Steve Iversen has been hard at work, going far to find parts for IRM PCC's.
Shaker Heights 81 is a PCC in poor condition, privately owned near Dover, Ark. But the owner has allowed us to acquire parts we need, and Steve went there recently. He reports:
Today I got just about everything I think I can get off the Shaker Heights 81 by myself. I removed both front and rear windows, since they are identical to the ones on the 4391, so now we have spares! I removed the trolley pole and base along with the Ohio Brass retriever. I also removed the battery tray, marker lights, and dash lights. The battery tray and light sockets are needed for the Kansas City 755.
I wasn't able to get the MG set off because I don't have a fork or skid loader. The Little Rock Birney is in the way. The owner of the property is working on getting a crane so that we can lift the car off its trucks. Most likely this will not happen until January. I'll bring everything except the trolley pole and base up to the Museum sometime next month.
Great news, and a good outcome for this car. I thought it was in a condition to be preserved, but perhaps all that winter roadsalt continued to eat away even in Arkansas. And the Shaker wheels are perhaps the highest value item on it, but all the parts are important. Is the Little Rock Birney body the best among the three (known) surviving? What is its future? It looks to have an odd door arrangement. O. Anderson
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bera.org/cgi-bin/pnaerc.pl?sel_owner_once=Capital+Transportation
I don’t know what the plans are for the Little Rock Birney, nor am I sure how its condition compares with the two in Fort Smith. The door arrangement is due to these cars being single-ended. Only four single-ended Birneys still exist (all bodies) of which three are these Little Rock cars.
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