News from National Capital Trolley Museum.

Capital Traction 522 (American Car 1898) moves outdoors for the first time following restoration and reconstruction of the body and truck.



The body restoration and reconstruction was done by Keith Bray. Lyons Engineering reconstructed the truck using Lord Baltimore truck side frames donated by our friends at the Baltimore Streetcar Museum. The car is operable as shown here. The original interior was gutted by Capital Transit in the 1930s. Here is a picture of the car before work started in 2014.



CTCo 522 is now on display in Street Car Hall.

Wesley

What was wrong with the truck in the "before" photo?

Where is the headlight?

CTCo 522 was built with a Lord Baltimore truck. When the Company converted the car for service as a grinder in the late 1930s, they swapped out the original truck for a Brill 21E shown in the "before" photo. When Keith Bray started work, he discovered the Company had made multiple cuts in the original wood frame to accommodate the Brill truck. In addition, the clearances of the Brill truck raised the level of the original floor line of the gutted passenger compartment. With cooperation of the Baltimore Streetcar Museum we were able get the car body back on the correct Lord Baltimore truck frame.

The original headlight was a portable lamp that hung on a bracket on the dash. The headlight fixture shown on the "before" photo is what remains of a Golden Glow fixture installed for workcar service.

The portable vestibules (windshields) were installed in 1905 following an order by the public service commission eliminating open platforms on all Washington streetcars. Since Capital Traction 303 is displayed at the Smithsonian as an open platform car, we decided to retain the vestibules to interpret the 1905 modification.

Curiously both 522 and 303 owe their preservation to the introduction of the PCC in Washington. CTCo 303 was brought from storage and operated as a relic when the PCCs were introduced in 1937. Early on, the Company discovered the PCCs were corrugating the rail when accelerating from stops. CTCo 522 was converted as a grinder in the late 1930s to make repairs to the damaged rail.

Wesley

Beautiful job, and it's equally amazing that the actual work was accomplished in only two years (though I wonder how long it took to get the right truck, find seats, etc.)

The truck swap was one of those "wouldn't it be nice" discussions between interested parties over a period of 40-plus years. The interior remains unfinished. There was about 20 years between the time when Glenn Guerra made his assessment of the car in the 1990s and the time we started work. Having Glenn's assessment report in hand helped move the project along when the time came.

CTCo 522 has been operable since one of our members installed a new set of grids in the 1970s. You can't get much simpler than a single-truck handbrake car!

Wesley

Wow, you guys did an amazing job! Just curious, what is that tank under the deck roof by the 4th window used for?

Looks like the choke coil; used in conjunction with the lightning arrestor to attempt to protect the electrical equipment from lightning strikes.

Gord M

Ah, that sounds like a good idea. Thanks!

One additional note. CTCo 522 and CTCo 303 at the Smithsonian were delivered as conduit cars and did not have trolley poles. In passenger service from 1898-1912, the cars operated solely on the city lines of the Capital Traction Company. The pole was added to CTCo 522 when it was converted as a rail grinder in the late 1930s. CTCo 303 finally received a pole after WWII for fan trip service on overhead power lines at the outer end of routes. CTCo 303 is displayed at the Smithsonian as a conduit car without a pole

Wesley

It's a great looking car - nice work! That anticlimber is a real kick on such a small car.

Frank,
It looks like you are going to have to update the car's entry on Preserved North American Electric Cars web site.

new truck, overhauled body, operated occasionally etc

You guys at National Capital deserve all praise!

Ted Miles

Did BSM have an extra Lord Baltimore truck sitting around? Or, do they have a car that needed a Brill 23 truck to complete an accurate restoration?

I'm not privy to all the specifics, but they *did* (I think I saw it loaded up to be shipped out somewhere, a lot more recently than 2014)........ and as for the latter, I don't know.

If you're legitimately asking for barter purposes, I can refer you to the right people, who don't have time to hang out here........ unless Brother Crow knows......

Dave Wilkins: Long time ago, United Railways & Electric Company (or its successor, Baltimore Transit Company) removed the Brill 21E truck from under car 4662 (originally #1615 and will be restored as #2324) and plopped the carbody on a Lord Baltimore truck. However... the truck was never centered under the carbody, and I seem to recall that it was never bolted down! Any restoration of 4662, which is closer in configuration to its 1904 delivery, would require a Brill 21 truck instead of the Lord Baltimore truck that it had. A sister car was restored by a team led by Carl "Buster" Hughes to its "Safety Car" appearance of 1924 and numbered 4533.

I am not sure if we swapped trucks with National Capital Trolley Museum, as they had a Brill 21 truck, although it may or may not have been the correct wheelbase for 4662; in any case, BSM removed the Lord Baltimore truck from under 4662 and sent it to NCTM for use in this restoration.

Dave Crow