Welcome to the online roster of preserved North American Electric Railway
cars. Now in its sixth year, this continues to be a work in progress.
Last update: 30-DEC-2008
This roster contains over 2,000 preserved historic electric railway cars which operated on North American electric railways. Each roster entry contains known information about the car's configuration, equipment and ownership history. Brief histories are available for some cars, as well as photos.
The accuracy of this information is only as good as YOU make it! If you spot missing or inaccurate data, please let us know about it so it can be corrected online.
If you would be willing to write brief historical narratives to help improve the educational value of this database, please contact us.
Thank you to the many people who continue to provide updated information and car history narratives.
This online project is a collaboration between Frank Hicks of the Illinois Railway Museum and Jeff Hakner of the Branford Electric Railway Association. The contents of this database are copyright 2000-2008 by Frank Hicks. HTML conversion and query software copyright 2002-2008 by Jeff Hakner.
Did you know that there are over 300 organizations that preserve North American electric railway vehicles? See the complete list here.
The accuracy of this roster is only as good as the sources on which it is
based. Please help to improve the roster by mailing any suggestions or
corrections to Frank Hicks: fullparallel@wideopenwest.com.
Problems with the web interface should be reported to webmaster@bera.org.
The cars in the table below have been identified as having existed
in a state of historical preservation at some point in the past,
but cannot be identified in any existing collection. Some of these
cars have probably been scrapped or otherwise lost, some are probably
still in existence, and some may simply be erroneous listings from some
roster published in the past. Cars are listed sorted by location,
i.e. the last state or country in which they were known to be
located. Information on these cars, regardless of their disposition,
is actively being sought. Any and all leads are appreciated;
please contact Frank Hicks at fullparallel@wideopenwest.com
with any information.
| Railway/Num | Car Type | Owner | Location | Last seen |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alberta | ||||
| Calgary Municipal Railway 70 | streetcar | City Park | Calgary | c2003 |
| Canadian National 6741 | rapid transit car | Alberta Railway Museum | Edmonton | c1995 |
| California | ||||
| Los Angeles Railways 9352 | line car | private owner | ? | c1977 |
| Georgia | ||||
| Georgia Railway & Power 995 | streetcar | Southeastern Railway Museum | Duluth | c1996 |
| Indiana | ||||
| Chicago Transit Authority S347 | work motor | Indiana Transportation Museum | Noblesville | c1980 |
| Chicago Transit Authority S348 | work motor | Indiana Transportation Museum | Noblesville | c1980 |
| Kansas | ||||
| Arkansas Valley Interurban 7 | streetcar | Wichita Historical Museum | Wichita | c1978 |
| Maine | ||||
| Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority 3284 | work motor | Seashore Trolley Museum | Kennebunkport | c1983 |
| Michigan | ||||
| Chicago Transit Authority 4325 | rapid transit car | Escanaba & Lake Superior | Wells | c1996 |
| Reading Transit & Light 510 | streetcar | Detroit Citizens Railway | Detroit | c1973 |
| Minnesota | ||||
| Hanna Mining 306 | locomotive | Hill Annex Mine State Park | Calument | c2004 |
| Oregon | ||||
| Oregon Electric 105 | interurban | Eugene Stoller | Woodburn | c1980 |
| Utah | ||||
| Utah-Idaho Central 506 | interurban | Utah Railroad Museum | Ogden | c1979 |
| Utah-Idaho Central 513 | interurban | Utah Railroad Museum | Ogden | c1979 |
| Wisconsin | ||||
| Chicago Surface Lines 1278 | streetcar | Tractor Museum | Marion | c1980 |
The roster contains only preserved electric railway equipment with track gauge wider than 3' that was built for service in North America. It does not include steam or diesel engines or non-electric freight or work equipment. See here for more details on the criteria for inclusion and the meanings of the various fields.
The complete roster is very large (over 2,000 entries) and may take a long time to load and/or crash your browser. By default, 200 cars per page will be displayed to mitigate this. You can change it at the bottom of this form.
By default, all cars will be displayed. You may limit your search in various ways. First, you can limit based on who currently owns the car. Second, you can look for all cars that were ever owned or operated by a particular organization or railway. Planning a trip? You can find all cars currently located in a given state, province or country. You can also search for specific values in specific fields (e.g. find all cars with DH-16 compressors). You can specifiy multiple limiting criteria. Finally, you can select how the results will be sorted and presented. Use the RESET button at the very bottom of the form to reset everything for a fresh search.