There was a question submitted to the RITS (Rock Island Tecnical Society) LIST as follows:

El Reno was building a trolley (real) with new track from the depot to downtown but I do not know its present status.

A reply was received to the question:

"They just started running it the other day. It is in service now."

Any of our "trolley enthusiasts" want to comment on this apparent new line? I had never heard of it. Thanks.

midlandblb@cs.com

> There was a question submitted to the RITS
> (Rock Island Tecnical Society) LIST as
> follows:

> El Reno was building a trolley (real) with
> new track from the depot to downtown but I
> do not know its present status.

> A reply was received to the question:

> "They just started running it the other
> day. It is in service now."

> Any of our "trolley enthusiasts"
> want to comment on this apparent new line? I
> had never heard of it. Thanks.

I had never heard of it and it is not on Smatlak's list. So I went looking out there on the web. This is what I found:

On the Oklahaoma DOT website a 1999 Oklahoma Dept. of Transportation contract award that was for:
DESCRIPTION : ENHANCEMENT
LENGTH: 0.960600 MILES
HIGHWAY NO.: CITY STREET
LOCATION : ROCK ISLAND DEPOT/TROLLEY TRACK RESTORATION PROJECT IN THE CITY OF EL RENO.
CONTRACT AMOUNT : $ 1,627,082.68

Found another reference that has more informationa as to the car:
http://trolleycar.org/observations/geis ... 010505.htm
This is "The New Electric Railway Journal" with a date of May 5, 2001.
From this I quote:
"On May 2, 2001, several of us from the Kenosha Transit Electric Streetcar project journeyed to Donnellson, Iowa. We met with David Miner, founder and operator of this interesting firm to discuss spare trucks and parts.

"Miner Rail Services had previously refurbished and retrucked five former Toronto PCC cars within five months in early 2000. These beautiful cars were completed on time and on budget. Contact: www.minerrailservices.com.

"Miner currently is rebuilding a former SEPTA-P&W 'Stratford' car as a self propelled rail car. The car body has been stripped down and now will sport a monitor 'deck' roof. The car will be powered by a truck mounted small propane fueled engine. The completed car will go to El Reno, Oklahoma for the Canadian County Historical Society."

Brian Norden

bnorden@gateway.net

> I had never heard of it and it is not on
> Smatlak's list. So I went looking out there
> on the web. This is what I found:

> On the Oklahaoma DOT website a 1999 Oklahoma
> Dept. of Transportation contract award that
> was for:
> DESCRIPTION : ENHANCEMENT
> LENGTH: 0.960600 MILES
> HIGHWAY NO.: CITY STREET
> LOCATION : ROCK ISLAND DEPOT/TROLLEY TRACK
> RESTORATION PROJECT IN THE CITY OF EL RENO.
> CONTRACT AMOUNT : $ 1,627,082.68

> Found another reference that has more
> informationa as to the car:
>
> http://trolleycar.org/observations/geis ... 010505.htm
> This is "The New Electric Railway
> Journal" with a date of May 5, 2001.
> From this I quote:
> "On May 2, 2001, several of us from the
> Kenosha Transit Electric Streetcar project
> journeyed to Donnellson, Iowa. We met with
> David Miner, founder and operator of this
> interesting firm to discuss spare trucks and
> parts.

> "Miner Rail Services had previously
> refurbished and retrucked five former
> Toronto PCC cars within five months in early
> 2000. These beautiful cars were completed on
> time and on budget. Contact:
> www.minerrailservices.com.

> "Miner currently is rebuilding a former
> SEPTA-P&W 'Stratford' car as a self
> propelled rail car. The car body has been
> stripped down and now will sport a monitor
> 'deck' roof. The car will be powered by a
> truck mounted small propane fueled engine.
> The completed car will go to El Reno,
> Oklahoma for the Canadian County Historical
> Society."

> Brian Norden

Brian:

Thanks for the quick response. Sounds like an interesting setup. Hope somebody eventually submits a photo.

Les


midlandblb@cs.com

Photo with story:

http://www.elrenotribune.com/tribune.htm

Trolley photo
bilburns1313@ameritech.net

This is interesting; I hadn't heard about this project. This car is Philadelphia & Western #165, a rapid transit car built by Brill in 1927. This car, along with #163, were acquired recently by Miner for the purpose of rebuilding them. #163 was rebuilt as a relatively tasteful replica of an Edwards motor car; this thing in El Reno strikes me as the sort of thing that drives people to feel compelled to wash their hands every ten minutes. Ecch.

Goop

> This is interesting; I hadn't heard about
> this project. This car is Philadelphia &
> Western #165, a rapid transit car built by
> Brill in 1927. This car, along with #163,
> were acquired recently by Miner for the
> purpose of rebuilding them. #163 was rebuilt
> as a relatively tasteful replica of an
> Edwards motor car; this thing in El Reno
> strikes me as the sort of thing that drives
> people to feel compelled to wash their hands
> every ten minutes. Ecch.
I agree that the ex-P&W car #165 is an extremely tasteful replica of one of our Edwards Rail Cars. I applaud Dave Miner for keeping alive, the long tradition of using an automotive engine for propulsion of these types of rail cars. The ex-P&W car #165, now M.D.T.& E. #M-201, has logged over 40,000 miles, and carried approx. 60,000 passengers in just three years. This car was built for the Edwards Comapny by Miner Rail Services in 1998, and their choice of a Chevy 454 has proven to be most reliable. I am confidant the folks in El Reno will achieve many years of service from thier rail car, and as in the past, these cars offer tremendeous savings in maintenance and operating exspense compared to operating locomotives and coaches.


edrailco@aol.com