El Paso PCC update

Today's update involves six of the surviving PCC cars listed under the Paso del Norte Streetcar Preservation Society. According to the Trolleyville Times at George Huckaby's trolleyville.com website, the list of cars being remanufactured at Brookville (a list I've been trying to hunt down for some months) is 1504, 1506, 1511, 1512, 1514, and 1515. All six have been on the PNAERC list for years, included among the cars stored derelict at the El Paso airport. I'm not certain what the timeline for completion of these cars is, but for the moment their location has been updated to Pennsylvania.

However that's not the end of the story, and at the moment I'm afraid I don't have the end of the story. I'd be very interested in more information on two fronts. First, are these cars still considered part of the PdNSPS collection? Since they're going to be part of a transit agency-run heritage line, I wonder. Second, I've read that they're going to be rebuilt with newer-style control (and possibly motors and brakes) in place of their original XD323 controllers and air-electric brakes. Any information on what exactly they're being rebuilt with would be very helpful.

PCC restoration complete in St. Louis

As noted on our sister Hicks Car Works blog, this summer the restoration of St. Louis Public Service 1743 was completed (or, at least, substantially completed) by Museum of Transportation volunteers. The car's status on the PNAERC list has been updated from "undergoing restoration" to "operated occasionally" although it may be in more regular use, I'm not entirely sure. Anyway, this is the only car currently in service in SLPS livery anywhere, despite there being a sizable number of ex-SLPS PCC cars still in existence owing to their service into the 1980s in San Francisco.

Addition and transfers

First off for today, San Diego LRV 1001 - the class car of that city's first order for modern LRVs for its first light rail line in the early 1980s - has been added to the list. The car has been designated for preservation by the San Diego system and has been assigned to the San Diego Vintage Trolley historic fleet there. This makes car 1001 the fifth car of its type to be preserved; there are two more in Rio Vista, one at Orange Empire and one out east at Rockhill Trolley Museum.

I also updated a couple of the Lackawanna MU cars that were already on the roster. A 2014 photo of car 3607, one of the 1930 motor cars, came to my attention showing that the car has been sold by the Everett Railroad in Pennsylvania to the Durbin & Greenbriar Valley (though lettered for West Virginia Central, a subsidiary of the D&GV) in West Virginia. It was on the Everett in 2005 but I'm not sure exactly when it went to West Virginia; anyone have an exact date? This is one of the ex-Knox & Kane cars, most of which were sold to Heber Valley in Utah where they are currently in use.

And finally, club car 2454's ownership was changed to the Whippany Railway Museum. This had already been listed in the car's notes, as it was formally donated to WRM by former owner United Railroad Historical Society in 2014, but I hadn't changed the owner in the database since the car hadn't left Boonton. However the car is currently undergoing restoration at Star Trak in Boonton on behalf of Whippany so I figured I may as well correct and update the car's owner. This ought to be a very impressive restoration when it's done; these Lackawanna club cars were very distinct pieces.

South Shore trailers scrapped

Robert MacDowell from the Southern Michigan Railway e-mailed me to confirm that the two South Shore interurban trailers in French Lick, Indiana at the Indiana Railway Museum have indeed been scrapped. The cars in question were 204 and 206, built by Pullman in 1927 and lengthened by the South Shore later in life. These were the only two electric cars owned by "the other IRM" so it's no longer a current owner on the PNAERC list. The number of surviving South Shore 200-series coach trailers is thus reduced from four to two, with one at East Troy and one stored in rough shape in Noblesville, Indiana still extant.

In happier news, I've also updated Hot Spring Street Railway 50 at the Fort Smith Trolley Museum. It's no longer "undergoing restoration" but is now in regular service, having been formally dedicated back in May (I was obviously a little slow on the uptake on this one). The restoration took 16 years and involved rebuilding the car from a body, always an impressive accomplishment.

Newly operational cars

This past weekend I was at the Illinois Railway Museum for the museum's annual Members Day operations and there was some equipment that ran for the first time at the museum and/or for the first time in many years. Milwaukee streetcar 972 operated for the first time since 1999 and the first time in revenue service since perhaps 1978. Chicago elevated gate car 24, which is nearing the end of a complete restoration which includes back-dating to its 1914 condition, operated as a motor for the first time since it suffered a motor flash-over while operating to IRM under power over the North Shore Line in 1958 (it was used as a control trailer during the 1970s though). And the first public operation of Illinois Central "Highliner" double-deck MU cars took place with cars 1630 and 1637 making a few short demonstration trips. I suspect that this is the first-ever museum operation of a double-deck electric car in this country - though only if you exclude European cars that have been imported.

Another CTA car added

The latest addition to the blog is CTA 2347, a 1969 Budd-built 2200-series car that was discovered to be in storage in Fairfield, Ohio. It's owned by Jungle Jim's International Market, which seems like a pretty odd place judging from the website. They bought it in 2014 but apparently haven't put it to use in any capacity, as it's currently stored at an RV lot just a block up the road. You can see it on an aerial photo here. Cars like this are only kind of preserved, but it appears to be intact (rather than hollowed out in some way) so for the moment at least it's on the list.

Miscellaneous changes

There haven't been any major changes recently, but a few minor ones have been made relating to restoration progress at a couple of different museums. First, National Capital has released a photo of single-trucker 522, which has recently been cosmetically restored. More information can be found here. It had been on a Brill 21E (modified for rail grinding use) but Baltimore Streetcar Museum traded them a correct older-type Lord Baltimore truck for the car. In turn, car 4662 at BSM is supposed to have a Brill 21 but had been placed on a Lord Baltimore shop truck many decades ago. I'm not positive whether 4662 will receive 522's Brill 21 (confused yet?) but I suspect that it will get some sort of 21 truck.

And in other news, the Illinois Railway Museum has gotten "L" car 24 running for the first time since 1958. See here for photos. The car had formerly been listed on PNAERC as Chicago Rapid Transit 1024 but the restoration project which is now in its later stages has backdated the car to its earlier owner and number, Northwestern Elevated Railroad 24.