Three streetcars acquired by Western Railway Museum

Many thanks to David Johnston for confirming that the Western Railway Museum has acquired three streetcar bodies formerly owned by the (now defunct) Friends of Light Rail group in Sacramento. Described in detail in this post from December, the three cars are Pacific Gas & Electric 18, a rope brake streetcar; Sacramento Northern 27, an "Elverta scoot" suburban car; and Pacific Gas & Electric 65, a "Christmas present" lightweight streetcar. The three cars are shown at their new home, under tarps, in the above photo sent by David. Congratulations to WRM on saving these three historic cars.

A fourth car, Pacific Gas & Electric 36, was in extremely poor condition and is currently being dismantled in Sacramento. As noted in the December post linked above, it's identical to car 35, which is fully restored and still safe and sound at the Sacramento light rail shops. This car has been removed from the PNAERC list, thus closing out Friends of Light Rail as an ownership group.

WRM acquiring a trio of California electric cars

Many thanks to David Johnston for sending along the news that the Western Railway Museum is acquiring three electric cars local to its area. The cars have been under the purview of an organization called Friends of Light Rail and are stored indoors on the property of the Sacramento Regional Transit light rail system. However FoLR, which sounds like it was kind of an ephemeral organization to begin with, has essentially melted away, so the cars were made available to WRM.

The first car being acquired is Pacific Gas & Electric 18, shown above. As far as I know, the history of this car is a bit of a mystery insofar as its builder and vintage are unknown. It began life as a California car and was later enclosed, as were many Sacramento cars. I believe it's similar to PG&E 14, currently preserved at WRM. These two cars, 14 and 18, have the unusual distinction of being the only "rope brake" cars on the PNAERC roster.

Next up is Sacramento Northern 27, shown here, a suburban California car built in 1908 by St. Louis for the Northern Electric. It was used in "Elverta Scoot" service between Chico and Elverta (more info here). It's the oldest SN electric car preserved and is a unique piece of equipment among the extant SN fleet.

Finally, we have Pacific Gas & Electric 65, a lightweight "Christmas present car" built in 1929 by American for Sacramento. This car is identical to PG&E 63, already preserved at WRM, and the museum tentatively plans to ultimately restore whichever of the two cars is assessed to be in better condition.

There's one additional car stored as part of the FoLR collection: Pacific Gas & Electric 36, shown here, is a large California car built by American in 1913. However it's not going to be preserved for two reasons: first of all, it's in extremely poor condition and its body is collapsing; second, identical sister car 35 is preserved in fully (and beautifully) restored condition in Sacramento as a representative of the type.

Speaking of Pacific Gas & Electric 35, David also sent along photos of that car, shown below. Car 35 was restored in the 1980s by Fred Bennett for the San Jose light rail system, and given their location, the car was given a faux paint job to represent "San Jose Railroad 129" - a car that never existed. However in 1999 the car was sent back home to Sacramento, where it has been stored in good condition - though largely unused - in its San Jose garb. (I have seen early-2000s photos of it lettered PG&E 35, but those may have been stickers or magnets used for a one-time event.)