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Since
its arrival at the Baltimore
Streetcar Museum in June 2005, a crew of BSM and FPT members headed by
Harry Donahue has worked on Philadelphia PCC car 2168. One of
the first priorities was to stop the rust on the car, after sitting
outside for 12 years, mostly at SEPTA's Elmwood
Depot. The rusted areas were scrapped and sanded down and then a coat of heavy-duty rust converter was applied, followed by a coat of top grade primer. The interior has also been repainted in the 2 tone blue of the GOH cars. Welder Paul Minnicks has been contracted to repair the corroded roof seams and has replaced several areas with new steel. The
car's trucks are scheduled to be reguaged this Spring (2008); once this
project is completed, the car can be moved onto the inspection pit at BSM
for any needed mechanical and electrical work. Then, the final
repainting into the 1970's "Gulf Oil" colors will take place
this summer. We have decided to go with a very good
paint, AwlGrip, which is designed to hold up on boats used in salt water.
It's not cheap, but the car should be good for about 25 years before it
will need a new paint job. If all goes according to schedule,
we hope to put PCC car 2168 into service at the Baltimore Streetcar Museum
on Labor Day Weekend, 2008. In
the fall of 2007, BSM and FPT member John Engleman suggested that we paint
the front of 2168 by hand, just to get an idea of how it will look when
finished. None of us had actually seen a "Gulf Oil"
car since 1986. It
should be noted that all of this work has been funded by grants to BSM by FRIENDS
OF PHILADELPHIA
TROLLEYS. FPT wishes to thank all those
who have continued to support this project.
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PCC CAR 2168 At Somerville On Old York Road
January 1986 photo by Richard Vible
PCC CAR 2168 At The Baltimore Streetcar Museum
Photo By John
Mike Szilagyi October 2007
