302 makes a trip on Members Day

Hello everyone, my apologies for the long delay in posting an update. I managed to visit the museum for Members Day this past Saturday (25 April) and the weather was beautiful. This allowed cars that are not quite watertight for one reason or another to be brought out of the carbarns. 302 came out around lunchtime for a single run down the line. The car ran great! I have attached some interior and exterior photos taken throughout the day. Work to date has centered around the heaters (which as reported before have been cleaned out and tested) and window sash. The mail sorting racks have been removed from the car and are being restored. Some work ion interior cabinetry has begun (stripping & sanding) and work on the replacement window sash has begun. We are still looking for any additional photos of the car while in RPO service in New Bedford so if anyone knows of any please drop me an Email at fullparallel@cox.net Now on to the pictures:

The above photo was taken of the East end of the car showing the compressor, air tank, governor and the controls on the right is one of the cabinets being restored.

Above you can see some of the work completed on the heaters, the box to the left is the sand box

Here is one of the storage cabinets being refinished.

Here is a view of the opposite end of the car

In the view above you can see the mail sorting table and the location of the mail sorting racks.

Here is a view of the interior ceiling

Current state of the lower clerestory roof canvas.

And a view of the upper clerestory canvas, trolley boards and pole base.

With car sponsor George Papuga at the controls, 302 rolls out of the carbarn for a run down the line to Short Beach

Sure looks good in the sun doesn't she??

In line waiting for passengers, Standing room only of course.....

Members riding down the line....

Heading back to the barn after stretching her legs...

I also had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Jay Kirby one of the generous supporters of 302. Thanks for the donations Mr. Kirby!

For more views of Members Day visit my photos at:

http://3rdavery.rrpicturearchives.net/archivethumbs.aspx?id=16776&Page=21

From the page linked above navigate throughout the remaining pages to see most of the cars out for the day.

Thanks for your interest.

Steve

Latest news on 302

Evening everyone, my apologies for the lack of updates lately. The Coast Guard & family commitments has had me pretty busy lately. Well 302 has been serviced and the clean out of the interior has been completed. The heaters were inspected and cleaned out as necessary. The car even manged to take a trip or two down the mainline. Thanks to George Boucher & Jeff Hakner at the museum for taking & sending me the photo shown below. She sure looks good out in the sun & snow doesn't she!!!





I have been searching through old Electric Railway Journals as well as the New Haven Railroad Historical & Technical Association's magazine "Shoreliner". I did find some information in the "Trolley Stop" series of articles in the Shoreliner volume 19, issue 3 stating that the trolley RPO routes in New Bedford were as follows:

Providence, Rhode Island and Fall River, Massachusetts from 1902-1924

Providence, Rhode Island and New Bedford, Massachusetts from 1929 -1930

Providence, Rhode Island and Fall River, Massachusetts from 1930-1932


Unfortunately that was about all I could discover on the RPO routes. In a later issue of the Shoreliner I was able to discover why 302 was numbered in the 300 series, as was all of Union Street Railway's freight equipment. In Volume 20 Issue number 3 the Trolley Stop article written by the late Charles Brown, describes the formation of the "Electric Express Company". The company was formed by the New Haven Railroad as a result of the ban placed on the railroad by the state of Massachusetts preventing direct ownership of any electric railways in the state. The function of the Electric Express Co. was similar to that of the Railway Express Agency for the steam roads. All freight motors used were very similar in appearance, but not identical. Most of the traction companies were owned by the New England Investment & Security Company, and some were independent. It should be noted that the New England Investment & Security Company was in turn owned by the New Haven Railroad. In order to identify ownership of the freight motors, all companies involved utilized a specific number series as shown below:



Bay State Street Electric Railway - car numbers 1 thru 44

Milford, Attleboro & Woonsocket - 0100 series

Worcester Consolidated Railway - 0200 series

Union Street Railway - 300 series

Springfield Street Railway - 0400 series

Boston & Worcester Street Railway - 500 series

Berkshire Street Railway - 0600 series



All traction lines with the exception of the Bay State, Union St Railway and the Boston & Worcester were owned by the New England Investment & Security Company. As 302 was originally built as a freight trailer as seen in the photo posted earlier, now we know how 302 got its number.



If any of the readers has any contradictory information I'd be glad to post it on here as my goal is to get the information correct. Feel free to drop me an Email at fullparallel@cox.net

Till next time......

Fundraising News

Hey everyone, well it seems that another $1000 has been donated for 302!! I received an Email from Bill Wall last night letting me know it had arrived! MANY thanks to those who have donated so far!! As of Saturday the fund for 302 was at $3500,so add this and we are getting closer to the $5000 required to start restoration work! This is not the grand total required, but it is a solid start. A long time member of the museum, Mr. Ron Parente, has agreed to build all new end window sash (six in all) for the car. The floor inside has been cleaned and stripped and found to be in good condition, as is most of the interior.

I managed to find another shot of 302, this time at the museum in 1983taken by the late Tom Shade:

Till next time...

Steve

Research & fundraising

Hey everyone. Well with a little help from Bill Young of the Shoreline Trolley Museum we have been able to get a little more insight into the life of car #302. As stated in an earlier post 302 was built as a freight trailer. In 1923 the car was rebuilt into a Railway Post Office car for service on the Providence & Fall River RPO route. This run was short lived as the RPO route was suspended in 1924. Later in 1929 the run was reinstated as the Providence & New Bedford. In 1930 the designation was changed to the Providence & Fall River. I am ordering a copy of Transportation Bulletin #85, "Union Street Railway, New Bedford" by O.R. Cummings. Hopefully it will shed some more light on 302 and its history. As I stated before if anyone has conflicting information or more details please let me know & I will post it here. I wont take it personal, I just want to try and get the history right!!!

On another note the restoration fund for 302 has already receieved pledges of approximately $2000 so far. If you are interested in seeing this piece of New England Street Railway history run again, please dont hesitate to contact the museum at:

The Shore Line Trolley Museum

17 River Street

East Haven, CT 06512

(203) 467-6927

Till Next time,

Steve

Good News!!!!!!

I know it has been a while since my last update. Well it is official now, after the August Board of Trustees Meeting approval was granted to begin fundraising efforts for 302. The car was moved out of Barn #6 into Barn #7 where an evaluation of the roof will commence. This is all the news I have so far, when I know more all of you will. Now that approval has been granted I will also send this blog out to some of the traction Email lists I belong to. Please feel free to pass this along to anyone who may be interested in learning more about 302, or to anyone who may have more information about the history of the car. In other news, I have also dug up another photo (above) of 302 taken at the Pope's Island carhouse in New Bedford by the late Charles Duncan.

Kind of unrelated to this but I am also building a 1/2" scale model of 302 that will run on G scale track, I know it is not 1000% to scale but at least I can run it in my backyard as well as on my Father's layout. Here is a shot of what has been done to date:

I am still not 100% sure if I will use the Bachmann roof or continue to scratchbuild my own. I'll keep you all posted.

Welcome

Well I decided to try my hand at blogging. Please bear with me as I am new to this. I started this blog to generate interest & maybe a donation or two to help in the possible restoration of one of the few remaining Street Railway (Trolley) Railway Post Office Cars in the United States. Union Street Railway Railway Post Officer Car (RPO) #302 was built in 1907 by the J. M. Jones & Sons Car Co as a freight trailer for the Union Street Railway of New Bedford Massachusettes. In the photo above, 302 is the rear car of the train pictured. Later in its life (still researching exactly when this occured) 302 was converted to a self propelled Railway Post Office car. I am still researching more on how long the mail contract lasted and the routes the car was used on. In the lmid to late 1940's the Union Street Railway was converting over to buses as were most streetcar companies following World War II. In 1945 the Branford Electric Railway Association was formed to preserve the streetcars that were ebing scrapped. In 1947 car #302 was among the first of the Associations cars to be preserved. I'll be posting more history and photo's of the car as I can find/scan/borrow them. The view below is a more recent photo showing the condition of the car today. As you can tell, some work is needed. Thanks for reading & look forward to comments & posting more as I learn...

Steve