Postcard from Tampa

Thanks to Bill Hirsch, who has sent along a couple of photos of Tampa Electric 402, the double-truck Birney located in Tampa, Florida.

I say "located" rather than "preserved" because, well, this poor car isn't quite as preserved as it used to be. Twenty years ago, it was a fairly typical streetcar body (photo) with an intact roof and at least some of its doors and windows. Today, not even both of its ends are intact, its roof is all but gone, and other than a coat of paint, its condition has clearly deteriorated in the last five years. Bill also spoke with the car's owner, who plans to further modify it as part of an art installation in the future. So, I haven't quite resigned myself to taking it off the PNAERC list yet, but something tells me it may just be a matter of time. Between the plight of car 402 and this recent event, it's a rough time to be a double-truck Birney.

Tampa double-truck Birney found

Many thanks to Joel Salomon, who was able to track down one of my missing cars. He was able to get hold of Brian Allen from Florida, who confirmed that Tampa Electric 402, which was last seen in 2016 on a trailer but in an unknown location, is at a company called Rustic Steel on the north side of Tampa. In fact it's easily visible from Business Route 41 (here's the requisite Street View link from which I got the above image). Rustic Steel appears to be some kind of boutique metal fabrication and architectural salvage company and as best I can figure, car 402 is serving mainly as a lawn ornament at the moment. The car has been switched from Tampa Historic Streetcar ownership to Rustic Steel ownership.

So it's not the best outcome for the car and its future is still somewhat questionable, especially given its rather banged-up condition. Back about 20 years ago, when there was a streetcar preservation group in Tampa that was trying to get the city to build a heritage trolley line, car 402 was going to be the second restored Tampa Electric car after Birney 163. The heritage line was built using Gomaco double-truckers and the Birney is still there, I think in occasional use, but the original historic streetcar group seems to have collapsed. Their work car was most likely demolished (see this recent post) and car 402 ended up as, well, a lawn ornament. Besides being one of only two surviving Tampa streetcars, car 402 is also thought to be the last remaining "true" double-truck Birney built by American. However double-truck Birneys built by other companies survive, as do a handful of American-built double-truckers of a design that postdates the Birney.