Historic NYC subway car Found in Springfield

[blizz01]

What does anyone know about the rail cars that are on the corner of Kingsley Avenue & the crossing in Orange Park?  Last time I drove by there, there were like 3-5 refurbished & pretty intriguing - I thought that they were available for parties in some capacity.......

[wap1689]

hello everyone. let take this time to introduce myself. my name is bill pollman. i'm the curator of rapid transit cars at the seashore trolley museum in kennebunkport,maine. i'm currently restoring 2 complete cars like car 983. can anyone provide information on the current status of the car. is it available? please contact me by cell phone and or e-mail. my # is (617)828-7309. e-mail is wap1689@nii.net. i'm looking forward to talking with you. thank you,bill.

[wap1689]

i forgot to mention the museum's web site. it is www.trolleymuseum.org the cars i'm working on can be viewed. please visit. you will see how we applied trolley poles on the roof. thanks againe,bill.

[bittof]

[tech rage!] third attempt to post, really, something simple. i almost feel like when you have a cute but small joke that nobody can hear the first two times you say it. by the time they say, "what??" for the third time, you're so exasperated, you're like, "never mind -!". [sigh]



I agree with the tenor of the comments---what a beautiful find that would be great to restore.

I thought people might like a cleaner look at the flier--

Cheers!

[Ocklawaha]

Hey y'all:


Every private car is as unique as a cruise ship, this is one of my own favorites the "Virginia City."

I'll try and answer your questions. First, the Orange Park Station Cars. This is a "PRIVATE CAR TRACK"... and a beautiful one at that. I'd like to put my own in there someday as well. The private car is just like you saw on the movie or TV show "The Wild Wild West". It is a rolling palace on rails, the interiors are imported woods, carvings, crystal and posh as hell. This is STILL the way the money set travels when they want to go through the country and not over it. Are they available for lease? Well, sometimes. The blue one, Georgia Railroad Number ?? is, you can contact FIRST COAST RAILROAD in Fernandina Beach. But be warned, if you have to ask how much? You can't afford it. Last roumor I heard the charge just to deadhead to Amtrak in Jacksonville and pick you up was in the thousands... Beyond that, the sky is the limit. However you would be American royalty. The staff is waiting on you head to toe, and every menu item is cooked or designed just for you or your group. I HIGHLY suggest asking the comfortable number to bring and split the fare to someplace like Atlanta for a JAG-FALCON game, or a JAG-SAINTS game etc... It is a once in a life time experience. Contrary to TV shows, NOBODY will enter your car from the Amtrak Train pulling it. The door is locked and the gold leaf says "PRIVATE"!

As for the Subway car, we are already working on buying it. We want to move it to a shop where our rail car partner could get to work on it as soon as the City or a foundation releases money for restoration. Edwards Rail Car is already looking into trucks and trolley equipment for the overhead pick up. A headlight and Interurban horn, controllers and new trucks, and a general cleaning, sandblasting and re-fit and she'd roll down Main tomorrow. We DON'T want another car to go onto a farm, a lake cabin or to some museum in New England. This one is FLORIDA'S UNIQUE SUBWAY CAR.  But if you'd like to help, be glad to have you on the research team.

Bob Mann
aka: Ocklawaha
Jacksonville Traction Company, Inc.

[wap1689]

hello ocklawaha, i'm glad to hear you are making the effort to save the car and keep it in fla. i wish you the best of luck. god forbid,if things should turn the other way,please give me the opportunity to save the car. i do not want to lose this piece of transit hisory. i'm sure you feel the same way.keep me informed on what's going on with this project.thank you very much,bill pollman.

[jbm32206]

There's a video about the old car found in Springfield on CBS47, including a tour of the inside: http://www.cbs47.com/default.aspx

[Lunican]

What a coincidence! I wonder how they found out about that.

[thelakelander]

What's the chance they just  happened to be exploring Ionia?  Most likely slim to none.

[JeffreyS]

I know it is frustrating cbs didn't credit MJ for the find.  I love however the constant examples of how the media, the politicos and movers and shakers of this city pay attention to us.

P.S. Wayne I love the Porter and Williamson trades. I will miss Ernest however.

[Timkin]

This thread is too cool.  I remember on Southside Blvd seeing a caboose in the Back yard of a home at one of the intersections. It has definitely been removed, and I was wondering why after all those years, they did that.

Ock, youre doing an awesome thing locating these train cars. I hope your idea gets off the ground in short order!

[Charles Hunter]

This thread is too cool.  I remember on Southside Blvd seeing a caboose in the Back yard of a home at one of the intersections. It has definitely been removed, and I was wondering why after all those years, they did that.

Ock, youre doing an awesome thing locating these train cars. I hope your idea gets off the ground in short order!

Shouldn't that be "gets on track"?
And I agree, great detective work.

[Ocklawaha]

Clue Number Two:

Phone call to JTA: "Did you guys know there are TWO Jacksonville Trolleys built into homes in San Marco?" Of course they wern't interested, so no location or return number was captured. However in about 1984, 2 cars WERE built into a shed outside of a large metal building sitting West of St. Augustine Road, between the FEC RY and University. When I got the call through Eric Smith, there was just a field littered with 3' square torch cut pieces. Still painted bright green and another bright yellow.

So it's quite possible there are another two in that area, in fact we can only account for about 1/4, of the 100+ that were sold for homes, sheds and businesses. So where are the other 3/4? YOU ARE THE EYES OF HISTORY! Open those eyes, take a side road, explore the areas, look for close bus like window patterns in a porch, or Florida Room, Look for the slightly rounded nose sticking out of a building, Look for ANYTHING odd about ANY building, check back yards and alleys too. Night or Day, I will roll on these calls. We simply MUST find some missing Jacksonville cars. Looks like we have two somewhere nearby. Can we find them in time?

Thanks for the encouragement, but I need the help of all our troops. I have a foundation that could save the NYC Car already up and running, tax exempt 501-c-3 with a 20 year track record. If you'd like to kick this off with a local drive, contact me and we'll let er fly!

Ocklawaha,
Jacksonville Traction Company

[SunKing]

Hey I was told by the guy I bought my house from that the enormous hinges holding up my gate are from the barn doors of the old trolley station in Brooklyn.  He said he pulled them out of the rubble when they took the building down.  Would anyone have a picture of that building?

[Ocklawaha]

http://www.freewebs.com/lightrailjacksonville/historicalslideshow.htm
Your photo should be in my collection, enjoy the TROLLEY SHOW.

Very possible, the building stood where the Skyway repair facility now stands. It was in the way of a new freeway that included a ramp right through it's center. JTA couldn't find a way to move the ramp so they tore down the whole historic building complex. The office building and power plant were across by the TU building today.

In the end, an "OH MY GOSH!" knee slap and a wink, moment, and the freeway was canceled. (it would have gone straight on from the new Acosta through the old rail yard and come out about where the Farm Market is on West Beaver)....

JTA then decided they could use the property for a car barn! What a novel idea!

JTA 1980 edition? @#(%)*&!@#)$  ONE AND ALL!

Ocklawaha