An article in the November 15, 1975 of the Toledo Blade reports that the Waterfront Electric Railway (WER) in Toledo, Ohio was awaiting the unloading at the docks of a Portuguese trolley. A later brochure for the WER appears to identify this trolley as Oporto trolley #313 ("#313 - Carris de Porto 1930"). The article states that the car was taken out of service in Oporto due to "body structural failure" and that it was shipped without motors. Some later documents I found online include a letter stating that the 1977 season starts on April 3 and that "Trolley rides are available..."

According to an inquiry from Frank Hicks in 2003 http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6659, the WER became the Grand Rapids (OH) Electric Railway and that its status/disposition is unknown.

Is there anything new happening here and/or what happened to Oporto trolley #313? Did it actually run in Toledo?

Thank you,

Tim Davis

A couple of quick Google searches turned up the following:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8226029@N06/1429503535/

http://indianarailroads.org/board/index.php?topic=9929.0

Both links suggest that Oporto 313 was acquired by the Indiana Railway Museum in French Lick and ran there for many years. The second link says that the car was recently completely rebuilt c2009-2010, which I had not heard. I wasn't able to find any online photos of the car post-rebuild.

Thank you Mr. Hicks. Is the car listed on your website? If it is, then maybe I need more practice navigating it!

Tim Davis

Some parts of some reincarnation of the Waterfront Electric Rwy. wound up at the Northern Ohio Rwy. Museum.

Oh yes you had. I visited there in March of last year, and the car was still being rebuilt with a gasoline engine of some sort, since the trolley wire had already been removed. I didn't get a chance to actually see it, however. The plan was to put it back into service on the mile or so of track between the two resorts. Whether that's still the plan I couldn't say.

The car won't be listed on Frank's database because it is not of North American origin, by the way.

I live in french lick and I'm a part time motorman for 313. I'll get pictures today to share.

Does anyone have a list of electric railway cars converted to internal-combustion power? I know of at least three: An ex LA Railway single-truck car at the Poway-Midland Ry. north of San Diego. The streetcar is powered by a Corvair engine (modification done by a movie company) and they also have a 42" gauge steam locomotive.

El Reno, Oklahoma has former Philadelphia Red Arrow "Strafford car" 165, which is now powered by a propane-fuelled GMC V-8 engine through a hydraulic drive system.

As I recall, Savannah, Georgia has a tramcar from Melbourne, Australia that is powered by a bio-diesel engine.

Rockford, Illinois has a locally-made single truck car that runs through a park. I'm reasonably sure it was built from scratch; the original running gear was not sturdy enough, so some of the local industries chipped in and built a more robust undercarriage. I've only seen it once, and that was 25 years ago, but it may have been powered by a VW engine.

Another internal cumbustion trolley would be Johnstown Traction Company 358, converted by Stone Mountain Railroad I believe, operated there and now at the Trolley Museum of New York at Kingston.

Joel

There's also Southwest Missouri 60 in Webb City, MO. This is a lightweight interurban car typical of that line that was restored from "chicken coop" condition and runs using what I believe is a Corvair engine mounted under one platform. It's a fairly respectable job from outside appearances; the car even has trolley poles and correct (I think) Brill trucks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtkZ2g4uhNM&NR=1

And Grand Forks Street Railway 102, which operates on the Fort Lincoln Trolley line in Mandan, ND. This car was built by American in 1911.

http://www.realnd.com/images/fortlincolntrolleypano102.jpg

Frank -

This brings up the question, is it better to convert to internal combustion like these examples, or to operate traction motors with an auxiliary power source towed behind? There are a number of those in operation too these days, such as in Astoria, Oregon.


Les

And, then... There's the Philadelphia & Western-Red Arrow Lines ex-Strafford car running in El Reno, Oklahoma.

Thanks!

And the Gomaco open car in downtown Denver.

http://hickscarworks.blogspot.com/2009/ ... olley.html

The car that ran in Mt. Dora,Florida was a P&W Strafford car, I think it was 168. It had a Chevy 454, with auto trans driving a interestingly, but poorly mounted Fairmont reversing gearbox.....I think it came out of an A5......
If anyone wants a car like that, I know the current owner.....for about $100k it can be rebuilt/improved again.....it is set up as a 30 seat diner right now....

Really? That's pretty neat, I also happen to like diners. Could you share some pictures of it? Thanks!

Here is #313 today: https://www.frenchlick.com/activities/trolley (Once the page loads... the upper banner image rotates through different pictures.)

The link will give some history.....

Original Trolley that ran from 1903 to 1919:

Before our restoration/conversion:


After:

If you live close or have the chance to visit the French Lick Resort... be sure to ride the trolley. It runs between the French Lick Springs Hotel/Casino and the West Baden Springs Hotel. (1.24 miles)