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