SEPTA Spam Cans to South Elgin

A post today on Facebook revealed that SEPTA 476 and 477, the pair of ex-Chicago Transit Authority 6000-series 'L' cars at the Middletown & Hummelstown, have left the M&H and are headed to the Fox River Trolley Museum.

CTA 6000s are not exactly an endangered species. Besides this set, another seven married pairs (plus half of another pair) are known to exist, and that's not counting another five pairs in Windber that may have already been scrapped. There are also another nine single-unit variants still around, three of which are at FRTM. But cars 476-477 are slightly interesting. Built by St. Louis Car Company in 1951 as CTA 6069-6070, they are the oldest 6000s still in existence, at least going by car number. They're part of the first 200 cars of this type ordered by the CTA - a subtype nicknamed "flat-door" cars for their most obvious distinguishing feature - so these cars weren't built using components from scrapped PCC streetcars like the later 6000s were.

This pair was part of a group of flat-door 6000s sold in 1987 to SEPTA, which was experiencing a critical car shortage on the ex-Red Arrow third-rail line to Norristown due to wrecks and reliability problems with the 1920s- and 1930s-vintage Strafford cars and Bullet cars. Though far from ideal for service on the Norristown line, the 6000s saw use until the new N-5* cars were delivered in the early 1990s. This pair was bought by the M&H in 1994, apparently with the idea of scrapping the bodies and placing the trucks under the SEPTA PCC streetcars that arrived at the same time as a way of standard-gauging them, but that never happened. Cars 476 and 477 sat in the yard in Middletown, usually separated from each other, for a bit over 30 years.

For FRTM, this is a bit of an unexpected acquisition. Nine years ago they got rid of CTA 6101-6102, a pair from this same order that had been backdated by the CTA prior to retirement. The museum has also been focusing more on extending its barn than on growing its collection; they've scrapped or sold five cars in the last five or six years, by my count, and I believe 476-477 are the first electric cars they've acquired since the Trolleyville dispersal back in 2010 (correction: thanks to Bill Wall, who reminds me that just recently they received the Rio open car that had been owned by Wendell Dillinger!). Their roster on PNAERC now stands at 20 cars, with "spam cans" comprising a full 25% of the total. FRTM now joins IRM, Seashore, Craggy Mountain Line, and the CTA itself in the ranks of married-pair 6000 owners.

For its part, the M&H is continuing to pare down its traction collection. Other than Lackawanna MU cars, and the Rio open car they plan to keep that isn't on the PNAERC roster, they're now down to just five pieces: Red Arrow 77, supposedly intended to stay in Middletown; SEPTA 2104; KCPS 2; BRT 4550; and SBK 9425.

*Thanks to Bill Wulfert for the correction

Middletown Update

Thanks to Bill Wall for sending along photos and updates of the Middletown & Hummelstown collection being thinned. Four cars were scrapped over the last few days. The first two, shown below in photos taken a few months ago, were Chicago Transit Authority S371 and S372. These were CTA 4000s rebuilt in 1972 as work motors, sold in 1979 to the Buckingham Valley group, and then acquired by the M&H in the mid-1980s for parts.

These cars are certainly no big loss, especially given their condition, but it is kind of interesting how drastically the ranks of surviving 4000-series work motors have been thinned in recent years. From seven or eight examples a decade ago, there are now only two CTA S-series 4000-type work motors still in existence: S373 at IRM, stored in rough condition, and S374 at Northern Ohio, not accessioned and stored in poor condition.

The third car that has been cut up in Middletown is MBTA double-end PCC 3323, ex-Dallas Railway & Terminal 605. This car was at Branford from 1980 to 1992 and went to the M&H as part of a trade deal, but was in extremely poor condition thanks in part to salt damage from its years in Boston. The photos below were taken by Bill Wall. Trucks from one of the work motor 4000s are visible next to the PCC.

There are now 11 Dallas double-end PCCs on the list, or 10 if you discount the car in Windber that is due to be scrapped anytime. All but one of those is at Seashore.

And the final car, other than a Pullman heavyweight car that is supposedly getting cut up this week, is Philadelphia snow sweeper C121, shown below in photos by Bill Wall.

Parts from this car are being salvaged for use at other trolley museums. (Edit: C121 isn't being fully dismantled until Tuesday, but enough of it was gone by Monday evening to justify taking it off the list.) I was never really clear on the history of C121; my records suggest it was retired in 1975, but I don't know how it got to the M&H, which didn't really exist until the mid-1980s. Anyway, as with the CTA 4000s and the PCC, this is not a big loss from a perspective of historical significance. There are still eight of these big Philly sweepers in existence, a couple of which are in very poor shape but several of which are very nicely preserved.

When Wendell Dillinger died in 2023, there were 24 cars on the PNAERC list under M&H ownership. That number is now down to 15. Besides eight Lackawanna MU cars, the fleet now consists of four Philadelphia cars (a PCC, two ex-CTA "spam cans," and a Red Arrow 80-series car); two Brooklyn cars (a convertible and a box motor); and the ex-Kansas City steeplecab. The PNAERC list in its entirety now stands at 2,087 cars.

Middletown Exodus

Following the move of two cars from the Middletown & Hummelstown to Rockhill last month, today another three streetcars were loaded onto flatbeds for a trip out of town. This time, the destination of all three cars was the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum. All photos below are from this Facebook page.

The first car, shown above, is Red Arrow 83. This car was built in 1932 and is of the same type as car 78, a longtime stalwart of the PTM operating fleet. Car 83 has been stored outside under a tarp for many years in Middletown, but my understanding is that it's in reasonably decent condition. I believe PTM plans to keep it. (Side note: the photo for this car in the PNAERC roster is incorrect and actually shows identical car 77, which is staying in Middletown, but I can't change or update images until our next big photo upload.)

The second car, shown above, is SEPTA 2725, a standard Philadelphia PCC built in 1947. PTM already has two Philadelphia PCCs of this general design, one of them restored and in service.

And the third car, shown here, is SEPTA 2095, another Philadelphia PCC, this time built in 1948. If the rumor mill is to be believed, neither 2095 nor 2725 will become part of the PTM historic collection. One may get scrapped for parts in Washington, but at least one is supposedly destined for a new home somewhere in the northeast. As always, information, corrections, and updates are appreciated! In the meantime, I've updated all three cars to show their new owner as PTM (although as I write this, they're technically in transit and haven't gotten to Washington yet). PTM's collection now stands at 53 pieces while the M&H is down to 19 cars listed on the PNAERC roster. EDIT: PTM posted on their Facebook page that car 2725 is, indeed, intended as a parts source. Its PNAERC record has been updated.

Two Cars for Rockhill

Back in November, it was reported here that two cars from the Middletown & Hummelstown were headed to the Rockhill Trolley Museum. Those cars both headed to Rockhill Furnace today and were unloaded this afternoon. Thanks to Joel Salomon of RTM for the photos and update! The first car, shown above after being un-tarped, is Lewistown & Reedsville 23, a unique and historically significant center-entrance car that ran most of its service life very close to Rockhill Furnace. The second car, shown below on the Silk Road trailer, is York Railways 162. This is a Brill-built curve-sider identical to car 163, already restored and operational at RTM, and the museum evidently intends to preserve car 162 as a house to depict post-service uses of electric car bodies.

With this transfer, the collections of both RTM and M&H stand at 22 cars on the PNAERC list. The M&H collection will continue to shrink, though; a few of the basket cases are intended for scrapping, while some other cars will likely go to new homes at other trolley museums.

Two More M&H Cars Heading to a New Home

More good news about cars at the Middletown & Hummelstown finding new homes: the Rockhill Trolley Museum has announced on their website that they are planning to acquire two of the more historic cars in the M&H collection.

The first, shown above in 2017, is Lewistown & Reedsville 23, a center-entrance interurban car built by Brill in 1914. This is probably the single rarest car in the M&H traction collection. It was built for Jersey Central Traction in Perth Amboy, NJ, making it the last surviving New Jersey interurban car, but only ran there a brief time before it was sold to the L&R. There, it operated until retirement in 1933. For nearly 70 years it was a cottage near Lewistown but it was moved in 2002 and sat outside for a decade or so (it's visible on Street View!). When its owner sold it around 2016, it was Wendell at the M&H who snagged it. The car has been stored inside since then and the body appears to be solid. The L&R was the second-closest traction line to Orbisonia/Rockhill Furnace, so RTM is a natural home and the car is about as local for them as they're going to find.

The second car, shown here, is York Railways 162. This is a curve-side suburban car built by Brill in 1924, one of a handful of curve-siders that company built before they were compelled by Cincinnati Car Company to quit doing that. Car 162 and its identical sister, car 163, were retired in 1939 and both were turned into summer cottages. Car 163 has been beautifully restored by RTM, but nevertheless the museum plans on preserving car 162. Their plan, however, is to preserve it as a cottage rather than restore it as a streetcar.

Kudos to RTM and the M&H for working to ensure a future for both of these rather historic pieces.

An 80 for PTM

Following the recent post on the Middletown & Hummelstown, Scott Becker from the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum sent some welcome news: car 83, shown here (all photos are courtesy Scott Becker), is going to PTM! The museum hopes to move the car by the end of the year and is currently fundraising for the acquisition here. Donations are cheerfully accepted!

From the photos Scott sent, the car appears to be remarkably solid given how many years it has sat outside. It has stayed tarped that entire time, though, and doesn't appear to have suffered from broken windows or other vandalism. This car is from the second order for 80-series cars placed by Red Arrow, so that will give PTM examples of both series: car 78 from the first order has been beautifully restored to as-built condition, complete with full-height end windows, and operates regularly as shown below. The museum also plans to restore car 83 to a later era as a contrast with car 78.

Thanks to Scott for sending this news!

A Visit to Middletown

Many thanks to Richard Schauer, who was in Middletown visiting the Middletown & Hummelstown this past week and sent along roster shots he snapped of almost the entire traction collection. The M&H has been in a period of transition following the death of owner Wendell Dillinger last year, but it seems that plans for at least a few pieces in the collection are starting to be established.

Let's start with the core of the traction collection, the cars stored inside the barn.

The first two photos show Red Arrow 77, a 1932 Brill suburban car. Many thanks to Bill Wall and Scott Becker, who wrote to point out that car 77 is the one inside the building and 83 is outside, rather than the other way around! I'll need to correct my photo assignments on the PNAERC roster. These "80-series" cars were generally known as Master Units but used the newer body style Brill adopted around this time; this look was also closer to what the Indianapolis Master Units used. This car is apparently under restoration; the railroad hopes to fix it up and use it on slow days instead of the diesel-hauled passenger train. Its condition has been updated.

Next is South Brooklyn Railway 9425, an open-platform freight motor built in 1903 just a quarter mile away at the Middletown Car Company. This car was acquired, due to its local connection of course, in 1992 from Branford.

The next two photos show Kansas City Public Service 2, a 1948 product of GE that is possibly the last "interurban-type" steeplecab ever built. It later went to the Hutchinson & Northern before being bought by Wendell, who had it stored at the Iowa Terminal for a number of years. This locomotive looks significantly better than the last time I saw it, and has been mostly stripped and primed.

York Railways 162, shown here, is the identical sister to York Railways 163, which was beautifully restored from roughly similar condition by the Rockhill Trolley Museum. These two cars comprise two-thirds of the extant York Railways cars. Car 162 is a body, but surprisingly little rust or significant body rot is evident in these photos. The car was built by Brill in 1924; after building these cars and a handful of other orders, including some cars for Zanesville, Ohio, Brill was sued by the Cincinnati Car Company and compelled to stop building curve-side cars.

This is Brooklyn Rapid Transit 4550, one of three semi-convertibles of this general type in existence. It was built by Laconia in 1906 in the same order as car 4573 at Branford, but this car is incomplete and suffered from years of outdoor storage before being cosmetically fixed up. This car is the second-most-recent addition to the M&H traction collection, having arrived in 2000 after a two-decade stint at Station Square in Pittsburgh.

And the most recent addition to the M&H traction fleet is Lewistown & Reedsville 23, an extremely historic center-entrance interurban car body built by Brill in 1914. I believe this is the last surviving interurban car from the state of New Jersey, though it only ran in the Garden State for a year or so before its original owner sold it to the L&R. As for that line, it has the distinction of being the second-closest electric railway to the present-day Rockhill Trolley Museum. Only the modest streetcar system in Huntingdon, PA, was closer.

And then there are two electric cars that aren't on the PNAERC list because they're not from North America. These are both 1909-vintage Rio de Janeiro open cars imported in the 1960s. The top one is an unrestored double-truck car numbered 1719; the lower one, 441, is a single-truck car that has been kept in operational condition for at least the last five decades. For years this car ran regularly at the RELIC Trolley Museum (aka the Railway Equipment Leasing & Investment Corporation) until Wendell moved it out to the M&H. It has run there a number of times using a towed generator. I believe this was one of just two single-truckers that arrived as part of the big Rio open car shipment; the other one was destroyed in a factory fire in Allentown, PA, not many years after arriving in the States.

Now that we've toured the barn, let's head outside!

This is the second 80-series Red Arrow car at the M&H, car 83. EDIT: I formerly had this listed as car 77; see note above under that car. Car 83 arrived at the M&H numbered 86; Bill Wall relates that near the end, SEPTA swapped the numbers of these two cars because it was an easier way to keep the better car in service and send the worse car to scrap. Richard was told that this car is to be scrapped for parts to keep other cars of this type in museums operational. EDIT: This is evidently untrue - this car is planned to go to a different museum for preservation. Thanks to Bill Wall for the correction! This series has fared well in preservation; including car 77, there are five others besides this one in museums, two of which have been fully restored and see regular use.

This is SEPTA 2095, a standard 1948 PCC from Philadelphia.

Next to it is SEPTA 2725, another typical Philadelphia PCC, this one built in 1947.

And further down on the same track is SEPTA 2104, built as part of the same order as 2095. The current plan, evidently, is to scrap one of these three cars and retain one or both of the other two for display. Which car will draw the short straw wasn't clear, and may not have been decided yet.

The other piece of Philadelphia street railway equipment on site is SEPTA C121, shown here, a big double-truck snow sweeper built by Brill in 1923. Not counting a couple of derelicts and an example that has been heavily modified, there are six sweepers of this type in preservation, two of which operate. I'm not really clear on this car's ownership history; according to my notes, it was bought by the M&H straight from SEPTA, but the timing seems a bit odd. Any information is appreciated.

SEPTA 476 is half of a married-pair set of "spam cans" built by St. Louis in 1951 for the Chicago Transit Authority. This car was originally CTA 6069 and it was sold in 1987 to SEPTA for use on the Norristown line, which was experiencing a severe car shortage due to accidents and equipment failures.

On the left is the mate to 476, SEPTA 477. This car was built as, surprise surprise, CTA 4070. To the right is another CTA alumnus, work motor S371. These two undoubtedly encountered each other many times between the 1950s and 1970s on the 'L' in Chicago.

Car S371 was built by Cincinnati in 1924 as 4397. It was rebuilt as a work motor in 1972, and in 1979 it was retired and sold to the Buckingham Valley Trolley Association, probably as a parts source. They sold it to the M&H around 1985. This car is to be scrapped in the near future.

The M&H is also home to a second CTA work motor, car S372, shown here. This car was built by Cincinnati as 4399, but the rest of its history is identical to S371. Like its compatriot, this car is to be scrapped in the near future; in fact, that work may be underway as I write this. Remarkably, for as many 4000-series CTA 'L' cars converted to S-series work motors as were originally saved, these two comprise fully half the extant examples. Once they're gone, only S373 at IRM and S374 at Northern Ohio - neither accessioned and both in poor condition - will remain of the 4000 work motor fleet.

While we're on the topic of cars to be scrapped imminently, this is Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority 3323, a double-ended PCC built by Pullman-Standard in 1945. It was originally Dallas Railway & Terminal 605 and was sold to Boston in 1958. It was stored at Branford from retirement in 1980 until 1992, when it came to the M&H as part of the same deal that saw the South Brooklyn freight motor transferred. This car is clearly in bad shape and was designated for disposal more than five years ago, so it's been on borrowed time for a while. The world's supply of ex-Dallas PCCs has been shrinking, and once this car and a similarly rough car in Windber are gone, the only one of the type located outside of Kennebunkport will be a single example at Warehouse Point.

Finally, there's the M&H fleet of high-roof Lackawanna MU trailers. Please contain your excitement.

M&H 343 is ex-Lackawanna 3343, the lace curtain car.

M&H 366 is ex-Lackawanna 4366.

M&H 302 is ex-Lackawanna 4302.

M&H 352 is ex-Lackawanna 4352.

And the cab car (I'm not sure whether it's the only functioning cab car and/or the only one fitted with ditch lights), M&H 329, is ex-Lackawanna 3329. What push-pull operation isn't enhanced by a plastic lobster to ride the head end of the shove?

In Memoriam - Wendell Dillinger

Wendell Dillinger, a major figure in traction preservation for over 60 years, died on Sunday the 10th at the age of 93. He was the owner of the Middletown & Hummelstown, a short line and tourist railroad based in Middletown, Pennsylvania, which he purchased in 1976.

In the years before that, he was active in the traction preservation scene in the Chicago area. I met him just once, in 2003, and I recall him describing how he was one of the principals behind the consortium museum lawsuit against the Chicago Aurora & Elgin around 1962. To make a long story short, the railroad had sold 15 or 20 cars to various trolley museums, but then later decided to sell the entire fleet - including those 15 or 20 cars - to the scrapper. Wendell helped organize the joint museum effort to file a lawsuit against the CA&E which was (obviously) successful and resulted in a cross-section of cars from the line being preserved instead of every last car being cut up. For the railroad's part, they had to purchase the museum cars back from the scrapper - of course at two or three times what the scrapper had paid for them!

Anyway, during the 1960s, Wendell worked for the C&NW and then the Iowa Terminal. Meanwhile, he started amassing a small collection of electric railway equipment, including two Rio de Janeiro open cars that were stored at the then-Railway Equipment Leasing & Investment Corporation site (today the Fox River Trolley Museum) and an ex-Kansas City steeplecab that went to Iowa Terminal but never ran there. In the late 1970s or early 1980s, after he purchased the M&H, he moved all of his equipment to Middletown and began collecting more, including a smattering of cars from Red Arrow, SEPTA's city lines, the Lackawanna, and some car bodies thrown in too. Today, the M&H has 24 cars on the PNAERC roster. Wendell also oversaw operation of the M&H tourist railroad business and the restoration of a Canadian 2-6-0 steam locomotive. About ten years ago, he had a carbarn built in Middletown and was finally able to put the more significant pieces from the traction collection into protected storage.

Wendell Dillinger left an indelible mark on traction preservation. Our condolences go out to his family and friends.

Well that's embarrassing

Back in March, I got an email from Joe Sharretts that pointed out a mistake on the PNAERC roster. It took me a little while to get to the bottom of it (many thanks to Joel Salomon and Charles High for providing more information) but over the weekend they confirmed that my listings for Red Arrow cars at the Middletown & Hummelstown have been incorrect for years. And it's not a minor thing either: the M&H has two "80-series" Red Arrow cars, but my roster has long listed three of them there. One of these three cars on the list hasn't actually existed since it was scrapped in 1982.

So what in the world happened? Until now the three 80-series cars on my list were car 77, car 83, and car 86. There's no question around car 77; it was apparently sold to the M&H in 1982 and in recent years has had one end on jack stands with a truck pulled out (photo here). The issue comes with cars 83 and 86. Apparently, when the M&H decided to buy Red Arrow cars, they purchased 77 and 86. However at the last minute someone - whether at the M&H or at SEPTA - decided that car 86 had some damage and that car 83, which I guess hadn't been sold, would be a better car to get. So the numbers were swapped. Car 83 was hastily painted up as car 86, while car 86 briefly acquired the number 83 before it was scrapped. At least, from what I'm told that's what's going on... hopefully I'm not getting this backwards!

So car 83 is the second 80-series car at the M&H; it's pictured at the top of this post in a Connor Frasier photo from here and if you look closely you can see that its fleet number appears to have been altered at some point. In retrospect that's part of what caused the confusion: depending on which side or end of the car you were looking at, its number either looked more like "83" or more like "86" so I thought that I was just seeing photos of different cars. Oops. Well, at least the mistake is corrected now. We regret the error.

Dallas PCC to be disposed of

Word comes from a worker at the Middletown & Hummelstown in Pennsylvania that Boston PCC 3323, a double-ender built by Pullman-Standard in 1945 as Dallas Railway & Terminal 605, is to be scrapped in the coming weeks if another museum doesn't step forward to take it. The car is shown above in a 2002 photo; while it's complete, its condition hasn't improved any in the 17 years since the picture was taken and it suffers from the severe body rot common to preserved cars of this series. This particular car ran in Boston from 1958 until 1980, when it went to Branford; that museum traded it (and a redundant South Brooklyn box motor) to the M&H in exchange for Red Arrow 84 in 1992.

It's not clear to me whether this is envisioned to be part of a larger site cleanup or whether 3323 is the only car currently on the chopping block in Middletown. Its loss would not be of great significance, given the other eleven cars of this type extant, but it is notable that nine of those are at Seashore and a tenth is rotting away in Windber, PA. The other only car of this type in a museum other than Seashore (following the recent loss of 3334) is 3333 at Warehouse Point.

Middletown photos

Joel Salomon has been kind enough to send along some photos taken recently in the (relatively) new barn at the Middletown & Hummelstown. Most of these photos are of Lewistown & Reedsville 23, the center-door car that was moved to the M&H within the past couple of years.

The car appears to be in good shape, as car bodies go. The last photo shows Wendell Dillinger, owner of the M&H, standing next to the car with its L&R number clearly visible.

 Also in the barn are a steam engine, a pair of Rio open cars (the one on the right in the above photo is the single-trucker, which is capable of operation using the towed generator shown), and a Red Arrow 80-series car which has had its trucks regauged to standard gauge. The M&H owns three 80-series cars and I'm afraid I actually don't know which one this is.

Also stored in the barn is Brooklyn semiconvertible 4550, built by Laconia in 1906. This car had a strange post-preservation history that supposedly took it to somewhere called Tomorrowland before it later spent time at the Edaville Railroad in Massachusetts. By 1980 it was at Station Square in Pittsburgh, which fixed it up for display, and then when that collection was liquidated in 2000 the car went to the M&H.