Not North American, but posted to give a wider audience to our 5 (and a bit) year restoration job on a Cambridge (UK) horse car, that is now nearing completion at the Ipswich Transport Museum.
The car was built, as far as we can ascertain, in 1880 by Starbuck of Birkenhead (nr Liverpool) as a single-deck car for Bath Tramways, then being sold on to an operator in Bradford in 1884, where it was converted to double-deck form, and used as a steam-dummy trailer.
It remained there until 1894, when it was sold to Cambridge Street Tramways, remaining in operation there until 1914 when the tramways closed. The Cambridge system was never electrified, so it was horse drawn until the end, conversion to petrol (gasoline) buses taking place in 1914.
From there, the body was sold to become a "Cobblers workshop" in the Ely area until being discovered in the 1990's.
Our group obtained it in the early years of this Century from Cambridge Industrial Museum in an unrestored state, as it was similar to those used in Ipswich from 1880-1903 and as none of the Ipswich cars had survived.
What we started with was this..........
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We were able to get a substantial grant from our National Lottery (when such things were easier to get...) of what is currently worth about $65,000 US and a small but dedicated team of 4-5 regular volunteer workers have now transformed it into this.....
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The chap standing by the car is Tony White, our (volunteer) master woodworker, who has been responsible for all (quite a bit!) of the new woodwork - though there is a substantial amount of the original material reused in the job, despite the apparent state of the remains in the first photo. The original bodyside panelling, which was carefully rubbed doen to reveal the original lettering and advertisements have acually been removed and conserved and provide a seperate display next to the tramcar.
Working in conjunction with other like minded groups, a brand new four foot gauge truck was cast, using patterns produced by a Leeds based group for a car they had restored.
The 4' gauge wasn't common here, as most narrow-gauge tramways were 3' 6" in the UK - including the Ipswich ones. It was decided at an early stage to restore it as a Cambridge car, rather than turn it into an ersatz Ipswich tram.
There are still a few panels missing on the recent photo, as they are still being signwritten, plus some handrails need to be added as well. The plastic "horse" has recently arrived which will be posed with it, so the completed vehicle will take pride of place in our 2019 Open Season which starts at the end of March.
The horse-car now fills a gap in our local transportation representation, as we now have that, a 1904 Ipswich electric car an a 1923 trackless trolley all fully restored, apart from a wide selection of later vehicles from 1930-1976.