TRUSTEES' MEETING MARCH 2024

Work on Philadelphia Transportation 8042 has moved to the interior walls.  I started at the rear of the car on the curb side (it’s a single ended car) because Keith Bray spearheaded the rebuilding of the other side of the rear and all the wall panels have been renewed.  Bear Kendlick got the seat frames, backs, baseboards, ductwork and heaters sanded and painted. Michael Buchta worked with Bear to reinstall all these components.  When that was done further frames were removed and I started cutting and assembling the wood needed to rebuild the wall sections on the other side of the car. 
The photo shows interior walls with all wood framing and baseboards removed being prepared for insertion of new wood frame panels which support the seats, heaters and ductwork.

 

On 1713 hard working volunteer Howard single-handedly continues painting the underframe as Michael completes additional components.  The latest painting concentrates on the motor generator compartment and the intake louvers that bookend the enclosure.  Michael Buchta is making tremendous progress renewing the intake ducts and the MG end couplings along with metalwork on both sides of the center door opening.

 

 

I did some desk work answering an inquiry from online asking the name of the streetcar company that served Mt. Bethel in eastern Pennsylvania.  I provided them with three clippings found in the 1924 McGraw Hill Electric Railway Directory and photographed with my phone.  I have responded to two others this month.
 

 

 

Jack Jost and Dom Bodek were there one afternoon installing a garden hose reel for use in cleaning the cars as part of the multifaceted youth effort.

 

 

 

 

 The next few photos detail our visit to New England for the annual Winterfest for Volunteers from our fellow museum in the Northeast extending into Canada and reaching west into Ohio.  This year’s event was hosted by the New England Electric Railway Historical Society (Seashore Trolley Museum) and featured an afternoon at the National Park Museum at Lowell Massachusetts on Friday March 15.  Above shows NPS car 4131 on the left and Seashore’s New Orleans Public Service car 966.  Rides on a portion of the line between the Boott Mill and Suffolk Mill sections of the line along Father Morissette Blvd.  Other parts of the line, shown on the map were not available.    The line opened in the 1984 with replica Eastern Mass Street Ry cars built in Ida Grove, Iowa by the Gomaco Company. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Streetcar_Museum

 

 

Cindy and I traveled with our son and his girls.  We met the rest of the family at Lowell.  The grandkids had their first visit to the ocean, which has beaten up the Maine coast pretty heavily.

At Seashore part of the family took advantage of the hand car rides.

 

 Our little ones got together with our friends kids and enjoyed looking at the trolleys.

 

We took a walk through the car shop and got to see the Homewood shops shear which we traded for the body of Boston dump car 3618.

 

 

We rode the both cars available for rides, and got in a little operating time.

 

They lined up cars for a night photo shoot and we got a group photo which Kristen shared elsewhere.

 

 

 We drove home via central and western Massachusetts and visited the Great Falls and dam on the Connecticut River at Turners Falls.

  

We drove home through New York State via I-88 and I-86.  Monday we passed several new BART Rapid Transit car bodies headed toward Albany.

 

It is nice to see that my suggestion that to move the coupler from the front of 3756 to the rear of 4145 came to fruition thanks to the Youth Brigade.  Please see Louie Mariano's youth report for details. 

 

 

I was told years ago that the coupler, switched onto 3756 in the early 1960s, had come from an M450 (4100) series snow plow.  Nice to see that it ended up back on M459 (4145).  Might have come from there.  First time I ever saw that photo!

 

 

I invite you to check out my March 3 blog page if you haven't already seen it:

https://weaklyreports.blogspot.com/2024/03/a-very-interesting-find.html

 

A very interesting find

Today I found this negative buried in the console of my truck.  This photo was taken in Houston Borough, with little Kids (perhaps friends of Charlie Fife), gathered around M1 as it made its way to Arden February 7, 1954.

 

I remember this negative as one of those I received from Lou Redman's Collection.  It came to me clipped out of the strip so it had to be scanned individually.  I remember scanning it, I am searching my drives for it now,  but it must have slipped out of the envelope when I was taking it to the Archives.  I scanned it again this afternoon.

Here's a group from the same negatives taken by Lou Redman.  This one is M1 on the right-of-way just south of Cheeseman, which was the first stop south of the US 19 (Washington Road) underpass.

M1 is pulling up behind 3756 at Richfol, (now one of our shelters) at what is now the northern end of Adams Avenue and the parking lot of Sarris Candy.

Here's Lou's shot taken on Pike Street just south of Central Avenue in Canonsburg.  Dick Bowker is standing on the step.

M1 has just crossed Chartiers Creek from Pike Street where today there is a EPA mitigation site.  The missing Walt Stafa photo fits in here along with a couple of map markups I did showing the route of the tracks.

This photo, likely from Ara Mesrobian, is included here so readers can reference the angle from which the next photo was taken.

Finally the rear view of M1 taken from the Houston trestle where it landed on Grant Street, where the original scanned photo was taken.  I'm thinking that at this point Lou was riding in 4393, the car which returned riders to Pittsburgh after the 3 cars to Arden move and guest operations.  

I remember Lou occasionally told a favorite story about how he ran into Jeffries' Drug Store to buy film and asked the clerk to hurry as he had to catch a trolley and how the clerk was incredulous as he saw the cars go by outside on Pike @ Jefferson (in the storefront which is now Iceburgs).

I'm thinking that this is where Lou got on 4393 and caught up with the rear of the parade.

Well that's all the history and memories for today...In case you for some reason bookmarked my blog and occasionally click my blogspot unsolicited, this is your reward... For what that's worth...

Keep smilin' CuzinBruce