It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 3:34 pm

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 12 posts ] 
Author Message
 Post subject: The Pullmans on the Hill
PostPosted: Sun Mar 18, 2001 12:18 am 

The Pullmans on the Hill
By Tom Nelligan, May 1982 Railfan & Railroad 47-49

This article discusses the preservation efforts of Jim Bradley, who purchased six heavyweight Pullman cars from the New Haven in the 1960Â’s, and preserved them on his property at Stonington, Conn. adjacent to the former NYNH&H shoreline route. The cars he preserved are:

Stag Hound: Parlor-Lounge, from "Yankee Clipper", ex-NH 5108
Great Republic: 34 Seat Parlor, from "Yankee Clipper"
Forest Hills: Coach, conv. from "Forest Hills" parlor car
Philinda: Coach, conv. from "Philinda" parlor car
Breslin Tower: Sleeping car, 8 sec., 1 dwg. rm., 3 dbl. brm.
Fox Point: Observation from 1916 "Merchants Limited"

The article discusses how he restored and maintained these cars on his property, including painting them on a three year interval, with his own funds. Four of these cars, the Stag Hound, Forest Hills, Philinda, and Breslin Tower are preserved at the Railroad Museum of New England. Their roster shows an accession date of 1988 for them. Where are the other two today? Is Jim Bradley still with us?

Thanks,
Tom

The Railroad Museum of New England


  
 
 Post subject: Re: The Pullmans on the Hill
PostPosted: Sun Mar 18, 2001 8:32 am 

The Great Republic was purchased by the Valley Railroad and was returned to service after a rebuild. The Fox Point was deemed to far gone for a return to the rails by RMNE and was sold intact to one of its members and moved to another backyard where is it is currently awaiting cosmetic restoration.

Al P.

> The Pullmans on the Hill
> By Tom Nelligan, May 1982 Railfan &
> Railroad 47-49

> This article discusses the preservation
> efforts of Jim Bradley, who purchased six
> heavyweight Pullman cars from the New Haven
> in the 1960Â’s, and preserved them on his
> property at Stonington, Conn. adjacent to
> the former NYNH&H shoreline route. The
> cars he preserved are:

> Stag Hound: Parlor-Lounge, from "Yankee
> Clipper", ex-NH 5108
> Great Republic: 34 Seat Parlor, from
> "Yankee Clipper"
> Forest Hills: Coach, conv. from "Forest
> Hills" parlor car
> Philinda: Coach, conv. from
> "Philinda" parlor car
> Breslin Tower: Sleeping car, 8 sec., 1 dwg.
> rm., 3 dbl. brm.
> Fox Point: Observation from 1916
> "Merchants Limited"

> The article discusses how he restored and
> maintained these cars on his property,
> including painting them on a three year
> interval, with his own funds. Four of these
> cars, the Stag Hound, Forest Hills,
> Philinda, and Breslin Tower are preserved at
> the Railroad Museum of New England. Their
> roster shows an accession date of 1988 for
> them. Where are the other two today? Is Jim
> Bradley still with us?

> Thanks,
> Tom


alp@cheshire.net


  
 
 Post subject: Re: The Pullmans on the Hill
PostPosted: Sun Mar 18, 2001 9:00 pm 

Jim Bradley died in 1988. His nephew David Bradley donated three of the cars, Stag Hound, Philinda and Forest Hills, to RMNE. RMNE purchased Breslin Tower at the same time. Valley Railroad bought Great Republic.

On Monday, April 1, 1991, after 47 days of preparation work in Jim's back yard (jacking cars, changing wheel sets and trucks, replacing couplers and draft gear, building a new road, etc., etc.), a crew of professional riggers and RMNE personnel started moving the 5 cars back to live rails 27 years after they were taken to Jim's property. By Friday afternoon, they were all on a siding at Stonington (the same track they had been delivered to in 1962-63).

If anyone is interested, please contact me and I will send you a copy of RMNE's publication about the "Bradley Pullman Car Collection".

hpincus@mindspring.com


  
 
 Post subject: Re: The Pullmans on the Hill/"Breslin Tower"
PostPosted: Mon Mar 19, 2001 3:31 pm 

Here's a question on the Breslin tower. When working for Steamtown NHS, the park was involved in a swap of several cars in Scranton for several in Essex CT. As part of this trade we acquired the ACL sleeper "Arsenal tower". I have heard this car referred to as the "Breslin Tower". Are they one in the same?

Thanks in advance, Dave Crosby

Scrantontrains
bing@epix.net


  
 
 Post subject: Re: The Pullmans on the Hill/"Breslin Tower"
PostPosted: Mon Mar 19, 2001 6:30 pm 

Dave;

Rmne Traded the Arsenal Tower after we purchased Breslin Tower, because Breslin tower was in superior condition to Arsenal Tower and Had some New England Heritage. We also didn't need two Pullmans in our collection to the same plan.

Al P.

> Here's a question on the Breslin tower. When
> working for Steamtown NHS, the park was
> involved in a swap of several cars in
> Scranton for several in Essex CT. As part of
> this trade we acquired the ACL sleeper
> "Arsenal tower". I have heard this
> car referred to as the "Breslin
> Tower". Are they one in the same?

> Thanks in advance, Dave Crosby


alp@cheshire.net


  
 
 Post subject: Re: The Pullmans on the Hill/"Breslin Tower"
PostPosted: Wed Mar 21, 2001 1:46 am 

When RMNE was prepping "A.T." for the move to Scranton, we gave the car a quick dip job. No matter how good the running gear and brakes may be, a faded, shabby carbody does not endenger confidence on the part of the car inspector. Since the car was originally "Mc Phail" (a 12-1.. the "Tower" cars were converted 1939-1942), we did kick around the idea of lettering it "Mc Dade". But we didn't. It made the trip with "Arsenal Tower" on the side.

hpincus@mindspring.com


  
 
 Post subject: Re: The Pullmans on the Hill
PostPosted: Mon Sep 03, 2012 11:23 am 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 2:02 am
Posts: 620
Location: Albany, Georgia
Having read postings here on RYPN through the years talking about the Jim Bradley collection of Pullmans in Stonington, CT, I had a sudden flash of recognition while going through my old copies of Railroad & Railfan over the weekend. The very first copy of R&R that I ever bought was the May 1982 issue, which is referenced in the first post of this thread. Not having grown up in close proximity to passenger trains, it took me a long time to gain an appreciation for passenger equipment, and the postings by Howard Pincus concerning the moves of these cars into preservation at RMNE and elsewhere have captured my attention. Now, as Paul Harvey said, I know "the rest of the story." (By the way, I also came across a photo of Howard as a contributor in one of those old issues of R&R!)

One note that I have not seen in this thread is the mention in the R&R article that the "Breslin Tower" (rebuilt 1935 as a 8/1/3) had originally been built in 1925 as the "Point Blank" (10/1/1). This is, I'm sure, well known to those interested in the history of the "Tower" series Pullmans, but I thought I'd add it to this dredged-up thread. Also of note is the mention that when Jim Bradley acquired the car, it was painted in the Pullman 2-tone gray scheme: "...it wore a rare two-tone gray paint scheme that Pullman had begun applying to its heavy weights just before they were all retired." Later, the article notes "Regular attention is also necessary to keep the cars from rusting in the salt air. Each must be completely repainted every three or four years, and Bradley has long ago learned the recipe for Pullman green and New Haven orange."

The article also notes that, for the first two cars purchased (in 1961), Bradley had selected the "Sovereign of the Seas", a 34 seat parlor car, and the "Stag Hound", a parlor/buffet/lounge from the New Haven Yankee Clipper service, to purchase. A paperwork SNAFU resulted in "Sovereign of the Seas" being scrapped and the "Great Republic" was saved instead.

And to think that in 1961, when Jim Bradley acquired the first two cars from the New Haven, he paid $1000 per car plus about $700 per car to have them moved! They were delivered to Bradley's property in "early 1962."

Well, back to reality. Maybe someday I'll actually make it to RMNE and see all the wonderful work they have done...

Howard, do you still have any copies of the RMNE publication "Bradley Pullman Car Collection" mentioned in the March 2001 post above?

_________________
Stephen S. Syfrett
Albany, GA


Last edited by Stephen S. Syfrett on Mon Sep 03, 2012 11:50 am, edited 1 time in total.

Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: The Pullmans on the Hill
PostPosted: Mon Sep 03, 2012 11:39 am 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 7:07 am
Posts: 737
Location: Philadelphia Pa
Stephen S. Syfrett wrote:
.....

And to think that in 1961, when Jim Bradley acquired the first two cars from the New Haven, he paid $1000 per car plus about $700 per car to have them moved! They were delivered to Bradley's property in "early 1962."

.....


...that's equal to $7,300.00 to buy and another $5,500 to move in today's dollars.

He spent about $80,000 in today's dollars to save the six cars...that's pretty cheap by all standards, but still not a number to be laughed at for the average Citizen.

Now, had he gotten the cars for $150 each (what $1,000 of today's dollars was equal to back in 1961), I'd have said he got a real steal deal.


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: The Pullmans on the Hill
PostPosted: Mon Sep 03, 2012 3:10 pm 
User avatar

Joined: Sun Jun 27, 2010 12:24 am
Posts: 298
Location: H2O-town, CT
Breslin Tower is still in the tu-tone gray scheme, although faded.

Forrest Hills saw work 3 years ago in stripping the metal roof to bare metal, sealing any joints and a full roof repaint. An interior cleaning was done too along with a coat of paint on the outside to help protect it.

All 4 cars, Philinda and Staghound too, are still at RMNE. None have been restored enough to see service yet.


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: The Pullmans on the Hill
PostPosted: Mon Sep 03, 2012 8:02 pm 

Joined: Thu Apr 14, 2005 9:34 pm
Posts: 2758
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Grand Republic appeared in the movie Malcolm X correct ?

_________________
Steven Harrod
Lektor
Danmarks Tekniske Universitet


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: The Pullmans on the Hill & One More Car
PostPosted: Mon Sep 03, 2012 8:47 pm 

Joined: Sat Aug 28, 2004 5:52 pm
Posts: 559
Location: Apple Valley, Minnesota
Little known is that sometime in the early 1960s Jim Bradley also purchased an Officer's business car from Canadian National. It was numbered 85 IIRC and reportedly was the division supt's car in Moncton, New Brunswick until declared surplus. It was built in 1885 for the Intercolonial Railway and had two open platforms. It had a typical PV interior with the dining room on one end and the observation parlor on the other. It was modified at some point with steel underframe.

Jim had the car stored on the Narragansett Pier RR and I Iived in the car when I worked on the Pier in the mid to late 1960s while attending college. I did anything & everything on the railroad since at the time the Pier only had two full-time employees which included the owner, Tony Hannold. Tony later managed/operated the Delmarva Lines, the Bath Hammondsport and the Arkansas & Missouri railroads.

The PV was used sparingly when Tony Hannold owned/operated the Pier as he stopped the toursit operations in the late 1960s. When the dentist from Connecticut bought the Pier and revived tourist service in the 1970s (the railfan's equivalent of a hobby farm I suppose), the interior of the car was gutted half-way to open up space for passengers. What a crying shame! When the tourist service went and the Pier was abandoned, the car was purchased by the Old Colony & Newport RR across Narragansett Bay and as far as I know is in service on that line's tourist trains.

When I lived in the car the Baker heater in the car worked well, with the aid of a circulating pump installed to aid in getting heat throughout the car.

Thanks!

_________________
Jim Vaitkunas
Minnesota Streetcar Museum
www.trolleyride.org


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: The Pullmans on the Hill
PostPosted: Mon Sep 03, 2012 11:20 pm 

Joined: Mon Jan 17, 2005 9:06 pm
Posts: 2530
Location: Thomaston & White Plains
Some misc information:

We have a New Haven Railroad ledger book showing equipment dispositions from about 1956 to 1969. Jim's cars were carried on the books at much less than he paid for them. I don't have the book handy right now, but I recall that the railroad charged him $2400 for at least two of the cars, while they were written down to about $700 in book value.

Jim enjoyed his shopping expeditions to the Boston Terminal. The railroad met his train at South Station with a company car and driver, and took Jim to the South Boston Coach Yard, as well as to lunch.

Jim had told us that he was trying to get some more NH heavyweight equipment-- he was a post office worker and did all this on his PO salary. He wanted a full diner, an RPO, and ---- the last NH Alco DL-109! By the time he'd saved up another batch of bucks to go shopping in Boston, Penn Central was in town and they closed the "hobby shop".

The "Bradley Car Edition" of ATL is just about gone; I might be able to find a copy of two. PM me if you're interested.

Howard P.

_________________
"I'm a railroad man, not a prophet."


Offline
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 12 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]


 Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot], SD70dude, wesp and 122 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to: