All,

Volunteers at the Museum of Transportation, with the streetcar group, have reached a major milestone with the restoration of St. Louis Public Service PCC #1743. Nearly all of the interior and exterior painting of the car is complete, as exhibited in these photos. To me, the result is stunning, as I never thought I’d see a SLPC PCC. The car, when I first arrived in St. Louis eight years ago was a rust bucket. The back end of the car “drooped” from rusted out frame members. Volunteers from other MOT groups as well as MOT staff have provided invaluable assistance in this project. I’d also like to give a special thanks to the late Fred Perry of Seashore who helped us fabricate and weld in replacement frame members to cure the car’s “droop.”

This car is a 1946 product of St. Louis Car Company, and ran in St. Louis until sale to SF MUNI in the 1950s. It was retired in the early 1980s by MUNI and spent some time at East Troy, mainly sitting in the car barn at Phantom Woods.

While I am a member of the streetcar group at MOT, I've only had a very small role in this restoration. The hard-working volunteers have put in many hours on this car. A lot of time was spent fixing rust and accident damage, as well as changing features of the car back to represent a SLPS car.

The next phase of the restoration will focus on replacement of the rubber flooring in the car, mechanical work, and installation of the seats and windows. It is expected that the project will be finished in about a year.

These photos are from Steve Binning, and may not be reproduced without his permission. Thanks Steve!

Nice work. Always good to see stuff coming back from the dead. Love the interior colors, too.

Howard P.

Considering the condition these cars were in during their last years on the Muni, it's amazing that you can turn a rust bucket like this into such a beautiful and solid car again. Congrats on a job well done!

The restoration process is interesting, especially what you might "find" when you take a care like this apar. We found an empty bottle of cheap California wine behind one of the interior panels. I guess a Muni shop worker left it there....

Steve Binning and I are working on the electrical system to restore this car to operation. we are looking for the correct documentation and connection diagram. We have made some progress. SLPS PCC #1743 in in the Washington University archive. JOB #1655 built by the St Louis Car Company is in Box 44, Folder 1.

Many people are helping us to find the connection diagram. If you have any leads please post them here.

We now have Connection Diagrams LL-8831510, PP-6742998 and L-6735810 and manual GEI-21655. The drawings and documents were found in the MOT archives by Teresa Militello, Curator of Library and Archives. All of the controllers and contactors have been identified and are in the process of refurbishment. We hope to have it running within a year.