Quite a story! The writer needs a bit of education on streetcar technology and terminology, but it's still a heartwarming tale of a nearly hundred-year-old relic and its narrow escape from the city dump. I would presume that the folks at Shoreline have leads on motorized trucks, should the owner wish to take the next step in his project. Milan, Melbourne and Japan come to mind.

Bob:

Several years ago our Museum offered to sell Mr. Shappy a pair of Baldwin 75-A-25 curved equalizer trucks with motors. This class of Rhode Island Co car (Nos. 1068-1099) never used this model truck but they certainly would have powered the car--perhaps they're oversized but they'd work. He wasn't interested, insisting on having the correct model of truck under the car (in this car No. 1068) which were Standard O-50 trucks. So, that's that.

Interestingly some cars in this class (Nos. 1083, 1087,1089 & 1090) actually were upgraded by Wason and were re-trucked with Baldwin standard drop equalizer trucks for higher speed suburban service to East Greenwich, about 15-20 miles south of Providence. They later ran on the high-speed Buttonwoods line. The Melbourne trucks would look just fine under the car as they are a near match, although larger wheels would make the car look better I suspect.

I think we all can relate to the ignorance of the newspaper reporter's lack of knowledge when it comes to minor details like the "electric engines" that the car needs or those big "rheostats" on wood columns. Oh well. I suppose that's why we are here--to continue this arcane knowledge of a mostly forgotten industry and technology.

Thanks!

IMHO, they can call it anything they want! :)
From the pictures of 'before' and 'after', I think it is amazing to have someone with the resources and interest come along to save and rebuild this trolley. Just one of those serendipitous happenings you might say. Another twist is that Brayton is an old southeast RI/MA name, and that a Brayton is rebuilding the 1068.
I hope that Mr. Shappy finds a couple of trucks to his liking and that this trolley finds a place to roll once more, preferably near it's home town.

It's amazing that there are relics like this old trolley out there still to be had. I wonder how many trolleys, cabooses, or Pullmans are hiding out there disguised as shed, hunting cabins, chicken coops, or diners. There will probably be other found and a few lost.

It is no wonder that the Shoreline Trolley Museum was able to help him; the have as far as I can tell the only restored example of a Rhode Island Company street car.

If anybody wants to contact the restorer; Danny Cohn runs the Parts Department at the Seashore Trolley Museum. I am sure that there are a couple of trucks there that he can use. Motors though are harder to lay hands on; unless he is willing to go modern and use PCC motors.

Seashore is having its 70th anniversary this year. If you are in New England it would be a good year to visit! I know I will.

Ted Miles

What about having motors made?

I mean, what's in a 1900-era motor?

- Several very large castings
- Several brass & babbit bearings
- A simple steel rod for the motor shaft
- Smaller castings for armature and commutator wedges, fields etc.
- Many stamped steel laminates, all the same
- bolts that may be oddball, non-UNC spec size and pitch
- Mica and copper stuff that motor shops routinely replace during overhaul

I don't see anything in here that is unbuildable... just takes money.
So, given the large number of electric cars that need motors... perhaps it's time to look at having someone recreate one or two models of early motor, in large quantity, for all of us? Might GE be interested in such business? Would operators of frequent service heritage car lines (SF, New Orleans etc.) have any interest in such a project?

As Jay Leno once said "If it was made once it can be made again." The limiting factor is the all mighty coin.

I suspect the largest demand would be for WH508 of GE264 Birney car motors. The older motors for 33" wheels, such as the GE80, are relatively available.

Art:

I agree with you. There are a bunch of ST and DT Birneys out there just crying for two or four motors. I would add the K-63 controller to our wish list. I think reconstructing a K-63 would be a little easier to do then a larger motor. But then I'm a glass is half-full kind of guy.

Actually, the Milan motors are very close to what a Birney car needs--I think they're rated somewhere around 27kw. Problem is Gomaco wants something like $10,000 for one. Of course that's a lot less than what bendigo was/is asking for their streetcar parts.

Thanks!!

This thread has me thinking and asking a question. Everybody here knows of the private restoration of the EUREKA the 4-4-0 that was done by Dan Markoff in Nevada.

Has anyone sean or heard of a private street car restoration before this RI car?

You could almost say people like Fred Meloney at Seashore who uses the staff and volunteers at the museum and its Townhouse Shop has done them. Anyway he has paid all the bills.

Most of the museums, such as my Western Railway Museum, spread the donations out and use the collective buying power of the membership to do car restorations (rebuildings).

And I agree with the comments above about the motors needed for Birney cars. We have at Rio Vista three bodies that now have after a lot of searching the correct Birney trucks. But all three of them need a pair of motors to power the cars.

Donald Curry has been working with a large and well equipped motor shop on a number of the Seashore Trolley Museum's motors ( see any of the recent Dispatches)

I would not be surprised if those folks would be able to build one from the ground up. As usual all the project would take is a lot of money!

Ted Miles