Portland Traction 813




Facts and Figures


Current Number813
Railway RepresentedPortland Traction
BuilderJ.G. Brill Company
Built In1932
Builder's order id22973
Currently in (State)Oregon
--(Locality)Lake Oswego
Totally out of svc date1959
(Initial retirement date)1958
Car Typestreetcar
-subtypeMaster Unit lightweight
-designation
Statusundergoing restoration
More infohttp://www.trainweb.org/oerhs/roster/portlandtraction_813.htm
Gauge4'8.5"
Constructionsteel
Roof typeAR
EndedDE
Length40'10"
Width8'6"
Height
Weight35388
#Seats41
#Wheels/Conf.8
Total HP240
TrucksBrill 84E1X
Brakes
Compressor
ControlK-75
MotorsGE 210 (4)
Voltage (if not 600DC)
NotesOriginally 3'6" gauge with Brill 77E trucks

Car 813 in operation on the Willamette Shore line in Portland, Oregon, in 2010
Wikipedia
photo: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Portland_813_at_Willamette_Shore_Trolley%27s_Bancroft_St_terminus,_May_2010.jpg

Car 813 in operation on the Willamette Shore line in Portland, Oregon, in 2007
Places Pages
photo: https://placespages.blogspot.com/2014/06/portland-traction-broadway-car-813.html

Car History by Frank Hicks


Portland Traction 813
Portland Traction 813 is one of only a handful of surviving Portland city streetcars, and the only one currently operational. It was part of an order for 15 cars numbered 800-814 that would prove to be the last new cars built for Portland. These cars were standard Brill "Master Unit" cars and had the typical rounded corners of later Master Units. The Portland city system was narrow gauge, so the cars originally had narrow gauge 77E trucks. When the last streetcar lines in Portland were abandoned in 1950 two cars, 800 and 813, were transferred to the suburban standard-gauge Oregon City and Bellrose lines and converted to standard gauge. Car 813, now 4012, ran until the suburban lines too were abandoned in 1958. The next year the car was sold to OERHS, which at the time didn't have a museum site. It was displayed in Oaks Pioneer Park until OERHS established a museum at Glenwood, Oregon in the mid-1960's; for a time 813 operated there. When the Glenwood site was abandoned and the OERHS museum moved around 1995, 813 went to the OERHS Willamette Shore Trolley operation in Lake Oswego. There it operates with the assistance of a towed generator on a flatcar. It has been restored to its 1940's appearance but has retained its post-1950 standard-gauge trucks and equipment.


Ownership History


OwnerCar NumFromToPreservation?Loan?
Portland Electric Power (Oregon, Portland)8131932 1944 NO NO
Portland Traction (Oregon, Portland)8131944 1950 NO NO
Portland Traction (Oregon, Portland)40121950 1959 NO NO
Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society (Oregon, Brooks)8131959 present YES NO


Additional Media

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Car 813 in operation in Portland, Oregon, in 2007
YouTube
video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ7JaH6GIm8