I am trying to find out the history of a passenger car that I am working on. The car is an ex New Haven round end observation car that once contained a bar, and was built by Osgood-Bradley in 1946 or so. I have no idea what its New Haven number was, but its Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority number was 4425. Car was last used in commuter service in the 1980's and was bought by its present owner in 1991.

Thanks

Jason Midyette

Dear Jason,

You may want to try your question at the on line forum of the New Haven Railroad Historical and Technical Association at

http://pub97.ezboard.com/bthenhrhtanewh ... lroadforum

and at the Passenger Car Yahoogroup at

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PassengerCarList/

What kind of work are you doing on this car and what is the goal for it? I would imagine that it has a great deal of structural corrosion.

Tom Cornillie

Thanks for the links, I will try them.

You are correct about the car having structural corrosion, that seems to be a hallmark of the Bradley cars. The stainless sheathing is doing its best to fall off and the walls are disintigrating at their bases. The fact that the car has been gutted has actually helped it as the insulation is gone so the walls at least have a chance to dry out. Mechanically, the car is still pretty good. For now my work on the car is limited to getting it ready to move from Ohio to Colorado, once in Colorado we will at least clean the car out and seal it up while we decide what to do next. At least Colorado is dry and things rust slower here!

Jason Midyette

Is this the car you are working on . . .



The site the photo is listed on has it listed as EX PC 4424, NH 425 "Watch Hill"
I think this is the only surviving streamlined NH observation. How big is the hole attaching it to the building?

http://www.morscher.com

Well, that answers my question as to wheather or not the "Watch Hill" still exists! The car I am working on is ex New Haven 476, the "Bunker Hill", which later became Penn Central 4425. It is in bad shape, but at least it is still a railcar and not a restauraunt! The "Bunker Hill" came out of a storage yard in Rhode Island in 1991 and was moved to Ohio in 1992, with some luck it will move to Colorado (on its own wheels) later this year.

If anyone would like to see a current photo of the "Bunker Hill", email me (I have no way of posting them)

Jason Midyette