Good to see the brief on the new car to be acquired by the National Capital Trolley Museum. Any news on how many cars the group is planning to acquire to replac the lost cars?

The museum has evaluated several other cars as candidates for acquisition. There is a possiblity of a second car from Brussels.

I think its a near-certainty that we'll be acquiring Munich cars MVB 2401 and MVB 3404, a motor-trailer pair built in 1957. Each car in the pair has three axles in a radial configuration. This pair have been offered to the museum on very generous terms by the Strassenbahnfreunde Munchen (Friends of the Munich Streetcars). They are nice cars--modern on the exterior with smooth sides and gasketed windows, but still with a lot of warm wood trim on the inside giving them an older, more genteel feel.

Other cars are being considered, but I'm not sure where the negotiations stand, so wouldn't want to venture further. Perhaps Wes Paulson, our Devleopment Director, can chime in.

http://www.tram.org/fmtm/index_en.html

Just in case you are interested.

Erik is correct in his description of the Munich cars. They represent a generous gift from the Friends of Munich Streetcars in response to the fire. The cars ride on a unique radial truck design. We decided to accept the Munich cars to replace our two-car train from Vienna, Austria. Space at our current location remains tight, so the Friends will store the cars until spring when our new building will be done. That building was already planned prior to the fire as part of an expansion of Museum facilities.

The Brussels car donation was arranged with the help of a Belgian citizen who lives near the Museum. He put a lot of energy into this project. The timing was right so we decided to accept the car. The collection of European single truck cars has been a highlight for our visitors and we are hopeful that this car will be a regular feature of our operations. Two of our other European trams survived the fire RbG 955 from Dusseldorf and BvG 5954 from Berlin. We have not used them in regular service for a number of years in response to conservation issues - the cars are showing their age, etc.

There have been several other offers and suggestions for possible replacement cars from all corners of the continent and around the world, some rather humorous, others a bit far fetched, but nothing worth reporting here in any detail.

Overall it feels like we've turned a corner. The other day we used a gauge rod that had been under the Johnstown car in the fire. I remarked to a friend that we had made history by being able to return something to service from out of the ashes.

I must comment again on the support we have received from our friends at other ARM museums. Donations of money, physical labor, professional expertise, and kind words of encouragement at difficult times have all contributed to our recovery. You know who you are and I thank you.

Wesley

Here's an image of MVB 2401 and MVB 3404, courtesy of NCTM via Wes.


Caption: In October 2004, members of the
Friends of Munich Streetcars inspect, clean and wash the cars destined for
National Capital Trolley Museum next year. NCTM collections.

Last but not least, lots of info on the M4 tram type and their radial trucks--in German--courtesy of the Freunde des Münchner Trambahnmuseums.

http://www.tram.org/fmtm/museum/M4.65.html


And information on the Brussels standard trams--in English--from Old Pueblo Trolley, which has restored STIB 1511 as part of their operating fleet:

http://www.oldpueblotrolley.org/1511.htm

Erik,

Can you say if the trailer 2190 at Hyatt Grand Cypress Resort is part of the discussion? It would be an obvious choice and keep two cars from the same system together.

Thanks,

Ted Miles

Ted,

The trailer is no longer at Grand Hyatt. I am not sure where it went after the operation closed. Grand Hyatt has agreed to store car 1048 for us until spring.

Wesley

Eric,

As I understand it, NCTM had (has) kind of a weird dual collections plan, one for the International collection and a second for the Washington DC collection.

As they work to recover from the fire, are they continuing the dual collection plan.

Also, was anything (trucks, motors etc) salvaged, if so what?

Randy

Well, "weird" is in the eye of the beholder, but yes, our collections plan includes gathering a selection of representative streetcars from around the world to compare to US practice.



Two sets of trucks--I believe from Work Car CTCo 0509 and from the experimental streamliner CTCo 1053. Some miscellaneous hand tools and a few parts. That's about it. The fire was pretty intense and destructive.

Just to bring the thread around, STIB 1069 arrived safe and sound today thanks to the good work of Silk Road Transport. After a bit of work installing a new trolley pole she went for her first test run around the Museum's demonstration railway this afternoon, and passed with flying colors. It may be a while before she's in regular service, though--the car needs plenty of cleaning and a careful mechancal assessment before joining the regular operating fleet.

The Museum's original lease for our park land required that the Museum open by a certain date in 1969 - maybe by December 31, I don't recall the details. At the time the deadline approached the Museum did not own the bulk of the Washington, DC collection and the owner had made know that he did not wish to part with them. The only cars on the property were Johnstown Traction 352, DC Transit 0522 (a work car) and Capital Transit 07 (a snow sweeper). So the decision was made to write to embassies and solicit donations of the European cars. Five cars were delivered in May 1969 and served as the backbone of the fleet in those early days.

It turned out that these five cars were very dependable and required very little maintenance. The public loved them. The operation of the Vienna train allowed us to interpret early transit in Washington, which was provided almost solely by single truck cars and trailers running in trains.

When we developed our general plan in the late 1980s, the decision was made to include a slot for a European all-electric late model PCC to close the loop in the story of the development of electric traction between the European trams and the American cars. As a result we imported the Hague PCC.

In reponse to the fire we accepted the gift of the Munich cars and decided to accept the cars from Grand Cypress. STIB 1069 will allow us to again interpret early operation of a single truck car, and the Munich cars will revive the ability to operate train service using more modern equipment.

Since the fire, we have been offered a variety of cars from abroad. Some are in collections in the United States and others are still in their home countries. We have declined these. One of the most recent opportunities presented is the group of cars from Oporto which we shared here on the Briefs.

Wesley