. DRM now has 11 pieces of mainline electric equipment, compared with nine at RRMofPA and 11 at IRM. DRM might not have a locomotive of such national significance as Strasburg's DD1, or a crowd pleaser quite like the operable South Shore 803 in Union, but Danbury's collection includes unique pieces like the Grand Central Terminal wrecker, the last NYC T-Motor, and all three surviving New Haven "washboard" MU cars. Now, all they need is a GG1!

*EDIT: It appears that the AEM7 actually arrived in Danbury on June 7th.

North Shore 228 Restored

Hot on the heels of Illinois Terminal line car 1702 being outshopped by IRM, another Midwestern organization has restored and operated a piece of non-revenue equipment that hadn't run since retirement. This is Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee 228, a box motor (known as an "MD car," or merchandise despatch car, on the North Shore) built by Cincinnati Car Company in 1922 and just completed at the East Troy Electric Railroad. It's shown above in a photo from this Facebook group depicting a test run a few weeks ago; its official debut was this weekend, like IT 1702 during a private event.

Car 228 was one of an ill-fated trio of electric cars that made their way to the Indiana Railway Museum in Westport, Indiana, around 1963. The three cars - 228, North Shore combine 250, and Chicago Aurora & Elgin steel-sheathed wood coach 318 - were purchased from the Westport group by The Wisconsin Electric Railway Historical Society (TWERHS), which at the time operated over the East Troy line, around 1971. The two North Shore cars made it to TWERHS intact, but car 318 had its ends crushed during a Penn Central switching accident and was later scrapped for parts in Mukwonago.

The two North Shore cars were in rough shape, though. Combine 250 was acquired by IRM when TWERHS folded in 1988 and later scrapped; MD car 228 stayed in East Troy and work on rebuilding it began but was suspended for some 25 or 30 years. In 2022, though, the MD car went into ETER's new shop building in Mukwonago to complete the job. Of the five North Shore MD cars preserved, this is one of two that is operational and is the only one to have undergone a complete restoration.

Whiskey Island Car Pusher Finds New Home

A few weeks ago, we posted a story here about the last Hulett ore unloaders in existence - a pair of disassembled Huletts stored at Whiskey Island in Cleveland - being threatened, along with a trio of diminutive narrow-gauge electric car pushers, or shunters, that sat with them. While I don't believe any hopeful news has emerged on the Huletts themselves, one of the three car pushers has found a new home. The Port of Cleveland has posted here that Pennsylvania Railroad 1, one of the three car pushers at Whiskey Island, was loaded onto a truck and removed from the site for preservation. The locomotive is a 1912 Baldwin-Westinghouse, identical (I believe) to this one, which is preserved in Youngstown. The photo above is from the Port of Cleveland's Facebook post.

Its destination is apparently Buckeye Lake, Ohio, but it's not owned by Buckeye Lake Trolley. It's the first piece of equipment on the PNAERC list under the ownership of the American Industrial Mining Company Museum, or AIMCM, which is a geographically dispersed organization focused on mining and industrial equipment preservation. The group has its main workshop site at Buckeye Lake, on the same property as Buckeye Lake Trolley, and has a public exhibition site in Brownsville, Pennsylvania. AIMCM also owns a pair of Toronto CLRVs, 4024 and 4170, but those two cars are stored at the Halton County Radial Railway in Ontario and are currently listed with that organization's collection on PNAERC.

Two more PRR car pushers are still in the weeds at Whiskey Island awaiting possible salvation. One is reputedly numbered 2, but the third isn't on PNAERC because I don't have a fleet number or any other information on it. Interested in a very large and ungainly-looking lawn ornament?

Illinois Terminal Line Car Runs

As outlined on our sister Hicks Car Works blog here and here, the Illinois Railway Museum has gotten its Illinois Terminal line car, IT 1702, operating for the first time since it left the IT in 1958. Museum volunteers began working on restoring the car's body in 2021, work that was completed in early 2024, and the car's control system was rebuilt over the last five months or so to get it operating for an event this past weekend.

The car's status on PNAERC has been updated from "undergoing restoration" to "operated occasionally." Another update at IRM has been made to IT 415, the first car ever to run at the museum back in 1966. This lightweight interurban was taken out of service in 2020 for exterior restoration, and that work was completed within the past couple of weeks as well. Its status has been updated to "operated often," as it has long been a mainstay of public operations at IRM and is expected to return to a prominent role.

Car 54, There You Are

Back about three years ago, in this post, I described removing several cars from the PNAERC list that had simply gone missing. Without any recent news, I presumed that the cars - most of which had been in private hands - were gone. I'm happy to say that the very first one on that list has now turned up intact!

Kansas City Clay County & St. Joseph 54 is a rather unusual all-steel box motor, one of only two cars still in existence from that line and the only box motor. It's shown above in a photo taken, and posted on Facebook, about two weeks ago by Mr. Bob Matthys of Camden Point, Missouri. Mr. Matthys is apparently the new owner of car 54; judging from the photos, the car had been abandoned derelict in a grove of trees on a farm, but Mr. Matthys purchased the car, cleared the trees as shown below, and hauled it off the farm.

I'm not sure what the long-term plans for car 54 are, but it appears to be on a substantial trailer and not in immediate danger of dissolving. I believe this car has the same construction as the KCCC&StJ's passenger cars, which means it has a steel roof, which has presumably helped it. With luck, perhaps it will be fixed up for display on its home territory. Thanks to Johnny Myers for making me aware of this.

Syracuse Lake Shore & Northern 200 Update

Many thanks to Thomas Mafrici, who has sent along an update of the progress on Syracuse Lake Shore & Northern 200, which he owns. The rebuilding of this car, which he acquired as a true cadaver, is one of the most impressive traction restoration projects underway right now, and it's fascinating to see the progress on this virtually frame-up rebuild of a classic 1906 Cincinnati-built wooden interurban.

A lot of progress has clearly been made on the roof framing since the last update in early 2023. 

The first two photos are of the "good side" of the car, in terms of condition, and show all the work that has gone into recreating the ends of the car, both of which were essentially gone.

Thomas reports that he's just finished framing out the "bad side" of the car, shown here. 

The new posts and roof carlines look beautiful.

Finally, a photo taken of the car's interior showing all the new wood in the roof.

EDIT: Thomas sent along a few more progress photos, shown below - enjoy!

The Kerwin Rail Grinder

I was looking up something in a 1911 Electric Railway Journal available on Smithsonian website and started idly perusing the publication, as you do. I happened upon this article, which caught my eye immediately.

That looks familiar, I thought. And sure enough, I was right. It's an unmistakable match for Servicio de Transportes Electricos del Distrito Federal 100, a rail grinder preserved at the transit agency's museum in Mexico City.

I don't have much info on SDTE 100, and in fact it has heretofore been listed as being a 1900 product of Brill. But, of course, I couldn't find anything about it in the Brill order books, and now I know why. I've updated its builder to the Kerwin Machine Company and removed the year built; I'd guess it's likely around 1910 but can't be sure. The rail grinder in Mexico City has been modified somewhat - it's lost the "skate" hanging off the rear and has had a small platform built onto the front with a dash panel and possibly a controller - but it's got to be a Kerwin. (Given that Kerwin was based in Detroit; that city was using these grinders as of 1911; and Mexico City bought a bunch of Detroit PCCs in the 1950s, it's tempting to wonder whether this critter ran in Detroit and came to Mexico City secondhand. But there's no evidence for that, and rail grinders of this description don't appear at all in my CERA book on Detroit Street Railway.)

SDTE 100 is unassuming but is pretty unusual, actually. First, it's one of only two cars on the list with an "A1" wheel arrangement, designating four wheels and a single motor (the other is the homebuilt Ponemah Mills line car at the Connecticut Trolley Museum). It's also the only thing on the list built by Kerwin. More importantly, it's one of only 12 electric railway rail grinders preserved, and one of only five built for that purpose (the other seven were rebuilt from older streetcars). Of those five, two (one each at the National Museum of Transport and Southern California Railway Museum) sport more typical "house" construction. That leaves only this and two similarly diminutive (and skeletal) grinders built by the Goldschmidt Thermit Company, both preserved at Seashore.

If You Knew What the New MU Knew

Many thanks to Tom Morrow, who sent along some photos taken back in the 1980s that have allowed me to add two more cars to the PNAERC list.

These photos were taken by the late Harvey Hylton in the mid- or late-1980s at a tourist railroad then known as the Indiana & Ohio, today the Lebanon Mason & Monroe, in southern Ohio. The LM&M has, for many years, owned a quartet of ex-Lackawanna MU motor cars. They've numbered the cars 101-104 but until now I only knew the original number of one other, 4615, so that was the only car included on PNAERC. But now, thanks to Harvey and Tom, I can add two more! MU motor cars 3514 and 4634 are now on the list, meaning I'm only "missing" one of the LM&M cars. Any information on that fourth car - and, crucially, any information that might indicate which Lackawanna cars were renumbered to which LM&M cars - would be greatly appreciated.

Car Pushers Threatened

A Facebook post here by a page called Drone Ohio made earlier this week states that a scrapping company has been hired to cut up the last two Hulett Ore Unloaders, which have been sitting disassembled on Whiskey Island in Cleveland for many years. Of far less historical significance, but of more relevance to this particular page, are the three narrow-gauge electric-powered car pushers shown above, which have long sat in the shadow of the giant Huletts. The photo above is from Drone Ohio.

The three car pushers are 3'6" gauge and two, PRR 1 and PRR 2, are already on the PNAERC list. The third is on my "mystery equipment" list because I've never been able to find a fleet number, builder, or date for it. Anyone know?

Regardless, these car pushers (also known as "mules" and probably other nicknames) worked the PRR docks here at Whiskey Island for many years and were retired in the 1980s or very early 1990s. I think it's safe to assume that if the Huletts get hauled off in scrap dumpsters, this trio will go with them.

While I was looking at car pushers on the PNAERC list, I also reviewed the other four. I believe there are six of these things on the list - five narrow-gauge PRR examples and this thing, which is standard gauge, has an MCB coupler on the back, and wears a pantograph. But of the three PRR ones extant outside of Whiskey Island, I did make a change to PRR 7 at the Lake Shore Railway Museum. The LSRM website lists this locomotive as "most likely" built around 1910 by Atlas. But it's virtually identical to the other Baldwin/Westinghouse-built car pushers, and those unusual over-the-journal-box equalizer bars were used on Baldwin streetcar trucks in the 1900s and 1910s too, so I've changed this one to list B/W as the builder instead of Atlas. Does anyone have an actual roster of these things?

Philadelphia Car Heading West

Thanks to Bill Wulfert, who has passed along the news that Philadelphia Rapid Transit 2282 has been acquired by the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum from the Electric City Trolley Museum.

Car 2282 is in rough shape but it's extremely historic. It's the oldest double-truck streetcar, and the second-oldest streetcar (after this one, which is in imminent danger of demolition), from Philadelphia in existence. It was built by Brill in 1906 and when retired in 1928 it went to the Shamokin & Edgewood Electric, where it finished out its career 10 years later. The car has been through a few owners in the preservation era: it was at Magee until Hurricane Agnes did in that organization, then it was owned by Ed Blossom for a few decades before his collection went to ECTM in Scranton around 2000. In recent years, it's been stored in ECTM's barn in Moosic. I haven't updated the car's PNAERC record yet - I always do that when the car physically moves, and as far as I know, it's still in Scranton for the moment. But it's good to see that the car is going to another good home at PTM and that ECTM will have a spot open up for something else to be stored inside.

As for the museums involved, PTM has been on a bit of an acquisition spree lately in the wake of acquiring a new storage building along their line. This will be their third acquisition in the last couple of years, after Shamokin & Mt. Carmel 33 and Port Authority Transit 1713. For ECTM, this is their second deaccession in the last few years, after Chicago Aurora & Elgin 453. The museum doesn't really have any space to expand, nor anywhere to store cars outdoors, so if they want to acquire a new piece of equipment they need to get rid of something they have.

Another Postcard from Kennebunkport

Bill Wulfert has sent more photos from Winterfest, held this past weekend at the Seashore Trolley Museum, with this batch including many of Seashore's more commonly photographed pieces. Enjoy!

One of the denizens of Town House Shop at Seashore is Bay State Street Railway 4175, an attractive semiconvertible built in 1914 by Laconia that later ran in Rhode Island and New Jersey. This car was the prototype for the replica that operates today in Lowell, Mass.

One of the cars in operation over the weekend was Claremont Railway 4, the museum's diminutive line car.

One of three North Shore Line interurban cars at Seashore, car 420 was built in 1928 as an open-platform observation car and later converted to a double-ended coach. It is currently out of service with a failed traction motor.

Fellow Highwood alum NSL 755 is a 1930 Standard product, shown here in both an exterior and an interior view.

Connecticut Company open car 303 was built by Brill in 1901 for the Winchester Avenue Railway. It's shown in Seashore's brand-new South Boston carbarn, a beautiful three-track, nine-berth structure that was just completed within the past few months.

One of Seashore's regular service stalwarts is ConnCo 1160, shown here, a 1906 Stephenson suburban car that was completely restored by the museum. It's one of only nine Stephenson cars preserved and one of just four in operation.

The next two images show Cleveland Railway 1227, which was one of the most recently completed of Seashore's famous frame-up restorations. Not only was this car received as a basket case, but it had been rebuilt by Shaker Heights Rapid Transit. Seashore did a lot of work to backdate it to its condition in the late 1910s.

There are three Chicago "Big Pullmans" preserved, and the only one not at IRM is CSL 225. It's currently out of service with a failed motor.

Chicago Transit Authority 1 was used as a propulsion equipment test car by General Electric after it was retired by the CTA. It's currently available.

DC Transit 1304 is a beautifully restored prewar PCC from the nation's capital. It's shown in the new South Boston carbarn. Unfortunately, at the moment it is out of service with a bad MG set.

Eastern Mass Street Railway 4387 is one of that system's distinctive suburban semi-convertible cars. It's been fully restored by Seashore but is currently out of service with a blown motor, I believe.

The most modern rapid transit cars at Seashore are MBTA 0622-0623, shown here on display, built in 1979 by Hawker-Siddeley. They were operational until recently but I'm not certain of their current status. I believe that due to track conditions, Seashore isn't running heavy interurbans or rapid transit cars on their main line.

MBTA 5159 is one of several snow plows at Seashore that were converted from Type 3 semi-convertibles built in 1908.

Bill snapped this photo of a distinctive Boston third rail beam, shown on one of the Cambridge-Dorchester subway cars.

The "City of Manchester" and Atlantic Shore Line 100 are certainly among the prides of the fleet at Seashore, both the result of major multi-year restoration efforts. ASL 100 has the added distinction of having run over the museum's right-of-way during its service career.

The centerpiece of Town House Shop at the moment is Portland-Lewiston 14, the "Narcissus," a 1912 Laconia-built interurban car that is the subject of a lengthy and involved restoration.

Don't get used to seeing SEPTA 618 at Seashore - it's heading to a new home at the Trolley Museum of New York sometime soon.

SEPTA 2278, aka "New Hampshire" since it was painted in Bicentennial colors in the 1970s, began life as Kansas City Public Service 781. It came to Seashore in 2012.

Twin City Rapid Transit 1267 is a beautifully restored standard car from Minnesota. Seashore restored it to its original "gate car" configuration, with an open rear platform and no passenger entry at the front. I'm not sure whether it's currently operational.

One of the photo lineups the museum set up was in front of the new South Boston barn with DC Transit 1304, featured earlier, and Toronto 2890, a 1923 Ottawa-built Peter Witt acquired in 2000 from Halton County. The Witt has been the subject of recent work but is not currently operational.

A true masterpiece of restoration, Wheeling Street Railway 639 is one of only two Cincinnati curve-siders in operation. It was restored - practically replicated - from the shell of a body and is one of the regular service cars at Seashore.

And to finish off, we'll add some property shots. Bill sent an exterior and an interior photo of Seashore's newest focus, the model railroad building. This was built by a sizable grant from one or two wealthy donors.

Here we are in the new South Boston carbarn, showing off features like the insulated walls, steel framing, wall-to-wall concrete and between-rails inspection pit. This replaces the older, smaller, and decidedly ramshackle South Boston barn, which was demolished a year or two ago.

And we'll finish with a couple of night photo shoots. First, the two operating ConnCo cars.

And here are 639, 1304, and 2890 in front of the new South Boston barn.