I am wondering if anyone has info and pictures of any Brill Trolleys. I am currently managing a trolley operation here in the city of Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory. We have a trolley that Brill built the power trucks for, in 1925. The commands were built in Great Britain, and the Trolley cabin was built in Lisbon Portugal. This trolley operated for many years in Lisbon and was finally bought by a museum in Duluth, Minn. Our railway society aquired this trolly in 1999 and went complete through it and it is now running every summer on a 2 kilometer section of the old White Pass & Yukon Route right of way.
I’m looking for any pictures, or titles of any books on Brill Trolleys.
Brill was a Philadelphia based company that made trolley cars and doodlebugs. The PRR had several of their gasoline engined self propelled cars. One still exists at the Black River and Western (or it was). It is privately owned by a PRR fan. The Red arrow lines from 69th St. terminal in Philly to Norrsitown was 100% Brill. William D. Middleton has written several books on trolleys and interurbans that are probably out of print that would have much of what you are looking for. There is also a publication called Trolley Talk that covers trolleys. The East Penn trolley club could have a lot of information or lead you to what you need. They have a web site but I don’t know the URL. A google search should find them easily.
Hi - Debra Brill (yes, a descendant of the Brill Co. founders) did a book on the history of the company, with many illustrations of various types of street and interurban cars, etc. in it a few years ago. I believe (but can’t swear to this) that it was published by Indiana University Press. As was suggested in another response, try Amazon or e-bay or the IU website. Hope this helps! Art