Good evening everyone,

On behalf of J.r. May and the rest of the volunteers currently working on the restoration of the ex-Trenton Transit Co. / nee-Trenton and Mercer County Traction Co. #288 , we wanted to thank everyone who has come out and supported our efforts to date.

As many of you have previously read in other threads, Trenton Transit #288 was recently discovered inside a house that was being prepared for demolition. Thanks to the efforts of Liberty Historic Railway Inc, and in particular, Mr. Bill McKelvey and J.r. May, the carbody of #288 has now been successfully removed from inside the house it called "home" for the past 80+ years. Good title to the car has now passed to the Liberty organization. The trolley was successfully removed from the site and now resides inside a secure facility awaiting the arrival of springtime when restoration efforts can begin in earnest.

This thread is being started primarily for the benefit of the #288 restoration team. It was determined that we needed a couple of threads started in preservation related forums that would allow our team members to post technical type questions that might not be suitable in our social media pages (which are geared more towards the general public).

Some might recall that an older thread was recently "bumped" regarding the Brill 39E trucks. After seeing the responses in that thread, and then seeing the discussions in the original thread which alerted everyone to the existence of #288, our team thought it would be better to have a single thread which could cover everything regarding the car's restoration (in lieu of multiple threads covering one or more topics).

We would like to ask everyone who is on Facebook to please check out #288's new Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/Trenton-Transi ... 029965704/

More importantly, we ask everyone to please "like" the page. Our Facebook page will play a critical role in supporting our soon-to-commence fundraising efforts. We are currently closing in on 100 page "likes". We would like to reach 200 "likes" before the start of the Christmas holiday.

Finally, we would like to end this opening post by sharing this photo of #288's sister car, the #296. This photo best represents what we hope to accomplish; the complete restoration #288 to active service once again!

Thanks, Eric, for posting. I generally don’t like to take credit for such efforts as with such things this was a group effort with people coming in to help from south Jersey, north Jersey, and then those near the shore. Key, though, was the funding provided by Liberty Historic Railway (LHRY.org) who’s ability to provide quick funding allowed this effort to move from discovery near Trenton to a secure home in south Jersey in just about 60 days. The only change I would make is the weather. It was either cold, rainy, or muddy. A couple of bright sunny days would have been nice.

What I find amazing in such efforts is that guys who have never met, and of all ages, can come together and work as a solid team. I don’t have all the names of the folks who came down from up north with the LHRy, but further south this would not have been possible without Ed Rizzo, Chris Lynch, Jim Hurley, Erik Levin, and the folks at Allied Recycling who are indeed friends of NJ preservation.

The car is today in secure storage and shrink wrapped while the restoration plan is assembled.

J.R. May

Good evening folks,

As 2018 comes to a close, the #288 restoration team is looking forward to a productive 2019. We are hoping to get off to a good start in our restoration endeavor in January.

We would like to throw out a couple of questions tonight with the hopes that some of the more active members in this forum might be able to help steer us in the right direction.

We begin with our first question:

Has anyone here ever researched, or otherwise made use of, the historical records of the J.G. Brill Company now preserved in the archives of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA?

Next week a number of #288 team members will be travelling to Philadelphia to research and review some the J.G. Brill historical records preserved in the HSP archive. The main purpose of the trip is to secure a copy of whatever engineering, mechanical drawings, blueprints, etc. which might exist that could help us plan the restoration of #288's "missing" ends.

Does anyone know if the J.G. Brill records actually contain engineering or mechanical drawings, blueprints, wiring schematics, etc?

According to their website, HSP indicated that the J.G. Brill collection contains tens of thousands of photos and other documents. It mentions everything from company "order books" to "parts catalogs" to "builders photos", etc. It does not specifically indicate if any mechanical drawings or blueprints are a part of the collection. We presume there might be blueprints, etc., but it would be nice to know for sure.

Does anyone have any information they could share about the collection's contents?

In the event that we strike out in Philadelphia regarding blueprints or mechanical drawings, does anyone else know of a resource where such items might actually exist?

The reason we are seeking these items is so that we can evaluate whether it is more feasible to rebuild the missing portions of #288 "in house", or determine if using a contractor (such as Gomaco) would produce a "better" result.

We have reached a stage where we need to sit down with potential partners and ask critical questions. However, we don't yet have a set of plans we can present to a contractor and ask him/her to quote a price for doing the work.

Does anyone know where we could obtain such information?

Thanks in advance for your replies!

Eric,

I have no idea what the Brill archives hold, but please report back on your findings.

Eric, check your PMs.

Thanks

Good afternoon everyone,

A new year has begun, and so too has the efforts to develop a restoration plan for T&MCT / TT #288.

We'd like to thank everyone who responded to our inquiries which went out right before the holiday. Whether via telephone, email, or the PM feature of this website, we were pleased that quite a few people reached out to us and offered their assistance in whichever way they could. We are grateful to you all.

On Friday, January 4th, 2018, a #288 team member arrived at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia to research the J.G. Brill records collection preserved in the society's archives. For most of the afternoon, our researcher combed through the archives searching for anything related to #288, and anything else which might be helpful in our restoration efforts.

Overall, the trip to Philadelphia was a productive outing. 2 original builder's photos were obtained (1 exterior, 1 interior). One "construction" photo for car's series was also discovered. The actual "order book" contained a few more important details which now serve as critical clues for our restoration team as they examine the carbody carefully in preparation of beginning restoration work. However, the principal goal of the primary reason for going remains, to date, unfulfilled.

Our researcher was unable to deduce (yet) if there were any type of technical drawings or construction blueprints within the Brill archive collection. Our researcher was only able to dedicate just one afternoon so far to researching the collection. Despite putting in four+ hours of research, the full extent of contents of the archives is currently not known.

It was discovered that the collection does contain various pages which appear to be from the various Brill "parts catalogs". Unfortunately, those pages appeared to be incorporated into the photo collection at the moment, making the documents difficult to find in nearly 16,000 images. Most of the photo collection has NOT yet been digitized, or otherwise recorded in electronic format. However, there is a very extensive online database which has been developed which gives a description of each photograph contained in the collection. The database is easy to search.

#288 restoration team remains focused on trying to track down technical and/or construction blueprints. Based on the original builder's photos, it appears that #288 was built with a traditional Brill "end platform". We remain confident that a set of technical drawings remain "somewhere" which could be of great assistance to us in restoring #288's ends.

If anyone is aware of the existence of such blueprints or plans, the #288 team would be forever grateful if someone might share the whereabouts of such documents.

Thanks in advance!

Author's note: Despite my best efforts, the photo attachments in this post refuse to attach as they were properly rotated. I apologize for the "neck twisting" needed to read them. If the moderators of this forum can correct the orientation problem, I would be grateful for the help.

Here you are I just cropped them a bit:

While we have a new topic for fund raising, just wanted to update this topic with the fund raising information:

Fund raising for the restoration of the #288 has started. If you could, please pass the word. Perhaps make a small donation yourselves if possible.

We really have three options for how to make a donations:

1) gofundme as follows:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/trenton-trol ... g-campaign

2) If someone would prefer to send a check directly to LHRy that would be
great as well. Checks can be sent to the below address with a note that the
donation is for "Trenton #288" and if possible send me an email
(jrmay@optonline.net):

Liberty Historic Railway, Inc.
103 Dogwood Lane
Berkeley Heights, NJ 079224

3) LHRy has a donate button on their web site. Just send me an email
(jrmay@optonline.net) that you made a donation so that we can keep track of
it.

https://www.lhry.org/donate

If there are any questions, or if someone wants to see the car in person,
just drop me an email or call 732-330-1876.

Many thanks all, and please remember, small donations are just as important
as large ones!

J.R. May
Director
Liberty Historic Railway, Inc.

Good afternoon everyone,

I just wanted to post a quick update here about Liberty Historic Railway's other Brill trolley - Five Mile Beach Electric Railway #20

LHRY is pleased to report that #20 began its journey out to the Gomaco Trolley Company in Ida Grove, IA. It is anticipated that Gomaco will restore #20 back to operable condition. The trolley departed its long time home in Wildwood NJ (which was located immediately adjacent to the site of the former carbarn it once called home) this week.

As a reminder, Liberty Historic Railway is fundraising for both this car, and Trenton Transit #288. Please consider making a donation and help us bring these unique pieces of NJ transportation history back to life!

https://www.lhry.org/donate

Good afternoon everyone!

Liberty Historic Railway is proud to announce that Five Mile Beach Electric Railway #20 has arrive safely at the Gomaco Trolley Company in Ida Grove, IA. The car has now been unloaded and is once again sitting on wheels!

If you haven't done so already, please consider making a tax-deductible donation. With your help and support, #20 will look like new in no time at all! ...

https://www.lhry.org/donate

Let the restoration work begin!

Good morning everyone,

I wanted to share a few more photos of FMBER #20 arriving at Gomaco Trolley company in ida Grove, IA. Photos were taken on Friday, April 5th, 2019.

Liberty Historic Railway wants to extend our heartfelt thanks and appreciation to Mike Venezia from Venezia Enterprises, Inc. for the excellent job that he, along with his crew and contractors, did in making #20's journey from Wildwood, to the Heartland, a complete success!

Enjoy!