Postcard from Myersville

Many thanks to Wesley Paulson, who sent along this illustrated report on Hagerstown & Frederick 150. Wesley writes:

I stopped in Myersville, MD, to see Hagerstown & Frederick 150.  

The car body is nicely displayed in its own room adjacent to the main reading room.  It is visible outside through large windows, reminiscent of SR 1401 at the Smithsonian. Visitors access the car by ramp or steps leading to the rear platform.  The installation uses the sprinkler pipe to simulate trolley poles. 

The folks in Myersville really seem like they outdid themselves; from what I can tell, the cosmetic restoration of car 150 was done very well and it's in a great location for viewing.

It's an attractive car, though not the "classic" H&F combine. But besides being the only preserved car from Columbia, SC, it's also one of only two double-truck streetcars built by Southern Car Company still in existence - and may soon be the only one.

Restoring seats down only one side of the car presumably has a couple of benefits for a display like this, including making it fully wheelchair-accessible.

The platform generally looks reasonable, at least to a layperson. It's nice that they've included what looks like an appropriate controller and brake valve.

It looks like most, maybe almost all, of this wood is original, but they did a nice job of fixing the car up.

Many thanks to Wesley for sending along these photos! It can be surprisingly difficult to find photos online of electric cars that are preserved in this fashion, i.e. single cars in out-of-the-way non-museum locations. When's the last time anyone snapped a photo of this thing, for example? So, if you've got a random streetcar near you that seems to be flying "under the radar," I'm always interested in updated pictures!

Miscellaneous updates

Although most railway museums are shut down, at least to the public, at the moment, there's still plenty of updating to do on the PNAERC list. A handful of updates and corrections have come in recently. First, thanks to Wesley Paulson for alerting me to the Hagerstown & Frederick Railway Historical Society's "survivors page" which has some good information. Of the most interest is a photo of H&F 150, which has been ensconced in the Myersville Public Library and appears to have had its cosmetic restoration completed. As such its condition has been updated to "displayed inoperable" (and I removed the notation that it's on trucks, as it seems to have shed the Bettendorfs upon which it sat when it was privately owned). There's also a fascinating photo of H&F 171, which is in use as a fishing cabin of some sort. Although its condition doesn't warrant inclusion on the PNAERC list, as it's still effectively in unpreserved "chicken coop" condition, it would be nice to see it end up in a museum at some point.

And thanks also go to Jeron Glander for updating my listing of cars at the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum in California. He pointed out that I still had PSRM listed as the San Diego Railroad Museum, a name it has moved away from. He also provided an update that Lackawanna car 2586, which was formerly listed as "situation unknown," is actually in their shop undergoing work to convert it into a first-class car. I'm not sure how extensive this work is but its condition has been updated. Of the other five Lackawanna MU cars at the museum, three are still being towed by diesels while two are in storage.

If you spy anything on the PNAERC roster that's out-of-date, incomplete, or just plain inaccurate, send me an email! I'm especially looking for information on any equipment listed as "situation unknown." These are cars that, for one reason or another, I've really lost track of.

Hagerstown & Frederick car cosmetically restored

From Marc Glucksman and River Rail Photo (Facebook link but no account or log-in required) comes news that Hagerstown & Frederick 150, one of three surviving cars from that storied side-of-the-road interurban line, is undergoing a major cosmetic restoration. The plan for the car is that it will be placed on display inside of the new Myersville Library, located in a town along the old H&F.

Car 150, though not the "typical" H&F combine, does have a historically significant and varied history. It was built in 1918 by the Southern Car Company, making it one of only five Southern-built cars preserved. Originally it ran on Columbia Railway Gas & Electric in South Carolina (I think, though am not sure, that it was part of CRG&E's 100-116 series) so it's the only car from that system known to still exist. It went to the H&F in 1923 and ran there until 1954, after which its body was sold. Eventually it was picked up by Don Easterday, an H&F fan living in Myersville, who cosmetically restored the body and placed it on Bettendor freight car trucks. Following Don's death the car went to the city of Myersville and they are now putting what looks to be an impressive amount of work into the car to fix it up for public display. Photo above by Marc Glucksman.

H&F car relocated in Myersville

Thanks to Bill Wall, who has forwarded along a link (here) to some photo and information regarding Hagerstown & Frederick 150. The last I'd heard of this car, in May, it had been acquired by the City of Myersville, MD and had presumably been moved to the city's Harp Park. The link confirms that this is the case and contains some current (as of the move, which I believe was roughly a year ago) photos of the car including the one above. This same web page also includes some detailed plans for the new town library, which will include car 150 as a display piece within a room at the back of the library. It sounds like a very impressive plan and one that will ensure the car's continued preservation and accessibility to the public.

As late as the H&F lasted - the mid-1950s - and as popular as it was with traction fans, not a single car from the line was preserved intact. There are only three bodies around, all in roughly comparable condition: car 150, a decidedly non-H&F-standard streetcar built for Columbia, SC (and the only surviving car from that southern city); homebuilt box motor number 5; and car 168, the only classic H&F combine still around. All three are on display along the old H&F itself but car 150 will soon be the only one with an indoor home.

Hagerstown & Frederick car news

A couple of interesting articles about Hagerstown & Frederick 150, one of three surviving pieces of equipment from that line, came to my attention recently. The first is here: an article from June 2017 stating that Don Easterday, longtime owner of car 150 and the reason it was saved and cosmetically restored, had passed away in November 2016. The article goes on to say that plans are afoot to place the car on display at a new library in Myersville.

Here's the second article, from last November, stating that Myersville had approved expenditures to move car 150 to a city park in town for storage until the library is built. I wasn't able to find any more recent information but my best guess is that car 150 is currently at the city park and that it is now owned by the city. As such, its listing in the PNAERC roster has been appropriately updated.

As an aside, H&F 150 is quite significant as a car from that system, but it's also rare as one of only four streetcars preserved that ran in South Carolina (and the only one of the four from Columbia) and one of only three streetcars built by the Southern Car Company.