Rehabilitating discarded vintage trolley cars as a for profit enterprise in the 21st century? I was pretty surprised and impressed by their resume as well as this oufits website. I thought some other folks on the forum might enjoy this as well. I had no idea of the market existing as I assumed this was done by volunteers on the grounds of a museum. Link below
…Unusual website…Interesting. Spent 8 winters in Florida and there was a business near Mt. Dora, Florida being set up to do similar types of work…I don’t remember the Co. name and do not know if it is still in business. It was located along old Rt. 441 in the Mt. Dora area. Anyone out there that can give us an update…
http://www.heritagetrolley.org/TNERJMemphis.htm
This is a web site that trolley fans might enjoy exploring. My interest was in the various
" Heritage" trolley cars that were brought into Memphis from overseas [Oporto,Portugal, and other locales]. They were literally junk when they arrived, and the Memphis Transit Authority (MTA) assembled craftsmen who rebuilt the cars so they would be in compliance with various legal requirements, and put them to work on the growing downtown trolley net.
Sam
I wonder if they used exisiting shop employees or put together a group of specialists. Do you have any more details or do they have a website?
Fanastic.
That is good news for traction nuts!!!
Thanks for the post.
Were is this shop any way? [?]
Ida Grove in Iowa
http://www.railwaypreservation.com/vintagetrolley/memphis.htm
http://www.matatransit.com/mainstreettrolley.html
For those of you interested in trolleys and in particular in Memphis’ Trolley Cars, here are a couple of web site that have some pretty good explanations.
Apparently the Gomaco Corp in Ida Grove, Ia.has provided a double truck replica heritage type double truck car… As stated before, most of the other cars were done locally in a shop contrtacted in Memphis close to the trolley car barn off North Main.
Sam
There have been a couple of notable restorations that I can think of . One is the fine restoration of the Wisconsin Power & light car at East troy Wis , The beautiful copper range coach at mid continent in Baraboo and I think that IRM contracted out a classic wooden interurban .
Randy
This is unbelievable ! ! To think there is even the slightest demand for the resurrection of of old trolley cars today is phenomonal, who would ever think a business could thrive on this product. this truly is genius at work. check it out.
Just seems like common sense to me…in San Francisco, the restored streetcars are definitely an attraction, turning it into a business seems like a natural progression, not something unbelievable. And keep in mind that these aren’t just restored old cars, they also produce NEW replica cars, with modern amenities like air conditioning and ADA compliance.
Regarding the earlier post about the Wisconsin Power & Light car at East Troy and the wood car at IRM, both restorations were by the same man, Glen Guerra, a master cabinet maker by trade. He wrote some outstanding articles about “Working with Wood” for the IRM magazine several years ago, which got into the science of why certain woods were used for specific applications in car construction.
San Pedro has two restored Pacific Electric trolley cars…wood ones at that! I know the guy who did the woodwork on them. This is a good thing for cities, its a real draw. There’s a group here that wants to reinstate the big Red Cars to run thru downtown LA.!!!
Apparently the biggest issue is making the old cars handicap accessible on the inside and at the stations. This is usually done by making the station accessible with a straight roll on into the car from the platform, and removing a couple seats near the door for the wheelchair. This is what they do in San Pedro and on the Metrorail stations here.
**_
THis was a major issue with the rebuilds of the trolley cars in Memphis, and they did it like Vic describes, the passenger rolls onto the lift platform, the motorman will position the car at the door after the passengers who have boarded by themselves are seated, then repositions the car at the lift, the motorman leaves the car and operates the hydraulic lift, up or down, for entry or exit of the car by the person requiring assistence. Time consuming, but allows the use of the car by the persons needing assistence.
Sam
I’ve actually had the pleasure of working with (and running) a few of the cars Gomaco has rebuilt. They built two open and a closed car for Lowell, MA (its on the map on Gomaco’s site) based on original plans from cars that ran in Boston. They look just like the real thing, and ride like the real thing (although they don’t go that fast because of all the intersections.) I was the last perso I’d ever think would admit that the replicas could pass for the real thing. With the open cars, the handicapped lift is hidden right in the end of the car. The running boards are hinged outwards, like a tailgate, the the lift unfolds from under the car, and the wheelchair is carried on the front bench. From the side, the difference is not noticeable at all, and there is no need for raised platforms.
I’ve also run one of the cars from Milan that they have at the Midwest Old Threshers (The are the same type as the orange Milan cars in SF, although SF didn’t get them from Gomaco). The cars are really nice, done with great care, and attention to detail. They run nicely, and ride well.
http://www.gomacotrolley.com/Resources/mountpleasanttrolleys.html
As much as I prefer the real old ones, I’d much rather see a quality restoration or replica rather than no trolley at all.
What great news this is.
Horse cars next?
Ellis
It’s a great idea, and the Blackpool tram system over here has been known to operate preserved cars alongside their regular service fleet. Having said that, they still operate cars built in the 1930s anyway (the famed double-deck “Balloon” cars) so it’s not a huge jump. Any problems are likely to be with wheelchair access and potentially safety systems - I’m not sure what’s required in a modern car but I suspect older examples may have trouble meeting the new standards, certainly there is preserved heavy rail equipment that cannot now be run on the main line. Daft really, as they managed to operate perfectly safely while in regular service. I guess people then could be relied upon to have some common sense!
…I’m at a loss no one answerd the Mt. Dora question of update…How about Old Timer, believe you’re a Florida person…Any knowledge of the subject…? For quite a few years they ran a “doodlebug”…{powered by a Chevy 454 in the area}. I’ve ridden it and it was fun. It was a beautiful car. Not sure it’s running at this time out of Mt. Dora…Believe they have a dinner train operation running now…Again, can anyone comment.
Maybe I missed it but I don’t think anyone mentioned New Orleans. The car shops there have been keeping the old Perley Thomas cars running by rebuilding them constantly.
The new replicas that were heavily damaged by the recent hurricanes are great examples of the craftmanship available in N.O.
Personally, I’ve never seen one of the replicas up close, but on the outside, they look like fake replicas. The “upper-story” windows on top of the car (that stick out) are fake. There’s a gap in the end for the base of the trolley pole. Unless there’s equipment up there (possible), I would have left them off. Let the cars match the origials. I also would have used a darker red. The lettering looks too “new.” I suppose the lettering and color doesn’t really matter, that’s just my opinion, but the upper story fake roof windows look really stupid.