Edison Car Under Restoration

From this post on the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum's Facebook page comes some good news: Lackawanna MU car 2628, shown above, is at the Morristown & Erie's shop complex in New Jersey and is currently being restored. Car 2628 is one of the Lackawanna's 1930 "Edison cars," so called because Thomas Edison ran the ceremonial first train. Many of these motor cars are still around, in various states of preservation, but not a single one has been truly restored to in-service condition. It appears that may be about to change, though understandably enough this won't be an operational restoration. The car's status on the PNAERC list has been changed to reflect the work being done on it.

Corrections on Lackawanna 2628

Many thanks to Mike Del Vecchio, who contacted me to set the record straight regarding Lackawanna 2628. This 1930 MU motor car was moved from its home of some 35 years near Rochester, New York, back to home territory in New Jersey back in April as described in this post. At the time, I posted that the car was owned by the Tri-State Railway Historical Society and stored at the Whippany Railway Museum. 

However Mike points out that, in fact, neither of those things are true! The car is actually owned by a real estate developer in Montclair, NJ, called BDP Holdings LLC. This firm evidently owns (or is invested in) the former Lackawanna terminal building in Montclair, which is where 2628 will be put on display as part of a major redevelopment. TSRHS helped set up this whole plan, but does not own the car. Additionally, while 2628 was unloaded at Whippany, it's actually being stored on the Morristown & Erie Railway, whose tracks run past the Whippany museum. The car's PNAERC record has been updated to reflect these corrections. Thanks, Mike!

Lackawanna 2628 Returns to New Jersey

It's a heavy news week - when it rains it pours! Less than a week after the plan was announced, Lackawanna MU car 2628 has returned to New Jersey from its 37-year home in Industry, New York. The Tri-State Railway Historical Society posted on their Facebook page (no log-in required) with photos of the car arriving at the Whippany Railway Museum in Whippany, NJ, including the photo above. Many thanks to Mike Dodge for bringing this news to my attention!

As mentioned recently, car 2628 is now owned by TSRHS* and they plan for it to be cosmetically restored and placed on display at the old DL&W Montclair, NJ, terminal. For the moment, since it's physically located at Whippany* along with (restored) fellow DL&W car 2454, its "owner" has been updated in PNAERC to the Whippany Railway Museum with a notation that the car is actually owned by TSRHS and is only being stored at WRM.*

*EDIT: Please note corrections here!