CA&E Truck Swap

One major task remains to be done before our acquisition of the Trolleyville cars is complete: we need to get the correct motor truck for car 36. But that has been arranged and should be done in June. Why is this necessary? That's a long story.

Cars 36 and 303 were part of the Brookins collection at North Olmsted, and when time came to find a new home back about 2003, it was arranged to move these two cars to the Cleveland RTA and run them on the rapid transit lines to generate interest in the plans for a waterfront trolley museum (the Lake Shore Electric.) The 303 then had one pole replaced with a pantograph, since trolley poles would not work on the overhead, and the 36 took power through the bus jumper. At that time the motor trucks were swapped, so that the 36's recently rebuilt motors would be under the 303 if it needed to run by itself. (Both cars have only two motors, with one motor truck and one trailer truck.) The center bearings are different, so the body bolster castings also had to be swapped. And indeed, once service had started, one motor under the 36 soon flashed over. The 303 continued to run, and was used occasionally at Cleveland up until the day it was moved to the Connecticut Trolley Museum at Warehouse Point earlier this year.

When the Trolleyville cars were being moved to their various destinations, there was no opportunity to swap the trucks back, so our car is now sitting on one truck from the 303, plus one of its own. The 303's original truck had its motors removed and rebuilt, but they have not yet been installed. We spent some time looking at pictures like these and analyzing the situation, and decided the only correct course of action was to swap trucks with CTM. They agreed that we'll both be better off if our cars both have the same correct trucks. In June, several of us will be flying out to Connecticut to make the swap; the 303's motor truck will be reassembled.

Rod Turner and Stan Wdowikowski went out to Warehouse Point this past weekend to check that everything is OK. The actual truck swap is scheduled for the weekend of June 19. Planning to participate at this point are Norm Krentel, Jeff Brady, Dan Gornstein, Frank Hicks, and I. Trucking will be provided by Jim Lillie, we believe. And as always, Julie Johnson has provided historical info and financial support.

Making the 36 operational is still a ways in the future. The control system was disassembled, and some of the parts are missing, although I believe we have spares. We will certainly be able to put it back together, although we can't commit to any schedule. Exactly which period and paint scheme the car will be restored to is still under discussion.