San Diego car bodies acquired by SDERA

The San Diego Electric Railway Association has announced on Facebook (no login required) that they have acquired the three preserved Class 1 streetcars built for San Diego in 1912. Their newsletter from the end of last year confirms that these cars, all of which were owned by the late Chris Chaffee and preserved under the auspices of his "Historic San Diego Class 1 Streetcars" organization, were donated to SDERA by Mr Chaffee's widow.

All three cars were built by St. Louis Car Company in 1912 and were retired at the end of the 1930s. Car 138, shown in the photo above from the SDERA Facebook post, is in the best condition and its body was cosmetically restored by Mr Chaffee. The car had made occasional appearances in parades in this restored condition. The other two are car 126 and car 128, both also pictured in the Facebook post. These two are in worse condition but from the photo they still appear to be reasonably solid, no doubt aided considerably by the arid climate.

All three cars served as houses from c1939 until acquired by Mr Chaffee in 1996. Car 138 is now on display at the SDERA site at National City while the other two are stored towards the back of the property. These three cars were the only cars on the PNAERC list to have been owned by "HSDC1S" so that organization is now a former, not current, owner, and SDERA's collection (not counting a couple of foreign cars) is up to eight cars. Considering that 20 years ago SDERA owned none of these cars and that six of the eight are of local significance, that's pretty impressive.

Yet another San Diego U2 preserved

Thanks to Chris Baldwin of the Orange Empire Railway Museum, who alerted me to the fact that at the end of March yet another San Diego U2 type LRV made it into preservation. This time it was SDMTS 1002, donated to the San Diego Electric Railway Association and moved to that organization's site at National City. The car is now on static display there along with an unusual assortment of other traction equipment including an ex-St. Louis Public Service PCC, a Seattle Birney, and a couple of foreign single-truckers along with one ex-San Diego California car.

This is the seventh San Diego U2 to be preserved, including one car that SDMTS has apparently earmarked for its own historic collection. That's equal to the number of extant Boeing-Vertol LRV cars, and that number of Boeing cars includes a couple of work cars retained by the MBTA that may or may not make it into museum preservation. There are currently no light rail cars that aren't either Boeing LRVs or San Diego U2s on the PNAERC list. But you never know when that might change!

San Diego PCC update

I've updated a few records for PCC cars owned, and formerly owned, by San Diego Vintage Trolley. This has become a bit of a chore given changes in direction and renumberings but I think I've got it down:

Cars in service:
SDVT 529 - ex-SLPS 1716, ex-Muni 1122, acquired 2005, into service 2011
SDVT 530 - ex-TCRT 329, ex-PSCT/NJT 10, acquired 2012, into service 2014

Undergoing rebuild for service on SDVT:
SDVT 531 - ex-PTC/SEPTA 2186, acquired 2009, assigned number 532 until sometime around 2014

Not in service and stored on-site for potential future use on SDVT:
SDVT 533 - ex-PTC/SEPTA 2785, acquired 2010, has not been repainted or renumbered

Cars not in service and stored off-site in the east:
NJT 16 - ex-TCRT 335, acquired 2014
NJT 24 - ex-TCRT 363, acquired 2014

Being stripped for parts by SDVT:
Muni 1123 - ex-SLPS 1728, acquired 2005, assigned number 530 until sometime around 2014, being used as a parts source for SDVT 531

Sold by SDVT to San Diego Electric Railway Association in 2013:
"SDER 539" - ex-SLPS 1777, ex-Muni 1170, acquired by SDVT 2006, assigned number 531 until 2013, at that time was cosmetically restored (in SDER colors) for SDERA and numbered 539

I suppose the initial fleet was going to consist of cars numbered 529-532 (ex-1122, 1123, 1170, and 2186) with 533 (ex-2785) added on about 2010; then in the early 2010s, when ex-Newark cars became available, this changed. Car 529 was finished, 530 made into a parts source and an ex-Newark car assigned number 530, 531 sold, and 532 moved up in the queue and assigned number 531. Car 2785, originally assigned 533, may not receive that number but is apparently in storage intact. I should note that the car sold in 2013 to SDERA has been altered in the roster and listed as Muni 1170 but with a notation that it is lettered SDER 539, a "fictitious" designation as it never wore that number or that livery in service.

AEM7 preserved, shuffling in San Diego

It's not exactly "news" that the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania acquired an Amtrak AEM7 - it was just about a year ago that it happened - but I have now gotten around to having the PNAERC list reflect that. Amtrak 915 is now included, though I'm still short some technical data on its control, brakes and motors.

And in other news, I've updated the status of several electric cars in San Diego that have been shuffled around. "California car" 54 was acquired by the San Diego Electric Railway Association last year and moved from Balboa Park to their National City site, where it is now stored next to the depot there. SDERA also acquired an ex-St. Louis, ex-Muni PCC which had originally been slated for rebuilding and use on the San Diego Vintage Trolley heritage operation. As for SDVT, it has lost the aforementioned car but gained ex-Newark 10 which was rebuilt out east and is already in service painted up as car 530. Another ex-St. Louis car was already assigned the number 530, so I'm not sure what the plans for that car are at the moment. There are also two ex-Philadelphia PCC cars on hand which I believe are intended for rebuilding and use in the SDVT operation.