Where did the Wyoming streetcar go?

There's only one electric car from the great state of Wyoming on the PNAERC list, and it's this one: Sheridan Railway & Light 115. But now it's gone. So where did it go?

Car 115 is definitely an oddity. Besides being the only car I know of from Wyoming that is preserved, it is also a single-trucker that in recent decades has been exhibited atop a pair of Bettendorf freight car trucks. It used to be on display in a small park next to Sheridan's Best Western but at some point (I think in the late 1990s) it was moved to a spot in front of the Sheridan County Museum just off the Interstate. It was there as recently as 2015, though according to photos at this link it was really starting to deteriorate.

But now it's vanished, and it was gone by mid-2018 if Google Street View is to be believed. So where has it gone? Hopefully it hasn't been scrapped, though its condition didn't seem that bad. Hopefully it's just been squirreled away somewhere until it can be fixed up. Anyone know?

UPDATE: Mystery solved - check out the comments!

South Shore departs Fox River

Thanks to Bob Harris, who has alerted me that both of the Fox River Trolley Museum's South Shore Line interurban cars have departed South Elgin for good. The photo above, from Bob, shows CSS&SB 7 at its new home on private property in Michigan City, Indiana where it has just arrived.

Car 7 - shown above in a photo taken at FRTM in 2014 - is a standard un-lengthened South Shore car built by Pullman in 1926 as part of the railroad's initial order for steel coaches. It was part of the collection of South Shore cars acquired in 1984 by the National Park Service and didn't show up at FRTM until 1988. At that point it was on "permanent loan" but in 2010 the NPS divested itself of its far-flung collection of South Shore cars and at that time it was formally conveyed to FRTM. During its entire time in South Elgin it's been a static display piece, far heavier than the museum's line was designed for, and its condition has slowly deteriorated.

So that's the first of the two South Shore cars to have left FRTM. The second is the one above, South Shore car 14, shown in another photo from 2014. Car 14 was also built in 1926 as part of the railroad's first order for steel cars but it was one of the cars stretched in the 1940s by the railroad's shops to an overall length of 77'6" (compared with its 60' original length). This car was acquired by FRTM straight from the South Shore in 1984 so it's been a static display piece at South Elgin for more than 35 years. The years have not been kind to this car and its condition had deteriorated badly. It was scrapped, with its parts going towards car 7 and other preserved South Shore cars in Indiana. It has been removed from the PNAERC list.

By my estimation, Fox River is to be commended for getting rid of these two cars, as they had become little more than eyesores. The museum's public presentation can only benefit. There is no loss from an historic standpoint as there are still 28 extant South Shore coaches including 11 from this exact order. The new owner of car 7 is also to be commended for taking on a significant, though certainly feasible, project.

Miscellaneous updates

Although most railway museums are shut down, at least to the public, at the moment, there's still plenty of updating to do on the PNAERC list. A handful of updates and corrections have come in recently. First, thanks to Wesley Paulson for alerting me to the Hagerstown & Frederick Railway Historical Society's "survivors page" which has some good information. Of the most interest is a photo of H&F 150, which has been ensconced in the Myersville Public Library and appears to have had its cosmetic restoration completed. As such its condition has been updated to "displayed inoperable" (and I removed the notation that it's on trucks, as it seems to have shed the Bettendorfs upon which it sat when it was privately owned). There's also a fascinating photo of H&F 171, which is in use as a fishing cabin of some sort. Although its condition doesn't warrant inclusion on the PNAERC list, as it's still effectively in unpreserved "chicken coop" condition, it would be nice to see it end up in a museum at some point.

And thanks also go to Jeron Glander for updating my listing of cars at the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum in California. He pointed out that I still had PSRM listed as the San Diego Railroad Museum, a name it has moved away from. He also provided an update that Lackawanna car 2586, which was formerly listed as "situation unknown," is actually in their shop undergoing work to convert it into a first-class car. I'm not sure how extensive this work is but its condition has been updated. Of the other five Lackawanna MU cars at the museum, three are still being towed by diesels while two are in storage.

If you spy anything on the PNAERC roster that's out-of-date, incomplete, or just plain inaccurate, send me an email! I'm especially looking for information on any equipment listed as "situation unknown." These are cars that, for one reason or another, I've really lost track of.

Yet another CLRV and more

I'm a little late with this update, but last month Richard Schauer sent me a photo of yet another TTC that has made it to a museum. Car 4133, shown above, is currently stored at the Halton County Radial Railway but - like car 4068 - it is owned by the Seashore Trolley Museum. Unlike car 4068, though, this one isn't slated for long-term preservation. Instead the plan is to scrap it for parts, chiefly its trucks, which will be regauged to standard gauge and placed underneath car 4068. That's the plan but until that happens the car is still owned by a museum so it's on the PNAERC list for now.

Thanks also go to Al Weber with the National Museum of Transportation, who sent along several helpful pieces of mechanical information about cars in their collection. Tidbits like the type of controller on work car 165, air compressors on SLPS 1005 and IT 1575, and the brake schedule on the bi-polar are now part of the roster. Information like this is always greatly appreciated. I'm always looking to add any missing information, especially technical information on mechanical and electrical equipment. If you notice that cars at your museum have blank spaces in their listings, YOU can help! Just email me any information you are able to find.

Fifth CLRV preserved

The Seashore Trolley Museum has announced that it has acquired a CLRV from Toronto. TTC 4068 is a standard production car and the fifth CLRV preserved thus far. It is pictured above in a photo by Tom Twigge from the Seashore Facebook page.

The car is not in Kennebunkport, however. It has been moved to the Halton County Radial Railway - where three of the other four preserved CLRVs are located - for interim storage. The timeline is not set, but Seashore plans to regauge their car to standard in similar fashion to the Illinois Railway Museum with its CLRV. For the time being, in keeping with PNAERC practice and to make it easier to track, car 4068 is listed with Halton County's collection with a notation that it is owned by Seashore. The CLRV is the first piece of electric equipment acquired by Seashore since CTA 1 in 2016.

Gretna locomotive gone

My thanks go out to Les Beckman, who forwarded along this link to a photo whose caption suggests that one of my mysteries has been solved. New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board 50, shown above in a photo from Wikipedia (though a different locomotive than the one in the RRPictureArchives link), has apparently been scrapped by the City of Gretna - and probably about a decade ago at this point. The diminutive four-wheel locomotive was built by Baldwin-Westinghouse in 1907 and was used by NOS&WB until about 1959. In recent decades it had been plinthed in Mel Ott Park in the city of Gretna, but as can be seen its condition had deteriorated badly. Around 2010 it disappeared from the park, as shown by Google Street View images, and it now appears that it was cut up. This was one of the pieces of equipment for which I'd been seeking information, so this is one mystery solved at least.

NOS&WB 50 was the last of these little four-wheel industrial electric boxcabs that I know of that was built by Baldwin-Westinghouse, but a few pretty similar locomotives built by GE still survive. The most original are probably Abendroth Foundry "Amy" at Branford and Singer 1, currently in private ownership.

Update From Kirkwood

I had a chance to visit the ersatz Museum of Transportation in Kirkwood, Missouri last week and came away with a couple of updates. First of all, I say "ersatz" because it's no longer known as the Museum of Transportation. Back under private management after a three-decade period under the authority of St. Louis County, the museum is now known as the National Museum of Transportation. Their website and logo actually list this as TNMOT, so apparently they've got either an Ohio State alum or a fan of Wisconsin interurban lines in their management, but regardless the name of the organization has been updated on the PNAERC list (albeit sans leading T). I also got to view progress on Kansas City Public Service 1533, a Birney which is undergoing a major rebuilding effort including a lot of steel replacement.

The big news, though, was that a new acquisition was en route and has since arrived. San Francisco Municipal Railway 1140, a PCC built in 1946 as St. Louis Public Service 1711, was offered for sale by Muni recently along with a collection of other PCC cars that had been in dead storage for years. This particular car ran in St. Louis until 1957, when it went to San Francisco and operated (I think) until about 1981. Muni stored it until 1994 when it was sold to an individual in Lodi, California. In 2003 it was bought back by Muni and has been in storage since. It still wears its old Muni "wings" livery but doesn't seem to have suffered the vandalism and deterioration that some of the cars in storage did. NMOT didn't acquire the car for permanent preservation, but as a parts source for their identical car 1743. However plans for car 1140 are not final and the museum may hold onto it, at least for a while.

As for the other PCC cars put up for sale by Muni, I haven't seen anything about disposition. The folks in St. Louis said that 1140 was the only car in the bunch that wasn't being scrapped but I don't know whether this is confirmed.