Join the discussion on the following article:
Fundraising campaign moving ahead for Electroliner restoration
It would be great to see it on the South Shore!
Went to college in St. Davids, Pa. (a stop on the Paoli local line on the way to Philadelphia) and well remember the bullet trains that ran on the Norristown line. I also remember the double take I experienced when I first saw the Electroliners whizzing by!
I am a volunteer at a trolley museum in New Zealand and that sort of work is pretty much bread and butter for us, and other trolley museums. The best option would be to obtain a spare truck, do that up - strip it down to the last nut and bolt, replace all pins and bushes, build up any worn areas with weld and grind them back to the original shape, send the motors away for an overhaul, and get the springs tested and fix any dodgy ones and get the wheels reprofiled. Once that is all done - the first one will take about a year, the rest about six months, then jack up the car and replace a truck and start the whole process over again. With the renaissance in trolley operations, specialist trolley jacks are now on the market. If a spare truck isn’t available, then it shouldn’t be too hard to source another temporary truck to sit the car on while a truck is being overhauled. Good luck in their endeavours, it will be great to see those cars going again, even if it will be by YouTube video as for me.