The Southeastern
Pennsylvania Transportation Authority board of directors on Nov. 15 awarded a
$22.7-million contract for overhaul of 18 PCC streetcars to Brookville Equipment
Co., Pacific Marine, Inc. and the German firm of Mittenwalder Geratebau MGP
GMBH. The cars will be used to restore rail service on Route 15-Girard, which
was “temporarily” converted from trolleys to buses in 1992. Pacific Marine,
headquartered in Seattle, assembled five Spanish Talgo trains for Amtrak and is
to provide “passenger car assembly experience.” Mittenwalder has extensive
experience rebuilding and modernizing European PCC cars. Brookville is
supplying its newly designed replacement PCC truck to New Orleans for the RTA’s
homebuilt Canal Street trolleys. Brookville will fabricate the SEPTA
trucks at its Brookville, Pennsylvania, plant. General Electric
will supply the motors with chopper controls, probably from Kiepe Electric. The
PCCs will be fitted with air conditioning, a wheelchair lift at the center door
and surplus bus seats. The original door engines will be retained and
refurbished. The work is to be performed between January 2002 and August 2003,
and there’s an option for eight additional cars. Meanwhile, track and overhead
renewal continues and is expected to be completed by next spring.
Click here
for more information about Brookville's truck design.
(Note: Earlier
reports that the truck design was from Mittenwalder of Germany were incorrect.
The truck is designed and manufactured by Brookville. Only braking components
come from Mittenwalder.)
The Brookville truck to be used for the Philadelphia PCC rebuild and the Canal Street cars in New Orleans.
The Brookville truck to be used for the Philadelphia PCC rebuild and the Canal Street cars in New Orleans.
