I received an interesting email from a man in Belgium who writes:
Hello,
First of all, I would like to wish you an excellent year 2025.
I am writing to you from Belgium to seek information that I have been unable to find locally or on the internet regarding manufacturer plates from the St. Louis Car Company (see attached photos). Could you please provide me with any information or direct me to sources regarding the model, type of machine, or any other reference on which these manufacturer plates are affixed?
Thank you in advance for your assistance, and I apologize if this email has caused any inconvenience.
Best regards,
[Name withheld]
He included ten pictures, but they're all pretty similar. Some are B-2. I would say these are obviously manufacturer's plates from PCC trucks that St. Louis exported to Belgium, presumably right after WWII. I don't know if anybody would have documentation that would identify exactly when they were built or for what particular order of cars.
Now I'd like to find a good picture of a St. Louis PCC truck. This is a Clark B-2, and it's partly disassembled and missing the motors, but it's the best I could find quickly:
3 comments:
Randy- Does either the St. Louis Car book by Lind or the various PCC books have a list of truck builder's numbers? I would have sworn they did, but my books are at home and I'm at work.
R. W. Schauer
In the book "AN AMERICAN ORIGINAL THE PCC CAR" by Seymour Kashin and Harre Demoro published by Interurban Press in 1986 I found the following. Appendix VI St. Louis Car Co. - Truck Orders by Job Numbers: Job No. 6309 Purchaser: ACEC, Charleroi, Belgium No. of Trucks: 48 Truck Type: PCC B-3 Date Ordered: -47 Dates Shipped: 11-20-47 Note 8: Utilized in the initial deliveries of PCC cars to Brussels, Belgium and The Hauge, Netherlands. Also Johnstown order No. 6301 sent scrapped parts and trucks to Brussels for use in building new cars.
Thanks, Bill, and Richard. I'm not sure how much detailed information this person actually wants -- for most people (unlike us!) the words "B-3 truck" have no obvious meaning. Now if I could find a nice picture of one, that would be helpful.
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