New England News

A couple of pieces of interesting pieces of information have surfaced from New England. First, it seems SEPTA 618 is on its way to its new home at the Trolley Museum of New York. I've updated its ownership in the PNAERC roster because it's left Seashore, though it hasn't yet arrived in Kingston. The car should be a good match with TMNY, given that it comes with standard-gauge trucks originally off a PATH K-car, so it can be towed in operation at its new home.

And thanks go to Matthew Juergens from the Connecticut Trolley Museum, who passes along information about recent happenings there. The museum is currently in the process of repainting their two-axle Corbin steeplecab, E2. A photo of the recent progress is below, and I have updated the locomotive's status to "undergoing restoration." Thanks, Matthew!

"Almond Joy" Going to Trolley Museum of New York

Congratulations to the Trolley Museum of New York, which announced on its Facebook page that it has acquired SEPTA 618 from Seashore. Car 618 is one of two iconic "Almond Joy" cars from the Market-Frankford Elevated in Philadelphia that have made it into preservation. It was built by Budd in 1960, one of a subset of single-unit cars in an order mostly made up of married pairs.

In the early 1990s, several "Almond Joy" cars were transferred to the ex-Red Arrow line to Norristown. The Norristown line was having trouble maintaining service levels with their increasingly antiquated fleet of native Strafford and Bullet cars, so a few "Almond Joys" were transferred to provide interim service (several ex-CTA 6000s were also acquired at about the same time for the same reason). Since these cars were originally 5'2.5" gauge, the transferred cars were put on trucks salvaged from PATH MP51-series "K-cars" that were being scrapped at the time.

Car 618 wasn't one of the cars that went to the Norristown line, but when it was retired from service on the Market-Frankford and went to Seashore in 2002, a pair of the K-car trucks went with it. They'd been set aside by Bob Hughes in 1996 when the "Almond Joy" cars were removed from Norristown line service. (Thanks to Mark Wolodarsky for the corrected information! Mark also sent along a link to a GoFundMe where you can donate toward the preservation of car 618.)

Car 618 has remained on a truck trailer for the intervening two decades, though I have no idea whether it's the same truck trailer on which it arrived. The photo above was taken by yours truly in 2016, and interior photos posted by TMNY show that the car's interior has remained in good condition. Car 618 is well suited to TMNY's needs: with its K-car trucks, it can be towed on the museum's line, and its stainless steel construction lends it to outdoor storage without suffering much from the weather. The distinctive rooftop humps that give this type the "Almond Joy" nickname preclude the installation of trolley poles, also making it a good fit for TMNY, which doesn't have overhead.

I haven't updated the car's owner - I'll do that when it arrives in Kingston - but the "for sale" note has been removed from its PNAERC listing. This is the third car recently deaccessed by Seashore to find a new home, following MBTA 3283 (now in Shelburne Falls) and the "Berkshire Hills" (due to move to Shelburne Falls in 2024).

Atlanta Subway Car Preserved in... Kingston?

The Trolley Museum of New York in Kingston had posted an enigmatic message on their Facebook page a few days ago hinting at a mysterious new acquisition, and today the curtain was pulled back to reveal - Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority 510, the newest arrival at TMNY. The photo above, taken by Marc Glucksman of River Rail Photo, shows the car being switched into the museum by their Brill doodlebug.

MARTA 510 is identical to MARTA 509, which was donated to the Southeastern Railway Museum in November as described here, and is from the system's original order for subway cars. It's a single-unit car, so it's double-ended, and appears to be preserved in complete condition. Car 509 had been in storage since 2007, so the same may be the case with 510 but I don't know; either way, it looks very nice and may have been spruced up by MARTA shop forces, as was the case with 509 before it went to SERM.

MARTA 510 seems a bit out of place at TMNY. Although the museum is no stranger to rapid transit equipment (before 510's arrival, six of the organization's nine electric cars were from the New York area rapid transit network), this is the only piece in its collection that isn't from New York or a state adjoining it.* In fact, it may be only the second piece of equipment TMNY has ever owned that isn't from the region around New York (after North Shore 411, which the organization sold off way back in 1973). However, the car appears to be in good condition; has likely benefitted from the milder Georgia climate and (presumably) lower career mileage than most subway cars from closer cities; and is far more weather-resistant than the museum's older cars, making it a better candidate for outdoor storage and display. There's nothing wrong with seeing a second Atlanta rapid transit car preserved.

*Except for some foreign cars, admittedly

Drill motor goes to Kingston

New York City Transit Authority 41, a "drill motor" (known everywhere else as a cab-on-flat locomotive) built by Magor in 1930, has been acquired by the Trolley Museum of New York and has been moved to the TMNY site in Kingston. The photo above is from a Facebook post from the museum (no log-in required).

The history of this unique piece of equipment in recent decades is slightly muddy. It was built for the IND in 1930 and was apparently used in service into the 1970s. Around 1978, I believe, it was acquired by the Trolley Museum of New York but was never moved to the TMNY site in Kingston (I'm not sure TMNY was even in Kingston that early). It remained at Coney Island under the oversight of New York Transit Museum and later, possibly starting around 2008, under the oversight of the Railway Preservation Corporation, which owns several of the cars in the NYCTA historic fleet. The TMNY Facebook post describes this as "an extended loan to the New York Transit Museum... under the care of the Railway Preservation Corporation." But it is now at home in Kingston in the company of a handful of other New York subway cars. Though not operational, the car is (I believe) complete and it appears to be pretty solid. Many thanks to Mark Wolodarsky for sending along this update.